The Kingwin ADP-06 with OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD Low Budget Project

[DieHard]

NOTE:  Please read the 2021 Update for the very best IDE/SATA Bridge Adapter (the RXD-629A7-7) here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,5436.0.html
The the RXD-629A7-7 outshines the ADP-06 adapter if two SSDs are needed to be installed on the same IDE cable,
for a single SSD drive only, either adapter is equivalent
The rest of this info. is for archive purposes

The Kingwin ADP-06 with OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD Project
Mac G4 SSD Option for Users on a Low Budget

The items Needed...


So the Kingwin ADP-06 IDE-to-SATA Adapter is much cheaper that my detailed post reguarding the ARS-2133 (which is is an IDE-to-SATA 2.5” HDD metal bay).

The Original ARS-2133 Post is Here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=2569.0

The Kingwin is unique in it's size and layout that makes it a perfect candidate for a cheap G4 upgrade.  At about $12 US dollars (with free shipping).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kingwin-SATA-to-IDE-Bridge-Board-ADP-06-New-/281705569840?hash=item4196f5de30:g:PY8AAOSw~OdVZ500



There are even cheaper adapters, but this one is the right size and orientation for our G4 upgrade.  It's main advantage is that when a 2.5" SSD or Notebook Hard Drive is attached to it, it mounts into an MDD cage or QuickSilver tray with very little effort and becomes the Normal width of a 3.5" Desktop PATA Hard drive.

OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD drives can be purchased at rock bottom prices these days and beat mechanical drives in all performance aspects.  This 60GB brand new OWC SSD drive goes for about $20 on ebay:

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OK so Let's start...
1)  Make sure the adapater jumper is in the "A-B" jumper position denoted as "IDE to SATA"


2)  Peel back the adhesive tape and push the Adapter on to the OWC SSD.




3)  Now the cool part... you can attach the SSD to the cage directly !  Use a washer on the screw toward the front since the size of the cage holes are large.  No special trays are needed and the circuit board on the Adapter will just make it in the cage (you may need to pry the cage open a little with your hands, but it is a great fit). Mounting only 1 side is just fine, remember there are no moving parts in an SSD, so think on it like a piece of RAM.

Also note that the Adapter connections are it a good spot... and that the tightness on the Board in the cage makes it impossible for the adapter to come loose it the cage is mounted vertically.



4)  We now have many choices...

One SSD Only on the faster MDD controller





Two SSD drives





One SSD and One Mechanical hard drive...one important note is that the SSD with normal hard drive combo is a little too tight for the stock Apple IDE cable, so you can use an IDE with more room between the two connectors or you may have to use Sticky tape and forget using the screws in the cage.  I suggest (2) SSDs since they are inexpensive and use the slower MDD controller for large hard drives that archive old projects.

[Knezzen]

Very good walk-through DieHard! Really helpful

[mrhappy]

Very good walk-through DieHard! Really helpful

Yes... pretty pics too!!

[MacTron]

Great post, thanks.
I just wish to add that I have used a very similar configuration for years without issues.

... and:

...
.. the SATA to PATA adapters.
... are cheap, it don't use PCI bandwidth (in some G4's). And If you are using a SSD with it, even though the bandwidth will be a bit low, you still enjoy one of the best benefits of a SSD: the fast data access time.

Of course if you plan to use a SATA CD/DVD drive , SATA to PATA adapters are the absolute best option.

[nickbirkby]

Thanks so much for posting this! I am really happy- just found a June 2003 MDD 1.25 for an excellent price. Getting it next Tuesday. Hope to install a SSD in the near future.

Bug has bitten though. Now have a MDD 1ghz FW, 733 Quicksilver, Digital Audio and my old trusty G3 233.

[RTIInstaller]

I see you are using an IDE to SATA adapter.

OWC makes the same SSD drive in an IDE version, so you don't need the adapter https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Extreme_Pro/Legacy_Edition

[stephenvalente]

Given the cost of those kits, it would be cheaper to buy an IDE-SATA adaptor and the SSD yourself than from OWC, even in the U.K. with our worsening exchange rates.

Compromise solution for me to consider if the holy grail of booting SATA PCI cards doesn't get any closer on the G4 Power Macs.

[DieHard]

I see you are using an IDE to SATA adapter.

OWC makes the same SSD drive in an IDE version, so you don't need the adapter https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Extreme_Pro/Legacy_Edition

It is NOT IDE, That is the same exact drive and it also needs an adapter

On your link:

Includes IDE/ATA adapter for use in 3.5" IDE/ATA desktop drive bays.

Two Other points:
1) The OWC included adapter sucks compared to this adapter solution.
2)  You can get the raw drives (60 GB) for $20 on ebay

[nanopico]

Given the cost of those kits, it would be cheaper to buy an IDE-SATA adaptor and the SSD yourself than from OWC, even in the U.K. with our worsening exchange rates.

Compromise solution for me to consider if the holy grail of booting SATA PCI cards doesn't get any closer on the G4 Power Macs.

Just curious and maybe I missed something somewhere, but are you saying that it isn't possible to boot a G4 from a SATA drive on a PCI SATA controller?

I have done this for some time, and for fun I had recently put my PCI SATA card in a clone with a 604 CPU in it and was able to boot that from the SATA drive.

It maybe very possible that I missed something in this statement, sorry if I did.

[stephenvalente]

Given the cost of those kits, it would be cheaper to buy an IDE-SATA adaptor and the SSD yourself than from OWC, even in the U.K. with our worsening exchange rates.

Compromise solution for me to consider if the holy grail of booting SATA PCI cards doesn't get any closer on the G4 Power Macs.

Just curious and maybe I missed something somewhere, but are you saying that it isn't possible to boot a G4 from a SATA drive on a PCI SATA controller?

I have done this for some time, and for fun I had recently put my PCI SATA card in a clone with a 604 CPU in it and was able to boot that from the SATA drive.

It maybe very possible that I missed something in this statement, sorry if I did.

I've been reading a couple of threads here since acquiring a G4 (collecting next week), and i got the impression it was an uncertain subject. I'd like to find a reasonably priced solution I can get sent to me in the U.K. if someone can point me in the right direction.

It will need to work with the 1.42GHz DP model.

[nanopico]

Given the cost of those kits, it would be cheaper to buy an IDE-SATA adaptor and the SSD yourself than from OWC, even in the U.K. with our worsening exchange rates.

Compromise solution for me to consider if the holy grail of booting SATA PCI cards doesn't get any closer on the G4 Power Macs.

Just curious and maybe I missed something somewhere, but are you saying that it isn't possible to boot a G4 from a SATA drive on a PCI SATA controller?

I have done this for some time, and for fun I had recently put my PCI SATA card in a clone with a 604 CPU in it and was able to boot that from the SATA drive.

It maybe very possible that I missed something in this statement, sorry if I did.

I've been reading a couple of threads here since acquiring a G4 (collecting next week), and i got the impression it was an uncertain subject. I'd like to find a reasonably priced solution I can get sent to me in the U.K. if someone can point me in the right direction.

It will need to work with the 1.42GHz DP model.

All I know is this is the card I have.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/legacyproducts/tempo_serial_ata.html
I can boot from the SATA drives with no other ones in the system.  This has worked on my G3's, G4's (MDD included) and even the 604 clone. 

I know not all third party ones work, and maybe that is the confusion.  In the end there is a way to do it.

[madalynmcworm]

Given the cost of those kits, it would be cheaper to buy an IDE-SATA adaptor and the SSD yourself than from OWC, even in the U.K. with our worsening exchange rates.

Compromise solution for me to consider if the holy grail of booting SATA PCI cards doesn't get any closer on the G4 Power Macs.

Just curious and maybe I missed something somewhere, but are you saying that it isn't possible to boot a G4 from a SATA drive on a PCI SATA controller?

I have done this for some time, and for fun I had recently put my PCI SATA card in a clone with a 604 CPU in it and was able to boot that from the SATA drive.

It maybe very possible that I missed something in this statement, sorry if I did.

I've been reading a couple of threads here since acquiring a G4 (collecting next week), and i got the impression it was an uncertain subject. I'd like to find a reasonably priced solution I can get sent to me in the U.K. if someone can point me in the right direction.

It will need to work with the 1.42GHz DP model.

All I know is this is the card I have.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/legacyproducts/tempo_serial_ata.html
I can boot from the SATA drives with no other ones in the system.  This has worked on my G3's, G4's (MDD included) and even the 604 clone. 

I know not all third party ones work, and maybe that is the confusion.  In the end there is a way to do it.

I've been searching for that card with no success. It doesn't seem to be easy to locate in the US.

The kingwin cards from ebay came from amazon in amazon wrapping.
Prime was $10 each. Could have saved $6

[nanopico]

If you can find that card then it is good. I got some time ago shortly after it was available. 
Nice solid card.  Wish I would have gotten a couple.

[madalynmcworm]

My parts all came last week. Got a chance to do this today.

I only went with one SSD installed for now. I found a broken tab off an electrical outlet or something to use for the washer (It was near all my stuff).

Running fast so far

Thanks for this! Should hold me over until I can get an actual SATA card, if I even need it for what I'm doing.

[mrhappy]

OWC makes the same SSD drive in an IDE version, so you don't need the adapter https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Extreme_Pro/Legacy_Edition

They Do or at least DID make a SSD with an IDE interface. The link shows a drive that needs the adapter but in the pic you can see that it has the IDE connector. I bought one of these a year or 2 ago to install in a 17" 1Ghz Alu MacBook...finally getting around to warming up the screw driver! Haha!

[DieHard]

They Do or at least DID make a SSD with an IDE interface. The link shows a drive that needs the adapter but in the pic you can see that it has the IDE connector. I bought one of these a year or 2 ago to install in a 17" 1Ghz Alu MacBook...finally getting around to warming up the screw driver! Haha!

A Laptop size IDE will also need an Adapter in this scenario since we are putting the SSD in a DESKTOP G4 with a different size IDE/PATA connector... so IMO, just get the SATA (more expandable later) and better deals on ebay

[mrhappy]

A Laptop size IDE will also need an Adapter in this scenario since we are putting the SSD in a DESKTOP G4 with a different size IDE/PATA connector... so IMO, just get the SATA (more expandable later) and better deals on ebay

Yes agreed... I picked up a bunch of the SATA version on your recommendation!

Pretty sure that you brought the IDE version to my attention also... just making sure the new kids know that the IDE version does exist incase they need one for a laptop upgrade.

[devils_advisor]

Any recommendations for a g3? The ata bus is slow but would it be possible and recognized as a boot drive?

[GuiBer]

it seems that the customers of the OWC SSD are very satisfied of the product (this is the 60GB model) :

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/SSDMXLE060/

Not only G4 users, but G3 users too and with both systems, Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.

I think I’ll buy one for my Power Mac G4 MDD dual 867mhz 

[DieHard]

Pretty sure that you brought the IDE version to my attention also... just making sure the new kids know that the IDE version does exist incase they need one for a laptop upgrade.

Yes... Great Point

The old Powerbooks fly with these SSDs