 Support for Hard Drives over 128GB in Cube, ....without using Intech Hi-Cap |
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| Fangsuede |
 Dec 17 2007, 11:37 AM
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#1
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 Cube Guru  Group: Members Posts: 1,880 Joined: 10-February 05 Specs: Which one? Member No.: 4,260 Gender:Male Where From?:Stuck on the Freeway in CA First Name: Dave  |
This article published on another website details the firmware commands to allow early G4's the ability to use Hard Drives larger than 128GB. My take on the whole issue is that Intech uses a similar setup in their Hi-Cap Driver. Using these commands still requires the partitioning scheme that Intech suggests, i.e., don't allow the Boot partition to be over 127GB.
It is very interesting to read and sounds as if it would work just fine, but use the recommendations for partitioning. I just don't have a Cube with a large HDD that I want to zero out at the moment, or I'd give it a go. -------------------- Feng Shui - It's elemental
----------------------------- 1. Cube with PLX Clear Case, PLX Dual 1.7GHz 7447a, Black Sapphire 9800-128MB, 1.5 RAM, 250GB Samsung Spinpoint HDD, Spirica VRM kit w/Giga C-VRM (1), Airport card, 3 Internal fans, custom front cover, Ext. FW NEC 3550 DL DVD/CD, Ext. FW MiniStackV2 250GB HDD, Apple Harman/Kardon Soundsticks, 23" Apple HD Cinema (Clear). All running on a stock Cube Brick (PSU). (Circa: Feburary 2006 and still runs great) 2. Cube, "Dark Star". PLX 1.7GHz 7448 (VRM Bypass), 1.5GB RAM, XFX 6200 WALG (@425/350), re-located stock VRM with the PM-VRM Re-location Kit, DVR-K05, 80GB 7200k HDD, PM smoked black Case (S/N #1), Stealth painted chassis, Airport, Giga base fan, Leopard 10.5.7. Plus a dozen or so other Mac's of various types. |
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| Jongleur |
Dec 17 2007, 03:32 PM
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#2
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 Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 125 Joined: 6-August 07 Specs: G4-450, 1.5GB, 20GB, OSX10.4.11, 15" DVI ViewSonic (Belkin ADC->DVI), Griffin iMic Member No.: 8,258 Gender:Male Where From?:Sydney, Australia First Name: Michael |
Looks like an potential Christmas holiday project for someone. Anybody interested?
-------------------- . . .1981 - University - Apple ][ and //e . . .1984 - The Beginning (my machines) - Apple //c . . .1990 - Dark Ages - The Windows/PC Years . . .2001 - Return to the Light - iBook G3-500 : 2002 PMac QS2002 2xG4-1000 . . .2007 - The Collector - iMac BondiBlue G3-233 : MessagePad 100 : Cube G4-450 . . .2008 - Mad Scientist - IBM Thinkpad T41 running OSX10.4.11 . . .2009 - "HacBook Nano" Acer AspireOne AAO150 running OSX10.5.8 . . .Other Machines: : PBook Ti-800 : PBook Al-1.25 : MBPro 2.23 iMac C2D 2.0 |
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| CubeIt |
Dec 17 2007, 04:00 PM
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#3
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 Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 3,817 Joined: 19-April 05 Specs: CPU: 550MHz Overclocked; VIDEO: ATI Rage6/Radeon/7200 (fan); HD: WD 160GB/8MB (formatted to 137GB), 7200 rpm; RAM: PC100-222; FAN: 80x15mm Panaflo fan (low speed); VRM: 4th transistor Apple; non-Apple power supply. Member No.: 4,624 Gender:Male Where From?:Tsaile, AZ First Name: Andy |
This would also explain why Linux on a cube has no hard drive size limits.
This post has been edited by CubeIt: Jan 3 2008, 10:11 AM -------------------- The Centre for Quantum Computation is acknowledged for the avatar
What is proved by impossibility proofs is lack of imagination -- John Bell |
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| sloth |
Jan 23 2008, 10:52 AM
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#4
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 5,799 Gender:Male Where From?:San Diego |
I tried it last night and so far so good. I divided a 250 gig drive in half. I haven't had time to play with it yet, but setting everything up was rather easy.
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| Mimram |
Jan 23 2008, 02:27 PM
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#5
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 Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 1,014 Joined: 22-September 05 Member No.: 5,266 Gender:Male Where From?:London, UK First Name: Jeremy |
Now that looks very interesting - and I may well try it when I move to Leopard. I'm one of those weird people who likes to build a new disk for a new OS so that bad habits and apps aren't taken from one OS to another. But that's just me...
-------------------- Cube 1: Sonnet 1.8GHz, XFX Geforce 6200 w/Zalman VF700-Cu @ 5v, 1.5Gb RAM, 120Gb Seagate ST3120026A, CD/DVD-ROM, Cube speakers, Dell 2407WFP, OS 10.5.8, OS 9.2.2. All wrapped up in a PL ClearCube. 250Gb Seagate ST3250620A FW External.
Cube 2: 450Mhz, Rage128Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 120Gb IBM Deskstar, CD/DVD-ROM. Cube speakers, Formac Gallery 1740, OS 10.4.10. |
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| CubeIt |
Jan 23 2008, 02:31 PM
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#6
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Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 3,817 Joined: 19-April 05 Specs: CPU: 550MHz Overclocked; VIDEO: ATI Rage6/Radeon/7200 (fan); HD: WD 160GB/8MB (formatted to 137GB), 7200 rpm; RAM: PC100-222; FAN: 80x15mm Panaflo fan (low speed); VRM: 4th transistor Apple; non-Apple power supply. Member No.: 4,624 Gender:Male Where From?:Tsaile, AZ First Name: Andy |
I always do an archive and install for the same reason, but don't want to rebuild the network/printer setting each time.
QUOTE(sloth @ Jan 23 2008, 08:52 AM)  I tried it last night and so far so good. I divided a 250 gig drive in half. I haven't had time to play with it yet, but setting everything up was rather easy. The only thing that freaks me out is what if I put the system on the wrong partition... -------------------- The Centre for Quantum Computation is acknowledged for the avatar
What is proved by impossibility proofs is lack of imagination -- John Bell |
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| sloth |
Jan 23 2008, 02:35 PM
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#7
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 5,799 Gender:Male Where From?:San Diego |
I did a fresh install of Leopard. Then just downloaded and ran the script and followed all the directions from the website. Disk utility saw it and partitioned it without any problems.
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| Jongleur |
Jan 23 2008, 03:44 PM
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#8
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Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 125 Joined: 6-August 07 Specs: G4-450, 1.5GB, 20GB, OSX10.4.11, 15" DVI ViewSonic (Belkin ADC->DVI), Griffin iMic Member No.: 8,258 Gender:Male Where From?:Sydney, Australia First Name: Michael |
QUOTE(sloth @ Jan 24 2008, 02:52 AM) I tried it last night and so far so good. I divided a 250 gig drive in half. I haven't had time to play with it yet, but setting everything up was rather easy. Great news!. I've archived the article and downloaded the script. I'm assuming that you execute the script using the existing HDD/OSX. Then replace the old HDD with new BIG one, and install OSX, first partitioning the HDD using diskutility from the installer disk. -------------------- . . .1981 - University - Apple ][ and //e . . .1984 - The Beginning (my machines) - Apple //c . . .1990 - Dark Ages - The Windows/PC Years . . .2001 - Return to the Light - iBook G3-500 : 2002 PMac QS2002 2xG4-1000 . . .2007 - The Collector - iMac BondiBlue G3-233 : MessagePad 100 : Cube G4-450 . . .2008 - Mad Scientist - IBM Thinkpad T41 running OSX10.4.11 . . .2009 - "HacBook Nano" Acer AspireOne AAO150 running OSX10.5.8 . . .Other Machines: : PBook Ti-800 : PBook Al-1.25 : MBPro 2.23 iMac C2D 2.0 |
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| sloth |
Jan 23 2008, 04:20 PM
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#9
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 5,799 Gender:Male Where From?:San Diego |
I did a new install of 10.5. Using finder, I launched the script. I rebooted, then followed the directions on the site to do the terminal commands. After another restart, I was able to partition the drive with using the existing install. I only had to install 10.5 one time and used the same drive (250 gigs) the whole time.
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| CubeIt |
Jan 23 2008, 05:04 PM
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#10
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Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 3,817 Joined: 19-April 05 Specs: CPU: 550MHz Overclocked; VIDEO: ATI Rage6/Radeon/7200 (fan); HD: WD 160GB/8MB (formatted to 137GB), 7200 rpm; RAM: PC100-222; FAN: 80x15mm Panaflo fan (low speed); VRM: 4th transistor Apple; non-Apple power supply. Member No.: 4,624 Gender:Male Where From?:Tsaile, AZ First Name: Andy |
Is it true one cannot boot in OS 9 with this trick?
-------------------- The Centre for Quantum Computation is acknowledged for the avatar
What is proved by impossibility proofs is lack of imagination -- John Bell |
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| JDW |
Jan 23 2008, 08:41 PM
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#11
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 Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 901 Joined: 26-December 04 Specs: Sonnet 1.7GHz w/Giga fan, Seagate ST3120026A HD, Radeon 7500 w/Spirica Heatsink, 1.25GB RAM, 20" ADC Cinema, region-switchable 8186 DVD, OS10.4.11 Member No.: 3,904 Gender:Male Where From?:Japan First Name: James |
I've been reading this thread with interest, but I have the same question as Andy. What about OS 9?
Also, I have a 320GB IDE drive that I recently purchased for use with a Firewire case. Only after buying the drive did I find the case doesn't have a newer Oxford chip in it, which limits the HD to 128GB! Curious if there's a firmware hack to work around that problem! -------------------- END CAR ALARM NOISE. PROTECT YOUR RIDE. http://www.visionsecurity.jp/en/
FOR BIKES: CYCLONE Motorcycle Security |
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| sloth |
Jan 23 2008, 09:56 PM
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#12
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 5,799 Gender:Male Where From?:San Diego |
I didn't install 9, so I can't answer. Anyone else out there ready to give it a try?
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| Pareis |
Feb 15 2008, 06:52 PM
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#13
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 28 Joined: 11-February 08 Member No.: 8,642 Gender:Not Telling Where From?:Lost in the white |
QUOTE(Fangsuede) I just don't have a Cube with a large HDD that I want to zero out at the moment, or I'd give it a go. Because a disk driver just provides its disk drives as a consecutively numbered series of blocks and partitioning is an independent software construct in a higher layer it becomes possible to run a hard disk under different drivers (Apples, Intechs, or in FireWire or USB housings with a current firmware on the interface board) with the contents intact, i.e. there should be no need to repartition in this case.QUOTE(CubeIt) Is it true one cannot boot in OS 9 with this trick? No: (Native) Mac OS 9 doesn't know (and care about) the lba-48 property so its behavior won't change after running the script. It will see the size of larger hard drives as 128 GiB (the limit of 28-bit LBA) and can only access partitions within that limit (and should ignore the others). Classic can (only) use the file systems of the host (Mac OS X) and should be able to use the entire disk beyond 128 GiB.This post has been edited by Pareis: Feb 25 2008, 05:42 PM -------------------- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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| H3NRY |
 Jun 28 2008, 10:12 PM
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#14
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 Cube Guru Group: Members Posts: 400 Joined: 24-May 08 Member No.: 8,805 Gender:Male Where From?:Austin, TX First Name: Henry |
I have been using this method to access a 200GB drive in my cube. However, I installed a CPU upgrade and with it, reset NVRAM. This made access to the partition above 128GB go away, and I had stored the docs on how to enable lba-48 on that upper partition...
 At least I had used "safe" partitioning, so my 127.75 GB boot partition was still available. Since this isn't documented except on the lost website, here's how to do it from Open Firmware: (Edit) See Pareis post below. While this script will work, it is not optimal. Use his patch - it's easier, too! Open Firmware patch to enable lba-48 large disks under OS X Jaguar & later (NOT OS9!) Don't type the line numbers or leading spaces, replace underscores with spaces, and {return} means hit the return key. Don't type the comments after {return}. Boot Command + Option + O + F enter Open Firmware 1 nvedit{return} invoke editor 2 dev_hd{return} 4 lines of Forth to add lba-48 to hd property list 3 dev_..{return} 4 "_"_"_lba-48"_property{return} 5 device-end{return} 6 {press Ctrl-C} quit nvedit 7 nvstore{return} store file in NVRAM 8 setenv_use-nvramrc?_true{return} add NVRAM commands to O-F environment 9 reset-all{return} The last command will restart your Mac. Regard this post as off-site storage for next time I get careless!  WARNING! Use at your own RISC CPU, YMMV, etc. Keep backups especially of what's above 128GB because it can & will vanish unexpectedly from a dead battery, unplugging your video riser, whatever! This post has been edited by H3NRY: Jun 29 2008, 05:50 PM -------------------- Cube 1: Sonnet 1GHz/2MB, 1.5G RAM, 500G HD, NV6200, 20" Cinema LCD, H-K balls & CubeWoofer
Cube 2: Stock 500 MHz, DVD, 1.5G RAM, 250G HD, 17" Studio LCD Cube 3: Stock 450 Mhz, CD-RW, 768M RAM, 80G HD, 17" Studio LCD Others from Apple ][ (1977) to Mini (2009). |
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| Pareis |
Jun 29 2008, 10:50 AM
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#15
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Cube User Group: Members Posts: 28 Joined: 11-February 08 Member No.: 8,642 Gender:Not Telling Where From?:Lost in the white |
QUOTE(H3NRY) Since this isn't documented except on the lost website, … I have a mirror of my articles in a blog at blogger.com (also referenced in my profile), including the article on LBA-48 and a download link for the enable-lba48 "just-doubleclick-me" script.QUOTE 2 dev_hd{return} 4 lines of Forth to add lba-48 to hd property list This sequence (usually) works, but lba-48 has to become a property of the ATA controllers node, not the hard disks - it's a statement about the bus and implicitly applies to both hard disks that might be connected. This code could address the wrong node (and thereby fail) when the devalias hd gets redefined (for good reasons as given for the second Set HD to start volume in OF script). Compare this to the direct path dev mac-io/ata-4 used in my enable-lba48 script.3 dev_..{return} QUOTE Keep backups especially of what's above 128GB because it can & will vanish unexpectedly from a dead battery, unplugging your video riser, whatever! It will only be inaccessible until the lba-48 property is set again (just to keep this clear).-------------------- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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