Apple Mac G4 (Ancient)

Alright well,

My school has this somewhat old (but stillpowerfull) Mac G4, the HD is completetly deteriorated and they're not buying a new one for it. My TV Production teacher however (to whom the G4 is assigned to) has let me take it home for the remainder of the school year and do what I want with it since I need it for Video Editing and I prefer OSX over XP any day.

Now my question is, the HD is dead, there's no doubt about it, the SMART status reads it as degrading rapidly (the longer it spins the more it dies) and you can't even boot from it.

I was wondering if I could put any HD into it and make it work? I'm pretty sure the answer is a definite "Yes" but I want to make sure before lugging it home because this thing weighs a freaking ton.


Thanks

 

as far as im aware, the G4 used a standard IDE HDD, if you stick to something around the same size, you should be ok.

Im not sure if the Macs suffered from the 137GB limit of some older PC BIOS's.

 

since macs didn't have a BIOS, i doubt it.

just whack a random IDE drive in there, see what happens.

 

Alright cool, it's a 120Gbs HD anyways, so even if there is a limit, I should be OK.


(It's nice.. comes with a 20" screen)

Thanks for replying


I'll post the results soon as I get this deadweight home and plugged in securely

(If the HD has some stuff in it based on Windows XP. just files I stored, not the OS, can I format everything with the Mac?)

 

wow that is a great idea, my school has a couple of dead emac's (broken screen)
i wonder if i stump up for a replacement screen they will let me have it :winks:

 

I wonder if I can hook up a PCI wireless adapter?

 

MY G4 (Quicksilver) has a main OS 40 GB HD and is a standard WD HD. I also have 2x120 GB HD's in it as storage.

This link will let you know what you can and cant upgrade on your mac
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/aboutus.php

 

Ah, thanks. This helps



I found out I can't remove the dead HD from the case.. it's got these weird lookin screws and I've got nothing that fits in them.. Oh well

 

From what I can tell they are just Torx10 screws. Look for a security bit set it should be in that.

 

If they look like stars, they are torx ones. You can get a set of drivers for them in most good diy shops

 

I've got some from Wal-Mart (In the US) and some computer repair kits will have a set in them.

 

Nah they're not stars, I have the star screwdrivers, they're like a phillips head, except utterly flat, and they're bent, sorof galazy shaped, it's really weird.


I got everything working though, thanks