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SATA adapter for internal Apple TV drive?

Do you think that the 3 inches cable (http://www.cpustuff.com/22-pin-male...-data-sata-adapter-custom-cable-3-inches.html) will fit better?

:confused:

kaliraver said:
Yup, exactly how I connected it and yes Cave Man those are the only parts I bought besides the HD. It worked from the very first time I plugged in everything. No yellow light or anything, loving this set up :D BTW, it seems like the ATV is actually running much faster with the new hard drive even though it's a 5400 RPM Western Digital HD. This is the hard drive I purchased as well that I bought from newegg.com; Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT.
Click to expand...
 
JBX74205 said:
Hey All! I got my adapter today. I plugged everything in and it's working like a charm! The only problem I have is that my 640GB drive is only registering as 591...I find it hard to believe that 50GB just vanished into thin air. Can anyone be of assistance?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm afraid that's correct. Seems your manufacturer does some crafty calculations, and is likely calling 640000000000 Bytes 640 GB, when in reality it's 596 GB.
 
1.5gb/s vs. 3.0gb/s

I'm looking at buying a used ATV and installing either a 500GB or 750GB drive inside, with the 2.5" IDE Male to SATA Adapter from brando and the 8in SATA cable from cupstuff. I don't have the ATV yet so obviously I haven't had a chance to open it up and see what it's like inside. I just have two questions:

1. When choosing a hard drive, does the speed matter? I've seen some that are 1.5GB/s, some that are 3.0GB/s, and various RPMs. Does any of this matter?

2. I read through all the posts in this thread, and have seen some people that have manually cut the brace to make it fit, but others haven't and still used the same method. Is this true or am I just reading something wrong? I would prefer to not have to cut/grind things in the ATV itself, but if not doing so means it could potentially short out often (requiring alot of tape) I may do it.

Thank you so much for your help. I really hope I can get one of these soon :D
 
Hello,

Thanks a lot guys, I finally was able to install a sata hd into my apple tv, I would like to add just two more options:

The cable I bought on ebay from this seller:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290396206001
Paid $6.75 USD with shipping, took a week to arrive in canada.

And the the adapter from dealextreme:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19735

Paid $7.75 free shipping!!!
Took exact 30 days to arrive in canada

I also bought an enclosure, so I can use ide hd as an external drive:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.37168

The trick part is find the pin to cut and and find correction the position of the cables to close, I did everything in less than 1 hour...

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Upgraded Compete!

nathanjbrown said:
I was getting the exact same alternating amber/white light until I taped down the PATA/SATA adapter as I described. Don't get discouraged. There is a way to make it work. I fiddled with it for a couple of hours before finding the right placement.
Click to expand...

Nathanjbrown - Thank you for posting the pic and the info. I just finished my AppleTV hard drive and Crystal HD upgrade.

I was having a heck of a time getting the cable placement right last night, even after reading all of the posts here. Every time I closed up the unit and tighten the screws, I'd get the constant blinking amber LED or the question mark.

Finally after my last late night attempt and failure, I just left the unit buttoned up and went to bed. I'm glad I did, because I found out why the constant blinking amber LED happens.

This morning when I unscrewed lifted the bottom off I could that half of the SATA cable was pinched between the drive and the case at the corner of the drive. I only figured this out because it left a mark on the cable. So I added a piece of electrical tape to hold the sata cable out of the way and in place. The case went together a lot easier this time and it powered right up.

Hopefully this wil help others if they run into this problem.

BTW: The only deviations I did were:
I removed the ATA cable lifting strain relief where the sata cable crossed over (motherboard end, the one with the light blue lifting tab attached). That provided an additional 1/8" clearance.

I also used the solid blue sata cable adapter, it was a bit stiff. I recommend buying the blue see-through one like the one in the pic. I suspect it might be a little more flexible.

Finally, I routed the sata power wires over the top of the power supply not around and taped them flat and in place.

Now I'm off to load XBMC!
 
Thanks!

Thanks nathanjbrown and marcelomanzo! Using the parts that marcelomanzo linked to in his post and the illustration in nathanjbrown's post, I completed my 500GB HD upgrade last night. Using the 8" SATA + power cable marcelomanzo linked to I was able to attach the new HD to the stock location and close up the case - it was a tight fit but that wasn't a deal breaker.

Thanks guys!
 
kaliraver said:
Yup, exactly how I connected it and yes Cave Man those are the only parts I bought besides the HD. It worked from the very first time I plugged in everything. No yellow light or anything, loving this set up :D BTW, it seems like the ATV is actually running much faster with the new hard drive even though it's a 5400 RPM Western Digital HD. This is the hard drive I purchased as well that I bought from newegg.com; Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT.
Click to expand...

Did you have trouble closing the unit with the 12.5mm drive installed? I was considering purchasing a new 9.5mm drive, but have already have a 12.5mm drive that I could use if it will fit.
 
marcelomanzo said:
And the the adapter from dealextreme:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19735
Click to expand...

I just received the same adapter. I just can't figure out FOR SURE which pin it is I need to cut. Since I obviously don't want to cut the wrong one, I'd appreciate any tipp anyone might have!

5bwi6h.jpg


Would it be the LOWER one marked here??

Also: does one REALLY need the power cable??! I only ask because I've seen other similar (internal) solutions that have nothing more than the adapter and work fine (such as this one using an Advantech adapter). Or do only certain adapters support powering the disk?

cheers,
l2l
 
Last edited:
No one with an idea? Marcelo? Nathan? :(

I have a nice new 1TB disk mirrored from the old disk and all, waiting to be put into action. It just would suck if I messed everything up by cutting the wrong pin... assuming the other one is in fact needed.

I just need to know from which side I count to 10 from and if it's the top or bottom row...

cheers,
l2l
 
The best thing to do is to determine its orientation by powering it up. If you connect backwards, it won't come on. Either way, you know you're pins. Also, it's not just 10 in from top or bottom, but you also have to be sure of right and left. You could also check the manufacturer's web page for a diagram.
 
Cave Man said:
The best thing to do is to determine its orientation by powering it up. If you connect backwards, it won't come on.
Click to expand...

Erm... you realize of course that that makes no sense, right? Since I obviously have to cut a pin before I can hook it i.e. power it up, be it the right or wrong way. :rolleyes:

Either way, you know you're pins.
Click to expand...

Huh? I know I'm pins?? lol

Also, it's not just 10 in from top or bottom, but you also have to be sure of right and left.
Click to expand...

Dude. That was my whole point. That's what I was hoping someone (marcello) could tell me: how you can tell.

You could also check the manufacturer's web page for a diagram.
Click to expand...

The link to the page is above in marcelo's post. If you check you'll see that there IS no such diagram, nor did it come with one. I wish.

Whatever. I ended up simply assuming the marked arrow in the picture was pointing to pin No. 1 and counted to No. 20 from there and cut it. It would appear that I was right, because my ATV now has a nice 1TB worth of space in it.

The whole thing is rather wonky though. It took several tries (6-7?), connects and disconnects before I actually got it to boot normally. Inbetween I had the endless logo a couple of times and the question mark once or twice. I even ran DiskWarrior over it somewhere inbetween which found and fixed a couple of small errors and THEN it booted into repair/diagnostic mode, THEN I got the logo again, THEN it finally booted up normally! Sheesh...

Now it's still lying there open next to the TV and I don't think I'll be touching it again any time soon. At least not until it's synced the missing 200GB of additional data.

The POWER CABLE would appear to be completely superfluous, either way, since it's running just fine without one… So if anyone would like to follow, save your money and don't bother. The adapter by itself is sufficient.

Should I actually dare to try to close the whole thing up anytime soon and it's still working, I'll be sure to post. But I think I'll try THIS position if I do.

cheers,
l2l
 
@richyscot1. Do you think that this adapter would have eliminated the need to grind the support chassis? Can larger capacity hard drive be used? (1TB, 740GB?)

Unverified: SATA to PATA Adapater, Amazon.com
51FccBKylwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg



richyscot1 said:
No, the only thing I used was the adapter. The existing IDE ribbon cable was used (I had to take off the plastic removal "handle"). If you're careful with the grinding wheel it's all very neat, and once assembled it fits brilliantly. I'm very pleased with the results.

To all out there that are considering doing this, I'd say just go ahead and do it (unless your iTunes library really is huge, then the Cavemans esata mod maybe a better idea ;)) the idea behind taking a small grinding wheel to your beloved apple tv, is a lot worse than actually doing it. I personally, couldn't be happier with the results. And now, as 2.5 inch drives get bigger and bigger, I can just hot swap my drives whenever I want :)
Click to expand...
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I am wondering if there's a really good IDE/PATA to SATA Adapter that will make an easy fit into Apple TV 1?
 
PatrickNSF said:
Did you have trouble closing the unit with the 12.5mm drive installed? I was considering purchasing a new 9.5mm drive, but have already have a 12.5mm drive that I could use if it will fit.
Click to expand...

My drive was only 9.5 mm. It gets pretty hot, but it has never stopped working since I upgraded the HD.
 
when it gets to the point of this much hassle, would it not be easier to hack the Apple TV to run leopard and iTunes, hang a USB drive of it, and buy an AppleTV modern , then use the old apple TV as a low cost "macSupermini" iTunes server ?

Im currently using an old MBP as an iTunes server with a DROBO attached because my iTunes library got to around 7TB spread over many drives and i got sick of keeping track of it all, god knows what I'm going to do when i hit the 16TB volume limit on the drobo in about 2 years time (at this rate)
 
Nightarchaon said:
when it gets to the point of this much hassle, would it not be easier to hack the Apple TV to run leopard and iTunes, hang a USB drive of it, and buy an AppleTV modern , then use the old apple TV as a low cost "macSupermini" iTunes server ?
Click to expand...

The Apple TV 1 has a unique audio chip that no one has been able to make a kext for, so you're stuck with the last OS for it (10.5.7, I think).
 
So I had a 1TB AppleTV running for quite some time. I bought the Advantec adapter and a 1TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue 2.5" SATA drive. Recently I could not get the AppleTV to boot...it was stuck in recovery mode. I popped in my original 160GB IDE drive and was able to get up and running again.

I've ordered one of the Brando adapters just for troubleshooting, so we will see if that has any effect.

I am re-reading through this thread in preparation to re-clone the drive if need be. Does anyone know where to get a copy of AtvCloner? The link on iClarified's site is broken. I could use the other method, but the AtvCloner worked so nicely I'd prefer to use that again...if I can find a copy.

If someone reading this has a copy can you please let me know?

Thanks..
 
Cave Man said:
Send me a PM with your email address and I'll forward it to you.
Click to expand...

Thank you for responding Cave Man. I can't PM you at the moment...probably because of my n00b account status. Maybe you can PM me?

:)

Perhaps Dynaflash would be OK with you posting it to a file sharing site? The software is a valuable tool for us ATV hackers. I wished I had thought to archive it!


Cheers!
 
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