Expanding G5's drive bays

[Andrew S.]

Gosh in for a penny in for a pound and all that..I just picked up a 2004 G5 2.0 running Tiger with 4Gb of Ram on ebay. That seemed entirely reasonable to me for a Music server. A couple quick questions:

1. can you expand the drive's ie put the OS on SSD and some TB drives for storage and back up? I understand there are 2 internal bays only BUT there are some aftermarket expansion options - anyone used any?

2. do you need to quieten the fan noise and if so what have folk done?

 

Talk about a conversion to Mac after years of resistance - and I can give up my enforced hobby of being a terminal jockey in Linux - yippee.

 

Next up a ULN2 I think - Clay I think I have a line onto one. May I ask you for assistance with set up? or is it all intuitive?

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Audio_ELF]

As far as I know - the only way to add extra (more than 2) drives internally is to remove the Optical Drive. Of course you can use the two existing HDD bays replacing the original drive if needed. Do you have the original Tiger install discs? If so a full reinstall would probably be useful to ensure efficient running.

 

The alternative is to use either eSATA (add a PCI card) or FireWire / USB and add external storage, or use a NAS.

 

Eloise

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

Sure thing on the help. Pro audio gear is NOT intuitive unless you're a recording engineer or similar I'm afraid.

 

You can get my email address from the MIOForum list and email me directly.

 

If you're just using Firewire in and Analog out, it'll be pretty simple. It was the Toslink setup (for use with Apple TV or Airport Express - for wireless listening) that I had trouble with, since it does double duty with the 8 channel ADAT setup.

 

enjoy

clay

 

 

 

 

[Abstraction]

I went the opposite way. I installed an Intel SSD in my G5 and otherwise am using entirely external firewire drives. Not only did I get the stunning improvement in sound quality that has been widely noted, it must have cooled the inside of the box down enough that the fans don't work so hard, and it is much quieter. The computer is in a closet, but before the change, I could hear them in the room.

 

[Andrew S.]

Thanks for your comments.

Yes I plan on a SSD for the OS and may go the extrenal storage route for data.

Found this: http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=306

Thanks Clay - I will be in touch when I get one.

Cheers

A

 

[Audio_ELF]

The problem with those internal drive bays is that firstly you'll loose the internal optical drive (if I read the description right). Also you'll be putting additional heat into the G5 and disrupting the AirFlow which will make the fans work a lot harder, and increasing fan noise as a consequence. A better plan would probably be to use the SSD internally, and then have all your files on a NAS which you locate somewhere away from your listening room.

 

Eloise

 

[Andrew S.]

Thanks Eloise

that is great advice that I shall adopt.

The PowerMac is a monster - goodness me I had no idea they were so heavy....and big. And noisy...way noisy.

Sorry to say that little experiment was a failure - it's back on ebay: time for a NAS and my MBP.

Thanks for everyone's help with this.

Best

Andrew

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

Sorry to hear that Andrew.

 

Did you consider a headless Mini? I finally broke down and ordered one despite the 4Gb RAM limitation.

 

clay

 

[Andrew S.]

I might get a Mini - I'm being a little precious as I do have MBP which works great - but I use it for my work so it would be super convenient to have a permanent solution. Having said that I'm very happy with the MBP controlled via an iTouch.

I already have a dead silent music server in the listening room running linux so I could always change the mobo and processor and do the hackintosh thing: dunno. Haven't decided yet.

Cheers

A

 

[tranz]

Interesting, as I am searching for an early 2005 G5 to replace my headless Mac mini. It is spitting out some ear fatiguing noise through firewire which stops me from wanting to listen to music. To be fair it did just have its logic board replaced so perhaps that caused some issues. Second reason is to be able to get the Lynx PCI card to use AES.

 

[pwhinson]

I was researching whether the G5 would handle an SSD, and was contemplating what really was the point if it would 't handle a fast one. Of course the primary aim would be to further reduce the heat build up in the case b/c less heat < fan noise. I was looking into fitting a OCZ ssd and found this:

 

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10045750

 

which seems to lead one to believe that at least the OCZ drives won't work in a G5. Also - are most SSDs built for laptops, requiring supplemental mounting brackets to fit in the full drive bay of a desktop/tower like a PowerMac G5? Anyone?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I know SATA II SSDs work in G5s. We used one at the Computer Audiophile Symposium. We used Samsung drives and MTron drives. MTron makes 3.5" drives that fit better into desktop computers. Also there is a simple 2.5" to 3.5" adapter available for just this purpose.

 

[Abstraction]

I put an Intel® X25-M in my G5. There is a very simple device called an Icy Dock that makes it fit in the Bay. You just open the lid and pop the drive in. It automatically tightens down and makes the connection, so it can be used like a full-size drive. In addition to the better sound, the G5 runs much cooler and almost soundless. Although it is in a closet, I would sometimes hear it before, but I have not since the changed it.

 

Here is a source for the Icy Dock

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/IcyDock/MB882SP1S1B/

db

 

[pwhinson]

Did you encounter any difficulties or any obstacles when installing the icy dock and the hard drive?

 

The G5 already has all my files configured (no music files though - they're on an NAS in a RAID array). So my plan was to use SuperDuper to clone the internal drive of the G5 into a bootable copy on an external Lacie drive I have hanging around, then remove the old drive and install the new one. Then copy the lacie back onto the new SSD drive.

 

How did you choose the Intel drive over something like an Mtron (which admittedly seems pricey)?

 

The big question I suppose is that the drive will need to be formatted? How do I get the mac to recognize the drive? It won't have the OS or anything on it much less super duper to transfer back the files that were on the old drive (now on the Lacie). Whats the process and how do I accomplish that?