Maximum hard drive size for 5300

[spaceinvader12]

I realize I've made quite a few threads for my 5300, and this is my last major question for now. I'm mainly asking because I've gotten conflicting information from across the internet.

My friend called me to tell me he needs the CF card back for a system that needs it, so I had to pull it out of the 5300. So, I'm probably going to be buying another one, and I was wondering the maximum capacity CF card my Powerbook can work with. It probably would have system 7.5.5 running on the card, since 8.1 kept throwing bus errors despite working on the Hard Drive and I've heard 8.5/6 is entirely too slow for a system with only 40MB ram.

I've heard everything from 4 to 8.2 to 2TB, and don't know what the real answer is. I'm obviously not gonna go for hundreds of gigabytes but enough storages for plenty of games and music would be very welcome. So, how big can I go?

 

[avadondragon]

Well System 7.5.5 only supports HFS not HFS+ so that limits you to 4gb partitions there.  Also the ROM in the 5300 has problems with HD Target Mode with drives above 4gb but that's only an issue if you want to hook it up as an external SCSI drive on another Mac.  Beyond that I think there was a bug at the 8.2gb mark that could be overcome via the OS if you run OS 8.6+ but you said you wanted to avoid that due to the lack of RAM.  I'd say stick to 8gb or less just to be safe with 4gb max partition size.

 

[johnklos]

You can use drives up to 2TB. The first partition just needs to be less than 128 gigs, I believe, or less than 4 gigs if you're booting 7.6.1, I think, or 2 gigs if you're booting 7.5.5.

I've used 500 gig drives in a Quadra 630. Certain limits, like the 128 gig limit, came later because of fancier IDE chips which did a lot more on their own but also came with the limits common to x86 PCs of the era.

 

[spaceinvader12]

Thanks for your advice, both of you. It appears the 4GB card partitioned and ran 7.5.5 perfectly so getting a second one of that size is an option. The main reason I hesitated to install 8.5/8.6 and play around with it was because of the time it took to get everything configured.

Does anyone have experience with those on a 5300? On one hand, there's only 40 MB of ram, but on the other it drops 68k support which means it doesn't have to emulate 68k code, which I've heard could speed it up and would let me use as large of a CF card as I could reasonably get. Maybe I'll get two card of differing sizes and play around a bit if I can't find a satisfactory answer as to the best OS/size combo is.

 

[Byrd]

With enough RAM and a fast HD, I've happily run OS 8.6 on a 5300c. I find it much more stable and modern than 8.1/8.5

 

[just.in.time]

A 5300cs used to be my daily driver many years ago I also had 40mb of RAM, along with the stock 750mb hard drive. I found 8.6 to be a decent performer. I did keep Virtual Memory turned on and set to 64mb of extra RAM. I primarily used it for AOL 5.something, Apple Works 5/6, Office 98, and many games of the time from 68k up to 100mhz PowerPC requirements. Obviously your usage case may be different than mine. Just thought I'd throw a card in for being pro-8.6 on a 40mb ram situation.

9 and 9.1 were definitely bumping the RAM ceiling and making extensive usage of Virtual Memory for what I used it with at the time.

 

[spaceinvader12]

Glad to hear 8.6 runs pretty well on the 5300cs, once I get another CF card I'll probably be installing that. Probably won't go to OS9. If I find a good deal on multiples, I may also get a 4GB card for 7.5.5 too along with the bigger one I'm going to try to get. If only cards and adapters weren't so expensive...

 

[just.in.time]

I'm excited to hear how it works out.  If everything goes well please list the adapter and CF card you end up using.  I currently have a PowerBook 3400c from around the same era.  It's a few line items back on the project list, but in a few months I would like to do a storage upgrade to it and a recap of the LCD display hardware (ghosting problems, different thread).

 

[FacnyFreddy]

I've kept my System 7.6.1 partition to 1.9GB (HFS) and not had any issues. HFS+ can safely handle 4-8GB partitions. So a 32GB CF card would be ideal if you want to stick with that media technology.

I am assuming you are using a CF <-> IDE adapter, correct? That shouldn't pose a problem. 133x speed CF cards tend to be the "base" models these days and work quite well.

I've posted else where how you can use mSATA drives and adapters.

The "largest" drive you could setup with 8x8GB partitions would be 64GB.

I've not tried 8.6 on a 5300 yet. Still messing around with 7.6.1 and 8.1 at this point.

But, I do recall a former co-worker using 8.6 on his 5300ce before he upgraded to a Wallstreet/PDQ (a bloody fortune new, back then). He used his 5300ce and PDQ for programming with CodeWarrior (4? 5?)