Read All Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Reviews
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Category: Electronics
Brand: Sonnet Technologies
Model: ENC-G5-3HD
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Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Product reviews
Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Review by BH "Psyko" (Federal Way, WA USA)
I used to have a G5 Jive back when I still had my first G5. Recently I got a new G5, so I wanted to get a new mounting system for it. Instead of going for the G5 Jive though, I went for the aluminum mounting system from MaxUpgrades for a number of reasons:
1. It was more aesthetically pleasing.
2. The aluminum brackets seemed like they'd be better for cooling.
3. It came with a fan to help aid cooling
4. It came with SATA and power.
5. It was pretty much the same price.
Big mistake.
1. Yeah, the MaxUpgrades looks better, but I honestly don't care anymore. Installing the HDs in the G5 Jive is easy. With the MaxUpgrades you have to screw each HD onto its own bracket and then screw each bracket (3 total) into a base plate you previously installed into the G5. This is especially annoying because you can only screw the screws in about a quarter of a turn before having to reset your wrench (pray a HD never dies). As for the Jive, screw the HDs into the cage that you see in the main picture and then use an easy to access screw to screw the cage into the computer.
2. I don't know if they are better for cooling. Maybe they are, but I don't care anymore. I will say that the G5 Jive is probably less restrictive, to airflow, though thanks to it bolting to the sides of the drives and not the bottom.
3. Really, I don't care about this either anymore because it just meant for more wire clutter. Besides, I never had a cooling problem with the G5 Jive in my last G5 anyway.
4. The MaxUpgrades SATA cables are all ridiculously long and have left a huge mess of wires in my PCI bay. The G5 Jive came with perfect length cables that made install look much nicer and didn't impede air flow. As for the power, the MaxUpgrades power came with five miles of wiring, one more SATA power connector than I could even use (4 when only 3 drives can be mounted in front of the CPUs) and didn't even allow me to plug my optical drive back in. I had to add another molex splitter to get power back to it. The G5 Jive had just enough wiring and didn't exclude my optical drive, making for a clean looking and functional install.
5. MaxUpgrades was a huge hassle for about the same price. Lame.
So, if you want a pretty bracket that's a pain in the butt to install and makes for a very messy, quasi-functional install get a MaxUpgrades bracket. If you don't mind a bracket that isn't very pretty (and inside your computer, where you can't see it, anyway), but comes with purpose made wires that make for a very clean and clutter free install, get a G5 Jive.
Normally I don't write reviews for things I buy, but I just installed my MaxUpgrades cage and was absolutely pissed. I'm going to contact Sonnet to see if they'd let me buy the wires separately. If they say no, then I'm going to get another G5 Jive and eat the extra cost. Honestly, it's that much better, to me.
Trust me, get the G5 Jive.
Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Review by A. Bates "abates" (Seattle, Washington United States)
So I had a number of G5 towers sitting around after a transition to Mac Pro's. Decided one of them could be repurposed as a backup machine if only I could squeeze some more disks in there to get the storage. Searching around for ways to add more disks to the G5 tower, I came across the Sonnet G5 Jive, purportedly able to add three additional drives to your G5. I did my research, found all good reviews, checked out Sonnets page for the G5 Jive (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/g5_jive.html), and confirmed it should be a go. I even bought Western Digital drives as recommended on their page - and thinking about how smart I was being, I bought their Green drives which are supposed to pull more power than regular drives. I should note I bought TB disks - they are cheap enough and common enough now that it made sense.
I installed it all - easy enough - and went to power it on. The G5 hummed for about 2 seconds before powering down. Huh. Checked all my connections and then tried again. Same hum, same powering down. Disconnected the Jive, then tried again - all okay, powered up. So, it was the Jive. Maybe I'd made bad connections, so I disconnected then reconnected everything. Same problem, two seconds of power, then gone.
Called Sonnet. They always seemed to be a good company in my mind. After some hold time I got on the phone with a fairly gruff sounding guy - no niceties here! After explaining what had happened, and giving him all my info, he put me on hold again to chat with a colleague. And then came back on and confirmed that I was using TB drives. Yes. Well there, apparently, is the problem. When developing the Jive, Sonnet claimed that there were only 500GB & 750GB drives to test with and that they had never tested with 1TB drives. Never?! Nope...decided not to test them when 1TB drives became commonplace either. Turns out, 1TB drives pull too much power. And they acted like it was my fault for even trying to use TB drives!
So now I am stuck with 5 1TB drives, a Sonnet G5 Jive and a Sonnet Tempo SATA X4i PCI card - well over $1k worth of kit - and can't use it. I told the support guy they need to keep testing their products and updating their product pages as they find information out like this. We'll see how quickly they fix this. It's messed up I tell ya. So...if you are hoping to use this to expand your G5 with some modern hard drives - don't. It just doesn't work :-/ Sonnet has now become 'The Worst Company Ever' in my book.
Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Review by B. Austin (Mid-Illinois, USA)
If it's an INTERNAL bracket and it does it's job well then why the 2 page dissertation? I can't believe that someone's biggest gripe would be that this product is just piece of metal and isn't aesthetically pleasing to look at. Who cares? I'm not taking my PowerMac G5 around the country and showing off it's internals to large audiences. Good grief, it does what it's designed to do and it does it well, that's all that needs to be said.
More Reviews...
Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD Hard Drive Mounting Kit:: Features
- Most cost-effective way to add high-performance storage capacity
- Custom-designed 3-drive power cable simplifies installation and reduces clutter
- Includes all necessary mounting hardware and cables (SATA host controller card, such as Tempo SATA E4i or Tempo SATA X4; sold separately)
- Supports mounting of three Serial ATA hard drives(1) inside Power Mac G5
- Installation does not interfere with PCI cards
- Item Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 4 inches; 2 pounds
- Brand: Sonnet Technologies
- Model: ENC-G5-3HD
- Product Type: Electronics
Sonnet Technologies ENC-G5-3HD:Limited time only!
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