[G4] Much Ado About Harddrives

[Robert C. Buitron]

Doug Burton wrote:
> 
> On Jan 16, 2008, at 6:24 PM, Tony Gamble wrote:
> 
>> It'll be perfectly compatible... provided you also install a SATA card 
>> to run it, such as this one:
>>
>> http://eshop.macsales.com/item/SIIG/SCSATM12/
>>
>> Once everything is plugged in, open up Disk Utility and format the 
>> drive with the Mac OS Extended file system.
>>
>>
>> Tony
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
> I just checked OWC's website dealing with SATA cards and I don't see one 
> that will support 4 drives.  Do they make one for the Mac that will 
> support 4 drives?  If I upgrade my DA file server to SATA as I have been 
> planning to do, I need one that will support 4 large SATA drives.  Right 
> now I have 4 IDE drives running off an Acard Ultra 133 ATA PCI card 
> which supports 4 drives.  Besides the cable mess the Acard won't support 
> Ultra ATA speeds and that was the main reason I upgraded my server to a DA.
> 

I've been following this thread about HDs as I'm considering buying two 
external HDs for back-ups. Perhaps one or several of the experts might 
chime in and offer an opinion or suggest where I might find information 
that will help in the purchase decision.

I have a G4 dual 1.25 GHz, 2GB of RAM (maximum), and 4 internal hard 
drives, 2 of which are supported by an Acard Ultra 133 ATA PCI card. My 
G4 is the mirrored drive (please bear with me as I don't know the exact 
Mac descriptive names) with 400/800 FW.

What would be the best kind of external hard drive (that's bootable) - 
SATA or ATA, and would I need a another PCI card if I were to get SATA? 
Or could I switch the internal HDs with the new SATAs, installing the 
new SATAs in the G4 and using the old ATAs (300GB each) as external?

I use my machine primarily for image editing - photography - hence the 
need for large storage media.

Thanks, and BTW, I enjoy and appreciate all the information that's 
exchanged on this forum.

Rob