Cheapest SATA option for Quicksilver

[retta283]

The old spinning disk drive in my 733 QS is failing, and I'm stewing about how to replace this thing for reliability and cost-efficiency. I do not have much money floating around right now to put into this thing. Interestingly, even that mine is a 2001 733, it works fine with the 160GB drive that had been put in it.

I'm not thrilled about the idea of buying a used IDE drive at this point. I see some new ones, but again I'm not thrilled about buying such an old drive for the long term. What I would truly like to do is chuck a 240GB SSD I have laying around into it. However, I need an adapter for this and not sure what to go for. I see the red board Startech sells on Amazon and gets good reviews for this purpose, but haven't seen one used in a PMG4. I likewise do no know how best to go about securing the drive to the case, when I had looked for 3.5 casing for 2.5 drives it was like $25. Absurd for what it is.

I'm aware that SSD speed gains are minimal, but that's what I have on hand and I'd like to move on this sooner than later. If there really is a better option for cost and reliability I'm open to it, but I hope this can be made to work.

 

[ww2_1943]

It's not cheap per-say but if you want an all in one solution complete with mounting bracket- https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMXLE500/

 

[Amethyst1]

What I would truly like to do is chuck a 240GB SSD I have laying around into it. However, I need an adapter for this and not sure what to go for. I see the red board Startech sells on Amazon and gets good reviews for this purpose, but haven't seen one used in a PMG4.

This thread has one configuration involving a PMG4 but I couldn’t figure out what adapter was used. Still, I reckon the red PCB adapters are worth giving the benefit of the doubt as they have been confirmed to work with many other G4 Macs.

I likewise do no know how best to go about securing the drive to the case, when I had looked for 3.5 casing for 2.5 drives it was like $25. Absurd for what it is.

You can get these brackets (from China) for like $5 on eBay, including shipping. As an SSD isn’t vulnerable to physical conditions, you could just use e.g. double-sided tape and stick it anywhere where there’s space.

 

[eyoungren]

The old spinning disk drive in my 733 QS is failing, and I'm stewing about how to replace this thing for reliability and cost-efficiency. I do not have much money floating around right now to put into this thing. Interestingly, even that mine is a 2001 733, it works fine with the 160GB drive that had been put in it.

I'm not thrilled about the idea of buying a used IDE drive at this point. I see some new ones, but again I'm not thrilled about buying such an old drive for the long term. What I would truly like to do is chuck a 240GB SSD I have laying around into it. However, I need an adapter for this and not sure what to go for. I see the red board Startech sells on Amazon and gets good reviews for this purpose, but haven't seen one used in a PMG4. I likewise do no know how best to go about securing the drive to the case, when I had looked for 3.5 casing for 2.5 drives it was like $25. Absurd for what it is.

I'm aware that SSD speed gains are minimal, but that's what I have on hand and I'd like to move on this sooner than later. If there really is a better option for cost and reliability I'm open to it, but I hope this can be made to work.

If money is the issue, buy a $10 PCI SATA card for PC off eBay. You want to find one with a SIL3112 chip. That's two channels (i.e., two supported drives). The cables are minimal costs. You'll need a Molex to SATA adapter and a SATA data cable. Two of each if you want to attach a second SATA drive.

Flash the PCI SATA card according to these instructions: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-to-flashing-pc-sil3112-sata-cards-for-mac.1690231/

The card I flashed following this guide is still functioning all these years later.

 

[retta283]

If money is the issue, buy a $10 PCI SATA card for PC off eBay. You want to find one with a SIL3112 chip. That's two channels (i.e., two supported drives). The cables are minimal costs. You'll need a Molex to SATA adapter and a SATA data cable. Two of each if you want to attach a second SATA drive.

Flash the PCI SATA card according to these instructions: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-to-flashing-pc-sil3112-sata-cards-for-mac.1690231/

The card I flashed following this guide is still functioning all these years later.

Interesting, that would be cheap but I would have a hard time sourcing the Windows side of the components. I need to return to my XP machines that run Mach3 to get to a (hopefully) working floppy drive.

 

[eyoungren]

Interesting, that would be cheap but I would have a hard time sourcing the Windows side of the components. I need to return to my XP machines that run Mach3 to get to a (hopefully) working floppy drive.

The flashing is actually going to work best in older PC systems. All the modern stuff is way overkill and probably too current to work. An old XP system would be just perfect.