[firedrake]

I will be receiving my DP 2GHz G5 on Saturday, according to my Order Status. I have a 160 GB HD in my G3 that I'd like to migrate into the extra slot in the new machine. I'm mostly an art geek, gang. Can I do this, or do I need to go buy an enclosure for the old drive that has so much of my art and data on it?

Thanks,

Jim

[Thinine]

Nope. The G5 uses Serial-ATA, while your G3 probably has ATA-66. There are adapters, but none of them are certified for the G5. I've heard that they work though. An external enclosure is also good, especially since it gives you portability.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by Thinine:
Nope. The G5 uses Serial-ATA, while your G3 probably has ATA-66. There are adapters, but none of them are certified for the G5. I've heard that they work though. An external enclosure is also good, especially since it gives you portability.

A Firewire enclosure is the way to go. You do NOT want to use an adapter.

[Spliffdaddy]

If an internal ATA/SATA adapter works, why not use it?

An external enclosure is a ugly and expensive way to solve the problem, in my opinion.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If an internal ATA/SATA adapter works, why not use it?

An external enclosure is a ugly and expensive way to solve the problem, in my opinion.

Because Apple says not to do it:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86416

Power Mac G5 computers have only Serial ATA busses. There are third-party adapters to connect Parallel ATA hard drives to Serial ATA busses, but these adapters are not supported for use on the Power Mac G5 computer. If you wish to upgrade your hard drive or add a second hard drive, you should use only native Serial ATA hard drives.

A native Serial ATA hard drive has the Serial ATA data and power connector on the hard drive and does not require the use of adapters or special cables.

[Spliffdaddy]

Almost no manufacturer supports 3rd-party anythings. Apple doesn't support 3rd-party external enclosures, either. The fact is that the ATA/SATA adapters DO work because they are transparent to the SATA controller. A PATA hard drive 'looks' and behaves just like SATA hard drive as far as the controller is concerned. Granted, not every adapter will work in every machine - since some were created specifically for use within the manufacturers own product line.

It's still my opinion that a ATA/SATA adapter is just as viable a solution as an external enclosure - and far more appealing to the eye.

[Link]

The reason PATA<- SATA adapters aren't supported is because (guess what people) 99% of the adapters don't fit into the space where the HD is!!

(the door won't close. lol)

You can either use a PCI controller card (not sure if it'll fit with the g5's PCI spec tho), or take the SATA cable, get an extension, run it through a PCI slot and out of the case, and then use your adapter

[Cadaver]

Link is correct. Virtually none of the SATA adapters will fit in the space provided by the hard drive bay. If you can find one that fits, then give it a try.

An external case is your best choice. A FireWire 800 case (make sure to update the case's firmware if necessary - see Apple's FW800 warning) will be plenty fast. The FW800 interface is spec'd to higher speeds than any single hard drive can produce anyway.

Spiffdaddy - why do you say Apple doesn't support third party external enclosures? While they certainly wont service or warrantee someone else's product, there is nothing in Apple's usage policy to prevent or discourage anyone from using an external FireWire drive enclosure, either self-built or pre-built. In fact, Apple sells several different brands through both the Apple Retail Stores and the online store.

[Spliffdaddy]

My point was that the term "not supported" merely means Apple isn't obligated to offer service for that hardware. It doesn't mean the hardware won't perform correctly.

All of the current ATA/SATA adapters currently offered for retail sale will fit just fine in a G5 if mounted remotely away from the hard drive using a male/female IDE extension cable or gender changer on a common female/female IDE cable. Whether any of the adapters will work with the G5, I dunno. Probably most of them.

[Rychiar]

i didnt realize this, so the 2 120 gigers i have in my G4 will be useless when i get the G5, lovely, i was hopin for an easy switch... so where does one buy these newfangled hardrives, are they g5 only?

[andrewbw]

uh. You can buy them at Best Buy. Or Circuit City. Or CompUSA. Or newegg.com. Or CDW.com. Or Fry's.

Hell, probably Walmart, too.

Nothing particularly "newfangled" (whatever that means) about SATA drives. Been around on the PC side for a while.

[Rychiar]

I've just never noticed a distinction in types of drives aside from labtop and regular desktop IDE drives. The one i just bought is a Western Digital 120 gig 7200rpm IDE/ATA
it says ultra ata capable and up to 100mb/s data transfer using ultra ata 100