Advice me please

[Teti Garf]

I am just about to purchase a Mobile Hard Drive to back up my work and my
choice is
a LaCie 100GB USB or USB and Firewire depending on your answer.
I use Windows.
Can you please tell me whether the USB an Firewire HD would be compatible
with an old MacOSZ1-92.2-Power PC G3 as well?
I don't know much about these matters and would be grateful for your advise.

Many thanks in advance.

TG

 

[Paul]

I am just about to purchase a Mobile Hard Drive to back up my work and my
choice is
a LaCie 100GB USB or USB and Firewire depending on your answer.
I use Windows.
Can you please tell me whether the USB an Firewire HD would be compatible
with an old MacOSZ1-92.2-Power PC G3 as well?
I don't know much about these matters and would be grateful for your advise.

Many thanks in advance.

TG

Are you trying to place data on the disk, then see the disk both
on a Windows PC, and then later on a Macintosh ? I did not
recognize the MacOSZ1-92.2, but maybe that refers to
the 9.2.2 operating system, with a non-english localization.

There are a ton of theories here, but not a lot of practical
instructions.

http://groups.google.ca/group/uk.comp.sys.mac/browse_frm/thread/b9ea7cf9abb4c27f

http://groups.google.ca/group/comp.sys.mac.misc/browse_frm/thread/145ec0cd1107e6ac

According to this, the largest volume with FAT32 is
127.53 gigabytes. As long as you can find a tool to do
the formatting, then your 100GB drive should fit within
the 127.53GB limit.

"Limitations of FAT32 File System"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=184006

I would get the drive with both USB and Firewire interfaces
on it, purely for the flexibility. If the Firewire version
has two Firewire connectors, you can even daisy-chain drives
for added volumes.

Paul

 

[VWWall]

According to this, the largest volume with FAT32 is
127.53 gigabytes. As long as you can find a tool to do
the formatting, then your 100GB drive should fit within
the 127.53GB limit.

The size limitation is due to the BIOS's ability to access all the
sectors of the disk at 512 bytes each, not the limit of the file system.

With LBA28 this is 2^28 x 512 = ~137.4GB or 128Gib

Newer BIOS support LBA48, which has a much higher limitation.

"Limitations of FAT32 File System"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=184006

This says FAT disk size limitation is ~8TB. WindowsXP will not allow
you to format FAT32 partitions >32GB, but will work with larger ones.

WindowsXP with SP1 will support large drives. I don't know what the Mac
OS limitation is for FAT32 formatted drives.

 

[Teti Garf]

Are you trying to place data on the disk, then see the disk both
on a Windows PC, and then later on a Macintosh ? I did not
recognize the MacOSZ1-92.2, but maybe that refers to
the 9.2.2 operating system, with a non-english localization.

The Mac is an OS9.2, an old desktop, sorry but I was rather tired when I
wrote the message.

I would like to be able to use the drive on the Mac only if I had problems
with the PC while in the middle of a job, and having to send it
away to be repaired.I would like to be able
As you suggest I shall get the drive with both USB and Firewire interfaces
and see how it goes.

I am very grateful to you for looking up in the two groups and for taking
the time to answer me.

My best wishes.

TG

 

[paulmd]

I am just about to purchase a Mobile Hard Drive to back up my work and my
choice is
a LaCie 100GB USB or USB and Firewire depending on your answer.
I use Windows.
Can you please tell me whether the USB an Firewire HD would be compatible
with an old MacOSZ1-92.2-Power PC G3 as well?
I don't know much about these matters and would be grateful for your advise.

Many thanks in advance.

TG

We've had good luck getting OS 9 or OS X to recognize USB and firewire
burners on G3s (Given the presense of the appropriate hardware on the
mac side). We've not really tried it with hard drives. I would check
before you buy to be sure that the hardware is OS 9 (or whatever you're
running) compatable.

As a general FYI, you probably have a beige G3 of some type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Macintosh_G3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Beige_Power_Macintosh_G3_Minitower.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Macintosh_G3_DT.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Power_Macintosh_G3_AIO.jpeg

The other possibilities are the blue and white G3 tower ("smurf")

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...and+white+g3&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=G

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Power_Macintosh_G3_BW.jpg

or an iMac (looks like a gigantic gumdrop).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IMac_Bondi_Blue.jpg



If it's a beige g3 then it does not have built in usb or firewire
(CHECK first, it's very common to see an aftermarket addin). If it's a
smurf or an imac it usually has both usb 1 and firewire built in. Since
firewire is much faster than usb1, that would be the choice.

Check the computer for the presence of a firewire port anyway. If not
found, you will have to get a mac compatable firewire card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire



Also: try them here

comp.sys.mac.system

or a mac group or forum.

 

[Paul]

We've had good luck getting OS 9 or OS X to recognize USB and firewire
burners on G3s (Given the presense of the appropriate hardware on the
mac side). We've not really tried it with hard drives. I would check
before you buy to be sure that the hardware is OS 9 (or whatever you're
running) compatable.

As a general FYI, you probably have a beige G3 of some type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Macintosh_G3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Beige_Power_Macintosh_G3_Minitower.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Macintosh_G3_DT.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Power_Macintosh_G3_AIO.jpeg

The other possibilities are the blue and white G3 tower ("smurf")

http://images.apple.com/pr/photos/powermac/g3qtr150.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Power_Macintosh_G3_BW.jpg

or an iMac (looks like a gigantic gumdrop).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IMac_Bondi_Blue.jpg



If it's a beige g3 then it does not have built in usb or firewire
(CHECK first, it's very common to see an aftermarket addin). If it's a
smurf or an imac it usually has both usb 1 and firewire built in. Since
firewire is much faster than usb1, that would be the choice.

Check the computer for the presence of a firewire port anyway. If not
found, you will have to get a mac compatable firewire card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire



Also: try them here

comp.sys.mac.system

or a mac group or forum.

Another small note about USB and Firewire on Mac. Many Macs have USB 1
only, which means disk transfers via USB will only be 1 to 1.5MB/sec.
That is deathly slow. That is why you want Firewire on a Mac, as the
20-30MB/sec of the Firewire drive, is a lot faster than the 1.5MB/sec
of USB1. USB2 on Mac may only be available on recent Macs, if at all.
They don't put USB2 on Macs, because it would compete with Firewire
If your Mac accepts add-in PCI cards, this can be fixed by adding
a PCI USB2 card.

There are all sorts of add-in cards for Mac. Be careful with this
page, because there are PCI cards, PCI-X cards, and PCI Express cards.
Mac has used many different standards over the years. Consult your
user manual for the right terminology for the card type.

http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Criteria=pci+card&Manufacturer=&x=11&y=14

This is a USB2 card for PCI.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/USB2/

Paul