[G4] SATA/eSATA PCI controller

[keith_w]

Charles Williams wrote:
> Hi Chaps,
> 
> I would like  to install two 500GB SATA drives in a RAID1 set-up using 
> OSX's software RAID. I understand that OSX's software RAID1 solution is 
> somewhat slower than a hardware card, but the difference in speed 
> between a SATA RAID1 software implementation and a single (P)ATA  drive 
> on the native bus should still fall in favour of the SATA drives, right?
> 
> I have a few questions.
> 
> Can I boot from the SATA drive/ PCI controller?
> 
> Can I get a SATA PCI card that will support 2 internal SATA drives and 1 
> eSATA drive?
> 
> What should I get?
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Charles

I can answer only one of those questions, Charles...

I have a 2002 MDD G4 with 2 internal 80 Ghz drives, one for ordinary use, one 
for internal backup. Works beautifully for that, as none of my work is storage 
greedy.
However, I'm now in the process of modifying this one for use with iMovie and 
FinalCut Pro, and was advised to get a 250 or greater HD for all that work, 
because it's so greedy for storage space.
I got a 300 GB eSATA drive by Seagate, and immediately called OWC (Other World 
Computing) for help!

They sent me a FirmTek SeriTek/1VE2+2 4-port ATA Controller (PCI) card, that 
apparently does just that.
I have not yet installed it, but it's said it's for the Macintosh, and was 
recommended to me by OWC.

• Has two internal and two external "high-speed" SATA ports.
• Serial ATA 1.0a compliant.
• Includes Mac OSX RAID support.
• Supports drives larger than 137 GB.

For the company, see:  http://www.firmtek.com/

For the product, see:  http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/

Again, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this info, nor how well the product 
complies with it's advertising. I'm reading off the box it came in, and will 
not be installing it for a few days yet.
I hope this info is useful to you; sounds to be just what you need!

One caveat: They DO warn that "early Hitachi SATA hard drives are incompatible 
with this host adapter." The problem is a seldom-used "feature" called SSC, 
which is enabled on those drives.
I have the list of acceptable Hitachi drives, in the 7Kxxx series, so let me 
know whether you have a Hitachi drive.
They say that other HDs from Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital do NOT have 
this feature, and are compatible.

Good luck! To both of us!  ;-)

keith whaley