Post your PowerPC SSD Drive model!

[rabidz7]

Power mac G5 quad

OCZ agility 3

THIS DRIVE IS NOT BOOTABLE!!!!!!! BUT IT WORKS GREAT FOR STORAGE

[skinniezinho]

Originally Posted by rabidz7

Power mac G5 quad

OCZ agility 3

THIS DRIVE IS NOT BOOTABLE!!!!!!! BUT IT WORKS GREAT FOR STORAGE

Isn't bootable on the G5 right?May be bootable on other systems.
Have you tried with the latest firmware 2.25?
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ssd_tools/SandForce_Based/

Any chance of some benchmarks?
It's strange that thing with G5's not able to boot/see certain drives.

[rabidz7]

Originally Posted by skinniezinho

Isn't bootable on the G5 right?May be bootable on other systems.
Have you tried with the latest firmware 2.25?
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ssd_tools/SandForce_Based/

Any chance of some benchmarks?
It's strange that thing with G5's not able to boot/see certain drives.

When I installed osx on the OCZ ssd the mac restarted and booted from the disc because the drive disappeared from osx and disk utility. I installed osx on the mechanical drive and it booted like normal from the drive and the ssd appears in finder when booting from the mechanical drive. I am using the ssd to store apps that I use a lot.

The same thing happened in a G5 imac, except there was not a 2nd hard drive to install osx on.

[skinniezinho]

Originally Posted by rabidz7

When I installed osx on the OCZ ssd the mac restarted and booted from the disc because the drive disappeared from osx and disk utility. I installed osx on the mechanical drive and it booted like normal from the drive and the ssd appears in finder when booting from the mechanical drive. I am using the ssd to store apps that I use a lot.

The same thing happened in a G5 imac, except there was not a 2nd hard drive to install osx on.

Very strange.
As I said, a firmware update could help.

[ybz90]

Originally Posted by rabidz7

Power mac G5 quad

OCZ agility 3

THIS DRIVE IS NOT BOOTABLE!!!!!!! BUT IT WORKS GREAT FOR STORAGE

Did you format it correctly? As a boot drive for a PowerPC Mac, it has to use the Apple Partition Map setting, instead of MBR (Windows) and GUID (Intel Macs).

Try erasing it and re-partitioning it in Disk Utility as APM, clone it back over, and see if that will help.

[skinniezinho]

Here are the benchmarks for my Vertex 2 fw1.37
Sonnet Tempo Sata PCI , fw5.1.3

Powermac G4 GE fw4.2.8
Sonnet 1.2GHz CPU
2GB PC133






Guess it is the max of controller/pci bus.
Drive is clonning, I'll report impressions later

[ybz90]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pre-SSD #s to compare. I saved a document with the Xbench scores, but forgot to copy it over when I wiped that drive. Derp.

Anyway, I do recall that the disk test scored around ~26 total score, and in particular, the worst numbers were the random uncached read and write, which were around 0.4 and 0.7 MB/s. The highest any number got was around ~35MB/s if memory serves.

In comparison, the cheapo 32GB SSD from Kingspec yielded the following scores:

Results 60.12
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.8 (9L31a)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model PowerBook5,8
Processor PowerPC G4 @ 1.67 GHz
L1 Cache 32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 512K @ 1.67 GHz
Bus Frequency 167 MHz
Video Card ATY,RV360M11
Drive Type KingSpec KSD-PA25.6-032MS KingSpec KSD-PA25.6-032MS
Disk Test 62.14
Sequential 83.81
Uncached Write 72.83 44.71 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 68.10 38.53 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 76.63 22.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 159.58 80.20 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 49.38
Uncached Write 16.45 1.74 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 58.82 18.83 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2302.04 9.23 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 407.65 75.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Not mindblowing by any means, and would probably be higher if I had opted for bigger capacities, but certainly a tremendous upgrade over the old PATA mechanical drive. It's not really just a numbers game either; the system feels snappier and few apps take more than one or two bounces to open. Not a bad upgrade for $40, and I feel better knowing it doesn't use the JMicron controller, even if the SMi is pretty unknown. I will update if it slows down over time, but we'll see.

After using WhatSize and Monolingual to trim the languages and non-PPC 32-bit architectures completely out of the entire operating system, I have around 14GB free. The PowerBook's restoration is finally complete! The best part about this is the total silence of the computer. When the fans aren't on (and they usually are not), there is not a single moving component in the machine.

[666sheep]

^^^For comparison's sake here is my almost 3 years old 32GB JMicron Transcend in Clamshell:

Results	46.42	
System Info		
Xbench Version		1.3
System Version		10.4.11 (8S165)
Physical RAM		576 MB
Model		PowerBook2,2
Processor		PowerPC G3 @ 467 MHz
Version		750CXe v2.4 v2.2
L1 Cache		32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache		256K @ 467 MHz
Bus Frequency		67 MHz
Video Card		ATY,RageM3
Drive Type		TS32GSSD25-M
Disk Test	46.42	
Sequential	40.50	
Uncached Write	43.99	27.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write	48.15	27.25 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read	27.06	7.92 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read	54.65	27.47 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random	54.37	
Uncached Write	19.44	2.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write	68.76	22.01 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read	996.33	7.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read	151.94	28.19 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[alaska man]

hello, noob to the forum.
i scored a power mac G5 (dual 2 ghz, power pc g5) ( power mac 7,3) ( 6 gigs of ram ) for $50.00

so i thought just for fun i would put a ssd in it.
i have crucial v4 128gb sata 3Gb/s

i can not get the g5 to recognize the v4 ssd as a boot drive.
it will see the drive and access it through a usb connection or installed in the lower internal bay.
i have tried installing leopard with an install disk,
carbon copy clone in target mode with my macbook pro,
and using its own disk utility to restore the new drive from the existing hdd.

the existing hdd is partitioned with panther on one partition and leopard on the other. it boots fine with both from the hdd.

so i need to know what is wrong ( or not set up correctly ) for the ssd
i have serched google ( led me here ) and can not find the info i need.
any help would be appreciated.

[zackkmac]

Originally Posted by alaska man

hello, noob to the forum.
i scored a power mac G5 (dual 2 ghz, power pc g5) ( power mac 7,3) ( 6 gigs of ram ) for $50.00

so i thought just for fun i would put a ssd in it.
i have crucial v4 128gb sata 3Gb/s

i can not get the g5 to recognize the v4 ssd as a boot drive.
it will see the drive and access it through a usb connection or installed in the lower internal bay.
i have tried installing leopard with an install disk,
carbon copy clone in target mode with my macbook pro,
and using its own disk utility to restore the new drive from the existing hdd.

the existing hdd is partitioned with panther on one partition and leopard on the other. it boots fine with both from the hdd.

so i need to know what is wrong ( or not set up correctly ) for the ssd
i have serched google ( led me here ) and can not find the info i need.
any help would be appreciated.

Have you made sure the partition map is set to "Apple Partition Map"? Also, even though I'm sure it is, double-check to ensure it is formatted as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

[alaska man]

Originally Posted by zackkmac

Have you made sure the partition map is set to "Apple Partition Map"? Also, even though I'm sure it is, double-check to ensure it is formatted as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

yes. every time i try to install, i erase the drive and reformat as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

as an update. i have come back to this after my initial try several months ago.
to be thorough i just erased and reformatted as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled),
put a leopard install disc in the optical drive and tried to install to the ssd via usb.
i get a window that says
can not install osx on to the ssd "mac osx can not start up from this volume"

[zackkmac]

You confirmed that you have it set to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) but are you absolutely sure the partition scheme is correct? Those are two separate steps.

To check, boot the installer, go to Disk Utility, click on your SSD. Then click the Partition tab and look for the "Options" button. Click that and you will get 3 choices, Apple Partition Map, G.U.I.D. Partition, and Master Boot Record. Be certain it is set to Apple Partition Map.

If it is, then I have no idea as the drive would be set up correctly for use with Mac OS X.

[alaska man]

Originally Posted by zackkmac

You confirmed that you have it set to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) but are you absolutely sure the partition scheme is correct? Those are two separate steps.

To check, boot the installer, go to Disk Utility, click on your SSD. Then click the Partition tab and look for the "Options" button. Click that and you will get 3 choices, Apple Partition Map, G.U.I.D. Partition, and Master Boot Record. Be certain it is set to Apple Partition Map.

If it is, then I have no idea as the drive would be set up correctly for use with Mac OS X.

is this necessary if i am not partitioning the drive but just trying to install to the drive as a whole. ??

----------

Originally Posted by alaska man

is this necessary if i am not partitioning the drive but just trying to install to the drive as a whole. ??

ok i did that, it was set to guid so i change it to the option that said it was for booting on a power pc . and it still comes up as not a bootable option in the installer. i did this twice.

[zackkmac]

Unfortunately I'm not sure what else you could do now. It sounds like you have partitioned and formatted it correctly, so it should work. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

[alaska man]

ok , i am completely flummoxed.
i pulled it from the usb, installed it in the internal drive bay. i can not even get it to mount when installed in the internal drive bay ( it used to )
Disc utility in the installer or booted into leopard on hdd will not even see it.
So put it back into the usb ran installer disc utility and partitioned again for power pc . it still says the drive can not be used for start up. ?

[alaska man]

ok, so i used my macpro to partition it.
took it back to the power mac. same thing.
so out of a - lets see what this does effort- i double clicked on the icon of the ssd drive ( in installer ) and boom i get a prompt that says the drive must be erased for install, so i click on the erase drive option and off she goes. so it says it is installing.

[Frost7]

Originally Posted by Bob Kiwi

I use an OWC Legacy SSD for a Titanium PB G4 (1GHz, last model to boot Mac OS 9).

Use it for Mac OS 9 mainly, with Mac OS X 10.5 as an emergency OS (that is terribly slow, I think I'd rather run Mac OS X 10.2 just for nostalgia...).

Mac OS 9 on an SSD, on a 1GHz laptop, is pretty great. No problems and runs for weeks straight without reboots in a clamshell mode (screen shut and external display and keyboard/mouse) so I'm quite happy.

Just have to make sure to get a 120GB or smaller drive as I'm pretty certain Mac OS 9 can't boot on bigger drives (and some Macs pre-2001 are not 128GB+ native without third party software).

Makes me kind of wonder what a Firewire 400 enclosure with an SSD would bench, and if it'd be faster than my NAS for the PowerBook.

FYI: PowerBook G4 Titaniums, starting with the DVI model, have 48-bit addressing, so they can use any drive that will physically fit. I've been using a 320GB WD Scorpio Blue in my 1 GHz TiBook for a couple years now. Also, Mac OS 9's boot drive limit is 200GB. Anything at or below that (I made the boot partition 198 GB just to be safe) and you're fine. OS9 can read and write to drives larger than 200GB, it just can't start up from them unless it's from a ≤200GB partition on the drive.

Also, got a question. I've got the same model PowerBook and I've been thinking of putting an OWC Mercury Legacy Pro in it. How did installation go with the Foxconn connector? I wasn't able to get it connected when I worked on mine and I ended up returning the Mercury. The pins on the drive are offset by a millimeter or two from industry standard PATA HDDs, so I wasn't able to get the connector to plug in without forcing it because it was a couple millimeters off from where it was supposed to be. I asked OWC if this was a manufacturing defect or if they're all like that, but I never got a response.

Regardless, I've been thinking of rebuying next month and getting some spare rubber mounts for the hard drive and modifying them with an x-acto so the drive sits a couple mm further in so it'll fit.

How's your experience with noise/heat/battery life running your PowerBook off the Mercury?

[alaska man]

Ok . leopard installed on the ssd and i was able to put it in the lower internal bay. i was having some issues, it was only booting to it when i held down the option key and selected it.
i set it as the default in start up preferences. after it was booted and running it was painfully slow . i get the beach ball when opening programs.

i have restarted many times and seems to be working itself out. it will boot now with out holding the option key and it has opened cs3 rather quickly.
("quickly quickly there's no time") i am running some maintenance programs and hoping it will settle in to its new skin. thanks zackkmac for a key piece of info. i will give an update when it is all hunky dory.

[spyguy10709]

Originally Posted by Intell

While not a true SSD, 16GB Transcend CompactFlash card with EIDE adapter in my G3 iMac. Works very well and it maxes out the ATA/33 bus with easy.

I don't usually agree with you Intell, but I have the same thing going in my PMG3 B&W and my Clamshell - this works really really well.

[alaska man]

my power pc model is a
power mac G5
dual 2 ghz,
6 gigs of ram

and it breaths again.

thanks.

[MisterKeeks]

Originally Posted by spyguy10709

I don't usually agree with you Intell, but I have the same thing going in my PMG3 B&W and my Clamshell - this works really really well.

Why not? I'm pretty sure he knows everything.

[philz4life]

Power Mac G4 MDD Firewire 800
Dual 1.25 GHZ 1.75 GB RAM
I have a Patriot Torqx 2 32 GB SSD, and once I get a PCI SATA card for it, I will use the SSD as my boot drive. Unfortunately, all the SATA disk controllers are very expensive, so I'm looking for a cheaper one.

[robertosh]

¿Any recommendation for a PATA SSD for a iBook G4? I don't mind the price and the capacity (32Gb will be enough...)..I use 10.5. I'm a little lost....

[666sheep]

Originally Posted by philz4life

Power Mac G4 MDD Firewire 800
Dual 1.25 GHZ 1.75 GB RAM
I have a Patriot Torqx 2 32 GB SSD, and once I get a PCI SATA card for it, I will use the SSD as my boot drive. Unfortunately, all the SATA disk controllers are very expensive, so I'm looking for a cheaper one.

Google SiL3512 and wiebetech or use SATA->IDE bridge based on Marvell controller

[spyguy10709]

Originally Posted by MisterKeeks

Why not? I'm pretty sure he knows everything.

Long story. Sort of was a jerk to me.