Out With The Old?

[ZoroLives]

OK, I once posted too much info too soon.. I have been reading and reading here on this forum, trying to get to a coherent question, and here it is, my first one;

 

I am running a G4 1.25DP MDD. I can't wait to upgrade. But, I am still on Tiger and from what I hear, 10.5 will require me to reformat my drives. OR perhaps a better way of saying this is the drives will be reformatted in the 10.5 install. True?

 

I am also aware that my G4 MDD uses ATA and anything modern will be SATA or better so ... as I look at what boards, chips, etc for my new Hackintosh system, how should I be aware of migrating the old drives? I am thinking that no matter how large a new case I get, installing the old ATA drives in it will be unworkable as any new MOBO wont have ATA hooks? True? Or should I be looking for certain types of MOBOS with this migration need in mind? Do some of the recommended board have ATA connections?

 

I already assume I will be buying new faster and much larger drives for the new build. I am not thinking I Want to keep the old ATA drives around forever. I am asking because I am a photographer and I certainly do not want to loose any data once I build the new system and migrate the old files.

 

I have not finalized my direction for the new system, i7 versus quad 2.4, but understanding this posted question and what I should be looking for would be the next step in the process for me.

 

Thanks.

[Synaesthesia]

I am running a G4 1.25DP MDD. I can't wait to upgrade. But, I am still on Tiger and from what I hear, 10.5 will require me to reformat my drives. OR perhaps a better way of saying this is the drives will be reformatted in the 10.5 install. True?

No, not true. You can just upgrade from 10.4 to 10.5. It's easy!

 

Many motherboards have ATA support for hackintosh. But the newer ones like P45 and newer do not.

 

If you get a motherboard that supports ATA, (eg. like my Gigabyte G31) then you can just plug them in one by one and copy over your files to your new massive hard drive.

 

Otherwise, if your new motherboard doesn't support ATA, just get a USB external hard drive enclosure that supports ATA. Then just put your drives in it and transfer your data to your new PC via USB!

[ZoroLives]

OK, thanks. One of the boards I like, below, has an ATA on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358&Tpk=GA-EP45-UD3P

 

On the i7 side, it appears ATA is supported also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374

 

I Haven't finalized my choices but, thanks for the knowledge bump.

[Synaesthesia]

The motherboards you mention have ATA - most motherboards do - but does it work in Mac OS? Check the Wiki! http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...10.5.2#Gigabyte

 

Luckily it does! The IDE/PATA works perfectly in the P45-DS3R/P45-UD3R if you have the JMicron kext

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&...t&p=1035225

 

So just build your hackintosh and you can slap in your old drives & move over your files. Problem solved.

[Tony Conte]

Dude U have original mac, just plug in the DVD and just install leopard system and it'll do like an update and you're ready to use.

[ZoroLives]

Dude U have original mac, just plug in the DVD and just install leopard system and it'll do like an update and you're ready to use.

Uh, no thanks. I know I can install Leopard on what I now have. But that isn't my goal.

 

My system is 1.25DP G4. It's a backwater Mac. There are plenty of workable processor upgrades for sawtooth and older Macs than I have. But for the MDD I would have to pay about $600 just for a 1.8 processor. Then get a card for SATA, then there is still the relatively slow front side bus not to mention a 2 gig RAM limitation (long ago reached).

 

Good enough for many years but I am interested in a hackintosh for a more modern, and a much faster (and quieter) Mac experience.

 

For an equal amount of money, I can have a way better and very modern Hackintosh.

 

The motherboards you mention have ATA - most motherboards do - but does it work in Mac OS? Check the Wiki! http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...10.5.2#Gigabyte

 

Luckily it does! The IDE/PATA works perfectly in the P45-DS3R/P45-UD3R if you have the JMicron kext

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&...t&p=1035225

 

So just build your hackintosh and you can slap in your old drives & move over your files. Problem solved.

OK, gulp. Looking over that thread it looks a little daunting.

 

If there are instructions and links I can get it all together. IN fact that is my almost next task. I have not yet put together (or well researched) an install kit.

 

Here again we have similarities and differences. What is the difference with the UD3R, and the UD3P models of the same board? For the Hackintosh project, would either matter?

 

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

I hope I have chosen a board that installs completely and becomes stable and solid. I will back track my research one more time after deciding on a winner. I would hate to find audio problems or video problems once I had it all together. I am trying to go for stability. Otherwise I would do what I really want and try the i7 route.

 

ADDED:

Looking hard at any off site info searched on the board differences it seems that ... the P version is best. Some report BIOS issues on the R version but that is hardly confirmed. P has an extra slot and an added LAN. Hardly important to me either way. I would like to confirm from this community through which if either board works best in a HackedMac setup?

 

Thanks

[Synaesthesia]

Don't worry, all these hackintosh systems are perfectly stable once set up! Even the Core i7.

 

A G4 1.25 with 2gigs RAM will run Leopard fine. It should be the same speed as Tiger for you. Of course not as fast as a Intel Hackintosh.

[OSXtotheZ]

Also with the IDE drives from your old setup you might consider getting an inexpensive IDE/SATA USB Enclosure ($30). That way you can do your new install and simply plug in via usb to move any of your old data. Once your confident you've got all your stuff you can later use the same case to install a large SATA drive in it and use that as your Time Machine backup.

[ZoroLives]

Don't worry, all these hackintosh systems are perfectly stable once set up! Even the Core i7.

 

A G4 1.25 with 2gigs RAM will run Leopard fine. It should be the same speed as Tiger for you. Of course not as fast as a Intel Hackintosh.

There are several problems with staying the course. Some I already mentioned, 2 gig ram limit being important. But, more and more I am finding that software now being developed requires Intel processors to run. Tiger vs Leopard is really a moot point.

 

I am also hamstrung at 1.25, maybe 1.45 if I really work at overclocking this thing. OR as I Mentioned $600 to get to 1.8 (woo whoo) and STILL not a Pentium based design so I still can not upgrade. An example: RapidWeaver has me qualified for a free upgrade to their newer version. Only, I can't use it because it is for Pentium only architecture.

 

I get the point that I Could save $100 and go with the Kentsfield 2.4 and OC to 3.0. I Wasn't planning on going much beyond that with the Yorkie anyway. Now the board confusion, and I thought I had that one sussed out.

 

Oye!!

[Synaesthesia]

I'm not saying you should stay the course. Get a hackintosh. But also, you can totally upgrade your G4 to Leopard.

 

Rapidweaver is universal, not Intel only.

 

Most software for OS X is universal, there are a few exceptions, granted, but don't see what you're getting at...

 

I don't get the confusion on the motherboard. Just get the EP45-UD3R, it works perfectly, and a Quad core @ 3ghz is gonna blow you away.

[ZoroLives]

I don't get the confusion on the motherboard. Just get the EP45-UD3R, it works perfectly, and a Quad core @ 3ghz is gonna blow you away.

Sorry, I get a little confused with too much info all at once. I was looking at that board (EP45-UD3R) for the Yorkie, but you are convincing me that the Kentsfield 2.4, OCed at 3.0 is a perfectly fine for this first attempt. Nothing wrong with saving a hundred bucks either. If I go either way, I assume the same sockets apply and the same board and menory would work?

 

Then, as what I really wanted was the i7, only hesitating because I am nervous about having to do to much hack-exploring to trouble shoot, I assume I need a different board (recommended in the i7 thread but it is not in front of me). I assume that the term "crossfirel" which I am seeing a lot now as in "Crossfire ready" for PSU units means that a board that is socketed to take an i7 in the future - or a PSU would need to be "crossfire". SO far so good?

 

Do I further understand that an i7 takes different ram than either of the other two solutions?

 

I guess I am asking all of this as I have been burned a bit with my MDD in the past. If I Had bought faster ram for the 1 ghz SP unit then later when I went to the 1.25 DP unit I could have still used the ram - if I had bought the faster kind at the start.

 

RE: RapidWeaver, I thought the version 4.x was Intel only? I do know some of the newer apps are intel only. The writing on the wall seems clear to me. But again, getting a new Mac while doing it myself and saving money in the process sounds like fun just the same. It's really time for a new machine.