As you know the 2.5" slot within the Mac systems MorphOS suports is IDE. Using an adapter to SATA is not possible as the space is limited to just the size of an HDD. 2.5" IDE SSDs are expensive and small.

Recently a user named Wax7 on IRC delivered a solution that is cheap, simple and even leaves 50% of the HDD slot free.

The solution is called: MSATA (Mirco SATA).

These SSD cards are mostly used on modern pc mainboards, which deliver a proper slot for them already.

What does not mean for us? Well, these cards are up to date, check and available in all sizes.

This is an adapter from DeLock. Other companies sell similar models.

http://www.delock.de/produkte/G_62434/merkmale.html

50d330c72d2133.06051065.jpg

These adapters are available from 15 to 30 euro. Just search for "MSATA IDE 44" on ebay and you find plenty of them.

Matching MSATA cards (half sized) are available for around 30-40 Euro (64GB). Of course you will find 64GB SATA-III cards, but it is a waste since our systems still use IDE. Better invest in bigger sizes than in speed.

Here you can see how the card actual sits on top of the adapter. It is lifted a bit. You can see the screws to mount them flat.

P1060761_zps2b1888d2.jpg

All it probably needs is a little hot glue on the hdd mount of your computer to keep the small adapter in position.

I did not try this myself, but I see no reason why it should not work.

Have fun!

Geit

[ Edited by geit 08.06.2013 - 15:25 ]

What a great idea. :)

I've just spotted a 128GB MSATA drive for £65, I'm very tempted to get one at that price.

Just do not forget to let us know your experience on this. :D

Geit

This is what I have been looking for.
I need to test b.o.c.h.s. while running off of a ssd boot drive.
Let ya know what happens.

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Yes, I certainly will. Once I get permission from the boss^H^H^H^H wife first. ;)

The only thing I am a bit confused about is the whole 5v and 3.3v msata adapters. Apparently if you plug it in to a wrong matched IDE interface, it will just toast your SSD.

After reading alittle more, you might have to make sure the msata to ide adapter is the proper voltage setup. Is the Mac's ide port 3.3v or 5v? If you get a 3.3v ide adapter and connect it, it will fry your SSD since the ide port is outputting 5v.

Anyone have a straight answer to this?

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Yeah it's a bit baffling. I can't find any info on what voltage the PowerBook uses.

Intuition,
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I just now looked at some pics for the mac mini g4 hard drives, and they are all infact 5v. There is a chance yours too is 5v. Just have a look at the hard drive's voltage rating which usually is on the cover of the HDD.

At one point Toshiba and some others used 1.8" drives which were 3.3v on the ide port. So if you got a msata to 3.3v ide adapter and connected it to the mac mini, it would smoke out the SSD for sure.

I went ahead and ordered a samsung 32gb msata card and a msata to 5v ide adapter. The adapter is coming out of China so it will take about 2 weeks to get here.

This device here claims to support both voltages and one of the customer reviewers says he has put used it in a PowerBook successfully.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004FD5BNE?d=d&pd=1

I'd already ordered a 5v one from China before I realised there were two types. Will open up the PowerBook and check the drive voltage over the weekend.

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I'm interested to know more about the installation. Just ordered one on amazon.fr

I should be getting my adapter either by tomorrow or Monday for sure. I don't think any of the Macs used a 3.3v hard drive. Most were 5v. If the computer itself supplied 3.3v, then you could go straight to the msata ssd drive, but if its a 5v output and you connect that 3.3v adapter to your 3.3v msata, it might go up in smoke!

My 5v adapter arrived a couple of days ago, I'm still waiting for the ssd though.

It looks like the ssd lies flat in the adapter rather than at an angle, so it should fit in the PowerBook easily.

I have put a Kingfast 1.8" IDE SSD to my powerbook.
There was no need to buy any adapter/cable, and the price is similar like mSATA devices.

[ Edited by dekanyz 25.06.2013 - 09:16 ]

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128GB for €70?

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128GB for €70?

I have bought mine for circa €100...
If you buy the adapter for €15-30, then you are almost in the same price range, and you don't have to care about the fixing.

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That's a good price you got. I haven't seen 128gb ide ssd for less than £150.

Kingfast SSDs are cheaper, but not the fastest ones.
(80/40 MB/s)