4 Hard Drives in a G5

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4 Hard Drives in a G5

I had a great idea. Since no one uses PCI slots much these days, my idea was to put two extra hard drives in the PCI bay area. That way you wouldn't have to worry about heat or anything. My idea is to stick a normal SATA card in one slot. Get an old full size 12" (or however big full size is) PCI card, and pull most of the electronics off with plyers, and use the board as a physical mount for two hard drives. Then slide that in the second slot, and hopefully I'd still have 1 slot open for another card should I ever need one. This one seems like it would totally work. Any idea where i can get PCI boards like this?

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http://forum.macformat.co.uk/

http://forum.macformat.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3114

that thread has something similar to what you are suggesting ...

TOM

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heh

I intensely dislike the idea of mounting hard drives on PCI cards... although I couldn't say it wouldn't work. I'm not all that thrilled about the loose corner flopping in the breeze anyway. If you just want to hang something in that space, there has to be another way.

I like the other idea of stacking drives on rubber feet... that's something I could maybe use... but knowing me there'd have to be some combination of screws, glue, or velcro or something to keep things from sliding around. :macos:

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http://www.wiebetech.com/prod

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/G5Jam.html

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PS cover plate open?

I don't have a G5 of any sort, but looking at pics it appears there's lots of room on top of the PS at the bottom of the case. Why not mount a couple of HDs down there, fab a bracket and either screw or velcro it to that PS cover plate.

The PCI-slot-bracket is an interesting idea, but the weight of 3.5" drives is probably more than one would want hanging from a slot-mounted PCB. Not to mention the foolish notion of stripping a real PCI card to use as the bracket. Sheesh, think of all those PCI lines coursing through the board! Predict which get shorted, fry yer MLB and you win the booby prize!

dan k

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I'll i'd have to do is a quic

I'll i'd have to do is a quick dremel pass on each side and none of the connectors will be connected to anything on the board anymore. And the reason i want a fullsize board is so that I can secure it at both ends, i'm sure it will hold fine. Plus putting it in the PCI bays means its right next to the SATA card, which is good.

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It's his G5, let him kill it.

It's his G5, let him kill it. Why not just fab up a dummy card that doesn't actually touch the MB. That way it will connect with the tab and screw at the back and rest in the full length slot holder thingy at the front. Shouldn't cost too much to buy a piece of plexy at Home Depot or where ever.

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transintl's bracket location the best choice (IMNSHO)

http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2490

Their product is a bit pricey to be sure, but duplicating its functionality from aluminum sheet stock ought to be pretty straightforward.

As for the PCI card area, I see that one could stuff something in there, but it'd be more difficult than it should be to support it properly even if the MLB PCI slot is used. Just seems the other locations are more straightforward.

Another option?: I also noted the WiebeTech's G5 Jam product functionality could probably be duplicated with a little creative hacking of the existing airflow deflector.

Oh, and I just realized the area above the PS and below the processor is only available in single processor G5s. Ooops! Still, if I had a single, that's the location with which I'd probably start. This from a guy who at one time had 6 3.5" HDs inside his 9500 same time as all 6 PCI slots full!

dan k

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