Upgrade G4

[xanotos]

Hi all. I had already purchased a G4 Sawtooth 400mhz with 768 ram, scsi hard drive and basic video card for $130

I found out someone was selling a G4 Sawtooth 500mhz with 1gig ram, 2 raid hard drives and dvd-ram drive for $150 and bought it.

My question is how can I remove the raid aspect of the drives and use them as separate drives?
By the way, I'm new to mac and don't know what to do.

Do you guys think I got a good deal on them? Also, where do I get Ram DVD discs? Can I use regular DVD-R discs?

Wish I could use an ADC monitor I have with the Sawtooth case without buying an ADC adapter.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I don't know about the RAID array, but if you've got an ADC display you want to hook up, and you're not picky about having a really good video card, you can probably pick up and older ADC card for well under $100.00. Probably the Mac edition G4MX is your best bet.

 

[xanotos]

Well, from what I have read, the sawtooth model doesn't have the 27(?) watts to power the AGP card with ADC. The info might be wrong. Hope it is.

 

[cubist]

Unfortunately, you're right. The Sawtooth does not supply ADC power, so you have to use the DVI connector with a DVI->ADC adapter. And that adapter only works with the LCD monitors, BTW. If you have the Apple CRT with the ADC connector (with the big clear back) you are completely out of luck.

 

[xanotos]

Damn that sucks. That is the monitor I have, the one with the clear back.

So, with 500mhz I'm pretty good with email and basic stuff on the computer right? Their is no need to upgrade anything?

Also, to clear my conscience on buying another G4, the second one was a good deal?

OH! And last question, what about those DVD-RAM disc....where can I get them. Can I use a regular DVD-R disc?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CanadaRAM]

No you cannot use DVD-R -- you have to find specifically DVD-RAM blanks.
You should be able to undo the RAID configuration, just by formatting the drives individually. I haven't tried un-raiding a pair though.

 

[xanotos]

Ok, so I have to use DVD-ram. Do they have to be in that cartridge or can I use it standalone?

 

[NYmacAttack]

Ok, so I have to use DVD-ram. Do they have to be in that cartridge or can I use it standalone?

I've only seen them in the cartridges but I could be wrong.