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PATA to SATA adapters in G4

bunnspecial

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 3, 2014
8,378
6,533
Kentucky
PATA to SATA adapters seem plentiful and inexpensive from various sources.

I have a big stash of IDE/PATA drives, but most are 80gb with only a few larger than this. For a variety of reasons, I'd like to have a larger boot drive in my Quicksilver(and SATA drives under 250gb are basically free these days) and don't really want to spend the money I need to get a bootable SATA driver card.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with installing a PATA-SATA adapter in a PM G4 or similar vintage computer-and specifically as a boot drive.

This one specifically is what I'm looking at, although I'm not married to this particular adapter and would welcome any suggestions on alternatives.

http://www.amazon.com/HDE-SATA-Drive-Interface-Adapter/dp/B002Y2NI4M
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I've used an adapter on a notebook 1TB SATA drive in my Digital Audio 466. I intended to connect it via the adapter to a Sonnet Tempo IDE PCI card and copy the files that are on two IDE drives inside the Mac.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems with this setup and though I could see the entire 1TB drive (I have the Intech driver that enables 128GB+ size drives installed), copy speeds were very slow and the experience overall was very poor.

As a boot drive, I would definitely recommend against using a SATA-adapted drive. A 250GB IDE drive can be found on eBay for under $30.
 
robertdsc said:
I've used an adapter on a notebook 1TB SATA drive in my Digital Audio 466. I intended to connect it via the adapter to a Sonnet Tempo IDE PCI card and copy the files that are on two IDE drives inside the Mac.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems with this setup and though I could see the entire 1TB drive (I have the Intech driver that enables 128GB+ size drives installed), copy speeds were very slow and the experience overall was very poor.

As a boot drive, I would definitely recommend against using a SATA-adapted drive. A 250GB IDE drive can be found on eBay for under $30.
Click to expand...
There is nothing wrong with using a SATA drive as a boot drive. SATA drives typically have a larger cache and run much more quietly than their IDE counterparts. I'm sure if you search the forums you will find instructions regarding how to flash a PCI SATA card to work on a Mac. Not many folks are willing to spend the big bucks on the Sonnet card.
 
I can't see the amazon thing in the link, because it automatically switches to localized results, but from my experiences, an SATA-Drive as a boot drive works great as long as the adapter uses a red PCB. Yes, that sounds stupid, but every one with a green PCB I had so far, had extreme long boot times or weird behaviour.
The one I have looks like this http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSo0GBwYFda5DJS15CxvnBaCrgPsqSipkUmYbKI_SvsF2_ASxE8BaL4ypQ

If you want to use a cheap SATA-PCI card without boot option for just more drive space search for the thread that has "need advice" in the title, there I point to a 11,-USD card and a driver that can be used.

Since robert mentioned the intech driver and problems: if you have a Quicksilver look for the Mainboard and what version it is, some support big drives "Power Mac G4 QuickSilver 733, 800, Dual 800, 867, 933, and Dual 1 GHz with logic board 820-1342-B (QS logic board 820-1276-A will NOT work and peak out at 128 GB)"
 
Cox Orange said:
I can't see the amazon thing in the link, because it automatically switches to localized results, but from my experiences, an SATA-Drive as a boot drive works great as long as the adapter uses a red PCB. Yes, that sounds stupid, but every one with a green PCB I had so far, had extreme long boot times or weird behaviour.
The one I have looks like this http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSo0GBwYFda5DJS15CxvnBaCrgPsqSipkUmYbKI_SvsF2_ASxE8BaL4ypQ
Click to expand...


Thanks for the "Red" PCB tip-the one I linked to above is green, so it sounds like I need to broaden my search.

My QS is the 2002 version, and is OK with large capacity drives. In fact, I currently have a 200gb drive in it. Since(as I mentioned) I'm a scavenger I'd love to be able to use some of the SATA drives I have lying around.
 
bunnspecial said:
... so it sounds like I need to broaden my search.

.... Since(as I mentioned) I'm a scavenger I'd love to be able to use some of the SATA drives I have lying around...
Click to expand...
I mean, I don't say, that no green PCB would work, but it is the easiest to avoid these, when one wants to buy one directly (and one doesn't plan to send the adapter back and assk for a refund). If you have the time, why not look on Ebay, only for auctions, and test through the green ones. If you get them for 1USD, you can sell them for the price inlcuding shipping, that you paid, if they don't work.

Re, using some of the SATA-drives. I would like to somewhen replace all my drives by 2,5" SATA-Drives. :) But that is not really near top of my list. :)
 
Just be aware that there are some conceptual differences between SATA and PATA and it's not just a matter of better hardware. When using one of these adaptors you will loose some functionality that SATA offers. But you can still benefit from the raw speed increase of high data density of modern hard drives.
 
ctmpkmlec4 said:
Assuming you are the winning bidder at $0.99, and that it arrives from China sometime before the end of August, then sure, it's a much better value!
Click to expand...

actually, even if the bid quadrupled it would still be six times cheaper then the other.
Plus my experience on receiving goods from china, average from 10 days to 2 weeks.
 
Last edited:
jbarley said:
actually, even if the bid quadrupled it would still be six times cheaper then the other.
Plus my experience on receiving goods from china, average from 10 days to 2 weeks.
Click to expand...

I ordered some thermal pads from China, expecting them to come about a month later, and they came within 7 days! :eek:
 
Based on negative experiences with some SATA to PATA (IDE) adapters in the past, I entirely switched to the red coloured adapter featuring the Marvell 88SA8052 chip.

This obviously is the best "multi-purpose" chip in terms of detecting hardware correctly. It allows both fast regular HDs (e.g. WD black series) and SSD to work up to SATA II speeds (3Gb/s), depending on the maximum speed the installed PCI host adapter provides.

This red bridge delivers accurate SMART data and supports master/slave mode and booting. I managed to connect optical devices (DVD Superdrives) and HD drives successfully, which previously were not detected by the OS while using other brands of adapters.

So this red adapter helps to use even newest hardware in combination with older Macs.

It is sold by different suppliers, but always comes with the well-made Marvell chip:




In most cases the Y-power-cable is included.


These are 44-pin "slim" variants:

http://www.conrad.de/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9700/9720/9725/972597_LB_00_FB.EPS_1000.jpg
http://www.conrad.de/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9700/9720/9725/972597_LB_01_FB.EPS_1000.jpg
http://www.conrad.de/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9700/9720/9724/972440_LB_01_FB.EPS_1000.jpg
http://www.conrad.de/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9700/9720/9724/972440_ZB_00_FB.EPS_1000.jpg



Conclusion: Do not rely on adapters you don't know the chip exactly! :)
 

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@Laterne
Not wanting to go off topic, but did you perhaps see an adapter from slim-IDE ODD connector (laptop) to 3,5"-IDE? OK, the great red SATA-adapters, would be an interesting idea with the according ODD, never thought about that.
 
Cox Orange said:
did you perhaps see an adapter from slim-IDE ODD connector (laptop) to 3,5"-IDE? OK, the great red SATA-adapters, would be an interesting idea with the according ODD, never thought about that.
Click to expand...

Well, no first-hand experience with these, but worth a try:

JAE 50-Pin ODD to 40-pin IDE

http://www.soarland.com/Small-PCB_Slimline_SlimCD_JAE_50-Pin_To_IDE_Adapter_-product-208.html
http://swd.de/oxid/de/Produkte-oxid...nten/sonstige-PC-Komponenten/SOA-SLOA032.html

http://www.soarland.com/Slimline_SlimCD_JAE_50-Pin_To_IDE_Adapter-product-207.html
http://swd.de/oxid/de/Produkte-oxid...nten/sonstige-PC-Komponenten/SOA-SLOA031.html

You should ask Soarland what chip they used for the SLOA031 and SLOA032 bridges.




slimline SATA to 40-pin IDE

Addonics ADSSSAI

http://www.addonics.com/products/adsssai.php
http://www.addonics.com/datasheets/files/ADSSSAI_fixed_KM.pdf




slimline SATA to 44-pin IDE

ADDONICS ADSSSAI44

http://www.addonics.com/products/adsssai44.php
http://www.addonics.com/datasheets/files/ADSSSAI44_BK.pdf
 
The red one has a jumper to set Master and slave, the green one in your link does not. I had the feeling that PowerMacs need an adapter that offers a jumper.
But who knows.
 
I ordered a pair of "red" adapters with jumpers from Ebay, so will try those out when they get here from China.

On another note, however, we clearing out old PCs in my lab, and I've been given the fun task of pulling data off the old ones and dumping it onto another computer. I about crapped my pants today when someone pulled a 500GB WD Caviar Blue PATA drive out of a drawer...and even more shocked that the jumpers were set for it to be capacity limited to 32gb. I don't know what the ultimate fate of the stuff I was sorting through today will be, but you can bet that I'll grab that drive if the computers end up going to surplus!
 
bunnspecial said:
I ordered a pair of "red" adapters with jumpers from Ebay, so will try those out when they get here from China.

On another note, however, we clearing out old PCs in my lab, and I've been given the fun task of pulling data off the old ones and dumping it onto another computer. I about crapped my pants today when someone pulled a 500GB WD Caviar Blue PATA drive out of a drawer...and even more shocked that the jumpers were set for it to be capacity limited to 32gb. I don't know what the ultimate fate of the stuff I was sorting through today will be, but you can bet that I'll grab that drive if the computers end up going to surplus!
Click to expand...

Wow! I'd just about kill for a PATA Caviar, then again I have a 10,000 RPM Jaguar drive sitting that belonged in my QuickSilver, poor thing.
 
128keaton said:
Wow! I'd just about kill for a PATA Caviar, then again I have a 10,000 RPM Jaguar drive sitting that belonged in my QuickSilver, poor thing.
Click to expand...


I've got a big pile of 15,000 RPM server-grade SAS drives(also pulled from surplus) that I thought were SATA until I looked closer at them.

A computer savvy friend is trying to talk me into building a RAID array with it, and I might have to try it if I can find an affordable SAS controller card.
 
bunnspecial said:
I've got a big pile of 15,000 RPM server-grade SAS drives(also pulled from surplus) that I thought were SATA until I looked closer at them.

A computer savvy friend is trying to talk me into building a RAID array with it, and I might have to try it if I can find an affordable SAS controller card.
Click to expand...

Dang. Thats pretty awesome. That RAID setup is a good idea, since you probably can't sell them.
 
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