Mac Mini G4 over 320GB internal storage

[juansolo]

I had a bit of a dilemma a while back, in that I needed 500GB storage on my 1.5 G4 Mini (for my lossless library) and needed to retain the internal CD reader (to read in new discs). Also I didn't want to go the external drive route.

As the G4 runs IDE internally and the biggest 2.5" IDE drives available are 320GB, I thought I was a bit stuck on this. Then I found some adapters that allegedly worked and decided to give them a try. These were the Lindy/Startech 2.5" IDE to mSata adapters. They replace an IDE HDD and give you a mSATA slot in it's place. I bought a 128GB old Samsung 840 to test it with as I didn't want to blow a lot on this if it wasn't going to work.

Well it did, and it's belting. It's as quick as the bus can go too, so boot times are really fast. Capacities are up to 1TB also, which is unheard of on IDE and the price of the adapter and mSATA drives (if you're a tight bugger like me) are way, way less than the OWC Legacy SSDs, which are the only other option for this sort of thing.

In the end I ended up getting an Intel mini as my lossless server as it was simply cheaper than buying the 500GB mSATA drive. But still, the trick works and for £60 all up, I managed to get a 128GB SSD into a G4 mini. Which is pretty cool none the less.

[supernova777]

umm having trouble following your writing here..   

-u have a g4 mini
-u bought a linty/startech 2.5" ice to msata adapter
-u bought a samsung 840 SSD? (I'm guessing u meant to say msata?)
-u can buy up to 1tb size of msata? (I'm guessing u meant?)
-in the end u bought an intel mac mini (guessing brand new 2015 model?)
-but u thought u would explain the msata to IDE 'trick' as it was BANG FOR BUCK !!

are u selling your g4 mini now?

[juansolo]

Yes, basically. I got the 128GB mSATA SSD to test the theory. Then was holding out for a 512GB mSATA SSD 2nd hand to drop in there. But in the mean time managed to snag an Intel mini for peanuts and dropped a 500GB SATA HDD drive into that that I had lying around. So the big drive into the G4 Mini solution was no longer required as I just moved the server on to the Intel Mini.

Sorry for the confusion.

My original issue was getting an 2.5" IDE HDD over 320GB (as far as I can tell, no 2.5" HDD was bigger than that). OWC make some 'Legacy' IDE SSD's that are 500GB and 1TB, but they're monumentally expensive. The little adapter achieves the same thing, without the huge expense (about half the cost of the OWC solution).

This is the adapter, which I no longer have any use for (but I'm keeping the drive).

The mini is indeed up for sale, but it's got the original drive back in it now and I'm asking far too much money for it currently It'll drop shortly, but I'll do that in increments.