URGENT Please read Main ata connector dead -

Question

Level 1

49 points

URGENT Please read Main ata connector dead -

Hi it's me again and i need to to make a decision, re: main ata has finally bit the dust.
The problem started as intermitant over a 2 month preriod, the 2 drives on the main ata started with the master or slave not showing up on the desktop.
Now the ata slot is dead, tried any and all sugesstions in this forum.

Had the Geek Squad here yesterday, they charge $159 just to diognose the problem, $100 more to fix it!

I was told that it could a sign of the mother board could be failing, i did not want to hear that

I cannot afford that and still buy a 250 gig drive

I gave decided not to spend the money to diagnose the problem.

I was going to buy a WD 250 gig extenal Firewire drive for $159.

Now i have heard i could install a SATA drive, sounds like the way to go,
I need help on exactly what a SATA drive is, what do i need to do this, does it need to be connected to a FireWire port, or a pci card.

I weighed out the options, and forget the main ata, and just get a new SATA drive

I need to know what i should do
a.) Buy the WD external FireWire or
b.) Go the Sata route
Option b seems like the better way to go, but i need more info from all you experts,

Need to make a desision by the end of the week.

sknoxx

Quiksilver 2002 G4 desktop duel 1gig, Mac OS X (10.4.7), yes

Posted on Aug 29, 2006 3:28 PM

Reply

Answer 1

PB PM

Level 4

2,480 points

Aug 29, 2006 4:50 PM in response to Steve Knox

If you want internal drives you would need a PCI card with a ATA or SATA bus on them. SATA can be on an external drive as well, but internal is always faster.

SATA is the newest generation of hard drive technology, much faster transfer rates than ATA/IDE drives.

A SATA drive would have just that in the title. ATA drives are sold as EIDE or just IDE.

Reply

Answer 2

Steve Knox Author

Level 1

49 points

Aug 29, 2006 5:38 PM in response to PB PM

Can you reccomend a good internal 250 gig SATA drive
Western digital, Maxtor, Hitachi, Seagate?

sknoxx

Reply

Answer 3

PB PM

Level 4

2,480 points

Aug 29, 2006 5:54 PM in response to Steve Knox

Seagate and Maxtor tend to have longer warranties (5 years vs. 3 for the others) although IMO, any one of those brands is just fine. I have two Western Digital (one is six years old the other two), one Maxtor (just got it last month) and a Hitachi (10 months old), all of which work just fine.

IMO, get the drive that gets you more bang for your buck, and had a good replacement warranty.

Reply

Answer 4

Steve Knox Author

Level 1

49 points

Aug 29, 2006 8:13 PM in response to PB PM

OK thanks
For it to be an internal sata drive i need a pci sata card right?
I've done some searching and i don't know exactly what to look for, i've seen cards from $25 to over $90. What inexpensive pci card's do you suggest?

Here's one i found that supports Mac's

(SIIG SERIAL ATA PCI-MAC DUAL-CH PCI-TO-SATA HOST ADAPTER
(MPN: SCSATM12)
Price Range: $39.99 - $72.74 from 22 Sellers
Description: This high-speed dual-channel PCI-to-Serial ATA host adapter for Power Mac systems supports two Serial ATA hard disk drives with data transfer rates up to 150MB/s. The thin, flexible Serial ATA cable is easier to route inside a computer and allows more air flow than a traditional ribbon cable. The PCI card coexists with existing storage controllers.

sknoxx

Reply

Answer 5

Jeff

Level 6

12,316 points

Aug 29, 2006 8:16 PM in response to Steve Knox

I wouldn't have the Geek Squad diagnose any Apple products, because their expertise will undoubtedly be limited, characterized by a shoot-from-the-hip approach to troubleshooting a problem. Dire predictions to the effect that the motherboard is going to go are the type of shots in the dark that an inexperienced technician would make, when he can't pinpoint specific component failure and/or suggest workarounds to minimize the cost of repair. As for installing a large capacity SATA hard drive, you'll have to install a Mac-compatible SATA controller PCI card. This 2-port card by FirmTek is often recommended. FirmTek also has a 4-port card that can support 4 internal drives. Check "Other World Computing" for prices on either card, as well as cards by SIIG and Sonnet.

Reply

Answer 6

Steve Knox Author

Level 1

49 points

Aug 29, 2006 8:37 PM in response to Jeff

What about this one

SIIG Serial ATA PCI-M
High-speed dual-channel PCI-to-Serial ATA host adapter for Power Mac systems
Part #: SC-SATM12
Model #: CN2523
Key Features and Benefits
Supports two Serial ATA hard disk drives with high-speed data transfer rates up to 150MB/sec
The thin, flexible Serial ATA cable is easier to route inside a PC
Breaks the 137GB barrier! Supports various brands of large capacity Serial ATA hard disk drives. Note: Mac OS X v10.1 & v10.1.3 cannot see hard disk drives larger than 128GB. This is a limitation of the operating system
Co-exists with onboard controller
Can be used as the boot controller when a bootable hard disk drive is attached
High quality SATA cable and 15-pin SATA power cable required for SATA hard disk installation are included!
Detailed Specs
Version: v3.0
Regulatory approval(s): FCC Class B (DoC) & C
Port type: Two Serial ATA ports
Slot type: 32-bit PCI
Compliant with Serial ATA Specification, revision 1.0
Compliant with PCI Specification, revision 2.2
Co-exists with onboard controller and allows you to connect up to two Serial ATA hard disk drives
Features independent 256-byte FIFOs per channel for host reads and writes
Features Watch Dog timer for fault resiliency
Supports 32-bit wide PCI bus at 66MHz and data transfer rates up to 150 MB/s (1.5Gb/s)
Lower pin count and voltage requirement, plus better cabling over traditional Parallel ATA make Serial ATA the controller of the future
Compatible with:
Requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later
PowerMac G3 Blue & White Models
All PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics/Sawtooth, Gigabit EtherNet, Digital Audio, Quicksilver, and Mirrored-Drive-Door Models
All PowerMac G5 Models from 2003, 2004. 2005 Models that use PC3200 DDR Memory (Apple released new models in October 2005 that require PC4200 DDR2 Memory - these new 'DDR2' models do not have a compatible PCI Slot).
Package Contents
(1) Serial ATA PCI-M adapter
(1) Serial ATA cable
(1) SATA 15-pin power cable
(1) Quick Installation Guide
OWC Item # SIISCSATM12
Same Day $39.99

Shipping is expensive here in Hawaii. Do you know if circuitcity, Bestbuy, Compusa would carry any Mac cards?

Thanks

sknoxx

Message was edited by: Steve Knox

Reply

Answer 7

Jeff

Level 6

12,316 points

Aug 30, 2006 7:57 AM in response to Steve Knox

The SIIG card looks like a good choice, although I haven't used one of their controller cards to comment on the quality/reliability of their products. One thing you'll find when looking into Mac controller cards (ATA or SATA) is that many products are just re-branded products made by another well-known Mac supplier/manufacturer. As for the mainstream computer/electronics superstores, they don't carry many Mac-specific hardware upgrade items (other than a USB or FireWire PCI card), because the demand isn't great enough to warrant it. Unless there's a Mac retailer in your area that carries such items, I suppose mail order is the unwanted alternative.

Reply

Answer 8

Kool G4

Level 1

45 points

Aug 30, 2006 9:36 AM in response to Steve Knox

I'm very pleased with my Sonnet "Tempo Serial ATA" card, and it supports Mac OS 8.0 - 9.2.2 and OSX 10.2 through current OSX 10.4 without the need for drivers or software.

The only caveat with any PCI adapter card is the drive initialization is likley to be different from that of a drive initialized from a native SATA connection. This won't affect functionality once installed, but you can't simply swap-in a drive from a G5 without initializing it.

One other quirk, when booting under OS9 or earlier, the system info reports the drive as being a "scsi" drive, however, it reports correctly as "SATA" under OSX.

Good luck.

Reply

Answer 9

CMDRFISH

Level 2

187 points

Aug 30, 2006 12:27 PM in response to Steve Knox

I have that card in my G3-300 & works fine, had it in my G4 then moved it to my G3.

As for the hard drives Seagate carries 5 yr warranty, but they just bought out Maxtor (which I wouldnt use for a HD in a old PC case that I use for a boat anchor), but hopefully they will make Maxtor better.

Hitachi has a 3 yr warranty (could be sold as IBM Desktar) and tend to be fairly trouble free. Personally I would recommend Seagate #1, Hitachi # 2 in Desktop systems.

Hope that helps...

ROA #58 There is no substitute for QAPLA!

Reply

Answer 10

Steve Knox Author

Level 1

49 points

Aug 30, 2006 3:20 PM in response to CMDRFISH

Will this HD and SIIG pci card fill my needs, seems like a good bang for my buck

Item Number: Description:
SEAST3250620AS 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II 7200RPM 16MB W/ Perpendicular Drive Technology $93.99

SIISCSATM12 SIIG Serial ATA PCI Controller Card 2-Port/Channel Internal for PowerMacs $39.99

Total price inc. shipping $133.98

picked this out from Other World çomputing.

And is this all i need or are there "other parts" i have to buy?

Reply

Answer 11

CMDRFISH

Level 2

187 points

Aug 30, 2006 4:24 PM in response to Steve Knox

All sound/looks good. The controller card usually comes with SATA connectors, so you should not need to buy those. I have had good luck with OWC and you should not have any problems either but they do stand behind their sales and returns if necessary.

Good Luck

ROA #58 There is no substitute for QAPLA!

Reply

Answer 12

Steve Knox Author

Level 1

49 points

Aug 31, 2006 1:24 AM in response to Jeff

OK i know what to do now

But nobody has addresed my main Question

Should i worry about the dead ata connector, can it cause problems down the line or is it really nothing to worry about,

sknoxx

Reply

Answer 13

CMDRFISH

Level 2

187 points

Aug 31, 2006 6:44 AM in response to Steve Knox

I would not worry. It should not (should not but no promises) cascade to further problems on your motherboard.

Reply

Answer 14

J/W/F

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2006 1:01 PM in response to Steve Knox

Naturally, it's a great solution to install a PCI controller card, ATA/SCSI cards are getting scarce, and there are sleep issues with some...SATA, I haven't gone yet, but will soon go eSATA, for externals on the Quad.

But, I have the same problem, and would like to know if there is a method of replacing the onboard ATA controller in a Quicksilver, without dispensing with the entire MoBo?

Is it just to difficult to micro-solder (assuming solder is required)? Is the part is just no available, or does is there simply no labor/cost efficient way of making the mobo whole again?

Anyone know how to replace and where to find the part...?

I like my Macs to work just as they should...!

Thanks IA...

J/W/F

G5 Quad/4GB/500 Hitachi/7800GT Mac OS X (10.4.7) Quicksilver 2002 Dual 1Ghz/Smurf 400/9600-350-G3/7100-G3

Reply

Answer 15

PB PM

Level 4

2,480 points

Sep 6, 2006 12:40 PM in response to J/W/F

I wouldn't try changing the built in BUS, your too likely to kill your logicboard.

Reply