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Help me with a dilemma!

KawaiiAurora

KawaiiAurora

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 16, 2016
307
190
Europa
Hi!

I don't know exactly what I should do for an HDD for my Sawtooth. Should I buy a used IDE HDD from an unknown local buyer or spend a bit more for a new IDE HDD off eBay? Max: ~$25

About USB 2.0 cards, I've found cheap VIA cards that some people say are buggy. Some say NEC ones are okay tho. Max : ~$7

Any eBay link suggestions are greatly appreciated. Don't want to spend tooo much so don't recommend me something awfully expensive.

Thanks,
Aurora
 
KawaiiAurora said:
Hi!

I don't know exactly what I should do for an HDD for my Sawtooth. Should I buy a used IDE HDD from an unknown local buyer or spend a bit more for a new IDE HDD off eBay? Max: ~$25

About USB 2.0 cards, I've found cheap VIA cards that some people say are buggy. Some say NEC ones are okay tho. Max : ~$7

Any eBay link suggestions are greatly appreciated. Don't want to spend tooo much so don't recommend me something awfully expensive.

Thanks,
Aurora
Click to expand...
How big a HD you are looking for determines the price. You're not going to find a 1TB or 500GB hard drive for under $25 - unless it's broken. What size are you looking for?

As to USB 2.0 cards, you might find something for around $10, but less than $7 is asking a lot. These are still viable and popular cards.
 
eyoungren said:
How big a HD you are looking for determines the price. You're not going to find a 1TB or 500GB hard drive for under $25 - unless it's broken. What size are you looking for?

As to USB 2.0 cards, you might find something for around $10, but less than $7 is asking a lot. These are still viable and popular cards.
Click to expand...


It's a Sawtooth so nothing larger than say 128GB HDD (or 160GB). Yeah, I'm fine with $10 if it's verified to work I suppose.
 
I am using a sata/pata adapter in my QSg4 without issue (to connect storage drive not boot drive). Unfortunately, the aution somehow mysteriously disappeared out of my amazon purchase history so I can't link to the exact one but it was around 7$ or 8$ iirc. It looks almost identical to this ebay listing though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pata-IDE-To...578978?hash=item2a69dae2a2:g:J-YAAOSw9eVXWQTP

I'm also using a $4.00 usb2 pci card in my QSg4 with zero issues (purchased from this guy) - has the via chip on it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/480M-4-1-Po...279033?hash=item487d352079:g:vlEAAOSwPgxVLUjL

I can't vouch for a sawtooth but all have worked or are currently working great in my QS+OSX10.5
 
Last edited:
RhianB said:
I am using a sata/pata adapter in my QSg4 without issue (to connect storage drive not boot drive). Unfortunately, the aution somehow mysteriously disappeared out of my amazon purchase history so I can't link to the exact one but it was around 7$ or 8$ iirc. It looks almost identical to this ebay listing though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pata-IDE-To...578978?hash=item2a69dae2a2:g:J-YAAOSw9eVXWQTP

I'm also using a $4.00 usb2 pci card in my QSg4 with zero issues (purchased from this guy) - has the via chip on it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/480M-4-1-Po...279033?hash=item487d352079:g:vlEAAOSwPgxVLUjL

I can't vouch for a sawtooth but they're working great in my QS+OSX10.5
Click to expand...

Just bought a very similar SATA to IDE convertor :)

Might get some RAM and the card
 
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KawaiiAurora said:
Just bought a very similar SATA to IDE convertor :)

Might get some RAM and the card
Click to expand...

FYI: I also bought this usb2 pci card and had it in my QS with no issues as well (has since found a home in my PMg5. This one however is advertised as a mac g3/g4/g5 compatible usb2 pci card & is a bit more expensive at $15.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-M...394880?hash=item4ad2cf8380:g:0PUAAOxyjxlTNdGn

Another thought is that if you have any unused usb 2.5" external drives, you could put one inside your case, connecting it to the internal USB plug on the pci card. You'd gain 4 ext usb2 ports, gain additional storage,utilize your existing ex.drive & in theory only be out the $4 bucks for the card - something like this.
IMG_1580.JPG

Anyhow, best of luck to you.
 
Last edited:
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USB 2.0 is a bad solution, because USB does not have DMA (drive access makes the slow PPC Mac more slow).

A SATA to ATA or a mSATA to ATA adapter is a much better solution.

I have a mSATA to ATA adapter inside my iMac G5, and a SATA to ATA adapter inside my PM 9600 (Samsung SSDs) and all is working fine.
 
For a boot drive, I agree completely. I did not see where the op specified this need but was exploring low-cost storage & usb2 solutions. As general storage, usb2 external drives work fine. Anyhow, I think op already settled on a Sata/pata adapter.

Out of curiosity, does your Sawtooth have an internal fw port, Aurora?
 
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RhianB said:
For a boot drive, I agree completely. I did not see where the op specified this need but was exploring low-cost storage & usb2 solutions. As general storage, usb2 external drives work fine. Anyhow, I think op already settled on a Sata/pata adapter.

Out of curiosity, does your Sawtooth have an internal fw port, Aurora?
Click to expand...

Yes, it does have internal firewire. I've never seen a firewire drive in all my life tho. How much do they go for?

Yas, settled for a SATA to PATA convertor as I have a 160GB drive lying around.
 
RhianB said:
They're around but the external drives are not cheap. I've never seen a sawtooth up close, so I assume the internal FW port was for something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400GB-5-4K-...726479?hash=item2a70d66a0f:g:T8QAAOSwUKxYZBeg

Anyhow, you already have the sata drive + the adapter so you're set but it would be fun to utilize that unique sawtooth fw port at some point - yanno just because you can :)
Click to expand...

Oh, that's Sawtooth only? That's cool! Price of that drive is quite decent if shipping to my country weren't 5 times its price ($50). I'll make sure to look out for an FW drive with CHEAP shipping!

Thanks!
 
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