A few mac upgrade questions at DVinfo.net

Ryan Wachter · January 14th, 2004, 12:22 PM

Alright I just finished upgrading my ram and now I want to get a second hard drive and Ive been hearing a lot about rendering drives.

First, how can I tell if the hard drive is gonna work in my mac? I have a g4 quicksilver, right now I have 40 gig hard in there and want a seperate one for video. How large? What type? Best buy?

Second these rendering cards are suppose to make it render much faster but is that really worth upwards to a grand to do so?

Finally where is the cheapest place to pick up a copy of panther?

Thanks for your help guys I appreciate it.

Jeff Donald · January 14th, 2004, 12:32 PM

A couple of answers and a couple of questions. First, the cheapest price on Panther is on the Apple Store for Education, or a participating school (this only applies to students, faculty and staff at most schools). If you're not a student etc. then the price doesn't vary a great deal only $10 or so. Some of the mail order outlets, OWC, MacMall, Mac Zone, etc. sometimes have deals on combinations of software or hardware and discounts on Panther. You may need to do some digging and even then you may only be looking at saving $10 to $20.

Secondly, almost any ATA IDE drive will work internally in your Mac. Your Mac will accept any FireWire 400 external drive. So you have several options.

How much ram do you have? What rendering card are you referring to? How much do you have budgeted for your hard drive etc.?

Ryan Wachter · January 14th, 2004, 09:25 PM

Well id like to keep it under 100 on the hard drive. Im not making so many full length films that I need an enormous amount. While on the subject cant i just transfer my video say in segments to my harddrive then burn it to disc and from the disc work on it? This way I wont need a very large hard drive either.

As far as ram I just purchased two more 512 sticks making the full 1.5 gig which I read on a chart would max it out for my g4.

Finally I bought a dvd/cd burner and that replaces the dvd player in my g4. its a quicksilver so it wont hold another drive internally so is there any reason to get an external mount for my dvd player? Will that serve any purpose or benefit me in any way?

Glenn Chan · January 14th, 2004, 09:49 PM

I'd lean towards getting more space than you think you need. Larger drives are faster, more future/upgrade proof, and hold more. If you don't have enough storage then performance drops dramatically. ;)

Anyways with a G4 you can install internal drives. There might be issues with your computer not detecting all of the drive. It depends on your OS and on your G4. An ATA controller card will fix all problems with >137GB drives. WD drives come bundled with them.

Check sites like fatwallet and other hot deals site for info on when a hot deal is on. WD (western digital), Hitachi/IBM, and Seagate are all good brands. Get PATA and not SATA. There are usually good deal on WD drives and their rebates tend to be good. Read the forums on hot deal sites for information on which deals are truly good (cheap and hassle free rebates).

Ryan Wachter · January 16th, 2004, 09:24 AM

Thanks a lot for all your help I appreciate it.

Lastly does anyone know of a reason for the dvd player and dvd burner question I had asked earlier?

January 14th, 2004, 12:22 PM	#1
Ryan Wachter Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 164	A few mac upgrade questions Alright I just finished upgrading my ram and now I want to get a second hard drive and Ive been hearing a lot about rendering drives. First, how can I tell if the hard drive is gonna work in my mac? I have a g4 quicksilver, right now I have 40 gig hard in there and want a seperate one for video. How large? What type? Best buy? Second these rendering cards are suppose to make it render much faster but is that really worth upwards to a grand to do so? Finally where is the cheapest place to pick up a copy of panther? Thanks for your help guys I appreciate it.

January 14th, 2004, 12:32 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	A couple of answers and a couple of questions. First, the cheapest price on Panther is on the Apple Store for Education, or a participating school (this only applies to students, faculty and staff at most schools). If you're not a student etc. then the price doesn't vary a great deal only $10 or so. Some of the mail order outlets, OWC, MacMall, Mac Zone, etc. sometimes have deals on combinations of software or hardware and discounts on Panther. You may need to do some digging and even then you may only be looking at saving $10 to $20. Secondly, almost any ATA IDE drive will work internally in your Mac. Your Mac will accept any FireWire 400 external drive. So you have several options. How much ram do you have? What rendering card are you referring to? How much do you have budgeted for your hard drive etc.? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 14th, 2004, 09:25 PM	#3
Ryan Wachter Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 164	Well id like to keep it under 100 on the hard drive. Im not making so many full length films that I need an enormous amount. While on the subject cant i just transfer my video say in segments to my harddrive then burn it to disc and from the disc work on it? This way I wont need a very large hard drive either. As far as ram I just purchased two more 512 sticks making the full 1.5 gig which I read on a chart would max it out for my g4. Finally I bought a dvd/cd burner and that replaces the dvd player in my g4. its a quicksilver so it wont hold another drive internally so is there any reason to get an external mount for my dvd player? Will that serve any purpose or benefit me in any way?

January 14th, 2004, 09:49 PM	#4
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	I'd lean towards getting more space than you think you need. Larger drives are faster, more future/upgrade proof, and hold more. If you don't have enough storage then performance drops dramatically. ;) Anyways with a G4 you can install internal drives. There might be issues with your computer not detecting all of the drive. It depends on your OS and on your G4. An ATA controller card will fix all problems with >137GB drives. WD drives come bundled with them. Check sites like fatwallet and other hot deals site for info on when a hot deal is on. WD (western digital), Hitachi/IBM, and Seagate are all good brands. Get PATA and not SATA. There are usually good deal on WD drives and their rebates tend to be good. Read the forums on hot deal sites for information on which deals are truly good (cheap and hassle free rebates).

January 16th, 2004, 09:24 AM	#5
Ryan Wachter Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 164	Thanks a lot for all your help I appreciate it. Lastly does anyone know of a reason for the dvd player and dvd burner question I had asked earlier?