Migrating from a G4 to a G5

Fahrvergnuugen

I am the law!
In the past when upgrading PowerMacs, I have taken my storage drives and simply moved them to the new system.

The problem is, the G5 uses Serial ATA. The other problem is, it can only have 2 Serial hard drives total.

Is there any way to hook up the old parallel ATA drives in the G5?

On a side note, what does the superdrive use?
 
Check the technical specs on the G5 systems, I'm pretty sure there's still an IDE controller in there because the Super Drive indeed uses an IDE bus.
 
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW drive):
The Power Mac G5 computer has a
SuperDrive drive connected to the Ultra DMA ATA/100 bus.

Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive:
Instead of a SuperDrive, the Power Mac
G5 computer has an optional build-to-order combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW
drive connected to the Ultra DMA ATA/100 bus.

PCI expansion slots:
Three PCI or PCI-X slots are provided via the
HyperTransport bus. In some Power Mac G5 configurations, the slots support
PCI-X: one slot supports a maximum of 133 MHz and two slots support a
maximum of 100 MHz. In other Power Mac G5 configurations, the three slots
support 33 MHz PCI.

Hard disks:
An internal 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard disk occupies one of two
drive bays and functions as the default boot disk. Hard disk capacities are 80 GB
and 160 GB with a 250 GB build-to-order option.
 
There you go. If the IDE ribbon cable doesn't come with extra connectors, buy another one that has a second connector for your IDE hard drive.

There must be some PCI IDE controllers compatible with Macs, so that's another option.
 
hopefully the ribbon has two connectors. I'll probably scout out a PCI [or hopefully PCIX] IDE controller so that I can keep my two 120GB drives.
 
Or you can purchase firewire enclosures and install your IDE drivers in them and connect via firewire. The enclosures for this purpose are bulky and unsuitable for mobility but those drives are going to be stationary anways.
 
I would have suggested what Lycander said.

You can always connect the two Macs via Firewire Disk Mode and use Carbon Copy Cloner. That way, you get your original system onto the G5 with the G5's drivers and everything.
 
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