How to get a PC hard drive to fit a Mac G5

steveo77 · 07-04-2006, 10:02 PM

Hello people,

Just after a little help and advice.

I have bought a hard drive for my G5 Apple Mac from PC World (which they recommended would work), however when i tried to fit it the connectors are the wrong size. I've also got a PC which has the same type of pins etc as that hard drive, so it appears that the guy at PC world has sold me a hard drive to fit a PC not an Apple Mac.

A friend has spent alot of time and effort installing data on this hard drive so i can't just take it back and swap it for one that will fit.

Can i simply buy and adaptor to make it fit ?

Thanks in advance
Steve

Sacrinyellow5 · 07-05-2006, 12:04 AM

Do you have a link to the hd you bought?
I was never really aware that there was a difference in mac and pc hd's, but I havel also never installed an extra drive in a G5, so there could be a difference in cables compared to a G4
I just installed a 120gb drive from my pc to my mac with no problems.
Is the drive external or internal?
How many internal devices do you have installed right now?

OvenMaster · 07-05-2006, 12:47 AM

Every time I've bought a hard drive, they always said it would fit in an Apple or in a PC... of course, we're talking parallel IDE hard drives. Perhaps there was a mistake made and you got a SATA or SCSI drive?
Tom

**The_Other_One** · 07-05-2006, 02:07 AM

Can you post a picture of the drive and the cable from the mac? It should be IDE as OvenMaster said... Unless it's some 2.5" drive, which I doubt.

steveo77 · 07-05-2006, 05:02 PM

I went back to PC world. apparently the G5 uses smaller cables to connect to the hard drive. there is an adapter but pC world do not sell them.

I got round the problem by buying a "External Drive Enclosure" and fitting the hard drive to that and then plugging it in the usb port.

...so far so good.

However, the next problem.... i bought a USB 2-Port PCi Card (again recommended by staff at PC world) cos i'm running low on USB ports, i went to fit this and the slots available in the G5 again are the wrong type !!!!!!! poxy G5, nothing fits !!!

I know i can just buy a 4 way adaptor to increase the number of ports but i'm already using far too many plugs for the one main plug socket near the computer desk - looking a bit dangerous!

I've learnt 2 things recently

1 = nothing is compatable with G5's
2= PC world needs to retrain its staff

Sacrinyellow5 · 07-05-2006, 05:13 PM

At my work one of our computers has a external USB port, which adds an additional 4 USB ports.
I cant believe they would sell you that card. On the packaged did the card mention anything about being Mac Compatible?

07-04-2006, 10:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
steveo77 New Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2	How to get a PC hard drive to fit a Mac G5 Hello people, Just after a little help and advice. I have bought a hard drive for my G5 Apple Mac from PC World (which they recommended would work), however when i tried to fit it the connectors are the wrong size. I've also got a PC which has the same type of pins etc as that hard drive, so it appears that the guy at PC world has sold me a hard drive to fit a PC not an Apple Mac. A friend has spent alot of time and effort installing data on this hard drive so i can't just take it back and swap it for one that will fit. Can i simply buy and adaptor to make it fit ? Thanks in advance Steve

07-05-2006, 12:04 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sacrinyellow5 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 927	Do you have a link to the hd you bought? I was never really aware that there was a difference in mac and pc hd's, but I havel also never installed an extra drive in a G5, so there could be a difference in cables compared to a G4 I just installed a 120gb drive from my pc to my mac with no problems. Is the drive external or internal? How many internal devices do you have installed right now? __________________ Harvey Pekar "Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff" ------------------------------------------------- -Tower /AMD 64x2 Dual Core 4400+ (2.3Ghz) 3 GB DDR2/Geforce 8600GT(SSC)/160 SATA HD/DVD-RW/Vista Home -Laptop /Core 2 Duo T6460 (1.66Ghz)/2 GB DDR2/Intel GMA X3100/250 SATA HD/Vista Premium -Server /P4 2.26 Ghz/1 GB Ram/GeForce FX 5200/80 & 250GB HDx2/500 GB External HD/DVD-RW/XP -MAC G4-QS (2x1Gz)/1.5 GB Ram/GeForce TI 4600/40 GB & 2x120GB HD/DVD-RW/OSX Go Cards!

07-05-2006, 12:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
OvenMaster VIP Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Red Sox Nation Age: 50 Posts: 2,193	Every time I've bought a hard drive, they always said it would fit in an Apple or in a PC... of course, we're talking parallel IDE hard drives. Perhaps there was a mistake made and you got a SATA or SCSI drive? Tom __________________ Frankenbox III: CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ * MOBO: Biostar K8M800 Micro AM2 * RAM: 2x1GB Kingston DDR2 667 HDD: 2x WD 160GB, Seagate 320GB (640GB total) * OPT: 2x Pioneer DVR-115DBK DVD burners PSU: Antec Basiq 500W * GPU: PNY GeForce FX5200 256MB AGP 8x * MON: ViewSonic LCD VA721 CASE: EvTek midtower * SND: Diamond Xtreme 5.1 * OS: XP Home SP3 * ROUTER: Linksys WRT54GS

07-05-2006, 02:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 25 Posts: 13,418	Can you post a picture of the drive and the cable from the mac? It should be IDE as OvenMaster said... Unless it's some 2.5" drive, which I doubt. __________________ Primary- i7 920 \| 6GB RAM \| 9800GT \| 160+160+500GB Secondary- Athlon X2 4200 \| 2GB RAM \| 7600GT \| 80+250GB Netbook - Atom N280 \| 2GB RAM \| GMA945\| 160GB

07-05-2006, 05:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
Sacrinyellow5 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 927	At my work one of our computers has a external USB port, which adds an additional 4 USB ports. I cant believe they would sell you that card. On the packaged did the card mention anything about being Mac Compatible? __________________ Harvey Pekar "Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff" ------------------------------------------------- -Tower /AMD 64x2 Dual Core 4400+ (2.3Ghz) 3 GB DDR2/Geforce 8600GT(SSC)/160 SATA HD/DVD-RW/Vista Home -Laptop /Core 2 Duo T6460 (1.66Ghz)/2 GB DDR2/Intel GMA X3100/250 SATA HD/Vista Premium -Server /P4 2.26 Ghz/1 GB Ram/GeForce FX 5200/80 & 250GB HDx2/500 GB External HD/DVD-RW/XP -MAC G4-QS (2x1Gz)/1.5 GB Ram/GeForce TI 4600/40 GB & 2x120GB HD/DVD-RW/OSX Go Cards!

07-05-2006, 05:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
steveo77 New Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2	I went back to PC world. apparently the G5 uses smaller cables to connect to the hard drive. there is an adapter but pC world do not sell them. I got round the problem by buying a "External Drive Enclosure" and fitting the hard drive to that and then plugging it in the usb port. ...so far so good. However, the next problem.... i bought a USB 2-Port PCi Card (again recommended by staff at PC world) cos i'm running low on USB ports, i went to fit this and the slots available in the G5 again are the wrong type !!!!!!! poxy G5, nothing fits !!! I know i can just buy a 4 way adaptor to increase the number of ports but i'm already using far too many plugs for the one main plug socket near the computer desk - looking a bit dangerous! I've learnt 2 things recently 1 = nothing is compatable with G5's 2= PC world needs to retrain its staff

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