Bootable SSD: PowerMac G5 Quad

rabidz7

rabidz7

[H]ard|Gawd
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Are there any bootable PCIe SSDs for a PowerMac G5 Quad? If not, what is the best SATA drive? Keep in mind that the Quad only has SATA I and cannot use SATA III drives due to a link bandwidth aggregation issue. All SATA drives must be either SATA I or SATA II.
 
Have you considered buying a PCI-E SATA 3 controller? That might be the cheapest solution for reasonable performance.
 
Quix said:
Have you considered buying a PCI-E SATA 3 controller? That might be the cheapest solution for reasonable performance.
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PowerMacs cannot boot off of most PCIe SATA controllers.
 
Isn't all SATA backward compatible? Sure, some loss in performance, but it still functions.
 
Wizzard said:
Isn't all SATA backward compatible? Sure, some loss in performance, but it still functions.
Click to expand...

It usually is, but the IBM chipsets (CPC945) in PowerMacs have a link aggregation issue with Sata III drives.
 
Areca added bootable volumes on OSX back in OSX Leopard for the G5 and Mac Pro. You just have to install the Mac EFI Bios on the Areca card.
 
rabidz7 said:
That is only bootable on Mac Pros, as a G5 uses Open Firmware, not EFI.
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There was a convoluted way to boot on the G5, you had to boot to the openfirmware prompt, run a few set nvram commands and then do mac-boot that i remember reading about some time ago. It was unsupported and may have been working only on particular card/firmware combinations. Unless you are locked into the G5 because of software issues, I would suggest upgrading. I haven't played with older PPC in a while, but I remember some of the firmtek adapters did support booting and I believe the G5 was on the list. Which G5 do you have (11,5 for example?)

Update - yep, the Firmtek is bootable on the G5 check out card and specs "Self-contained PowerMac G5 boot functionality ". The only issue is it is eSata/SATA-II so you would have to route the cables back into the case or go with an esata chassis, but at least it would double the speed you have now.

You should give the guys at OtherWorldComputing a call, they will probably be able to help you with legacy Mac compatibility the best.
 
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I got a Sonnet PCI-E to dual SATA III SSD card and while it works great as a scratch drive, it is not bootable. I have a PCI-Ex4->m.2 card and a 128GB XP941 on the way, so hopefully that will work.
 
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