Picked up a PowerMac G4 MDD with the Zip750 drive!

[wottle]

Someone listed a G4 locally on FB Marketplace and I fortunately caught it quickly, since it had the Zip750 drive with face plate. It allowed me to complete my PowerMac G3/G3 tower collection (not every iteration, but every design) with Zip drives. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to read a Zip 100 disk (I know it cannot write the disks, but was hoping it would be able to read).

Also, it turned out to be a faster version than the one I had. My old MDD was a dual 866MHz, and this one is the dual 1GHz. So not I've got it nicely set up with 2GB RAM, a 60 GB IDE SSD, DVD-RW drive, the Zip 750, an Airport card for wifi, and a SCSI card (not used at the moment).

So, the question is, would a solid state SCSI solution BlueSCSI v2 be faster than the IDE SSD? I have it set up to run Tiger, Sorbet Leopard, and 9.2.2 at the moment. Like the fact it can still boot OS 9 directly, so the goal is to make this one my top of the line OS 9 machine. I've got some BlueSCSIs in other machines, but if I can eek more performance on this machine, I'd prefer to use it here, and throw a v1 BlueSCSI in the older machines.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Nice find! I'm still slowly putting together my 1.25MHz OS9 special edition. Thanks to a longtime friend at the MLA I snagged that setup NIB. Plan from day one has been to substitute a Zip250 drive for full compatibility with Zip100. Apple dropped Zip support in the MDD gen, iomega made that bezel/drive kit.

IDE SSD should blow the doors off anything on the SCSI to SD spectrum I'd think as most capable config of anything available in that realm would be Fast/Narrow. You'd need to put together a screamer of an UltraSCSI Fast/Wide server drive to make any appreciable improvement over the IDE on board on spinning platters. IDE SSD would the way to go AFAIK. Are they still available?

 

[Trash80toG4]

Thanks for the nudge here, it looks like 2.5" IDE SSD is still a thing at about $70 in the 128GB Range:

Amazon.com

I love your quadruplet PortlyMac™ collection, but I've given up on that Blueberry Beauty. The friend mentioned above is, I fear, no longer amongst us and was saving one for me.

 

[phunguss]

Thanks for the nudge here, it looks like 2.5" IDE SSD is still a thing at about $70 in the 128GB Range:

Amazon.com

I love your quadruplet PortlyMac™ collection, but I've given up on that Blueberry Beauty. The friend mentioned above is, I fear, no longer amongst us and was saving one for me.

I made my own 128GB from eBay parts... these work in all my PPC so far (2.5 to 3.5 adapters for the desktops, $4), as well as in the gen 1 Apple TV.
44pin 2.5 IDE to mSATA adapter ($13@) with some refurbished drives Lot of 5 mSATA drives ($40 for 5).

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Wow, neat pickup. I’ve never seen a MDD with zip before I just had a zip100 disk of mine bite the dust. Stuff’s Getting old

 

[Trash80toG4]

I made my own 128GB from eBay parts... these work in all my PPC so far (2.5 to 3.5 adapters for the desktops, $4), as well as in the gen 1 Apple TV.
44pin 2.5 IDE to mSATA adapter ($13@) with some refurbished drives Lot of 5 mSATA drives ($40 for 5).

Thanks, those look great, especially for the MDD. Would it be possible to mount only the bottom part of the case onto a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter sled in the top position of the sidewall bracket in the MDD? Looks a snap to swap out the mSATA cards without removing the drive cage. That thing is a pestiferous design "feature" when it comes to cable installation.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Wow, neat pickup. I’ve never seen a MDD with zip before I just had a zip100 disk of mine bite the dust. Stuff’s Getting old

If your Mac supports internal ATA devices, by all means get a Zip250. "Click of death" is not an issue with that generation and you have full compatibility with Zip100 SCSI interfaced drives for older Macs.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

If your Mac supports internal ATA devices, by all means get a Zip250. "Click of death" is not an issue with that generation and you have full compatibility with Zip100 SCSI interfaced drives for older Macs.

That would be great. I should source a few for my Powermacs. I was actually considering also a magneto drive like what Kai put in one of his Powermacs.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Got those 128GB mSATA drives arriving soon. What are the Max OS9 partition sizes for:
MDD
QS
DA
G3DT
9600/PEX
6360
1400c 9.1 ISTR

 

[Kai Robinson]

That would be great. I should source a few for my Powermacs. I was actually considering also a magneto drive like what Kai put in one of his Powermacs.

Be warned, MO drives aren't cheap although the sweet spot is 1.3GB - usually Fujitsu GIGAMO drives.

 

[Nixontheknight]

Got those 128GB mSATA drives arriving soon. What are the Max OS9 partition sizes for:
MDD
QS
DA
G3DT
9600/PEX
6360
1400c 9.1 ISTR

2GB. But OS 9 must be installed on the first GB

 

[Trash80toG4]

Thanks, I figured I'd only be using a tiny portion of those 128GB drives, just like that 73GB UltraSCSI Savvio under 7.1P in the IIsi.
I figure I'll be using a couple of the five drives mSATA drives under ubuntu and Win10. $7 ea. plus S&H/Tax is quite the deal!

In the Beige G3 LEM says to format the first 7GB and to keep the System install within it when installing OSX, so I figure I'll do the same for 9.2.2 and I'll be able to use the rackmounted beige board as my backup OS9 machine?

Having so much fun getting the new MDD graphics workstation up and running.

Back directly on topic: it'll be fun to get back to using Zip as my primary file transfer system. I'd switched to USB thumb drives on the Lombard backup machine for AI8 playtime. @Certificate of Excellence have you sourced an IDE Zip250 substitute yet?

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I have not but I will. I am planning to install a zip250 in my quicksilver but I’ll need to buy a bezel (or maybe I could have one 3d printed?) and I’d like to stick one in my graphite as well but again I’ll need a bezel.

 

[Trash80toG4]

I'll have to dig thru my pile of crud, I may have both those bezels as well as one I bought back when for the B&W that I've finally given up on adding to my "PortlyMac" menagerie. Gotta thin out the dragon's hoard at some point.

 

[Kai Robinson]

I think these are still available from applemacparts.co.uk

I have not but I will. I am planning to install a zip250 in my quicksilver but I’ll need to buy a bezel (or maybe I could have one 3d printed?) and I’d like to stick one in my graphite as well but again I’ll need a bezel.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I think these are still available from applemacparts.co.uk

Last time I checked about a month or so ago, shipping across the pond was gross so if I can find a domestic source that is the way I'll go. I was going to send a imac g3 slot loader ram cover to another TDer in the UK but heck the cheapest shipping (UPS, USPS, Fedex, DHL etc.) I could find for a stinkin' piece of plastic lol was around $40 USD which to me is crazy. IIRC one could be had in the UK for around 15 pound on ebay, so it was stupid for them to take mine (of course they did not). S&H is not my game but it just does not make sense to me sometimes.

I even took it to a UPS store thinking I assuredly must be using the website incorrectly but yeah, the instore quote was still $38 USD. For a piece of plastic in a box the size of an iphone lol. Heck I'd even pack it and use my own box.

Oh well dems da breaks I suppose.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I'll have to dig thru my pile of crud, I may have both those bezels as well as one I bought back when for the B&W that I've finally given up on adding to my "PortlyMac" menagerie. Gotta thin out the dragon's hoard at some point.

Sweet, no rush finding them but I'll absolutely take them off your hands for you if they're taking up space. I'll need to scoop some drives off ebay first but saw a couple good multi unit buys.

 

[Trash80toG4]

So far just the B&W was right where I thought it was. NIB kit with sealed drive, probably Zip100? The QS will take some digging, probably will want to keep the Graphite bezels in the cases (favorite design) but ISTR snagging an extra one at some point?. I should get 'em all out and post them, but I'm a TERRIBLE procrastinator so I've been reticent to get started.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

So far just the B&W was right where I thought it was. NIB kit with sealed drive, probably Zip100? The QS will take some digging, probably will want to keep the Graphite bezels in the cases (favorite design) but ISTR snagging an extra one at some point?. I should get 'em all out and post them, but I'm a TERRIBLE procrastinator so I've been reticent to get started.

My Blue & white has a zip in it, yeah it is a 100. I have a couple external zips. It would be fun to pop one of those open, stick the guts into my QS, run the usb to my internal usb2 port on my pci card and cobble together a power cable and run it off the psu. That would be a fun project.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Don't wanna get too far off your topic, but I did the craziest ZipMacPlus™ hack back when. Still have it, should find the pics and post a dedicated thread. Mangled one of the External Parallel drives just like the SCSI version to fit into the FDD bay cubic of a Plus with modded floppy slot. Did it such that I could have substituted SCSI controller or one of the identical USB externals I have on hand.

Currently hacking the base of an IDE internal as the chassis for my adapted mSATA drive such that I can swap mSATA cards without removing the cage or unplugging the 2.5-3.5 adapter.