Can I used PC IDE and SATA hard drives in a new Powermac G5 system?

[animefx]

I'm thinking I may just sell my PC all together, I think I could get a nice chunk of change for it, it's upgraded nicely (for a PC). Anyways, a few things that I would like to carry over to my Mac are my two extra hard drives. I have a 7200 RPM IDE 180 gig, and I also have a 250 gig Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive.

If I removed the NTFS partitions or formated the drives, can they simply be put into a PowerMac G5 tower? and if so, is it easy to install and setup?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[mduser63]

The answer is yes on the SATA drive, and it'll be easier to install and set up than on a PC. Just shutdown the machine, install the drive (instructions are in the user's manual, but it's really simple), plug it in, and turn the machine back on. As for the IDE drive, I don't think you'll be able to use that without buying an IDE interface card, as AFAIK, the G5s don't have an IDE interface built in.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Put the IDE drive into a Firewire enclosure, there is only room in the G5 for one additional SATA drive anyway.

The Mac will read (but not write) NTFS drives, so you can scavenge your data before you reformat.

(Yes I know there are some stupidly expensive brackets for modding the G5 for additional drives. No they are not practical for 99% of owners)

 

[animefx]

Very nice...

Well that's good to hear. I spent a pretty penny on these drives (although they are a lot cheaper now). I wouldn't mind using a firewire enclosure for my IDE drive, and just installing my 250 gig SATA inside the G5.

Thanks for the help.