The Power Mac Storage FAQ

Those of you who frequent the Power Mac forum have probably noticed the never ending questions regarding storage upgrading and limitations in the various Power Mac models. So, I felt it necessary to write up a storage FAQ for everybody to refer to.

I am, however, not the hardware expert on the forums and I do occasionally make mistakes and oversights. So if you have a correction or additional information to contribute to the FAQ, send me a private message or make a post below, as I will be leaving this thread open to posts for that very reason.

Over time, I do intend to expand the FAQ as it becomes necessary, so check back from time to time.

So, on with the FAQs;

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Q: I am looking to upgrade the internal storage of my Power Mac. How large of a drive can I use?

A: This is easily the number one question pertaining to storage upgrading here at MacNN. And with good reason, as there is no definitive way for the average user to know the limitations of their machine. As with most things, Apple does not include this bit of useful information in the manual.

There is essentially a wall that exists when it comes to storage capacity, we'll call it the '128GB Barrier'. The 128GB Barrier is prevalent on pretty much every Macintosh with IDE until 2002. If your machine has this limitation, the largest you will ever see any IDE/ATA drive appear as is 128GBs, regardless of actual capacity. Contrary to what is frequently believed, partitioning does not provide a way around this as the limitation is on the bus itself, not the size of the partition.

If you own one of the following Power Macintosh models, you will have to deal with the 128GB limitation when upgrade time comes around;

Power Macintosh G3 - Beige
Power Macintosh G3 - B&W
Power Macintosh G4 - PCI/Yikes!
Power Macintosh G4 - Sawtooth
Power Macintosh G4 - Gigabit Ethernet
Power Macintosh G4 - Cube
Power Macintosh G4 - Digital Audio
Power Macintosh G4 - QuickSilver '2001' (733MHz, 867MHz, Dual 800MHz)

In 2002, Apple adapted a newer IDE controller with the QuickSilver '2002' model that made use of 48-bit addressing, thus alleviating the 128GB barrier and allowing the use of IDE drives in excess of 250GBs+. If you own one of the following Power Macintosh models, you're free to roam the storage prairie with no restraints;

Power Macintosh G4 - QuickSilver '2002' (800MHz, 933MHz, Dual 1GHz)
Power Macintosh G4 - MDD '2002' (Dual 867MHz, Dual 1GHz, Dual 1.25GHz)
Power Macintosh G4 - MDD '2003' (Single 1GHz, Dual 1.25GHz, Dual 1.42GHz)

One common misconception is that ATA-100 or ATA-133 are necessary for large drive support. This is untrue. It just so happens that ATA-100/133 became prevalent at the same time as 48-bit LBA. Thus, pretty much all ATA-100/133 controllers have large drive support, but they are not one and the same.

The QuickSilver '2002' model featured an ATA-66 controller in conjunction with 48-bit addressing, and thus is capable of using large drives. The same goes for the secondary ATA-66 controller in MDD machines, which is also capable of supporting large drives.

Q: I have a machine that cannot see drives larger than 128GBs, what can I do to use large drives?

A: The easiest solution is to pick up an ATA-100/133 or Serial-ATA PCI card. All ATA cards currently on the market feature 48-bit LBA, and thus have large drive support. Currently, these cards can be had for between $60-$80.

For many people, ATA cards are the better solution as they are compatible with older ATA drives. However, the industry is in the progress of migrating to Serial-ATA, which is a faster hot-swappable version of ATA. After a year or two on the market, the prices of Serial-ATA drives and cards are in line with ATA/IDE drives and cards. So if you're looking to assemble a new storage setup and aren't worried about preserving the use of your older ATA/IDE drive, Serial-ATA is the better choice if only because it is more future proof.