iMac G5 20" SSD?

iDutchman · Mar 19, 2012

Hi,

I have this old iMac 2Ghz G5 20" 1.5GB RAM (from 2005) in the kitchen. It's the last model before they went with the iSight camera. It has a fairly new 2TB WD Caviar Black HD (one of the best available). I runs OSX 10.4.11 Tiger and is only used for some safari browsing and spotify via Airfoil/Airport Express.

Now, I thought it would be fun, since these are the easy-to-upgrade ones to put an small 60GB SSD in it ( i do not care about space).

I know it's not wise (financially) but I do not care, since it's just for fun. Local stores here sell the Vertex 2/3 or Agility drives. I know these are a total overkill, but they sell around 60-80 euro's.

Would I see a speed increase? The machine now runs flawlessly and not slow. But I always have this thing to get the very best out of everything, especially older machines :apple:

.

I'd like to hear some opinions if it would make a difference (I have SSD's in all my machines varying from 2006-2011). I don't care about the price and stuff like that, so don't start that.

I've had a lot of Macs (before the MBA w/ 27 TB , I had the 27 iMac 16GB RAM/SSD bla bla) in the last years ( I switch a lot).

I just want some feedback, that's all.

iDutchman · Mar 20, 2012

So, I took the plunge and purchased a OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD. I formatted is as Mac OS Journaled witht the PowerPC Apple partition (not GUID). The drive is not getting recognized by the system unfortunately using Tiger install disks..

madmacfan · Mar 20, 2012

iDutchman said:
So, I took the plunge and purchased a OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD. I formatted is as Mac OS Journaled witht the PowerPC Apple partition (not GUID). The drive is not getting recognized by the system unfortunately using Tiger install disks..

Have you tried partitioning the drive with the guid partition table. Worked for me on an imac g5 running leopard.

iDutchman · Mar 20, 2012

madmacfan said:
Have you tried partitioning the drive with the guid partition table. Worked for me on an imac g5 running leopard.

I tried that as well. Could it be the software I use?

I use the OS X Tiger 10.4 install discs (PowerPC version, so 4 CD's). Maybe, this is not optimised enough for such drives.

Can I try making a bootable Leopard USB drive? , because I do not own a Leopard DVD unfortunately

I do think Tiger just doesn't like SSD drives and it will work with Leopard. Can anyone confirm such a thing?

iDutchman · Apr 21, 2012

It all did not work. The Agility 3 is simply SATA III, so to new.

The Intel 320M works, as I've heard? Does somebody know another drive that will work?

I really want an SSD into this baby

Nameci · Apr 21, 2012

The intel 320 will work as it is just SATAII. Or just buy some cheap SSD with SATA II interface for you to try. You're more on the safe side with SATA II than SATA III.

California · Apr 21, 2012

iDutchman said:
I tried that as well. Could it be the software I use?

I use the OS X Tiger 10.4 install discs (PowerPC version, so 4 CD's). Maybe, this is not optimised enough for such drives.

Can I try making a bootable Leopard USB drive? , because I do not own a Leopard DVD unfortunately

I do think Tiger just doesn't like SSD drives and it will work with Leopard. Can anyone confirm such a thing?

That machine came with a Superdrive, I don't understand the four cds?

I'd do the Leopard thing, too. Not sure if PPC machines are bootable from USB, they never were in my case. That's odd if those are the original install discs. Also bump up the machine to two matching pairs of 1 gig ram, I believe you will get better video on it if you have matching pairs of ram.

iDutchman · Apr 22, 2012

California said:
That machine came with a Superdrive, I don't understand the four cds?

I'd do the Leopard thing, too. Not sure if PPC machines are bootable from USB, they never were in my case. That's odd if those are the original install discs. Also bump up the machine to two matching pairs of 1 gig ram, I believe you will get better video on it if you have matching pairs of ram.

The 4 CD's are the ones I used for my older iMac G4 I used to have. They did, of course, not come with the iMac G5.

But, ehm, I do not have a Leopard disk and those machines are pretty annoying to boot from USB ( I can do so via the USB boot thingy menu at boot up, cmnd + alt + O + F).

----------

The Vertex 2 (not 3) drive will work as well, right? As it seems it's easier to get.

California · Apr 22, 2012

iDutchman said:
The 4 CD's are the ones I used for my older iMac G4 I used to have. They did, of course, not come with the iMac G5.

But, ehm, I do not have a Leopard disk and those machines are pretty annoying to boot from USB ( I can do so via the USB boot thingy menu at boot up, cmnd + alt + O + F).

----------

The Vertex 2 (not 3) drive will work as well, right? As it seems it's easier to get.

There is nothing wrong with your SSD.

You CANNOT boot from iMac G4 OEM Tiger Discs.

You must get either Tiger or Leopard retail or original iMac G5 Tiger discs.

----------

iDutchman said:
So, I took the plunge and purchased a OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD. I formatted is as Mac OS Journaled witht the PowerPC Apple partition (not GUID). The drive is not getting recognized by the system unfortunately using Tiger install disks..

The OP didn't explain that the "Tiger install discs" were from another computer.

666sheep · Apr 22, 2012

California said:
There is nothing wrong with your SSD.

You CANNOT boot from iMac G4 OEM Tiger Discs.

You must get either Tiger or Leopard retail or original iMac G5 Tiger discs.

----------

The OP didn't explain that the "Tiger install discs" were from another computer.

OEM Tiger Discs for iMac G4 never existed

4 CD version was Retail only and this OP uses.

OP: any SATA II SSD should work fine (as Nameci said). G5s are having some problems with SATA III drives which doesn't have "compatibility jumper".
I'd rather choose Intel than OCZ, due to SF controller failure rate.

iDutchman · Apr 23, 2012

666sheep said:
OEM Tiger Discs for iMac G4 never existed
4 CD version was Retail only and this OP uses.

OP: any SATA II SSD should work fine (as Nameci said). G5s are having some problems with SATA III drives which doesn't have "compatibility jumper".
I'd rather choose Intel than OCZ, due to SF controller failure rate.

Yeah, they are retail disks. Allright, I will try to get hold of some SATA II Intel drive. I'm very anxious to see the performance difference.

dervmonkey · May 2, 2012

I've got an OCZ Agility 3 drive installed in a 2006 MBP (so SATA 1) and it's fine, not to mention very very quick - I've also got the same drive installed in my mid 2011 iMac 27" - even quicker.

The OCZ drive issues are addressed with firmware updates (as are the Crucial M4 issues)

Jethryn Freyman · May 2, 2012

My June 2004 SATA I G5 tower never recognised a SATA III Corsair Force 3 SSD. My SATA I 4,1 Macbook did, though. It's AWESOME

iDutchman · May 3, 2012

The iMac G5 actually works now with an 128GB Apple Toshiba SSD. This one came from a 2010 MacBook Pro 13" that got water damaged.

But I retired the old champ as of yesterday to make way for an 2008 iMac 20" with 60GB Vertex 3 and 4GB RAM. This is the 'new' Spotify/web surfing kitchen computer.

HarCees · Feb 1, 2014

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I have a question regarding the g5 and SATA-3 SSD.

I've tried to put a kingston Sata-III ssd in the imac but it can't be found by disc utility. According to a lot of ppl on the net the imac g5 wants SATA-II or SATA-1.

Well, today I tried to put in a Samsung EVO 250gb (SATA-III) and disc utility finds it!

The question: If disc utility can see and give information about the drive, should I also be able to run it as a boot drive? I have the drive in my intel mac and don't want to make a partition and remove all my data if its not likely that it works. Thanks

Intell · Feb 1, 2014

Yes it should run. It may not be overly reliable as some SATA III drives disappear at random or decide to stop showing up in G5's.

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