My G4 won't initialize the new SSD - please help!

[twokayprod]

Yeah, the cable is one last thing I can try. I'll try the General Image as well, but I seriously doubt it'll work. I'm away for the weekend, will try and let you know on monday.
I found a source for OWC SSDs over here, so I guess I'll get one of those...

[supernova777]

Maybe there is something in this new Samsung’s new 850 EVO SSD model that make it incompatible with our old systems:

"... Samsung’s new 850 EVO SSD product line is powered by the company’s new MGX controller, The defining element of the 850 EVO is its three-dimensional flash that host three bits per cell.
The 850 EVO's 256-bit AES encryption is compliant with the TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667 standards, meeting the requirements for Microsoft's eDrive system..."

i think this drives internal controller must be incompatible with SATA150 spec

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd850evo/specifications.html
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/whitepaper/whitepaper02.html

why dont u just get a 840 by samsung? mactron has one i think and he knows it works
but.. he has a different sata card then you.. which uses a different chip controller (either thris one http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/ or this one http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1v4/)

also please keep in mind there is also the possibility that your SATA card is defective.. doubtfull but it is a logical possibility untill u test it to prove otherwise!

[twokayprod]

I couldn't find any differences in the specs of the 850 and 840 - maybe I didn't look closely enough. But the 850 is downwards compatible with SATA II and SATA, so this shouldn't be a problem...
Anyway, the 840 is more expensive than the 850 and just 8 bucks away from the OWC Mercury Electra 3G, so I'll get the latter. I already found a different use for the Samsung.
At least we found a combination of SSD and SATA card that doesn't work, so others don't fall into the same trap. I have no way to check the Sonnet card in another machine and it will be a few days before I can check a different cable - this easter weekend threw my whole timetable overboard. But I don't think it's the card or the cable. Once I get the OWC we'll know for sure.

[twokayprod]

 
Alright!! It took a while, but I finally got the OWC Mercury 3G 120GB SSD. Just put it in the machine, started it up and used Drive Setup to partition the thing. Then I simply copied all the files/folders from my recently done clean installation of the OS9 I downloaded from right here aaaaaaand.......tadaa! Works like a charm 

So there really was a communication problem between the Samsung Evo 850 and the Sonnet TSATA. With the OWC, everything was done in about 5 minutes. And I got it for 80 bucks from Amazon.de, even cheaper than the Samsung 840 would have been.

Good times 
Thanx again for your help, guys!




p.s. By the way, how cool is it that with OS9 one can just copy the system stuff and get another startup drive? I know, this is old news, but it still ROCKS!! I put a new HDD in the G4 recently and installed the latest OS9, so my old HDD is just for backup now. Then I installed Cubase and a bunch of plugins, as well as the MOTU drivers needed for my interfaces. And now, all I had to do was to drag all that over to the SSD. AWESOME!! AAAAAAAWESOME!! 

[supernova777]

it can be a bitch to figure out what the cause of problems are..
process of elimination.. but when thats all sorted +D one.. and the computer works well.. mac os 9 is pretty rock solid  

just yesterday i went thru about 30 boot ups to figure out that a few hard drives were bad and once they are out of the config, everythings working like a champ... what really screws u up is when u think something is compatible and it is in fact, not. but u try like hell to make it work before finally giving up.. i had the same problem with this stupid radeon 7000 pci card yesterday..
of course using the same card in os 9.0+ & 10.x works fine,everytime, on the same hardware. 

anyways.. moving forward.. on to bigger + better things..

[twokayprod]

Hi guys,

I didn't want to open a new thread, because this seems to be related.
Since I'm using the SSD as system drive, most of the times when I startup the G4, I get the "Your computer wasn't turned off properly"-screen 
What's the deal with that? Any ideas? Is this a problem or should I just ignore it?

Thanx