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pata to sata board of choice

kge420

kge420

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 16, 2008
127
18
I have ordered and received a pata to sata converter but it sits a bit high, it will probably hit the fan housing.
Question: What is the board of choice for an iMac G4 20? Do you plug directly into the sata drive or use cables so it can lie down in the old hdd space?
Thanks
 
I have a PATA to SATA adapter board I got from ebay and I tried to find one that would put the PATA connection in the same place when connected to a SATA HDD. Unfortunately, I haven't tried it in my iMac.

I swear that these companies that make the adapters just ignore the purpose of the adapter and assume we all have crappy PC towers with lots of space to just place stuff lying all over and run cables any which way. This attention to adapter detail is critical to fitting it inside an Apple housing.

If you've never worked on an Apple tower compared to a PC, it's a joy to behold. Everything lines up, has a purpose, goes where it's supposed to go. Only when you need to deviate is it a major headache (like putting a HDD where an optical drive should be, etc.).

My best advice is to think it out and carefully plan how stuff goes together before trying to reassemble. If you have to spend a few more bucks buying a more suitable adapter, it's probably worth the time looking for it on eBay.
 
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I'll search around for a more compact board.
It is a bit of a marvel to see how these iMac G4s are put together.
 
kge420 said:
That board looks like it should work. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kingwin-SAT...569840?hash=item4196f5de30:g:PY8AAOSw~OdVZ500)
Measurements for the one I have: L 3 3/4" W 7/8" H 1 1/16"
The height on the one mentioned is .80" (13/16") . Thats a full 1/4" lower than the one I have.
I'll order one tonight and give my findings when it arrives.
[doublepost=1486948993][/doublepost]Dimension specs from Kingwin site look good.
http://www.kingwin.com/adapters/adp-06/
Click to expand...

I use these, 100*17mm.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181116048059

PS. I don't have an iMac, just seeing the height is lower than the one you're buying.
 
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I received the board mentioned in post 5. Height when insTalled was the same as the height of an installed 3.5" drive. That's what I was shooting for with this swap. I made up my own hdd housing from thin foam pads and used hot melt glue to hold everything in place. Went together with a few choice words but is nice and quiet. I also swapped the fan out for the one I had from a dead 800mhz iMac G4. I cleaned with electronic spray cleaner and lubricated it. Machine is very quiet now.
I have no experience with the board mentioned in post #6 but Iif I were to do this again I'd opt for that one due to its smaller footprint.
 
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I purchased the standard PATA to SATA adapter and somehow got it to fit in my iMac G4. However, it causes the Mac to freeze intermittently (for 15-30 seconds each time) with a beachball, as if the connection to the SATA SSD got cut off. Then, after waiting, the Mac suddenly comes back to life and everything loads up. 1 in 3 times, this happens during the boot up process and the Mac never gets to the loading wheel, it remains stuck with the Apple logo.

I am using the same configuration in my G4 Cube, and it has the exact same issue.

Anyone here know a solution?
 
Try a different PATA to SATA adapter. Some work more reliably than others.
I had your problem, tried a couple of different ones. I had two identical to yours, plus another brand.
One like yours had the same frequent lockup. The other, identical to yours, works reliably. Still sometimes freezes, but I sometimes use the Mac (a USB 2 eMac) for several days before it locks up, so is tolerable for me.
 
I have this one in my eMac and it works like a charm! I had several cheaper alternatives before but I encountered many problems with them. No boot up, no wake up after sleep, spinning beachball out of nowhere for like 5 minutes and other minor UI lags. But the manhattan converter works like there is no converter at all but a standard IDE drive.

As it fits into the eMac it should also fit in the iMac. But im still in try and catch mode of finding the same reliability for my iBook and its small hdd height. Anyone any recommendations?
 
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AmazingKerem said:
I purchased the standard PATA to SATA adapter and somehow got it to fit in my iMac G4. However, it causes the Mac to freeze intermittently (for 15-30 seconds each time) with a beachball, as if the connection to the SATA SSD got cut off. Then, after waiting, the Mac suddenly comes back to life and everything loads up. 1 in 3 times, this happens during the boot up process and the Mac never gets to the loading wheel, it remains stuck with the Apple logo.

I am using the same configuration in my G4 Cube, and it has the exact same issue.

Anyone here know a solution?
Click to expand...

Looking at the ebay photo I see that the jumper is missing. Not sure if that matters but I've bought two in the past week and both had pins for a jumper.
[doublepost=1487729113][/doublepost]
amagichnich said:
I have this one in my eMac and it works like a charm! I had several cheaper alternatives before but I encountered many problems with them. No boot up, no wake up after sleep, spinning beachball out of nowhere for like 5 minutes and other minor UI lags. But the manhattan converter works like there is no converter at all but a standard IDE drive.

As it fits into the eMac it should also fit in the iMac. But im still in try and catch mode of finding the same reliability for my iBook and its small hdd height. Anyone any recommendations?
Click to expand...

That board is the same height as the first one I bought. Too tall to fit standing up in the hdd space of an iMac. iMac has limited real estate plus the inability to see above the hdd while putting things back together. Has to be done by feel, no binding or bumping.
I had a small pata ssd in my thinkpad tablet. Low on storage but made a big improvement in speed over the standard 4200rpm drive. It was compact too. 1.8" if I recall correctly. Try an ebay search. If I still have it I'll post the fru.
[doublepost=1487730575][/doublepost]http://indexcomputer.cloudhostedres...mputer.com/hard-drive/41W0736.html&width=1280

Here is a link to the 1.8" ssd
 
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Hmm now I'm curious... The iMac G4 has a standard 25mm height HDD, right? If true, then the adaptor has the exact same height and shouldn't be a problem... If not, please be so kind to enlighten me :D

I think I should get an iMac G4, that seems to be a lot of fun playing with its internals :D

kge420 said:
I had a small pata ssd in my thinkpad tablet. Low on storage but made a big improvement in speed over the standard 4200rpm drive. It was compact too. 1.8" if I recall correctly. Try an ebay search. If I still have it I'll post the fru.
http://indexcomputer.cloudhostedres...mputer.com/hard-drive/41W0736.html&width=1280

Here is a link to the 1.8" ssd
Click to expand...
Thx! I'll definitely have a look at that.
 
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