iMac G4 15" Flat Pannel with SSD

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Level 1

15 points

iMac G4 15" Flat Pannel with SSD

Is there a solution to get the iMac G4 to connect to an SSD. the G4 is IDE (40GB original HD)and the SSD is SATA (500GB) I bought a small card from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GPGFLWB/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) But the Mac will not see the SSD. I have partitioned the SSD with a 120GB partition to install OS9 but the Mac will not recognize the SSD at all even with the small partition. Is it the card not working or is there another method to accomplish this feat.... I have been working for several days trying without success. I could use some pointers from our experts out there. Sorry image is rotated, It wild not rotate. I wanted a faster HD without the heat of mechanical.

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Mar 24, 2023 1:54 AM

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Answer 1

iBookRevA Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 25, 2023 9:58 PM in response to Jeff

I am able to connect to iMac via a Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD It lets the OS9 see the drive I also installed on OS9 a little application called hard disk speed tools 3.6 for OS9 to let it see large HD's anyway I was able to partition the drive with OS X 10.4.11 into the two partitions and then format it in OS9 so that both partitions are formatted with OS9 readable formatting.

Yes I did set it to master and to slave and to open, nothing worked (this was bought from Amazon) Didn't know about the one from OWC, I get a lot of parts and pieces from them.

I also found that I can boot both OS9 and OS X 10.4.11 from said drive setup using this docking station with the SSD. but that said for the heat that tends to be inside the iMac I would rather the SSD be inside. I am thinking of doing this with my 1TB SSD and see how that works as well (these SSD's are unused and spares) put them into use once again.

(https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2XHWVQB7D05F0&keywords=usb3+sata+dock&qid=1679806106&sprefix=usb3+sata%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&smid=A29Y8OP2GPR7PE&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFVRDJRUklFVFlJRE4mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwMDMwNDMzRFNORkNaU0lVS1pTJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2OTA0OTYxQ1VKRVpNU1pGQzZKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==)

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Answer 2

iBookRevA Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 25, 2023 12:40 AM in response to iBookRevA

I have learned that the before mentioned link will only work on Windows/DOS and will NOT work with Macintosh OS9/OS X.

So I am still looking for a solution to replace the IDE HD that comes in the iMac G4 Flat Panel with a SSD... All suggestions will be investigated for possibilities. and with thanks in advance.

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Answer 3

Jeff

Level 6

12,316 points

Mar 25, 2023 8:42 PM in response to iBookRevA

The adapter is supposed to be plug-and-play, requiring no driver, but things don't always work out as expected. PC dealers will typically tell you it's a compatibility issue, because (older) Apple products aren't their field of expertise. Did you connect the SSD to another Mac for formatting and partitioning? What format type did you select and how many partitions did you create? If you check out the SSD drives to upgrade a G4 iMac at Other World Computing, they include an IDE-to-SATA adapter that looks identical to the Startech that's sold at Amazon. Notice that the jumper is set to Master. Did you set the jumper to Master on the adapter that you bought?

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iMac G4 15" Flat Pannel with SSD

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