schizzo p Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Hi Guys, recently got a serial ata drive to fit in a G4...... got a Pluscom S4P-VT6421A SATA adapter which I hoped would connect to drive. Thought the first one was faulty as I couldn't see it in System Profiler ...exchanged it for new one...same result ...Although it's not listed as being supported by Mac and may not work with my computer, should it still show up on the PCI list of System Profiler or have I got a dud?...any help appreciated. Thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vilpostus Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 If the device has no OS X driver or is not listed as supported by OS X - it will not work. You may get it to be listed in a PCI section, but this will not make it work. It'll be only an information in PCI section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizzo p Posted September 5, 2009 Author Share Posted September 5, 2009 If the device has no OS X driver or is not listed as supported by OS X - it will not work. You may get it to be listed in a PCI section, but this will not make it work. It'll be only an information in PCI section. Thanks for that prompt reply, much appreciated. I realise that the card may not work with my Mac but I expected to see it appear in the PCI list if it was drawing power ie working (even if not with Mac OS). If a device is viable, as opposed to being broken, even without drivers (and therefore maybe unusable by Mac Os), should it still register as taking up a PCI slot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vilpostus Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Well, OS X handles devices in a bit different manner than a Windows does. Windows displays devices as some known device (with full info about it) or displays it as an unknown (if no driver is installed). Now in OS X things are different. OS X shows only devices known to present in the system and work. For a device to mete this requirements, there must be a proper driver installed. If the device doesn't has a driver or a has poorly written driver, it won't work (or be unstable). Therefore it will not be shown in System Profiler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizzo p Posted September 7, 2009 Author Share Posted September 7, 2009 Well, OS X handles devices in a bit different manner than a Windows does. Windows displays devices as some known device (with full info about it) or displays it as an unknown (if no driver is installed). Now in OS X things are different. OS X shows only devices known to present in the system and work. For a device to mete this requirements, there must be a proper driver installed. If the device doesn't has a driver or a has poorly written driver, it won't work (or be unstable). Therefore it will not be shown in System Profiler. Hey Humanoid, thanks again for another swift reply....got another query for you, saw this advertised http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222115 and wondered whether it would allow me to use my SATA drive. Seems like it would allow me to connect from one of my IDE ribbons to the SATA drive. It's nighttime at the moment so I can't call the shop, and even if I could they're so PC-centric that I'm not sure I'll get any sense from them. If this is a solution then why would people spend so much on SATA PCI cards? Looking forwards to your, or anyone elses, thoughts. Thanks again for your input. Sketch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vilpostus Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 I would not trust such a fancy device You may expect everything form it on OS X. Though it's the it may be the only option you have if not spending on SATA controller. Though if you need just to connect a SATA HDD, no to create a RAID massive, then http://shopper.cnet.com/i-o-cards/highpoin...9-32561409.html Or this http://store1.sonnettech.com/product_info....products_id=105 Or this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5208...t_PCI_SATA.html could be the solution. It's relatively cheap and let's you connect up to 2 SATA disk. They all are about the same price. It's so called host adapters. The difference from a Hardware RAID adapters is first of all the price. The second, this uses some CPU power then used as RAID. You ain't going to use it as RAID, so no CPU power consumption though. Think about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizzo p Posted September 7, 2009 Author Share Posted September 7, 2009 Hi Humanoid, been making music so didn't realise you had replied. Thanks for the thoughts....I'm gonna phone up and see what those guys say. Normally I probably would have just gone out and got a PCI card but at the moment I'm so broke it's no joke. Too make matters worse I'm on a rich vein of musical inspiration and I'm having to chuck things off my present drives to accomodate what I'm doing. Got a nice fat empty HD just grinning at me from it's slot Many Thanks for your help, All the Best....Sketch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts