Hey Guys,

I just got a G5 dual 1.8, its only got the 160GB internal HDD and I need to upgrade to fit my video & graphics work on.

I am pushing it for cash to get an external 800 Firewire drive so I thought well is there anything wrong with just buying an internal 320GB SATA drive for around $120 compared to $300-350 for a lacie or something.

I have built many pc's but new to mac's, does it all work the same? Do I just simply plug it in and away it goes?

Any advice appreciated!

Matt

Hey Matt,

Not sure about these G5's, but my quad was really easy to install a second HD, basically open it up, had four screws there, attached them to the hard drive, slipped it in, plugged in the power and SATA Cable (which are already there ready to go) turn it on (no need to worry about 'jumpers' with SATA and off you go!

Give this a go: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/PMG5_HD_DIY.pdf

I haven't put a drive in my G5 tower but I've done it in G4s & G3s and it's very straightforward. Check the manual if you want to but if you've built PCs you should have no difficulty.

Once it's in, just format it using Disk Utility.

Thanks for the fast replies! Thats what I needed... Sounds pretty simple then!

So really, unless your out of drive bays there no point in spending alot of money on the external HDD's for video editing etc?

Depends on your needs really. Don't forget that there are two kinds of people - those have had a hard drive fail and those who will - so some sort of external backup is important if you value your data.

With extra attachments etc you can actually get about 9 hard drives into a G5... But I would consider an external hard drive, it's always good to have back ups!

Ok, Well i've got the internal 160GB which would be used for applications and the system drive etc.

The other internal would probably be best as storage for Video, graphics etc.

And I see some of you are recommending external for back-up purposes?

In the G5's, next to the two drive bays are 4 holes that, if there's no second drive, should contain 4 black screws of sorts, which screw into the drive so it can slip into the drive bay. If the drive that's in there already is in the top bay, then a second drive is dead easy - slide it in after installing the screws then pull out the recessed sata cables underneath the drive bays and click them on.

When you boot the G5 it will give you a disk not recognised notice and ask if you want to initialise it. Clicking on yes will open up Disk utility, which is dead straightforward to use.

too easy - thanks for that. Had a read of the online documentation by apple too so I think I shall go the internal first and stock up on an external HDD when the cash is available.

Thanks guys.

I agree with everyone here, I have replaced drives in my G5's a lot and it is very very simple. I think fill the internal slots with sata drives then buy an external drive for back up. The great thing is that you don't have to do it all at once and hard drive prices are very competitive - I prefer Seagate drives but it probably comes down to personal opinion.