300G Hard Drive shows up as 128G on G4

neillore · Post by **neillore** » Wed May 31, 2006 5:53 pm

I have a G4 silver bullet, 733MHz. I added a second internal HD (300G Maxtor). The G4 says its capacity is only 128G. The folks who sold it to me (MacMall I think) tell me that the computer that I have can only see 128G of the 300G. My Mac friends tell my that isn't true. Can anyone tell me how to get the full capacity from my HD?

Thanks!

Neil

nelsonvisions · Post by **nelsonvisions** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:05 pm

it is true, most G4's cannot see a large HD (120 is the cap) without help from an ATA card.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=198397

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:33 pm

neillore wrote:My Mac friends tell my that isn't true. Can anyone tell me how to get the full capacity from my HD?

Thanks!

Neil

Sadly your mac friends are wrong.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE/add_2nd_drive/index.html

<snip>

About "Big Drive" (>137GB) Support:
As mentioned in the site FAQ (IDE hard drive section) and drive db reports, only the 2002 Quicksilver and later Macs have native "Big Drive" (aka 48Bit addressing) support (when formatted with OS X 10.2.x or later's Disk Utility).

If you put a large (160GB, 200GB, 250GB, etc.) IDE drive in a 2001 QS, Digital Audio, Gigabit, Sawtooth, B&W G3, Yikes G4/PCI, Beige G3, etc. using the onboard IDE the drive will be limited to appx. 128GB formatted capacity, regardless of the number of partitions. Options to add large drive support for older Macs is noted in the FAQ. (Like a Mac PCI IDE card w/big drive support, Intechusa.com's drivers, or a Firewire case with a bridge board that has big drive support.)

<snip>

Solution:

Get an external firewire case for your new drive like this:

http://www.dealsonic.com/bymeblcofi13.html

Get a PCI card ATA controller like this:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%2 ... gy/TAT133/

Get Intech SpeedTools ATA Hi-Cap Support Driver:

http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml

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neillore · Post by **neillore** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:54 pm

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll review them carefully and decides what's the best course of action. One thing that puzzles me though is that I have an external firewire drive and the G4 sees its full 300G.

Thanks again,

Neil

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:59 pm

neillore wrote:Thanks for the quick replies. I'll review them carefully and decides what's the best course of action. One thing that puzzles me though is that I have an external firewire drive and the G4 sees its full 300G.

Thanks again,

Neil

The ATA controller on the G4 motherboard is the issue. It can't "see" big drives connected to it.

Your firewire case has its own ata (to firewire) controller, which can see the full 300gb. And your g4 firewire controller has no problem seeing a big firewire drive.

Hope that helps

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Turbobob · Post by **Turbobob** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:08 pm

I have replaced my maxtor 160 DV drive /kept the case but replaced it with a diamondmax 10/250/ I figured if it read beyond the 137... I could replace
it with the 250. it is only reading 1/2 of the drive. Are there any work arounds seeing as the case already acknowleges more then 128. It os a maxtor dv5000 shell and I am replacing the 160 firewire with a 250 maxtor
Any help woul be cool. I already read a Maxtor 250 and a lacie 60.
powerbook 1.5 with a gig of ram...trying to change the world!

stampjr · Post by **stampjr** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 10:18 pm

The key is an Ultra ATA Card in your machine.. get one and she will read it. As far as yours TurboBob, if it is a firewire external, then it may be reading as 400 instead of 800...

I would still install the ULTRA ATA. It is a good addition to any system anyway.

PS I am new to the forum and I like it so far... thx

Turbobob · Post by **Turbobob** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:44 am

Im still kind of puzzeled, because my Powerbook 1.5 is reading my Maxtor 250. The external case drive I am replaceing is a 160(it read it fine) but now the 250 is only @ 128.. Is it the box or the book? If it's the book why did it read the 160?
Thanks and welcome Stampjr

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:56 am

It's not all G4s. You need to check which machine you have. My G4 (PowerMac Dual 1.42Ghz) FW800 has no problem seeing larger drives.

stampjr · Post by **stampjr** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:16 am

You put it right Alien, FW800... it is possible to have a FW400 external drive and it will only show 128... put it in a true fw800 case and it should show up correctly, except you have to reformat it...

I am sure the FW800 is the key...

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:30 am

stampjr wrote:You put it right Alien, FW800... it is possible to have a FW400 external drive and it will only show 128... put it in a true fw800 case and it should show up correctly, except you have to reformat it...

I am sure the FW800 is the key...

I didn't mean an external FW drive - "FW800" is the designation Apple gave to my model of PowerMac G4 - also referred to a "mirrored drive doors". I have a 250G internal hard drive in this machine running with no issue - I also have an external LaCie 300G firewire drive.

johnnytucats · Post by **johnnytucats** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:24 pm

I use the SpeedTools ATA Hi-Cap Support Driver in my Sawtooth and it works great.

MOTUnation.com

300G Hard Drive shows up as 128G on G4

300G Hard Drive shows up as 128G on G4

Re: 300G Hard Drive shows up as 128G on G4

128 reads out of 250 maxtor

ULTRA ATA

right - fw800

Re: right - fw800