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| Author | Performa 550 (Read 14644 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LCARS
32 MB  Posts: 40  
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on: December 27, 2008, 23:56
I have a 550 that needs a new HD and possibly an upgrade via a Quadra 605 mother board. My questions are, what physical size SCSI drive does this take? In searching for a 50-pin HD with 1-5 GBs of space, I keep finding very large large brick-like drives. It is a 1/2 height drive that fits? Also, has anyone tried the 605 upgrade? Is the 25MHz 040 noticably faster than the 33MHz 030? Thank you. |
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #1 on: December 28, 2008, 15:00
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The information on drive size below is from Wikipedia and more detail can be found here. 5.25 inch: 5.75 in × 1.63 in × 8 in (146.1 mm × 41.4 mm × 203 mm) This smaller form factor, first used in an HDD by Seagate in 1980, was the same size as full height 5¼-inch diameter FDD, i.e., 3.25 inches high. This is twice as high as "half height" commonly used today; i.e., 1.63 in (41.4 mm). Most desktop models of drives for optical 120 mm disks (DVD, CD) use the half height 5¼″ dimension, but it fell out of fashion for HDDs. The Quantum Bigfoot HDD was the last to use it in the late 1990s, with “low-profile” (≈25 mm) and “ultra-low-profile” (≈20 mm) high versions. 3.5 inch: 4 in × 1 in × 5.75 in (101.6 mm × 25.4 mm × 146 mm) = 376.77344cm³ This smaller form factor, first used in an HDD by Rodime in 1984, was the same size as the "half height" 3½″ FDD, i.e., 1.63 inches high. Today has been largely superseded by 1-inch high “slimline” or “low-profile” versions of this form factor which is used by most desktop HDDs. I do not believe that Apple ever used a 5.25" form factor hard drive. Any of the "slimline" drives would fit and I suspect in earlier Macs there would be room for the 1.63" height drive. I have no experience in exchanging motherboards. Many of the later PCI power Mac motherboards are interchangeable. The big concerns in exchanging motherboards would be, is your power supply ample, are the internal connectors compatible and will you have access to the external ports bill
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LCARS
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #2 on: December 28, 2008, 22:21
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Thank you for the reply, Wove. The space in the Performa for the HD is very form fitting. The Wikipedia article was helpful. I hadn't thought of the power supply, but that would be a concern. Even though the 030 chip is rated at 33MHz, do you think that a 040 chip at 25MHz would be faster?
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #3 on: December 29, 2008, 14:33
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The MIPS rating of a 550 is 8.3. The MIPS rating of a 605 is 22. MIPS (millions of instructions per second) is more of a rating of potential than real world performance. The bus speed, attached device speed, cache size, memory latency and efficiency of software all have an impact on performance. However the 605 has a potential almost three times larger than the 550, so it is probably safe to assume it has better real world performance. bill
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beachycove
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16 MB Posts: 31
Reply #4 on: December 31, 2008, 18:01
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What you want is an LC/Performa/Quadra 575 logic board (they are all the same), NOT a Quadra 605/ LC475 logic board. The 575 and the 605/475 have similar capabilities, but vastly different connectors, because the 605 is a modular machine and the 575 an AIO, like the 550. There is no way a 605/ 475 board will work in a 550 without major electronics know-how, bordering on wizardry.
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LCARS
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #5 on: January 03, 2009, 22:55
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Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your comments. LowendMac listed the 605 as an upgrade path, but a 575 sounds like a better bet (at least easier).
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Archemedes
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1 MB Posts: 1
Reply #6 on: January 15, 2009, 00:51
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The hard drive in our Performa 550 became so loud that we could hear it from 50 feet away. We put pillows on top of and on the sides of the Performa, which did dampen the noise somewhat but the noise was still so high pitched (and oscillating) it was unbearable to use. To make a long story short, we bought an external SCSI 100 Zip drive, copied everything from the internal hard drive to the Zip drive and then pulled out the internal hard drive (and left the bay completely empty) and booted the Performa 550 from the Zip drive. The Zip drive is so quiet it is easy to forget its even on. So if you are thinking of getting a new internal hard drive I would recommend you just pull the out the internal hard drive, leave the bay empty, and use an external drive instead (we have been using the external drive for years without any problem). Of course remember to turn off the computer and unplug the power cord before you pull the drive out (which is very easy on the Performa, considering you just open the back panel, push on the tab of the HD sled and pull it out).
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #7 on: January 15, 2009, 02:09
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Quote from: "Archemedes" We put pillows on top of and on the sides of the Performa That is really bad idea. Quote from: "Archemedes" So if you are thinking of getting a new internal hard drive I would recommend you just pull the out the internal hard drive, leave the bay empty, and use an external drive instead (we have been using the external drive for years without any problem). I would say just go with a newer internal drive. I have some newer SCSI drives in some systems and they make as much noise as a drive in any new computer.
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