Can't choose Raptor as boot disk

SATA (1.5 Gb/sec) versus SATA II (3.0 GB/sec) has no bearing here.

Not sure if there are other incompatibilities, I just know that's not one... the two standards are compatible. Can you format the drive from Disk Utility?

There was a problem with the original firmware in the 150GB Raptor and booting from a stripped RAID on G5s. I know that isn't your situation, but these things can be tricky.

There are people using the 150GB Raptor on Mac Pro.

There is no restriction on using 1.5Gb (SATA 1.0) drives, and people have moved their older SATA drives and they do work.

The WD Raptor 74GB - which firmware and how old? did you use it in your G5?

The 74GB model doesn't use NCQ but a WD flavor of TCQ.
Also is not a true native SATA drive but used a bridge.

I'll have to look to see if it has only the old 4-pin molex power plug or if it has the new SATA power connector as well (most WD drives have both).

Did you go into Disk Utility first to format the drive?
And it sees it but won't?
First thing I would do, and worked sometimes on G5s, was to just reboot and then try again as sometimes a drive would then be available.

Are you doing an ERASE and INSTALL? and is there anything on the drive now?

If it is new, make sure it is the latest, and WD has also now come out with a new 74GB based on the 150GB model, that has 16MB cache.

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD


G4 MDD WD 320 OEM 9600 1.75GB SoftAID 3 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Mac Pro "rev 2" (hopefully)

One other thing, and WD can be confusing as to what the jumper block controls, but there are jumpers to enable/disable some features.

WD feels that for a drive like the Raptor it is safer for now to not run in 3Gb/sec mode due to engineering hurdles.

The drive has a jumper block located next to the ATA power connector (see image below). There is generally no need to change the default jumper setting in order to use the drive. The only use of this jumper block is to enable or disable power management for the drive. The drives ship in the default position with the shunt on pins 1-2 (disabled). Alternately, the jumper can be removed completely with the same result. Placing the shunt on pins 3-4 (enabled), designates that the drive will power-up in standby mode. For most users the default position should be used.

See WD Support: Jumper Settings: SATA drive block


G4 MDD WD 320 OEM 9600 1.75GB SoftAID 3 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Mac Pro "rev 2" (hopefully)

It has all my apps and files from my G5 so I was hoping I could just pop that in and upgrade the OS without reformatting the drive.

Your G5 was PPC and used a different OS, which cannot be "upgraded" to Intel.

Clone or backup your files to another drive, you are going to need to ERASE the drive.

It wasn't clear from what you first said, but now it makes sense.

G4 MDD WD 320 OEM 9600 1.75GB SoftAID 3 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Mac Pro "rev 2" (hopefully)

Did you partition the drive using the GUID partition scheme when you formatted it? If you used the Apple Partition Map scheme, then an Intel Mac won't be able to boot from it.

Open Disk Utility, select the icon for your drive from the list on the left and select the Partition tab. Click the Options... button at the bottom and a dialog will slide down showing you which scheme the drive is currently partitioned under.

If you have any data on your Raptor, back it up now. It sounds like it's new, though, so you'll probably not have to worry.

I haven't tried repartitioning a drive from APM to GUID myself, but I'd imagine it's simply a matter of selecting the GUID partition scheme, okaying that dialog and then clicking the Partition button.

He said above that he wanted to update his G5 (PPC) OS without reformatting.

I wonder if the Installer from the Mac Pro is smart enough to change it to GUD? probably not.

What I would do is take the OEM drive with the pre-installed system on it, and (after backing up of course) change the Raptor as you point out, then just clone the system over.

After that it is just a matter of reinstalling software, copying over what needs to be (or use Migration Assistant).

But while I thought it was a new drive also that isn't the case.

As mentioned, you need to change the partition map scheme fromt ehApple Partition Map to the GUID Patition Table for you to boot off that drive in a Mac Pro.

To get what you need to do you need to…

1) Clone your Raptor to another drive
2) Erase your Raptor and change the patition map scheme
3) Clone back to your Raptor
4) Install Mac OS X from the Mac Pro DVD on top
5) Cross your fingers and hope for the best

I personally think that this sort of thing is more trouble than it's worth given the myriad of ways issues can be created. But hey… each to their own.