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USB compatibility
http://x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21482		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Paul1965 [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:  USB compatibility
I need to get a backup drive for a PowerPC iMac G5 (yes, that old). The drives I'm looking at use USB 2.0 or 3.0 but I can't find out what version of USB the iMac uses. Will it matter? Presumably the drive will work with any USB but might simply transfer data at a lower rate?
Author:  jonbwfc [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB compatibility
Yup, USB is backward compatible. Although backing up over USB 1 is a fairly non-optimal process, you'd be better trying to find a cheap firewire drive.

If you want to know exactly what Mac model you've got and what it has, try the free MacTracker app.
Author:  Paul1965 [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB compatibility
Thanks!
Author:  steve74 [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB compatibility
All G5 iMacs are USB 2.0, but even if you buy a USB 3 drive it'll work - just at the slower speed. But then Apple had crippled USB back then to make their preferred Firewire interface faster.

How will you be using the backup drive? For Time Machine, any format drive will work (USB 2.0, USB 3 or Firewire 800/400). But, if you're intending to use it as a bootable cloned drive, you'll need Firewire - PowerPC Macs like yours can't boot from USB drives, only Firewire.
Author:  big_D [ Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USB compatibility
Until around 2010 Apple throttled their USB ports to about 1/3 of their theoretical speed (my 2007 iMac gets around 11MB/s out of my USB drive, the same drive on my 2003 Athlon PC manages around 40MB/s.
Author:  Paul1965 [ Thu Mar 06, 2014 1:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB compatibility
steve74 wrote:
How will you be using the backup drive? For Time Machine, any format drive will work (USB 2.0, USB 3 or Firewire 800/400). But, if you're intending to use it as a bootable cloned drive, you'll need Firewire - PowerPC Macs like yours can't boot from USB drives, only Firewire.


Yes, just for Time Machine though I may get a FireWire one later as a bootable drive. Thanks for the info about that.
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