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mediahound · Dec 20, 2003, 10:34 PM

I understand the G5 uses serial ATA. Is this backwards compatible with normal ATA? In otder words, can I put my old hard drive from my G4 into a G5?

Catfish_Man · Dec 20, 2003, 10:57 PM

nope. Different kind of cable.

mediahound · Dec 21, 2003, 12:25 AM

darn. so if i get a G5, the bit 120 GIG hard disk i recently added to my G4 will sorta go to waste. oh well, at least it was only like $100...

saru boy · Dec 21, 2003, 04:08 AM

Originally posted by mediahound:
darn. so if i get a G5, the bit 120 GIG hard disk i recently added to my G4 will sorta go to waste. oh well, at least it was only like $100...

If you're gonna throw it away, send it to me, I'll pay for shipping.

Seriously, just get a firewire case. You can get them for around $50 (FW400) or a bit over $100 (FW800).

D'Espice · Dec 21, 2003, 04:35 AM

There are ways to connect a P-ATA harddrive to a S-ATA controller - we call them adapters

rhogue islander · 10:28 AM

The interface with the Superdrive is ATA. Someone mentioned in another thread running a new (two connector) ATA cable up to the optical drive bay and placing the ATA hard disk on top of the Superdrive. I suppose you'd end up running the Superdrive in the slave position, although this could affect its performance.

The alternative would be to install an ATA interface card and run a molex splitter from the Superdrive to supply power to the ATA hard disk. You'd also have to run an ATA ribbon cable from the PCI card section up to the hard disk section. I do not know if there is enough room to accommodate these connections within the G5 case as I have not tried this myself.

As the post above mentions, there are adaptors that will do the job too. www.barefeets.com made mention of an adaptor that would fit with the drive installed in hard drive bay of a G5.

saru boy · Dec 21, 2003, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by rhogue islander:
The interface with the Superdrive is ATA. Someone mentioned in another thread running a new (two connector) ATA cable up to the optical drive bay and placing the ATA hard disk on top of the Superdrive. I suppose you'd end up running the Superdrive in the slave position, although this could affect its performance.

The alternative would be to install an ATA interface card and run a molex splitter from the Superdrive to supply power to the ATA hard disk. You'd also have to run an ATA ribbon cable from the PCI card section up to the hard disk section. I do not know if there is enough room to accommodate these connections within the G5 case as I have not tried this myself.

No offense to the original poster, but do you honestly think someone who doesn't know the difference between ATA and SATA will be using molex splitters and running cables up and down the case of a G5 or jerry-rigging a SATA-PATA adapter?

Plus, this issue has been discussed to death, although I guarantee we'll see a dozen more threads before peoplestart realizing what a pain in the ass it is to use PATA drives in the G5

Spliffdaddy · Dec 21, 2003, 09:39 PM

Ain't any more involved than installing a drive into a firewire case - like you suggested.

saru boy · Dec 22, 2003, 06:55 PM

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
Ain't any more involved than installing a drive into a firewire case - like you suggested.

Nope, you are SO wrong on that. An external firewire drive is specifically and intentionally designed to accept a 3.5 inch IDE drive and it's rather easy to do that, and the cases come with clear instructions on installation.

On the other hand, Apple NEVER intended for anyone to install a PATA/IDE hard drive into a G5. There are NO official instructions and you may very well void your warranty doing so.

I don't recall having to mess with the motherboard or move fans or split cabling the last time I put a hard drive into a firewire case. Seriously, don't go putting ideas into this guy's head and have him end up with a fried G5.

D'Espice · Dec 23, 2003, 12:04 AM

I really wouldn't know why he would fry his G5 by putting in a P-ATA drive. P-ATA is basically compatible to S-ATA - you can use a P-ATA drive using an adaptor with every S-ATA controller out there.

Spliffdaddy · 12:39 AM

Desktop hard drives are easily damaged when mounted in external, moveable enclosures. Picture a platter coated with a soft layer of iron dust spinning at over 5,000 rpm with metal read/write heads zipping back and forth across it - floating half a hair away from contacting the platter. Now nudge that hard drive with a coffee cup. Scrape. There went your most irreplaceable data. The heads never crash on dead space, don't ya know.

It's barely safe to jostle or jolt a hard drive when powered-off with the heads in a 'park' position.

I don't see the harm in connecting a hard drive to the existing IDE channel. Leave the optical drive set to 'master' and make sure the hard drive is set on 'slave.

All you need is a standard 40pin IDE cable that has 2 headers instead of 1 (assuming the G5 ships with a single header cable). You can buy them in lengths up to one meter. You'll need a 'splitter' (or 'Y' adapter) for the optical drive's power cable if there are no unused 4pin molex connectors on your G5s power supply. Total cost of IDE cable and power splitter is 5 to 10 dollars. Might have to get creative with mounting the hard drive. I suggest Velcro. Remove the hard drive if you transport your G5.

D'Espice · Dec 23, 2003, 12:29 AM

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
I don't see the harm in connecting a hard drive to the existing IDE channel. Leave the optical drive set to 'master' and make sure the hard drive is set on 'slave.

All you need is a standard 40pin IDE cable that has 2 headers instead of 1 (assuming the G5 ships with a single header cable). You can buy them in lengths up to one meter. You'll need a 'splitter' (or 'Y' adapter) for the optical drive's power cable if there are no unused 4pin molex connectors on your G5s power supply. Total cost of IDE cable and power splitter is 5 to 10 dollars. Might have to get creative with mounting the hard drive. I suggest Velcro. Remove the hard drive if you transport your G5.

Yeah, that would work to since the optical drive is definitely P-ATA not S-ATA.
And btw, a 1m IDE cable is not ATA compatible - according to the starndards, the max. length is 42cm. Cables longer than that can be the cause of big trouble like CRC errors, data transfer errors, etc.

saru boy · Dec 23, 2003, 07:45 AM

Originally posted by D'Espice:
I really wouldn't know why he would fry his G5 by putting in a P-ATA drive. P-ATA is basically compatible to S-ATA - you can use a P-ATA drive using an adaptor with every S-ATA controller out there.

He can fry his G5 from pulling stuff out of it and running wires all over the place.

Ok, maybe he'll use that PATA drive in his G5 for years without a hitch. Fine - I grant you that it's very likely nothing will go wrong.

However, he could accidently jar a wire or forget to connect something while he's running wires down from the optical drive bay and fry his motherboard.

What would you rather do? Stick a $100 drive into a $50 case and not mess with the internals of a $3000 machine, or go against specific Apple recommendations and put the drive where it's not designed to go?

Maybe you've got the experience and confidence to do this, but you can't really recommend that a person who doesn't know the difference between SATA and PATA do it.

BTW, on a completely unrelated topic, does anyone know the power rating of the PMG5's power supply? I'd have to guess it's up there, given that you have to power 2 processors running at 80+ watts, plus the other assorted goodies.

saru boy · Dec 23, 2003, 07:54 AM

Originally posted by D'Espice:
And btw, a 1m IDE cable is not ATA compatible - according to the starndards, the max. length is 42cm. Cables longer than that can be the cause of big trouble like CRC errors, data transfer errors, etc.

Hmmm, I never knew that. Given that 42cm is about 16 inches, I guess all the cables in my PC box are out of spec. I have 2 that are 2 feet long and one that's 3 feet long. At least they glow in the dark.