2025 PowerPC Challenge

iBookSpeedster88

Tinkerer
Jan 1, 2024
28
27
13
This is what the retail Leopard DVD sees (or so far anything that ISN'T the USB enclosure):

powerpc-challenge-48.jpeg


I plugged the OWC Electra 3G SSD in to the external USB enclosure at the request of @phunguss :

powerpc-challenge-49.jpeg


The drive mounts to the desktop, appears in Disk Utility and in System Profiler successfully. There is my 17.4GB partition with Sorbet Leopard installed to it and the remaining disk space. So far, this has been the only way I have seen the PowerMac G5 mount the drive and access its contents:

powerpc-challenge-50.jpeg
 

Arbystpossum

Tinkerer
Jan 8, 2024
48
28
18
USA
It shouldn't be a surprise, but the retail Leopard DVD doesn't recognize the SSD either and only gives the option to install itself to the hard drive.

OtherWorldComputing used to have a page recommending the OWC Electra 3G SSD as a great drive with guaranteed compatibility for all models of the PowerMac G5. Here is an archive of the webpage in question from 2023:
https://web.archive.org/web/2023100...ales.com/craftcmspreview/ssd/ssd-power-mac-g5

Curiously, the webpage was removed in 2024, and if you attempt to access it today, you'll get a "page not found" error. The SSD is still sold even now, though.
They may have changed something in the 3Gs that make them incompatible with old SATA1. I've had issues getting many SATA SSDs working in my PCIe G5. I doubt the 6Gs will work either.
 

Certificate of Excellence

Active Tinkerer
Nov 1, 2021
710
496
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47
United Sates
I’d ask them if it’s still guaranteed to work with a pmg5 as to your point it seems they no longer make that claim publicly as of 2024. I can see them updating the SSD for compatibility/performance with newer Intel Macs vs PowermacG5s that are now 20+ years old. Anyhow I’d ask them and see what they say.

good luck
 
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scj312

Tinkerer
Oct 29, 2021
48
77
18
I have a 250GB OWC SSD in my 2003 G5 and it works without issue. Certainly seems like something is up with either your drive or the SATA controller. Do you have any other SSDs or Mac-flashed SATA controllers available to test with?
 

Nycturne

Tinkerer
Dec 18, 2024
44
27
18
It shouldn't be a surprise, but the retail Leopard DVD doesn't recognize the SSD either and only gives the option to install itself to the hard drive.

OtherWorldComputing used to have a page recommending the OWC Electra 3G SSD as a great drive with guaranteed compatibility for all models of the PowerMac G5. Here is an archive of the webpage in question from 2023:
https://web.archive.org/web/2023100...ales.com/craftcmspreview/ssd/ssd-power-mac-g5

Curiously, the webpage was removed in 2024, and if you attempt to access it today, you'll get a "page not found" error. The SSD is still sold even now, though.

Yeah, this gets weird, because the SATA card I have in my Quicksilver likes my two OWC SATA SSDs, an Electra 3G and Electra 6G. I really don’t know what’s going on here, but HrutkayMods did mention forward compatibility issues with early SATA I chipsets, which is about the only thing I can think of at play here.
 
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Trash80toG4

Active Tinkerer
Apr 1, 2022
966
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Bermuda Triangle, NC USA
Not a big deal for me, been using PPC for my Graphics work in OS9 all along since its intro. Never switched to OSX because I've got tens of thousands of dollars worth of Graphics and CAD/CAM software/hardware, much of which never made the jump to X before I closed up shop in 2004.

Very nice to never have a worry about the RentWare plague! :D

G3-2-G4-Migration-1-2.JPG


Son (finally) gifted me with his first Mac during my Christmas/Hanukkah visit. For some reason or other he thinks I'm a hoarder. 🙄

Migrated AI8 and GraphicConverter from the Lombard rig I've been using for quite some time. It's a TiBook/1GHz/512MB (PowerBook3,5) with a clean OS9Lives 9.2.2 install. Maximum memory upgrade and SSD Disk On Module are the only upgrades I'm thinking about. That and a need to lavish some TLC on the damaged right back corner of the case.

Everything looks so much smaller on the displays above, but there are soooo many more pixels on the playing field of the Ti.

Dedicated, quarantined Win10 and Ubuntu Firefox workstations are my only vice. Did some SpreadSheet work in OpenOffice, but that'll probably migrate to AppleWorks ere long. I cannot abide by the overly complicated, shortcut menu infested windows of modern apps.

Very happy, grateful and proud, daddy here! :)
 
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