What a surprise -a free Mac

[baraktorvan]

I went to my friend's home the other day to pick up a SCSI 68 to 80 adapter he found for me. 

He then said if I wanted his PM 7300/200 I could have it for free. Cool!

Cavet: Needs hard drive. 

I thought not a big deal until I started looking to get the 50 pin bugger. Damn prices are high for that old tech on eBay! 

View attachment 5092

 

[Macdrone]

It has a PCI slot. Could get a ide drive with a PCI sonnet card.

 

[baraktorvan]

Haven't found the card yet at a price I can afford, so going with the replacement SCSI 50 pin drive instead. I stand a better chance there. 

 

[trag]

The Acard 6280M is typically available for about $20. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acard-AEC-6280M-PCI-Ultra-ATA-133-IDE-Controller-Card-PC-Mac-G3-G4-/201217950933?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item2ed98644d5

I find these to be better than the Sonnet cards as far as good booting compatibility with OS9 and OSX.

This card will also drive an ATAPI optical drive, although are kind of hard to find these days.  Easier to get a slot load PATA optical drive (~$20 on Amazon) and an adapter to the full size 40 pin connector.

 

[olePigeon]

Why not SATA?

 

[trag]

SATA PCI cards are still more expensive, unless the original poster has the wherewithal to hack a cheap SIL:mumble card.  The Sonnet SATA cards go for about $70 and I haven't seen one of the Acard 6290M or 6890M available for a while.

The OP stated that price was an important consideration, so....

In the long run, SATA would be a better solution.  Drives are easier to find and newer.  Optical drives are still available.