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Apple IDE Cannot Access Beyond 137GB

Posted by pudge on from the hard-drives-for-dummies dept.

An anonymous reader writes: "iMacLinux reported on a PenguinPPC story about Apple hardware being unable to address more than 137GB of space on IDE drives. The Apple computers only have ATA-66, which can only address 28 bits, while ATA-100/133 can address 48 bits. Solutions include using a PCI controller, FireWire or SCSI."

8 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Kings to Paupers by dtype · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Sadly, this is an area where Apple really has dropped the ball. It used to be that machines came with SCSI drives and interfaces, in a technology push similar to the USB push of a few years ago, and the current Firewire bonanza.

    Now, while Apple's FireWire support is certainly commendable, lack of USB 2.0 (in a slight war with Intel in competition with Firewire) and the inferior hard drives that ship with even the best machines is lackluster at best.

    It is time to let Apple know that drive performance is just as high on our list as such cool things as 1394. I can't plug my DV camcorder up to it (which certainly does reduce marketing value), but a fast IDE bus is still extremely important.

    If you're in the mac market, or own one now, make sure to let Apple sales know what you think.

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    Drew Streib, dtype.org

    1. Re:Kings to Paupers by dtype · · Score: 3, Informative
      You're somewhat right.

      (1) The ATA/100 would still gain you the larger address space, allowing larger capacities. Since
      160GB drives are here (and a scant us$250 to boot), this is quite important.

      (2) I agree that the faster bus in theory won't get you more performance with a _single_ drive. But the fact is, that benchmarks say otherwise. For whatever reason, the faster burst speed of the bus has slightly improved the overall speed. I'm not a particularly good hardware engineer, but when I run `hdparm` on a couple of drives, I like the faster speed regardless of reason... (I still hate IDE and would much prefer SCSI, but I can't get a 160GB SCSI drive for $250.)

      (3) ATA/100 controllers are dirt cheap. I can't believe that the extra few bucks wouldn't be worth it in marketing value alone.

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      Drew Streib, dtype.org

  2. Waiting for SerialATA by ChadN · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I assume Apple (like myself) is waiting for deployment of serial ATA technology; this will get around the current size restrictions as well as offer other improvements. I had hoped it would be available by now, but it seems it will be another year or so before it is even targeted for high end consumer level products.

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  3. Standard hardware has limitations, over. by Kris_J · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Whoa, well thank God that's over, I was worried there for a second."

    Seriously, the problem and the solution were all neatly bundled up into this story. Hey, I bet a standard Mac can only use 4 IDE devices before you have to add another hard drive controller. *Gasp*. I assume people who need more devices add appropriate upgrades.

  4. Re:Firewire? by achbed · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is there such a thing as a 'native firewire' drive?
    Can having an ATA controller in a firewire case make it possible to get around the motherboard limitations?

    1) Yes, it is possible to have a "native" firewire drive. However, since nobody but apple has an internal firewire port, no drive manufacturer is going to make one. They'll stick with bridge chipsets and cheap IDE disks.
    2) Yes, a FireWire bridge is the second best method to get around chipset limitations. The best is to use a PCI expansion card, as the PCI bus is (currently) faster than FireWire in terms of transfer speeds.

  5. Why is this an apple story? by Lally+Singh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This sounds like an ATA/66 issue, not an Apple issue. What's the deal with all this spin?

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    1. Re:Why is this an apple story? by ahknight · · Score: 3

      May PCs ship with ATA/100 or 133 these days. Apple is getting some techno-flak for "still" using ATA/66 in its machines. It's not the technology, it's the decision to keep it.

      But I don't care. I threw a 160GB drive in an external FireWire case and it worked like a charm so it doesn't bother me (ok, I'll grant my reason for this was the two 80GB drives in the computer, but still....). =)

  6. Re:Why is this just an Apple problem? by jasonwileymac.com · · Score: 3, Insightful

    OOOOO... BURN... Seriously, the ATA thing is really a non-issue. If you have an iMac or a Cube, you didn't buy it for expandability. i have a 100GB crive in mine, but I don't think I'll go any bigger. If you have a tower, you get a PCI card, just like any PC user that doesn't have bleeding-edge technology. No biggie. Personally, I prefer LOTS of hard drives over a few big ones. When OS X RAID starts working propperly.... Oh... I see colors....