Disk Speed Upgrades (aka The Bootable PCI SATA & SSD thread)

[Enabler]

Your dream come true...........
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1v4/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve4/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1se2/

I own 2 similar models, they are bootable and require no software. I guess there is special firmware on the card. No drivers needed. Works in OS9 & OSX

[MacTron]

I own 2 similar models, they are bootable and require no software. I guess there is special firmware on the card. No drivers needed. Works in OS9 & OSX

Can you show us the performance of this card in Mac Os 9 Please?
You can use the attached QuickBench app, in the extended tab.
Thank You.

[supernova777]

Your dream come true...........
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1v4/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve4/
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1se2/

I own 2 similar models, they are bootable and require no software. I guess there is special firmware on the card. No drivers needed. Works in OS9 & OSX

similar models? so u own a different brand then firmtek? but still 64bit pci? + works in os9? the first 3 are 64bit.. the 1se2 is 32bit

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=sata+64+bit&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xsata+%28pci-x%2C+64bit%29&_nkw=sata+%28pci-x%2C+64bit%29&_sacat=0

i think it would be possible that some other no name cards work.. well .. not "no name" but a card like "highpoint" for example has a history of being compatible with macs..

acard aswell:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acard-AEC-6896S-4-Channel-SATA-RAID-Controller-PCI-X-/121261957617?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item1c3bc6a1f1
but alas no mention of mac in the manual http://dl.acard.com/manual/english/aec-6896.pdf
****ok the rule for acard products is -- it must end in the letter "m" for it to be mac compatible firmware
ie; 6890m etc

if i could have whichever card i wanted
i would want this one: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA1EVE22/
because it gives u 2 internal + 2 external..
+ is 64bit.. i really would like to know if these cards perform faster then the 32bit ones



regarding the sonnet card "X4P" i would love to hear from someone who has this card..
as the previous model "tempo-X" has documentation that claims mac os 9 compatibility..
http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/tempo-x_sata_4+4_qsg.pdf
(^^ verify for yourself in this document)

but the x4p's documents make no mention.. i would think there is a chance it is compatible and they simply do not mention this.. sonnets documentation is usually very thorough and i would think they woiuld mention it if it WASNT
compatlble for clarity's sake.. http://cvp.com/pdf/tempo_sata_x4p_qsg.pdf
 (^^^ no mac os 9 mention in thsi document)

theres also the x4i model http://www.sonnettech.com/Product/tempo_sata_x4i.html
that i didnt check

to recap... the x4p, x4i models do not make any claim of mac os 9 compatibility.. but the tempo-x discontinued 8 port model's manual did claim compatibility with mac os 9.

actually the tempo-x claims compatibility with x 10.2+ not os9.. but the manual makes a brief mention of 9..

"if you need to access a drive or partition from Mac OS 9, be sure to click the Install Mac OS 9 Drivers checkbox."

so it would seem that even tho the smaller 32bit tempo sata cards are totally firmtek 1s2 cards witht he right firmware
these cards would appear to not have the firmtek firmware , its a shame because theres a number of these for sale for under 75$ on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xtempo-x+sonn&_nkw=tempo-x+sonnet&_sacat=0&_from=R40

[Enabler]

Yup, that's the ones I have 2 internal & 2 external.....for some reason I couldn't find it on their site because I couldn't remember the model number. I guess a brain fart or senior moment must have occurred. Bootable OS9 is hard to find. i will run a speed test but it wont be until next weekend.

[supernova777]

if it does indeed turn out that the speed is greatly improved on 64bit pci-x i will have a newfound respect for pci-x!!

i was just looking at this pc mobo its rare to find one like this that has pci-x slots
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-NEW-ASUS-P5WDG2-WS-PRO-pci-x-motherboard-USA-by-DHL-3-10-day-775-DDR2-/261099673617?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

[supernova777]

http://lowendmac.com/thompson/06/1106.html
http://lowendmac.com/thompson/06/1117.html

these articles make reference to an older owc 2 internal + 2 external mac os 9 bootable card
seen here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/SATAPCI2P/
seems to have a yellow/orange color pcb

[supernova777]

If you have a SSD unless your doing some pretty intense file transfers 1 is fine.

Also guys here is a sonnet tempo on ebay 4 port sata mac pci-x and I believe pci 64 (they say it works with g4) compatible 4 raid card. Looks like it already had quite the bidding war but that would give you the best for space and performance in a G4.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sonnet-Tempo-SATA-X4i-4-Port-Serial-ATA-SATA-PCI-X-Card-/281263474347?pt=US_Internal_Port_Expansion_Cards&hash=item417c9c06ab

hey ozfer..
this card i beleive is X only.. i would be thrilled to hear otherwise but i would expect this card would not allow u to boot unless you were using osx as an operating system.

[supernova777]

http://www.cooldrives.com/4saiipc64cas.html

id love to get a os9 bootable card with this setup. 3-internal 1-external
havent seen any tho;(

[supernova777]

imagine mac os 9 with 4 SSD in raid 0 with 266MB/sec instead of 133 that's double the HDD speed right there.

unfortunately this also adds "double" the chance of a failure in a raid0 configuration so external backup becomes twice as important!

[supernova777]

http://www.cooldrives.com/4saiipc64cas.html

id love to get a os9 bootable card with this setup. 3-internal 1-external
havent seen any tho;(

reason i said the above:
1 normal drive, 2x drives for raid0 or raid1 config and 1 external port
which gives u "one of each" type of drive configuration
the closest choice to this would be the http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
which provides 2 internal + 2 external..
u know.. when i think about it.. it might be even best to have all 4 drives be in external enclosures.. allows for easy access.. less possible heat inside the case (if using non-ssd)
this card would provide that: http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve4/
or the lesser http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1se2/

the 1v4 looks like a great option http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1v4/
but with 4 internal ports. wow thats alot of drives to put inside.. if using non-ssd ur looking at a cooling problem
leading to drive failure inevitably

Port Multiplication: The remarkable new port multiplier technology included in the SeriTek/2SE4 allows each physical eSATA port to access multiple devices at full speed via port multiplier enclosures like FirmTek's new SeriTek/5PM.

for backup.. the ultimate scenario would be to find a card which supports Port multiplier over a single esata but im pretty sure that i looked into this and it was not supported on g4s only g5s + only osx can support port multiplier someone please correct me if im wrong and i wish to be wrong:)
the only card specifyng support for multiplication of ports is http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-2se4/
oh wow! there is mention of the g4 on the specs page! so may be there is hope for port multiplication..
but i would guess this is only in osx on a g4

Hardware Requirements    

    PCI-X based Macintosh with available PCI-X expansion slot. Works well with PowerMac G5 PCI-X models (8 memory slots). Is not compatible with PowerMac G5 PCI models (4 memory slots). Some customers have reported compatibility issues when using the SeriTek/2SE4 with PowerMac G4 800MHz and 1.25GHz models.

what do they mean by 800mhz model? could be
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_800_dp_qs.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_800_qs.html
for sure  and possibly even:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_867_dp_mdd.html

for 1.25GHz
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_1.25_dp_mdd.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_1.25_mdd.html

thats alot of models..
unfortunately both of which i own (shown in bold)

but of course it says right below this:
Operating Systems Supported    

    Mac OS X version 10.4.0 or later (works best with 10.4.6 or later)

so here we have it confirmed.. no chance for port multiplication with os9;(
or maybe its just an undocumented thing?? if anyone has this card.. please post!!

[supernova777]

its funny on the page for the card it says:

SeriTek/2SE4 optimizes performance for up to 5 hard drives per data port by utilizing the advanced bandwidth characteristics of the PCI-X architecture. When 20 high performance hard drives are configured in a RAID array, throughput can reach beyond 700Mb/sec,

can u imagine if it did work, 1 little g4 with 4 x http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-5pm/ ?? lol
the g4 would burst into flames: 

[DaCat]

Seems many us have the same fantasy, the ultimate hot-rodded OS 9 bootable G4, it might make a fun project machine just to claim the world record.

I'd guess that 4 SATA SSDs using software RAID might do the trick along with one of the later video cards, full matched memory and a dual 1.8 or 2.0 processor upgrade, now it is a matter of looking over all the threads here on this subject & combining the best of the results.

I've been using the SeriTek/1SE2 dual external ESATA card with great results on my Quicksilver DP, but after reading the above I see it is 32 bit and upgrading to the 4 port SeriTek/1VE4 might well give a speed boost as it matches the Quicksilver's 64 bit PCI slots. I went with the two port because it was much cheaper at the time, maybe one of those cards will work in my G4 Yikes! and give it a speed boost, but I found copying huge file sets from ESATA to ESATA was averaging about 1 GB/minute which isn't bad.

For the next boost I want to try a SSD in an external ESATA case, I've used 1 & 3 TB Seagate Barracuda's, can't remember if I hit any size limitations but most have lots of partitions, I generally do file copying in Leopard and use the partitioned 1 GB for everyday work in both systems.

[widter]

Great post, many thanks. 

Has anyone recently found a cheap but good quality card from China on Ebay or the likes? It seems kind of hard to know if any of these work with OS9 - let alone if they are bootable. So any hints would be much appreciated! 

Examples (untested):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Port-SATA-and-IDE-PCI-Controller-With-RAID-Card-Adapter-/381344027413?hash=item58c9e01315
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-SATA-1-eSATA-1-IDE-RAID-to-PCI-Card-Adapter-Converter-/171559182930?hash=item27f1b96252
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Port-SATA-IDE-HARD-DISC-DVD-PCI-Controller-Expansion-Card-VIA-VT6420-chipset-/131595496677?hash=item1ea3b3ece5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-VIA-VT6421A-3-SATA-1-Port-IDE-PCI-RAID-Controller-Card-/360529032543?hash=item53f134755f
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Port-Internal-SATA-I-to-PCI-Sil3114-Serial-ATA-Controller-Software-Raid-Card/271265350494
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-32bit-7-Port-COMBO-CARD-2xSATA-Serial-ATA-4x-USB-2-0-IDE-Adapter-/151595897256?hash=item234bd1d1a8

I have tested 2 USB 2.0 cards with VIA chips, they worked with OSX but not OS9.

[MacTron]

Great post, many thanks. 

Has anyone recently found a cheap but good quality card from China on Ebay or the likes? It seems kind of hard to know if any of these work with OS9 - let alone if they are bootable. So any hints would be much appreciated! 

Examples (untested):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Port-SATA-and-IDE-PCI-Controller-With-RAID-Card-Adapter-/381344027413?hash=item58c9e01315
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-SATA-1-eSATA-1-IDE-RAID-to-PCI-Card-Adapter-Converter-/171559182930?hash=item27f1b96252
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Port-SATA-IDE-HARD-DISC-DVD-PCI-Controller-Expansion-Card-VIA-VT6420-chipset-/131595496677?hash=item1ea3b3ece5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-VIA-VT6421A-3-SATA-1-Port-IDE-PCI-RAID-Controller-Card-/360529032543?hash=item53f134755f
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Port-Internal-SATA-I-to-PCI-Sil3114-Serial-ATA-Controller-Software-Raid-Card/271265350494
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-32bit-7-Port-COMBO-CARD-2xSATA-Serial-ATA-4x-USB-2-0-IDE-Adapter-/151595897256?hash=item234bd1d1a8

I have tested 2 USB 2.0 cards with VIA chips, they worked with OSX but not OS9.

There are really few ones that work with Mac Os 9. Is not about chipset only, but the EEPROM code, It have to be Mac Os 9 compatible.
Non of this will work at all. 

[supernova777]

i wouldnt buy any of the ones with via chipset personally

but we did have a report of a chinese card that had firmware that had a via chipset but those cards will not have this firmware u can be sure of that

[widter]

I have found that this one proved to be flash-able to use in a Mac G4. Quality of the card is so-so.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331677428152

I used this guide:
http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-to-flashing-pc-sil3112-sata-cards-for-mac.1690231/

Hope this helps ;-)

[Protools5LEGuy]

I have found that this one proved to be flash-able to use in a Mac G4.

Silicon Image 3112 is flashable for OSX, at least with the weinetech firmware.

Max111 user here converts 3112 cards on OS9 bootable cards at a little cost.

[widter]

I have found that this one proved to be flash-able to use in a Mac G4. Quality of the card is so-so.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331677428152

I used this guide:
http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-to-flashing-pc-sil3112-sata-cards-for-mac.1690231/

Hope this helps ;-)

I thought I should post an update on this: I bought one of these cards a while back and then posted the above. Flashing went well and was remarkably easy. I put the card in a MDD and it is working happily with an SATA HD.

I bought another card from the same seller since. One would think the same scenario would happen, but not so: While flashing is also no problem for this second card, it is creating issues in the 2 Macs I have tried putting it in.
- A Quicksilver won't boot at all with it installed, it wont' even allow a PRAM reset (so it would seem the boot procedure is not working).
- A MDD IS booting with the card installed, but has problems accepting the IDE drives as startup drives. Basically, "Startup Disc" won't see the IDE system folders as valid, and after a reboot (or startup), I get to see the "?" disc symbol for a while every time.

Any thoughts on these strange findings?

[widter]

I have interesting news for supernova777 and some others.

It seems that I have successfully reverse-engineered the Seritek firmware to fit on standard 128k EPROMs. This firmware will enable SIL3112 cards to register under OS9 as SCSI cards, making them more compatible than when using the Wiebe firmware.

I have yet to do more testing, I am writing this early. But initial signs are looking good, and since we all love os9...

Please note, this firmware will NOT work under X. Including X would make the firmware too big to fit on a 128k EPROM. (Should it turn out that you need X compatibity later on, you could go back to the Wiebe firmware.)

I will get back to you when my testing is concluded. If it turns out positive, I will upload the firmware. And if you have a PC with a floppy disc drive around, you can then flash your own cards... yes. A PC. ;-)

Stay tuned...

[supernova777]

wow... i was hoping this day would come! is it really true?
u did this by removing the osx code from the firmware? as i suggested might be possible? (dont ask me where or when i said this but i know i did, sometime somewhere)