Sonnet SATA PCI card and 2x500GB Upgrade? (G4 Dual)

[MIDI_EVIL]

Well hello,

I'm about to upgrade my trusty PowerMac G4 Dual 450 (Gigabit Ethernet) to a worthwhile storage system. At the minute, she sports a rather dismal 80GB startup.

As this is a fairly old G4, it requires a PCI SATA upgrade to control drives larger than 120GB.

I would like to go for the Sonnet Tempo card here,

http://www.macheaven.co.uk/?page=proddetail&prod=1362


and 2x Seagate 7200 SATA II 500GB drives here,

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97633


Does anyone have any recommendations, advice or even objections to my choice of purchase?

I would love some input.

Thanks in advance.

Rich.

 

[Cromulent]

Is it worth it? You could almost get a Mac Mini which would give you a nice speed boost as well as giving you access to all the advantages that being on an Intel machine offer.

Still if you want to keep the G4 I don't see any problems myself, although you may want a second opinion on that.

 

[livingfortoday]

I think it's not a bad idea. I had a Sawtooth 500Mhz G4 which I had upgraded with 4x300GB drives for storage. It was pretty good for what it did, though my current setup is much snappier when it comes to accessing and playing around with video remotely.

But yeah, if it's for storage or as a file server, it should be sufficient.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I don't know if there's a particular reason you want to go SATA over PATA, but you can find a Sonnet Tempo with 2 IDE ports (for four total drives) for around $50 on eBay here in the States, so that might be a better value. Plus, it's more expandable should you want to add more drives in the future.

 

[Cromulent]

Edit: Oh yeah, and I don't know if there's a particular reason you want to go SATA over PATA, but you can find a Sonnet Tempo with 2 IDE ports (for four total drives) for around $50 on eBay here in the States, so that might be a better value. Plus, it's more expandable should you want to add more drives in the future.

Speed would be the main reason.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

stick with SATA, might as well get all the speeeed you can for that old machine (not much diff in prices these days anyways)

I had a Raptor/SATA setup in an old Sawtooth and it was a HUGE improvement over the built-in connections

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Is it worth it? You could almost get a Mac Mini which would give you a nice speed boost as well as giving you access to all the advantages that being on an Intel machine offer.

Still if you want to keep the G4 I don't see any problems myself, although you may want a second opinion on that.

Ahh yes, but the Mini is certainly not as expandable. There is room inside the PowerMac for up to 5 or 6 drives.

This is probably all I will upgrade on the PowerMac, because then of course it becomes questionable wether it is cost effective. Plus, I would rather fill this machine with drives than clutter my space with externals.

I've only added a FireWire 400 PCI card, and lastly I will probably add a FireWire 800 PCI.

The reason i'm choosing SATA over IDE is simply speed. But, am I right in thinking that I can use two IDE drives (primary startup and secondary) and the drives connected to the SATA PCI card...? Will the PowerMac recognise both simultaneously?

Thanks again,

Rich.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Definitely get SATA rather than IDE drives. Not just for speed but for future use. Hard drives are one of those things that often get moved from system to system. If you suddenly feel the urge to upgrade to a Mac Pro, you could simply pull out the SATA drives and put them straight into your new machine.

The SATA and the IDE drives will all be detected provided the appropriate drivers for the SATA card are installed.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Definitely get SATA rather than IDE drives. Not just for speed but for future use. Hard drives are one of those things that often get moved from system to system. If you suddenly feel the urge to upgrade to a Mac Pro, you could simply pull out the SATA drives and put them straight into your new machine.

The SATA and the IDE drives will all be detected provided the appropriate drivers for the SATA card are installed.

Yes definately. That was another main consideration!

That's great, thanks for the reply!

Rich.

 

[product26]

I used that card in my quicksilver machine. It ran a 250gb drive ad my boot drive flawlessly. You should have no problems using it.

 

[4JNA]

...am I right in thinking that I can use two IDE drives (primary startup and secondary) and the drives connected to the SATA PCI card...? Will the PowerMac recognize both simultaneously?

should work very well, and have done several g4's this way. sonnet stuff is more expensive, but works very well, and i've yet to encounter a problem.

if your tower already has the double-up drive tray, you are set for 4 drives. if not, you could grab one out of a parts box or ebay, as they come out with a couple little screws. if it was mine, i would stack the ide drives and leave the sata drives as the two single mounts.

depending on the room (ambient) temp, you might also want to add a fan near the front blowing air over the drives. cool drives last longer than hot drives. best of luck with the upgrade!