IDE drive or SATA in Mac Mini

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IDE drive or SATA in Mac Mini

Hello: I have a Mac Mini that has died with a bad logic board. I have replaced it with a similar machine. I plan to remove the 2.5 in drive from the dead mini and put it in a case to be used as an external drive. There seems to be two cases on the market, IDE or SATA. Will either or both of these cases work with the hard drive from my Mac mini as an external drive?
Thank you for your comments.-

Mac mini (not intel), Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 18, 2008 8:28 PM

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Answer 1

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Fortuny

Level 7

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Dec 18, 2008 9:18 PM in response to ri531

Hi,

from the Tech Specs of the original (not-Intel) Mac-Mini here http://support.apple.com/kb/SP65 it seems that your Mini uses IDE harddisk.

So in order to use the internal HD in an external HD case you have to look for cases that support IDE harddisks.

A SATA case will not work with your harddisk.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

ri531 Author

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Dec 19, 2008 6:25 AM in response to Fortuny

Fortuny: Thank you for your rapid response. I checked the Tech specs that you linked and it stated that the mini drive is an ATA drive. You indicated that an IDE case will run the mini drive (ATA drive). Is that correct? Does the mini drive have a 40 pin connection?

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Answer 3

AndyO

Level 6

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Dec 19, 2008 7:42 AM in response to ri531

ATA (note not SATA!) and IDE are often used somewhat interchangeably. They aren't entirely the same thing sine there are various ATA standards, but an ATA drive of the sort used in a Mac mini will run in a standard IDE external case. Note however that almost all external drive cases are designed for desktop drives while the mini's is a laptop unit. That means you need to either get an external IDE case that is designed for laptop (IDE/ATA) drives, or also obtain a laptop/desktop ATA adaptor so you an connect the drive to the case.

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Answer 4

Fortuny

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Dec 19, 2008 8:31 PM in response to ri531

Hi TGH1,

AndyO has already posted the answer.
Here are some more indepth infos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdvancedTechnologyAttachment

And also Apples Developer note on the Mini: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeveloperNotes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/MacMiniG4/0Preface/chapter_1_section_1.html#//apple_ref/ doc/uid/TP40001865-CH204-DontLinkElementID3

Take care

Stefan

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Answer 5

ri531 Author

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Dec 21, 2008 7:31 PM in response to Fortuny

AndyO and Stefan: Thank you for your informative comments.
It is my understanding, now, that my 2.5", ATA (44pin), MacMini drive will work in an IDE drive case as long as the case is designed for a 2.5" drive (laptop). I hope the USB connection to the IDE case will have sufficient power to run the drive inside.

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Answer 6

Fortuny

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Dec 21, 2008 8:10 PM in response to ri531

I hope the USB connection to the IDE case will have sufficient power to run the drive inside.

I wouldn't rely on that.
I have a 2.5" USB-powered enclosure myself (Icy Box).
While this thing works well with my Toshiba Notebook and my Mac Pro (While running BootCamp Windows), it's a no-go with the same MAc Pro while in OSX !

Personally I would get a self-powered enclosure.

Take care

Stefan

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Answer 7

AndyO

Level 6

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Dec 22, 2008 5:53 AM in response to ri531

I hope the USB connection to the IDE case will have sufficient power to run the drive inside.

It is not advised to attempt to run an external case without its own power supply with the drive inserted off the USB bus. The current demand to drive both the electronics in the enclosure and the drive itself on the bus would be higher than USB standard specifies, so if the ports don't simply fail, data transfer will be somewhat unpredictable and may suffer stalling. Some external drives are specifically designed for ultra-low power use and may work, but a standard enclosure and drive is far less likely to.

Many systems are engineered to provide more current on the USB bus than standards require, and thus this arrangement may work, but the Mac mini is close to the standard rather than above it.

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