ATA HD from 2003 MDD - how to retrieve data to G5

rickself

rickself

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Hey all -
I have a 2003 G4 MDD that I am planning to sell, probably as a parts machine. We had a power issue as a result of an electrical problem with my laser printer that I'm guessing fried the power supply on the MDD. I now have G5's (2008 and 2012). How can I or how do I go about retrieving the data from these drives? They both have old family pictures that I am not about to send the drives off before formatting.
Thanks for any direction.
 
If the MDD won't power on, then you will need some way to connect the ATA HD.

2008 and 2012 Mac Pros are not G5. The PowerMac G5 looks very much like your MacPro, but has a G5 processor, rather than your newer Intel Zeon processors in the MacPro. The PowerMac G5s were sold new between 2003 and 2006, and were replaced in 2006 by the Mac Pro (such as yours)

Anyway - put the old hard drive in an external ATA enclosure, or - if you don't have one, your 2008 MacPro would have ATA connectors for the optical drives - SO, it would be possible to connect your old ATA hard drive to the ATA bus that the optical drives use. If your 2008 Mac Pro has only one optical drive, then it's simple to connect the hard drive as there should be a second ATA connection inside the Mac Pro where the optical drives connect. If you have TWO optical drives, then you could swap out one for the hard drive. The hard drive is much smaller than the optical drive, of course. You would need to find a way to keep the drive from moving around, but it wouldn't need much when you are only using that connection for long enough to copy files off. (You can't do this with your 2012 MacPro, there's no ATA connections in the newer one.)
So, the internal ATA connections will give you the chance to copy your pictures, etc, from the old drive, and then you can use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive after you are done...
I hope that helps you...
 
True True True - how could I call my MacPro's G5's. It's been raining so much this spring, my brain is going mushy!
Sweet on the 2008. It's sitting right here - I'll have a look.
Once again, DeltaMac comes through!
 
Does the optical drive need to stay connected or can I remove it altogether? The old drive isn't showing. It spins up but doesn't mount.

HOLD ON - my expectations were too quick - THERE THEY ARE, both drives.
Thanks!!
 
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An empty optical drive can't mount. You need to insert a CD/DVD.

My idea would be to swap out one of the optical drives for the hard drive.
 
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