How to add more hard drives to PowerMac G5

cheesegrater · Apr 18th, 2009, 03:59 AM

Whats the best way to add more internal SATA drives to a PowerMac G5?
It's the very last model before the Mac Pro's came out.

I'm pretty sure I can just buy a sata PCI card, but what type of slot does the PM use?
Where would the drives physically go?

Thanks

hdh607 · Apr 18th, 2009, 07:34 AM

Good question. We have two Mac Pros and one PowerMac G5 at work and it would be nice to get at least one more SATA drive in it. I remember there only being two bays though. Where would you put a 3rd or 4th internal HD? and how does the SATA PCI card work? Do you just plug it in and add a drive(s)?

Mississauga · Apr 18th, 2009, 08:09 AM

Unfortunately, the G5Jam is no longer manufactured. Perhaps a local retailer may have one collecting dust on a shelf? Might be worth calling around to ask.

Mississauga · Apr 18th, 2009, 08:20 AM

... but Sonnet appears to still carry their solution!

gmark2000 · Apr 18th, 2009, 08:40 AM

I have the G5Jive from Sonnet. But be warned, they might not fit the newer G5 Powermacs.

Here's a couple write-ups on adding more internal drives:

There's also an old how-to thread on ehMac about a guy who split the IDE connector for the DVD-rom and added another IDE drive and placed it on top of the DVD-rom.

cheesegrater · Apr 18th, 2009, 03:36 PM

What type of PCI (express?) slot does the PM use?

keebler27 · Apr 18th, 2009, 05:43 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by cheesegrater
	What type of PCI (express?) slot does the PM use?

it will say in the manual under expansion. i have an earlier g5 so i don't know if that's different.

lara · Apr 18th, 2009, 07:42 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by cheesegrater
	What type of PCI (express?) slot does the PM use?

If, as you said in the original post, that your PM G5 is the last model before the Mac Pros, then you have a PCIe (not PCI-X) machine.

L

chas_m · Apr 18th, 2009, 09:35 PM

I have to caution readers of this thread that our shop used to make a LOT of money repairing overheated G5s that opted to use solutions like the G5Jam. Apple did NOT account for this concept in designing the cooling system, and under continuous heavy load you are, IMO, shortening the life of your computer and putting your data at risk.

It's particularly odd when *faster* external solutions exist ...

gmark2000 · Apr 18th, 2009, 10:46 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by chas_m
	It's particularly odd when faster* external solutions exist ...*

eSATA wasn't on the market in 2004 and FW800 still was very pricey back then too.