G4 Mini Hard Drive

[Wild Hare]

Wait a minute… The Delock, the Addonics and the Ableconn’s are all red “sleds” aren’t they? Not enclosures that look like typical 2.5” SSDs. They’re sled adapters that require the additional purchase of an mSata to be snapped into them before installation?

Reds are typically Marvell chipset based / while the Green boards, adapters, etc. are mostly JMicron JM20330 chipsets. Back in 2018 when I first tested and installed an Ableconn (Red) sled in a G4 Mac Mini, it tested faster than the then available Green, JMicrons (but not by a lot). However, recently tested again in the Mini, the much less expensive SATA2IDE44VAO green adapter proved to be of great value, especially when considering their lower total cost to upgrade 6 Minis here to SSD.

AS331 Adapter noted in green above is the SATA2IDE44VAO.

When you factor in the cost savings, versus only slightly less performance (red vs. green) in order to update all the Minis here… I saved considerably by going green with the SATA2IDE44VAO adapter and the stripped “naked” SSDs for the six G4 Mac Minis.

And yes, microsatacables is a very good company to deal with. I just haven’t tested their white SATA SSD enclosure against all else mentioned here. / It is “an adapter with case” and you’d still need to purchase the mSata to go inside of it. And aren’t mSatas typically more expensive than the 2.5 SSDs?

I've no financial interest in any of the items mentioned herein.

But if you do go with the white mSata case, please post your results & review. Thanks!

 

[Buhtwheat]

Is this Samsung SSD typical of what I need?

Since the mfr. states that the adaptor supports Intel, Samsung and Toshiba drives, should I limit my search to those 3 brands, or will others work, or should I ask the manufacturer?

EDIT: Answered my own question, I need something called a mini pci-e mSATA SSD. Back to Google!

 

[Buhtwheat]

And then I found this:


THIS is what I need, correct?

 

[netsrot39]

And then I found this:
View attachment 1847776

THIS is what I need, correct?

Yes, this is what you need. Also please note while the connector may look similar, mSATA and mini PCIe are different. So make sure that you buy an SSD that is using the SATA interface and not PCIe. The other picture of an SSD you've posted looks like an M.2 SSDs and those can vary substantially (AHCI vs. PCIe, different connection types). Better to just get an mSATA SSD and an appropriate adapter for it that converts it to IDE.

 

[weckart]

The Delocks etc are rebranded Lycom ST173-7 adapters. That seems to have reached end of life as a product. It is still shown on Lycom's product site but its sellers in the UK have EOLed it with no stocks remaining. You might be able to get remaining stocks from other countries but at a huge markup over what it sold for locally here.

From now on, it looks to be Jmicron based boards or nothing.

 

[eyoungren]

The Delocks etc are rebranded Lycom ST173-7 adapters. That seems to have reached end of life as a product. It is still shown on Lycom's product site but its sellers in the UK have EOLed it with no stocks remaining. You might be able to get remaining stocks from other countries but at a huge markup over what it sold for locally here.

From now on, it looks to be Jmicron based boards or nothing.

That really sucks. Addonics, which is in central California, is also not selling this anymore. I'm glad I got at least one when it was still for sale.

 

[netsrot39]

I have to admit that I haven't read the entire thread but I know you are debating about what IDE to mSATA adapter to get. I just wanted to chime in quickly and say that from my experience pretty much any IDE to mSATA adapter will work. I have upgraded a lot of PowerPC Macs (about 10 or so) and I've used IDE to CF, IDE to SATA, IDE to mSATA and IDE to M.2 and everything worked great (if the adapter has jumper options you have to set them correctly). Even an IDE to SATA adapter attached to another SATA to mSATA adapter worked when I didn't have another IDE to mSATA adapter lying around. I personally wouldn't go for the priciest adapter when cheap ones from Ebay and AliExpress do the same job for much less (they also reach the bandwith limit from the ATA bus in my experience).

 

[eyoungren]

I have to admit that I haven't read the entire thread but I know you are debating about what IDE to mSATA adapter to get. I just wanted to chime in quickly and say that from my experience pretty much any IDE to mSATA adapter will work. I have upgraded a lot of PowerPC Macs (about 10 or so) and I've used IDE to CF, IDE to SATA, IDE to mSATA and IDE to M.2 and everything worked great (if the adapter has jumper options you have to set them correctly). Even an IDE to SATA adapter attached to another SATA to mSATA adapter worked when I didn't have another IDE to mSATA adapter lying around. I personally wouldn't go for the priciest adapter when cheap ones from Ebay and AliExpress do the same job for much less (they also reach the bandwith limit from the ATA bus in my experience).

Well, we've distilled things down to the lowest common denominator. Generally that is: red logicboard good, green logicboard bad.

Of course that's not entirely true, as many people here have used the $10 eBay adapters from China and had no problems at all. And we can't say there aren't any defective Addonics/Delock/Lycum adapters either. But, generally it's been found that the more expensive red LB adapters are more reliable. Which is why the suggestion was made.

And, referring to the graphic posted above, the suggestion isn't one about speed - it's simply about which one (red or green) you can expect to work. The odds are better for red, but as the supply of those seem to be out of stock now it looks like green may be the only option.

 

[weckart]

I have to admit that I haven't read the entire thread but I know you are debating about what IDE to mSATA adapter to get. I just wanted to chime in quickly and say that from my experience pretty much any IDE to mSATA adapter will work. I have upgraded a lot of PowerPC Macs (about 10 or so) and I've used IDE to CF, IDE to SATA, IDE to mSATA and IDE to M.2 and everything worked great (if the adapter has jumper options you have to set them correctly). Even an IDE to SATA adapter attached to another SATA to mSATA adapter worked when I didn't have another IDE to mSATA adapter lying around. I personally wouldn't go for the priciest adapter when cheap ones from Ebay and AliExpress do the same job for much less (they also reach the bandwith limit from the ATA bus in my experience).

They all work pretty much; it's just the the Marvell chipset and voltage stepper combo in the Lycom adapter was a tad better at keeping internal heat down, which is a pretty good thing all round in the tight spaces it inhabits in PowerBooks and iBooks. In a PowerMac, it's less important.

 

[Buhtwheat]

I ordered two of the adaptors and two Zheino 120 gig drives. I'll let you know how things go.

 

[Buhtwheat]

Alright, parts have been acquired and assembled, installation will be shortly. I do have a few questions/concerns. The Mini I'm putting the drive in is new to me. I'm planning on having my OS X install disc in the drive when I shut it off. Upon restart, I'm going to install the OS, and go from there. My concerns are thus: Is there any process that requires an Admin sign off? I have no idea what the Admin password is. Will the fresh install elevate me to admin status, or should I attempt to reset the Admin password before starting? I've never done anything like this before. Any helpful suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Amethyst1]

My concerns are thus: Is there any process that requires an Admin sign off? I have no idea what the Admin password is.

Unless the machine has an Open Firmware password (which is different from the admin password and prevents booting from other media), there's nothing to worry about. And even if this is the case, it's easy to get rid of.

Will the fresh install elevate me to admin status, or should I attempt to reset the Admin password before starting?

It will ask you to set up a user account after completing the installation. That account automatically has admin rights.

 

[ervus]

You could check that the optical drive is working and that it will boot on the install disc before taking everything apart. I've encountered a few dead optical drives in Minis. Good luck with the upgrades!

 

[Buhtwheat]

Mac will not boot from startup disk. I checked optical drive before starting the replacement to see if it would eject, but I didn't check to see if it would read startup disk. Power on produces the Mac chime. I'm going to stick the old memory stick back in and see if that helps. Any other ideas? I do have a spare NOS optical drive, but how do i get my startup disk out? HELP!!!

Switched out memory. Mac will start up now, but says I cannot install OS X on that computer. Apparently it cannot find the new drive, it wants to search network for a drive. I still need help.

 

[Amethyst1]

Mac will start up now, but says I cannot install OS X on that computer.

Which OS X DVD are you using?

 

[Buhtwheat]

I'm using the one that came with my original Mini, 10.4.2. I was wondering though, my Mini was a 1.33 machine, and this new one is a 1.42. Could that be it?

And how do I get my disk out?

 

[Amethyst1]

I'm using the one that came with my original Mini, 10.4.2. I was wondering though, my Mini was a 1.33 machine, and this new one is a 1.42. Could that be it?

Yes, the 1.42 mini is a PowerMac10,1 while the 1.33 is a PowerMac10,2, and the disc is keyed to the 10,2. You need to

• Install on the 1.33 mini with the 1.42 one hooked up via FireWire TDM, using the 1.42's drive as target or
• patch the 10.4.2 DVD so it works on the 10,1 or
• use a retail 10.4.6 DVD

As to how to get the disc out, try turning on the mini while pressing and holding the F12 (or Eject, if there is one) key on the keyboard. It'll usually spit out the disc after some time. Alternatively, try pressing both the left and right button on the mouse and keeping them held down until the disc flies out.

 

[Buhtwheat]

Thank you!!! You have answered a lot of questions. I believe my course of action will be to put the original drive back in the 1.42 Mini, then I can boot it up normally and I can just eject the disk. Then I'll try the drive in my 1.33 Mini, or I might try it in a spare 1.25 one.

I'll change everything out tomorrow, I'm tired of farting around with it today. Thank you again.

One more thing, if I download the 10.4.6 OS, will my update CDs (I need 10.4.11) still work?

 

[Amethyst1]

Another thing to try to eject the disc is to boot into OpenFirmware by holding Command-Option-O-F (all four keys) after turning on the machine and typing eject cd at the prompt.

One more thing, if I download the 10.4.6 OS, will my update CDs (I need 10.4.11) still work?

Do your CDs have the 10.4.11 combo update? If so, yes.

 

[Buhtwheat]

I downloaded the 10.4.6 install disk and burned it to one. I shoved it in the Mini to see if I could boot from it, and I could. Took Mini apart, put new drive in it, put it back together, held down the "C" key, turned it on, and... I get a folder with a Mac face alternating with a "?". I know this is not good. Any ideas?

 

[Amethyst1]

Maybe the IDE bus (master/slave/cable_select) configuration is not correct. Does your SSD adapter have any jumpers to set this?
You either need to have both the SSD adapter and DVD drive set to cable_select, which means the drives will try to figure it out themselves, or one drive (usually the SSD adapter) set to master and the other drive (usually the DVD drive) set to slave. But this isn't always the case, so if your adapter has jumpers, I'd just try every configuration until you find one that works. The thing is - if both drives are set to master or slave, they won't work properly and "confuse" the IDE controller.

 

[Buhtwheat]

I don't know if it has jumpers or not. Is there any way to tell visually?

I'm starting to wonder if I have the correct SSD. I was reading the specs about the adapter, and this was listed:

• Used with MSATA (Mini PCI-E SATA) SSD's only.

As far as I know my drives are not PCI-E.

I'm getting too old for this crap.

 

[Amethyst1]

I don't know if it has jumpers or not.

Can you post a link to, or picture of, the adapter?

I'm starting to wonder if I have the correct SSD.

If the mini didn’t recognise the SSD at all due to it being the wrong type, it would still boot from the DVD drive though. Your problem is that the mini won’t boot from the DVD anymore as soon as the SSD/adapter is installed, right?

 

[Buhtwheat]

Q1. Here's a LINK to the adapter.

Q2. Correct. I also emailed the company I bought the adapter from and asked their advice.

 

[Wild Hare]

You might try adding a jumper between the last two pins seen in the pic. (That's pins, top to bottom - one over the other... the last two on the end). Just like the instructions that came with an Addonics sled state for: "Cable Select".