Has anyone upgraded a Mac Mini G4 with an SSD?
  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    Posts: 37 from 2019/9/5
    I found this video about it. Even though I am not a hardware guru, it doesn't look like a hard thing to do. The question is, will MorphOS get along with it well? Supposedly, it should just see it as an IDE drive, and there shouldn't be any problem.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35isLn-OhQ

    Any experience?
  • »31.10.19 - 16:33
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2329 from 2003/2/24
    Sure did back in the day, today I would recommend mSata with an IDE case.
  • »31.10.19 - 17:07
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    Posts: 37 from 2019/9/5
    Thanks. What do you think about using an SD card with and SD to IDE adapter?
  • »31.10.19 - 19:26
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Quote:

    retrolinuz schrieb:
    Thanks. What do you think about using an SD card with and SD to IDE adapter?


    I wouldn't go that route. As Kronos already suggested, get an mSATA to 2.5" IDE adapter and an mSATA SSD.
    I use mSATA to 2.5" IDE el cheapo China adapters for a few EUR (IIRC ~ 5EUR or so) and they work great with my Mac mini and my powerbook. SSDs for my maschines are from Kingston - my experince with kingston is pretty good. Of course there are also othr suppliers which probably deliver good stuff, too, but I don't have experience with them.
    --
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    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
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  • »31.10.19 - 21:43
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Templario
    Posts: 544 from 2012/4/28
    Quote:

    retrolinuz escribió:
    I found this video about it. Even though I am not a hardware guru, it doesn't look like a hard thing to do. The question is, will MorphOS get along with it well? Supposedly, it should just see it as an IDE drive, and there shouldn't be any problem.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35isLn-OhQ

    Any experience?


    There is a possible problem changing the hard disk with Macs the NVRam sometimes not recognize the new hard disk, my advice for own bad experience, only change the hard disk if it is bad.
  • »01.11.19 - 09:30
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    Posts: 37 from 2019/9/5
    Thanks everyone.

    @Zylesea, any specific reason why I shouldn't use an SD Card?

    @Templario, my disk is working but it feels very slow and it is making too much sound. The MAC will be seeing the IDE converter as a standard IDE disk so I thought any disk would be ok.
  • »01.11.19 - 12:03
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Most sd cards don't provide the speed - albeit you "only" need read/write speeds of 100MB/s as the bottle neck is IDE PATA.
    And I think most SD cards also lack the sophisticated wear logc of SSDs.

    Of course there are fast SD cards (also with wear logic) but they are not cheaper than a quality ssd (an sd express 128 GB card is about 25-40 EUR while a Kingston mSATA 120GB drive is available for less than 30 EUR). Also I would have my concerns about the cheap ide2sd adapters when it comes to fast sd cards.

    Hence: mSATA2ide + mSATA drive --> good performance & less risk/trouble
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »01.11.19 - 12:56
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    ThePlayer
    Posts: 1069 from 2003/3/24
    From: Hamburg/Germany
    I use an IDE 2 SATA adapter in my Powerbook you get it on ebay for 5-10 euro. Should also fit in the Mini.
    But there is a limitation they do work only with drives up to 500GB. And this "feature" is not listed in the description. So i had to use a 500GB drive instead the 1TB drive i bought in the first place.
    Don´t know about these mSATA adapters if they have the same limit.
    PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 running UWQHD Resolution
  • »01.11.19 - 17:59
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2329 from 2003/2/24
    While a Sata SSD + adaptor should work it might turn problematic space wise as there is just enough space for an 2.5 HD in the Mini.
  • »01.11.19 - 18:20
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    Posts: 37 from 2019/9/5
    Thank you very much everyone. I decided to go with mSata to IDE converter and an mSATA drive.
  • »01.11.19 - 19:36
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  • Just looking around
    Posts: 1 from 2018/6/10
    Sure have, My Mac Mini has one of these fitted and it works beautifully as a slot in replacement of the Hard Drive. (Same form Factor and no adaptors needed)

    http://www.zheinossd.com/dfg6__92.html

    128GB model in mine has plenty of space for MorphOS and a lot more besides!! Should you also need to replace the Optical drive at any stage (as I have has to) then this drive means you can use a laptop optical supadrive as the Zheino SSD can be switched from Slave to Master to accomodate a differently hardcoded optical drive.
  • »05.11.19 - 16:20
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    Posts: 37 from 2019/9/5
    Great info. Thanks CraigsBar.
  • »07.11.19 - 15:34
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