I got a PowerBook G4 1/5 GHz and when I tried installing Tiger on it, I found it had no hard drive it it. When I was looking in System Profiler, I saw it had a Serial ATA menu in the Hardware tab. Can I use Serial ATA drives in it? I thought the highest it could take was Ultra ATA.
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PowerBook G4 hard drive?
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The PowerBook uses a regular PATA interface but System Profiler displays a "SATA" section regardless. Does anything show under "ATA" in System Profiler?
You can do one of three things.
1. Install a PATA drive (IDE). Either a normal HD or a PATA SSD (expensive).
2. Buy an MSATA drive with an MSATA to IDE converter (it's the same size as a laptop drive.
3. Buy a SATA SSD with a IDE/SATA converter with an eye to the small space you have to work in.
#3 will probably be the hardest to pull off.
In any case, all PowerBook G4s have a PATA interface (IDE). Both Tiger and Leopard and above will show you the SATA column in System Profiler because Apple has no idea what system OS X will be installed on. An Intel Mac with a SATA drive, a PowerPC Mac with an IDE drive or a PowerPC G5 which also uses SATA. The columns do not go away simply based on the type of system OS X is installed on.
Parallel ATA(aka IDE) is the only bus you have available.
When Tiger shipped, there were a LOT of computers with SATA. All G5s and all Intel Macs that shipped with Tiger had SATA buses.
You'll notice that System Profiler lists everything that that version of the OS supports, even if not installed. I don't have a computer running Tiger near me at the moment, but I know for a fact that there's a listing for Parallel SCSI and probably one for Fiber Channel. There's no way I know of to get either of these in a Powerbook.
Many of us do use SATA drives in our Powerbooks, but in the form of mSATA SSDs housed in an mSATA-IDE enclosure. This will nearly saturate the ATA/100 bus in the later Powerbooks. A conventional 2.5" SATA drive+adapter won't fit. The mSATA option is reasonable, as 2.5" IDE drives are getting difficult and expensive to find in larger capacities.
When Tiger shipped, there were a LOT of computers with SATA. All G5s and all Intel Macs that shipped with Tiger had SATA buses.
You'll notice that System Profiler lists everything that that version of the OS supports, even if not installed. I don't have a computer running Tiger near me at the moment, but I know for a fact that there's a listing for Parallel SCSI and probably one for Fiber Channel. There's no way I know of to get either of these in a Powerbook.
Many of us do use SATA drives in our Powerbooks, but in the form of mSATA SSDs housed in an mSATA-IDE enclosure. This will nearly saturate the ATA/100 bus in the later Powerbooks. A conventional 2.5" SATA drive+adapter won't fit. The mSATA option is reasonable, as 2.5" IDE drives are getting difficult and expensive to find in larger capacities.
I just replaced the IDE drive in my PowerBook 15" with an OWC legacy SSD for $75, no where near the price of a few years ago
I notice on their website today you can get a 480GB Legacy SSD for approx 50 cents a GB, that's not too shabby.