Sonnet ATA66 and 120gig limit?

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Level 6

12,275 points

Sonnet ATA66 and 120gig limit?

Hi all,

I have an old Sonnet (rebadged ACARD 6260) ATA66 PCI controller card. If I were to install it in my G4 Gigabit Ethernet would it:
1) Offer thruput equal to or better then the G4's built in controller?
2) Allow me to install drives larger then 120Gigs (it is my understanding that the built in controller will only see drives 128Gigs and smaller? Is this correct?)?

So is this a good "work-a-round" for the need for larger drives without negative impact on thruput?

D2

PBG4/iBook500/BeigeG3seriously Frankinmac'ed/WallStreet-G4500, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 3, 2006 4:07 PM

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Answer 1

lz3broc

Level 2

420 points

Mar 3, 2006 4:58 PM in response to Dave2

your G4 Gig-E ATA bus speed is normally default of ATA66 so you wouldnt have any noticeable difference in throughput between it and your Sonnet Tempo ATA66 card.

Your G4's hardware ware wont see drives over 128GB due to ATA5 spec. if i recall you will need a PCI card with ATA6 spec to see over 128GB.
unfortunately the Sonnet ATA66 card likely is only ATA4 or ATA5 spec.

an ATA100 or ATA133 or SATA150 card would give you better throughput and would allow for larger HD's. of Course a SATA150 controller would require you to have a SATA HD or a SATA to ATA adapter bridge.

There is however a software solution... INTECH HD SPEEDTOOLS removes the 128GB limit on most G3 & G4 Macs. Its $25 for the special Driver or $90 for the whole package software.
http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml

And OWC www.macsales.com sells the Intech Speedtools for $10 OEM if you buy a new HD from them.

good luck.

LUKE aka lz3broc

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Answer 2

Mar 3, 2006 5:04 PM in response to lz3broc

Be careful with the ATA to SATA adapter, I have 2 and both cause kernal panic. If you are going to use SATA drives then the SATA card if you use ATA go with the ATA card. You will save a few bucks that could go to the SAA HD.

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Answer 3

lz3broc

Level 2

420 points

Mar 3, 2006 5:07 PM in response to mactothefuture

i only mentioned the ATA to SATA adapter because such beasties do exist. now whether they work well or not is another thing. thankfully someone knows how well or not they work. so I'd say dont bother with the ATA to SATA adapter thingie then.

look at that software solution its a viable alternative if you dont wish to get into more hardware...

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Answer 4

Nadav

Level 3

566 points

Mar 7, 2006 10:59 AM in response to lz3broc

Hello.. I have a DA Mac and would like to know how reliable is Intech's hardware tweak to make HDDs higher than 128gig to be recognized on the native motherboard bus?

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