PowerMac G5 Won't Recognize SATA Drive

[Sunoo]

I just picked up a PowerMac G5 for a steal, but it was missing its hard drive. Right now the only spare SATA device I have laying around is a 64 GB SSD.

I can get the machine to boot from the 10.4 install disc, but it won't recognize the drive no matter what I try. I did try connecting it with an external USB enclosure, and it saw it then, but wouldn't let me install the OS because it can't boot off USB.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Unknown_K]

g5 iMac or tower (model#)? Could just be the cables got damaged or cut when the drive was removed? Not sure if there could be an issue with the SATA1 controller and newer SATA drives.

 

[Sunoo]

Tower. Model A1047. As far as I can see, the cables look fine, and I tried both the upper and lower drive slots, with the same results.

 

[Unknown_K]

Is there a jumper for the drive to run at SATA1 speed?

 

[Sunoo]

There are no jumpers on this drive. Is that the problem? Does it need to be a SATA1 drive?

 

[Unknown_K]

Just to clarify you are saying the HD formatting utilities on the OSX DVD do not see the drive at all and not just a volume does not pop up on the screen?

 

[Sunoo]

When connected internally to either SATA port, Disk Utility does not see it. When connected via USB with an external enclosure, it appears in Disk Utility and can be formatted, but the installer refuses to accept it because it is not bootable.

 

[Unknown_K]

I have read a few places that SATA3 SSD drives will not work on a PPC G5 SATA1.

 

[Sunoo]

Thanks for the tip, I’ve placed an order for a cheap SATA hard disk, and we’ll see if that works any better.

 

[Sunoo]

The hard disk came in this morning, and that got it going. I guess my SSD was just being picky about the older SATA standard. Thanks a lot.

 

[Unknown_K]

Glad it worked for you. I think Apple had their own way of using the SATA 1 standard and new drives that are probably backward compatible on generic PC hardware don't work on G5's

 

[corgski]

I had a similar issue, a SATA 3 SSD would only be recognized in one slot and the G5 wouldn't boot from it at all, I think that in general SATA 3 SSDs are kinda picky, I had an old SATA 1 PC that also wouldn't see the SSD.