Trying to add a SSD as a secondary drive on a Bondi IMac G3 M4984

[dupdob]

hi
I am in the process of refreshing a IMac G3 running MacOS 8.6. So far I replaced the failing SGRam SoDimm, upgraded the ram to 256 MB.

I want to replace the old HDD with a 128GB SDD (with a SATA-PATA converter). To do so, I plugged it as a slave drive in order to copy the content of the HDD.
But I when I boot the iMac with this drive plugged in, the boot proceeds properly, but I never reach the finder. I end up with an empty desk, with the clock and a mouse arrow. It is not frozen as I can mouve the cursor. I need to unplug the Mac and the drive to restore operation.

I can only boot with when the SSD is completely blank. The boot fails if the disk is formatted or partitionned.

I am aware for the 8GB limit for OS 8, but I do not it applies here (not the boot disk) and even a small partition fails.
I tried in safe mode, same result.

I am about to give up upon this, but I am worried the old HDD may fail anyday. So any hint on what to try or what could be the problem would be immensely appreciated.
I tried to search the forum for similar issue but failed to find anything relevant. So sorry if this is a duplicate and please point me to the proper thread then.

Note: iMac is not mine, so I would prefer not to upgrade the OS to Mac OS9; plus I would like to keep it in its vintage setup

 

[dupdob]

update: it turns out the SSD was too large. I tried with a 60GB and the iMac no longer freezes.
Still having issues to initialize it

 

[Project Alice]

update: it turns out the SSD was too large. I tried with a 60GB and the iMac no longer freezes.
Still having issues to initialize it

Tray loading iMacs are picky in the first place. And sometimes those adapters are flaky with certain computers. My money is on that. Which one are you using? I think the stardock one is at least known to work in that iMac.

 

[dupdob]

Thanks for your reply.
I ordered this one: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09GPGFLWB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title (NFHK).
My researched highlighted that I needed an adapter with a jumper for master/Slave selection (as cable select does not work).

I just ordered a CF adapter with an 8GB CF as a last ditch attempt.
As CF is basically IDE, I assume it will avoid any adapter related issue.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks for your reply.
I ordered this one: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09GPGFLWB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title (NFHK).

To concur with @Project Alice, they're hit and miss where Macs are concerned. The adapters with red PCBs like mine shown below are guaranteed to work.

My researched highlighted that I needed an adapter with a jumper for master/Slave selection (as cable select does not work).

Cable select was required for my iMac G3 to boot but I have a slot-loader so that could be a factor. To reiterate, the choice of adapter is really important.

 

[dupdob]

Thanks for sharing.
Quick update on my side: using the CF adapter definitely brings better result, indeed pointing the finger to an incompatible/faulty SSD adapter.
I still have a couple of issues:
1) I cannot boot on the CF after having copied the hard drive content to the (8GB) CF: the Mac clearly makes an attempt and then revert to the HDD
2) after a successful boot, the CF does not appear on the desk, nor in system information.

I need to do a cycle with the card removed for it to reappears.

I suspect both issues are related to the same problem. Any pointer would be greatly appreciated