Is there a max SATA disk size in OSX 10.4.11 and G4/1.25?

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Is there a max SATA disk size in OSX 10.4.11 and G4/1.25?

Hello,

I am trying to set up a G4/1.25 (2 gig in memory) as a fileserver with a SATA card and 2 x 3 TB seagate disks. This is the setup:

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/mdd-power-mac-g4-1.25-ghz.html

http://firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1v4/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST3000DM001/

The system is OSX 10.4.11. I am unable to initialize the disks in disk utility. The process starts but then halts and says that it can not continue.

My question is if there is a max disk size in OSX 10.4.11?

Any help greatly appriceated.

Best regards,

Ingolfur Bruun

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 10, 2011 3:51 PM

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Answer 1

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japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Dec 10, 2011 4:36 PM in response to ingolfur

It is that up to 2.2 TB per drive is viable.

Limits of the partition mapping and (sometimes) controllers are the issue.

If the drives are formatted with the GUID partitioning scheme instead of the Apple Partition Mapping scheme, greater than 2.2 TB can be used in OS X.

One issue of using GUID partitioned drives in a PPC machine is that they are not bootable.

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Answer 2

ingolfur Author

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Dec 10, 2011 4:44 PM in response to japamac

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. Will try to work my way around with this knowledge. Thank you for your information.

Best regards,

Ingolfur

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Answer 3

ingolfur Author

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Dec 11, 2011 2:55 PM in response to japamac

Hello again,

I tried to work my way around armed with your input and succeeded🙂🙂😀

By using a FireWire dock I was able to see the disks in 10.4.11. What I did was to partition the disks with ONE partition in Disk Utility and then format with GUID partitioning scheme instead of the Apple Partition Mapping scheme which I had done before. And as I am using a ATA disk as a startup disk it dosen't matter if the 3 TB disks are not bootable. They will only be used for data, not as system disks.

You saved my day! Thanks again.

Best regards,

Ingolfur

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Answer 4

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Dec 12, 2011 3:06 AM in response to ingolfur

Great!

I am happy to hear that you worked around the issue!

🙂

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