Hi, Thanks for the replies; may I reply to a couple different emails with just one message?
>> Drive setup supports most (if not all) IDE drives, >> and a large variety of SCSI drives. However, most >> of the larger SCSI drives on the market today >> post-date Drive Setup, pretty much, or were never >> supported. I'm confused... by the "post-date Drive Setup" phrase, does that mean that Apple doesn't use Drive Setup anymore, in their new Macs? Does Drive Setup go by some other name now, or does Apple just use third-party stuff exclusively now? ...Guess I'm due for the day-and-a-half journey into the civilized world to the nearest Mac store and poke around in the System folder of OS X or whatever - if they even still *have* System Folders, hell maybe that's gone now too... (sniffle). Anyway, back to the topic... > Hence, the need for a Drive Setup hack for > 4 GB > SCSI drives, and for most UW-SCSI drives. My present external SCSI drive (the IBM) is 9 GB. But it's not UW-SCSI (at least I guess it isn't, not sure what the difference is), and it's several years old. > Right now I'm using 18 GB UW-SCSI drives, and 36 GB > and larger ones are certainly available, although > they're very costly, on a $/GB basis. Actually I could get by quite nicely with just another 9 GB (that would be preferred actually), but they apparently don't make them that small anymore. What's the next size up, 18 GB or something; that would be plenty. Anything much larger than that, I wouldn't have any use for (I don't use HFS+ anyway, and have no intention to start doing so, so *really* big drives would just be a nuisance - at present, even my 9 GB drive is divided up into 8 partitions, which is *just* the way I like it for my uses). I'd buy a second-hand one *but* I want a warranty and (due to my lack of tech knowledge) it needs to already be in the external enclosure, so that all I have to do is set the SCSI ID and hook it up and format it. I doubt that I would be able to successfully buy a bare drive and install it into an external enclosure and expect it to work - that business with jumpers and stuff just thoroughly confuses me beyond hope - *unless* it came with *very* explicit and 100% accurate Mac-specific instructions that worked exactly as written; I *am* good at following directions when such exist - but most of the directions for drives seem to be for PC's, which is useless - so I'd rather just wait until I have enough to buy a good-quality new drive, already in enclosure, and with at least a several-year warranty. At one time I considered a second *internal* drive (speed is not an issue; the external is fast enough for my uses). But, I'd have to hire someone to install it, and lugging this heavy beast for a *very* long journey to the nearest shop that knows anything about Macs, is not my first choice. The internal ones are noisy, anyway - the 8600 case just seems to grossly *amplify* even the tiniest noise that go on in there, and I certainly don't need yet another fan going in there - it does have a second fan, apparently to ventilate additional drives or something, but the second fan doesn't appear to be hooked up right now (probably 'cause there's only one drive in there), and it makes plenty enough noise already. I like the external drives because they're small and relatively quiet (their case doesn't amplify noise the way the 8600 case does) and they can be easily tucked away in a cabinet (well-ventilated) so I don't have to listen to them whine and whir all the time (my high-frequency hearing is, unfortunately, still quite good - I can often even tell when someone's TV set is on, just by going by on the walkway or sidewalk outside their house - it's not much fun being able to hear things that well - and combining computer fan noise, drives noise, along with the unavoidable high-pitch whines of my two monitors, is *plenty* enough - I don't need any more racket in here - maybe that's a "girl thing" though, being able to hear really high frequencies - also I have had very little exposure to loud (amplified) music, so nothing's gotten fried (unfortunately). In any case, it's more of a curse than a blessing). Earplugs are an irritation, not suitable for all-day use. Or in my case, 24-hour use since *I* have to sleep in the next room over from the Mac and can hear whatever it's doing quite well. As mentioned in some previous email a while back, this Mac doesn't do cold-starts very well, so I just leave it run all the time and let it sleep when not in use. I would not welcome the idea of a second *internal* fan going all the time. I suppose I could put the whole damn Mac in a cabinet, but by the time I provided adequate ventilation for it, the noise would still probably be too audible to suit me. Or figure out some clever way to dampen the case so that it doesn't amplify sounds; too complicated though. Besides all that, I like the portability idea of external drives. -JM . __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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