ATA Cards |
April, 23, 2003 1:07 PM |
earlyd416 |
Since I've been a member of this discuss board from the beginning, I heard a lot about the various ATA PCI cards that work. I need the capability to have a large drive for DVD work. From my research, an ATA drive would be cost effective. But, I have an 8600 that has it's PCI lots filled with 1) UPB/Firewire card, 2) ATTO UL2D SCSI card and 3) ATI Radeon video card. So, if I have to give up something to go to ATA, it will be the ATTO SCSI card. From my "listening" to you all, the Sonnet ATA100/133 cards are the most trouble free, reliable of the ATA cards that work in a Mac. Has anybody tried some of the PeeCee cards? I see them for 10's of $$ while the Mac ones are in the $50-$100 range (Sonnet, Acard & SIGII). What experience do you, the collective wisdom of the forum, have with these cards, if any? TIA. --Dwight |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 24, 2003 1:45 PM |
jeglin |
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willschou1: I just got a Sonnet Tempo ATA133 and yes, it has the Promise chip on it. |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 24, 2003 9:40 AM |
egonzales21 |
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willschou1 You are correct. The Sonnet card uses the Promise based chip which used firmware from UltraTek to do its thing. The main thing again that the Sonnet offers is that the drives attached are seen as true IDE drives. Of course the Acard based cards see the drives as SCSI which removes the 8G limit. For my personal use, the Promise chip worked best presumably because the drives are seen as true ATA. I believe you are correct. The Sonnet Raid card uses the Acard chip. Note: **** I got my cards confused when discussing the flashing. It was not the ATA card I was able to flash, it was a SCSI card from SIIG with PC firmware I was able to flash from PC to Mac. Sorry for passing on wrong info **** Ed |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 24, 2003 5:05 AM |
willschou1 |
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"RE: ATA Cards April, 23, 2003 3:36 PM egonzales21 . I was able to flash a SIIG 133 card designed for a PC (really an Acard 133 in disguise) with the Mac firmware that was available on the Acard website. The PC card was still almost $100 though. For the same money one can get the Sonnet Tempo 133 for the Mac." This is intresting news. It hasn't been possible to do this with other PC cards. The only other success I've heard of with PC cards involved replacing the flash chip on the cards. Usually the flash chips on the PC cards are too small to hold the Mac firmware which is a bit larger. At least that is what I remember. But before anyone gets too excited list sponsor OWC sells the SGII Mac version ATA/133 for $75.99 and the Acard for $83.97. "For my money the Tempo is preferable because the drives attached to it are seen by the OS as true IDE devices and not fake SCSI like the Acard. Advantage for Tempo: can use Pioneer or equivalent DVD burner with full support in the OS and I have noticed that audio for me at least is more stable. Disadvantage for Tempo: The 8G limit is unavoidable for initial install for hard drives attached to the card. However you can use Carbon Copy Cloner or Retrospect to duplicate an OS X system to a hard drive attached to the card without such limitation. It seems that the X installer is the only thing that enforces the 8G limit. Ed" I know that all the Mac ATA cards use either the Acard chip or the Promise chip. Are you saying that Sonnet went with the Promise chip in their ATA 133 card? So the Acard and SGII which are Acard's are different from the Sonnet 133 card? The hint was that the Acards all are seen as SCSI and the promise chips as IDE at least in OSX. I knew the Sonnet ATA/66 was the Acard and I thought the Sonnet ata/100 was a Promise chip. It's sort of hard to keep up with. I also see the Sonnet ATA 133 raid card is also an Acard. Thanks for any info. |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 23, 2003 4:58 PM |
mjoecups358 |
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I am running the older Acard Ahard ATA 66 card hooked to 60G maxtor boot drive. Works great with 10.24 and with my Teac Atapi burner too.... Marty PS Since it appears as a SCSI device on the PCI bus the 8 gig partition issue is also not(an issue that is). |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 23, 2003 3:36 PM |
egonzales21 |
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I was able to flash a SIIG 133 card designed for a PC (really an Acard 133 in disguise) with the Mac firmware that was available on the Acard website. The PC card was still almost $100 though. For the same money one can get the Sonnet Tempo 133 for the Mac. For my money the Tempo is preferable because the drives attached to it are seen by the OS as true IDE devices and not fake SCSI like the Acard. Advantage for Tempo: can use Pioneer or equivalent DVD burner with full support in the OS and I have noticed that audio for me at least is more stable. Disadvantage for Tempo: The 8G limit is unavoidable for initial install for hard drives attached to the card. However you can use Carbon Copy Cloner or Retrospect to duplicate an OS X system to a hard drive attached to the card without such limitation. It seems that the X installer is the only thing that enforces the 8G limit. Ed |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 23, 2003 2:21 PM |
marcush |
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Asarath is correct. The PC cards don't have mac compatible firmware. They won't function in a Mac. |
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RE: ATA Cards |
April, 23, 2003 1:27 PM |
asarath |
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From all I've read PC ATA cards won't work on a Mac (xlr8yourmac.com had an explanation why). Having said that, I run an old VST ultratek 66 in my 8600. Fine under 9, fine under X (just make sure you get the latest firmware updates). btw it also runs ATAPI devices like CD ROM etc. Don't know much about the newer cards, sorry. |
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