How do you replace or upgrade the Zip drive in the Power Mac G4 models? Can this drive bay be used for other purposes?

Like all internal upgrades in the Power Macintosh G4 models, replacing the Zip drive with another Zip drive is a simple and straightforward procedure. Apple provides PDF instructions to walk you through the steps, specifically for the Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, and Quicksilver lines, but the process is similar for all models.

However, if the Zip drive in your Power Mac G4 long ago perished from an acute case of the click of death -- and you have little reason to replace it with an obsolete technology -- it could be used to hold yet another hard drive, or you could consider installing something a little more interesting, like the GeeThree Sweet Multiport.

The company explains that the Sweet Multiport provides:

Additional FireWire and USB ports, and a 5-in-1 memory card reader [CompactFlash, IBM Microdrive, Memory Stick, SD, and MMC (the "Quicksilver" version is "shorter" and only supports CF and Microdrive)] for G4 and G3 tower systems. The ports are conveniently located in the drive bay under the CD/DVD drive, giving you instant access to these ports. You no longer have to get on your knees and blindly reach around the back of your system to connect your FireWire and USB peripherals.

Essentially, it replaces the Zip drive on these models with a USB/Firewire hub and a media card reader. Installation is straightforward; one installs the "front" component -- the all-in-one USB/Firewire hub and media card reader as well as a faceplate that gives it more of a "stock" appearance -- and then a PCI card attached with an interconnect cable. The front component has two Firewire "400" ports and one USB port and the PCI card has two Firewire ports and two USB ports.

Since it essentially is just a hub, you have to run cables from one USB port and one Firewire "400" port on the PCI card and plug them into corresponding system ports. After running cables around, you end up with one extra USB port and two extra Firewire "400" ports, each on the front of the system.

It won a MacWorld "Best in Show" Award, but user feedback for the product has been mixed -- some love its convenience whereas others found it to cause problems with their systems. If "jumpered" off of a USB 2.0 PCI card -- rather than an onboard USB port -- it supports USB 2.0. Although it supports both MacOS 9 and MacOS X, it reportedly does not work at all under MacOS X 10.5 "Leopard".

GeeThree no longer has any of the Sweet Multiport upgrades available, but site sponsor Operator Headgap Systems has a limited number left for the pre-Quicksilver Power Mac G4 models.