---------- Original message ----------
Subject: Re: Revisited: Re: G4 Power Mac M5183 up grades!!!
Date: Dienstag 03 August 2010N
From: Richard Gerome <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
> Ok I found this hard drive on ebay for $75 with the shipping: 7200rpm
> 250GB Maxtor HARD DRIVE Apple Power Mac iMac G4|eMac... Is this a good
> drive for the money and can I split it into 2 125g partitions??? I have
> someone else sending me all the details for a simular one for $79.95... I
> will post that info when I get it... Thanks again everyone!!!
Isn't there a prize search engine in the U.S. available?
Here in Germany+Austria/Europe we have a nice search site called geizhals.at
(.de and .eu respectively). Searching for the cheapest 500 GB PATA drive:
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB (HDP725050GLAT80)
for around 60-65 EUR – that would be around 80 to 85 USD at the current rate.
When it comes to hard disk drives I have some rules I always follow:
1) *always* buy it _new_
2) buy it from a store where you will get a replacement if the drive should
fail (when it is returned RMA to the manufacturer)
3) HDDs _will fail_ after 5 to 10 years. NEVER BUY USED DRIVES!
These are my rules, because I want to keep my files safe – and because of
recent personal experiences.
I had a couple of HDDs (IDE=PATA, 7 to 12 years old) which all failed one
after the other, some completely, others while I was reformating and
reinstalling a fresh Mac OS X. The failures ranged from sector read failures
(the least problem) to controller hardware failures to physical failures of
the drive itself (rare, but happend with one drive). This tells me that these
type of storage media only lasts 5 to 10 years and is very likely to fail
thereafter. From 10 disks (4 of my own) 9 failed, and only one is still
working. The one is 13 years old 30 GB original Apple from a G3 B&W and I have
a strange feeling every day because I expect it to fail anytime. This
surviving drive was used when I got it. (Exception to the rule, so it seems.)
On the other hand, a drive will fail within the first year or doesn't fail at
all within the already mentioned 5 to 10 years.
My advice to you: why not buy a drive at a local computer store? (if the prize
is okay…)
And one other thing. For the partitions: make one, say 80 to 120 GB (I always
use 80 GB, has always been well enough for my applications) for the operating
system, and the rest for your individual files. That works well if you use the
Open Firmware patch to support LBA-48. And helps to keep things tidy. (who
wants to work with more than 2 paritions? seriously, who?) Just remember to
put all your files on the second partition (and not in your users folder!).
http://4thcode.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-128-gib-or-larger-ata-hard-
drives.html
Whish you good luck with your project.
Cheers,
Andreas aka Mac User #330250
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