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Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277036] Thu, 01 January 2015 07:10 Go to next message
Alex Santos is currently offline  Alex Santos
Messages: 58
Registered: December 2014
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Hello

Skip to my question below if you would like to skip over the background.

I have a PB2400c that I am in the process of reviving. It got it from dead
to what represents GLOD. I have a thread open on this issue titled "2400
takeapart advice/experience" if you are interested but in the meantime I
would like to enquire about an internal hard drive.

The 2400c in question came with no hard drive and so I need to populate one
so I am just preparing for installing one.

According to this
article, http://web.archive.org/web/20090907101058/http://www.insanel y-great.com:80/features/020121.html
the 2400 has no absolute limit on hard drive size but with a caveat. The
caveat mentioned on the site is as follows:

PowerBook 3400s shipped with 3.0GB HDs as their largest drives. Installing
a larger-capacity drive precludes the use of SCSI Disk Mode. This may wipe
out data. It is unclear whether this problem afflicts the PowerBook G3
(3500/Kanga) or PowerBook 2400, which employ similar hardware ROMs and EIDE
controllers.


QUESTION
So my question is what is the maximum size HD I can get for the Powerbook
2400c/180? According to MacTracker the hard drive interface is ATA-2. Does
ATA-2 go by another monicker?

Thanks again for your input. Happy 2015!

Alex

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Re: Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277045 is a reply to message #277036] Thu, 01 January 2015 07:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Alex Santos is currently offline  Alex Santos
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Registered: December 2014
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Sorry I have one more concern. I haven't taken a close look when having
opened and closed the machine. I don't know if all the cables to connect
the HD are inside. This might be a problem actually. I am trying to see if
I can find anyone with parts that might indicate the same. Even eBay seems
to be a little sparce right now. I will try Buyee, a very good Japanese
auction site.

If you see the exploded view twoards the end of the PDF here
http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/powerbook/powerbook_2400c.pdf you will see a
small part referenced with one screw illustrated below the hard drive. I
don't recall seeing this part, does it have to do with the hard drive? It's
not documented by a part number so I have some concerns.

Once I takeapart the machine a second time I will learn more.

In the meantime, any HD info you can provide would be very helpful.

Thanks again.

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Re: Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277073 is a reply to message #277036] Thu, 01 January 2015 11:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andrew Kershaw is currently offline  Andrew Kershaw
Messages: 11
Registered: October 2014
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On Jan 1, 2015, at 5:10 AM, Alex Santos <santos.poland@gmail.com> wrote:

> PowerBook 3400s shipped with 3.0GB HDs as their largest drives. Installing a larger-capacity drive precludes the use of SCSI Disk Mode. This may wipe out data. It is unclear whether this problem afflicts the PowerBook G3 (3500/Kanga) or PowerBook 2400, which employ similar hardware ROMs and EIDE controllers.
>
> QUESTION
> So my question is what is the maximum size HD I can get for the Powerbook 2400c/180? According to MacTracker the hard drive interface is ATA-2. Does ATA-2 go by another monicker?

I wouldn’t worry about the size of the drive. The PowerBook 5300 series (of which I am something of a fan - maybe a glutton for punishment, who knows) has a similar restriction. In fact, I thought this issue was specifically *not* present on the 2400c and 3400c, and this is the first time I’ve heard of it. Also, 3 GB seems low. At least on the 5300, the problem is that the controller only addresses something like 8 GB while in SCSI Disk Mode. On writing the first byte over 8 GB, it could wrap back around to the beginning and corrupt data on the drive. There is nothing inherently dangerous in using a larger drive while *not* in SCSI Disk Mode as the OS overrides the ROM’s addressing (though if you have trouble, you’ll probably want to ensure that the OS itself is in the first couple GB with a small partition for the OS within that space).

Consider this:
1) I’ve been a PowerBook owner since 1997. In all that time, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to use SCSI Disk Mode. It’s not actually that useful. Do you even have the exotic SCSI adapter you need?
2) It’s 2015. Are you using the 2400c for anything critical? Of course not. You’ve probably got a nice x86 MacBook or an iPad hanging around that you use for the important stuff. Experiment on the 2400c and find a drive size that works for your hobby. Who cares if the data gets corrupted once or twice while you figure it out? You can always repartition and reinitialize the drive…

As for ATA-2: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+ATA-2

Happy 2015.
Andrew

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Re: Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277102 is a reply to message #277073] Thu, 01 January 2015 11:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Alex Santos is currently offline  Alex Santos
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Thanks for reminding me of LMGTFY. :)

I'm afraid to ask now ;) is the latest version of ATA backward compatible
to ATA-2? From what I found it appears to be.

By the way, what you layed out in terms of the corruption issue and
critical use of the computer are very relevant. It's the best hobby I know
isn't it?

Cheers and thanks for your answers.

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Re: Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277115 is a reply to message #277102] Thu, 01 January 2015 11:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bruce Johnson is currently offline  Bruce Johnson
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Registered: August 2012
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> On Jan 1, 2015, at 9:44 AM, Alex Santos <santos.poland@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for reminding me of LMGTFY. :)
>
> I'm afraid to ask now ;) is the latest version of ATA backward compatible to ATA-2? From what I found it appears to be.

Yes it is.

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Re: Powerbook 2400c - appropriate internal Hard Drive replacement question. [message #277135 is a reply to message #277115] Thu, 01 January 2015 11:57 Go to previous message
Alex Santos is currently offline  Alex Santos
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Thanks a million!

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