Accelerate Your Mac! - G3 Internal IDE drive upgrade

A click on the banner shows your site support to my sponsors

IDE Slave Drive Upgrade for the B&W G3
Published: 1/27/99

Intro | Removing the Tray | Mtg the Drive | Reinstall the Tray | Prep. the Drive

Step 4: Preparing the Drive for Use

Running Apple's Drive Setup (I used the version that shipped with the Yosemite) the Maxtor drive was shown in the list of attached drives (unformatted of course). While you're at the setup stage, think about partitioning the drive into two volumes. I like to have one partition for applications and one for data. This simplifies backups and can help minimize fragmentation. I selected initialize in Apple Drive Setup and chose HFS+ format (which uses smaller block sizes to save substantial storage space) and within a few seconds the drive was formatted and appeared on the desktop.
The advantage of using Apple's driver instead of a 3rd party product like FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit is that future OS upgrades may go smoother (as well as saving money if you don't already own another drive utility). There may be faster disk drivers out there, but for most users the compatibility and easier OS upgrades are a fair tradeoff.
Making the Drive Bootable:
If you want to be able to boot from the drive, use the CD that came with the system to install OS 8.5.1 on the new drive. I was unable to boot from the slave by just copying over the system folder without errors until I installed the OS from the Yosemite CD. After the CD OS install, I could select the new drive as the startup disk and boot from it without any problems.

Observations:
The Maxtor drive is very quiet and ran much cooler than any 7200 RPM drive I've owned. Even after hours of use it was barely warm to the touch. Other readers have made similar comments, noting the Maxtor drive ran quieter and cooler than many other 7200 RPM drive. All things considered if you need more storage space for your Apple G3 the Maxtor 10GB DiamondMax™ Plus is worth serious consideration. It provides excellent performance and value. Maxtor drives are available at most computer stores and mail order houses. However be aware that the standard 10GB Maxtor drive is a 5400 RPM model, only the Diamondmax™ Plus drives feature the higher RPM and larger cache (512K vs 256K).
Performance Tests:
Part Two of the original beige G3 IDE upgrade article lists the results of performance tests in Photoshop 5, ATTO Tools and FWB Benchtest (v2.5.2) between the 10GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus drive and the stock Quantum Fireball ST 6GB drive in a (beige) G3/300. Tests on the Yosemite in MacBench showed the new drive performing similarly to the existing 6GB drive which was did surprisingly well as noted on my original Yosemite Performance page.

What's Next?: Stay tuned for more articles on getting the most from your new Mac. There's a lot more in store, so make sure you watch the daily news at www.xlr8yourmac.com for daily performance news, compatibily reports and feature articles. In the meantime, check the links below for other related links of interest.

Related Links:

Maxtor vs Stock Quantum Performance Tests (in a beige G3/300)
Maxtor's Web Site
DiamondMax™ Plus 2500 Product page
DiamondMax™ Plus Data Sheet (PDF File)
Yosemite Performance page (Macbench 5 and applications tests)
Yosemite Tips, Specs and Feedback
Yosemite Compatibility Reports
Other Site Disk Related Articles

Index of Yosemite IDE Slave Drive Article Intro | Removing the Tray | Mtg the Drive | Reinstall the Tray | Prep. the Drive

For more Info on the new B&W G3 see the main Yosemite Page
Back to G3-ZONE for more Apple G3 Info
or
Back to XLR8YOURMAC.COM
for Daily News & Upgrade Reviews (CPU/Disk/Video/Games)
(If you're trapped in a frames site - click here to clear frames)

Copyright © mike, 1999.
Thanks to my better half for tolerating all the time I spend on this site.
No part of this sites content is to be reproduced or distributed elsewhere without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.
Users of this web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.


IDE Slave Drive Upgrade for the B&W G3 Published: 1/27/99
Intro \| Removing the Tray \| Mtg the Drive \| Reinstall the Tray \| Prep. the Drive
Step 4: Preparing the Drive for Use
Running Apple's Drive Setup (I used the version that shipped with the Yosemite) the Maxtor drive was shown in the list of attached drives (unformatted of course). While you're at the setup stage, think about partitioning the drive into two volumes. I like to have one partition for applications and one for data. This simplifies backups and can help minimize fragmentation. I selected initialize in Apple Drive Setup and chose HFS+ format (which uses smaller block sizes to save substantial storage space) and within a few seconds the drive was formatted and appeared on the desktop. The advantage of using Apple's driver instead of a 3rd party product like FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit is that future OS upgrades may go smoother (as well as saving money if you don't already own another drive utility). There may be faster disk drivers out there, but for most users the compatibility and easier OS upgrades are a fair tradeoff. Making the Drive Bootable: If you want to be able to boot from the drive, use the CD that came with the system to install OS 8.5.1 on the new drive. I was unable to boot from the slave by just copying over the system folder without errors until I installed the OS from the Yosemite CD. After the CD OS install, I could select the new drive as the startup disk and boot from it without any problems.

Observations: The Maxtor drive is very quiet and ran much cooler than any 7200 RPM drive I've owned. Even after hours of use it was barely warm to the touch. Other readers have made similar comments, noting the Maxtor drive ran quieter and cooler than many other 7200 RPM drive. All things considered if you need more storage space for your Apple G3 the Maxtor 10GB DiamondMax™ Plus is worth serious consideration. It provides excellent performance and value. Maxtor drives are available at most computer stores and mail order houses. However be aware that the standard 10GB Maxtor drive is a 5400 RPM model, only the Diamondmax™ Plus drives feature the higher RPM and larger cache (512K vs 256K). Performance Tests: Part Two of the original beige G3 IDE upgrade article lists the results of performance tests in Photoshop 5, ATTO Tools and FWB Benchtest (v2.5.2) between the 10GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus drive and the stock Quantum Fireball ST 6GB drive in a (beige) G3/300. Tests on the Yosemite in MacBench showed the new drive performing similarly to the existing 6GB drive which was did surprisingly well as noted on my original Yosemite Performance page. What's Next?: Stay tuned for more articles on getting the most from your new Mac. There's a lot more in store, so make sure you watch the daily news at www.xlr8yourmac.com for daily performance news, compatibily reports and feature articles. In the meantime, check the links below for other related links of interest. Related Links: Maxtor vs Stock Quantum Performance Tests (in a beige G3/300) Maxtor's Web Site DiamondMax™ Plus 2500 Product page DiamondMax™ Plus Data Sheet (PDF File) Yosemite Performance page (Macbench 5 and applications tests) Yosemite Tips, Specs and Feedback Yosemite Compatibility Reports Other Site Disk Related Articles
Index of Yosemite IDE Slave Drive Article Intro \| Removing the Tray \| Mtg the Drive \| Reinstall the Tray \| Prep. the Drive

For more Info on the new B&W G3 see the main Yosemite Page Back to G3-ZONE for more Apple G3 Info or Back to XLR8YOURMAC.COM for Daily News & Upgrade Reviews (CPU/Disk/Video/Games) (If you're trapped in a frames site - click here to clear frames)
Copyright © mike, 1999. Thanks to my better half for tolerating all the time I spend on this site. No part of this sites content is to be reproduced or distributed elsewhere without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of this web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.