Mac Help

[down2earth2]

I upgraded from my flat screen iMac to a G5 a few months back which has been wonderful, but already I want more screen space. Is there any way I can use the iMac as a second screen (and use it's hard drive for back up)?

[Scott]

No on the second monitor. But your video card does support dual displays. You just need to hook a standard monitor up to the G5. Check the connections, if you're using the DVI port on the card you'll need to use the ADC port for the second monitor. If you get or have a monitor that has a DVI connection, you can buy a DVI to ADC adapter from Apple (or someplace else) for around $40.

As for the hard drive, you can network the iMac and the G5 and then use the space on the iMac. This would be easy if you are already using a router. If you aren't using a router and have your DSL or cable modem already plugged into the G5 you'll need a router. Or you'll need to swap cables when you want to network the two Macs.

Or you can purchase a hard drive enclosure, usually around $40, and pull the hard drive out of the iMac, place it in the enclosure and you'll have an external drive. Not sure what iMac you have but I think all iMacs ship with IDEE(ATA) drives, the G5s use SATA (Serial ATA) drives so you can't put the iMacs hard drive internally in the G5.