Mate I'm in a similar boat. Here's what I found on the Adaptec site -
Does Adaptec support the new PowerMac G5 introduced by Apple? These PowerMac G5s have PCI or PCI-X compatible slots and I need to install a SCSI card, do the Adaptec SCSI cards work in these systems.
This information applies to the following product(s):
- AVA-2906, Power Domain 2930U, Power Domain 2940 series, Power Domain 3940 series, Power Domain 2940U2W, AHA-8945, Power Domain 29160, Power Domain 29160N, Power Domain 39160 - PowerDomain PCI SCSI Card(s)
This information applies to the following Operating System(s):
- Mac OS X 10.2.x
Answer
The Adaptec SCSI Card 2906 (ASC-2906, AVA-2906) and Adaptec PowerDomain 2930 (APD-2930, APD-2930C, APD-2930CU, AHA-2930CU) are 5 V PCI cards and will not fit into the PCI or PCI-X slots in the new Apple Power Mac G5 according to page 75 of Apple's Power Mac G5 Developer documentation. Due to this hardware incompatibility the 2906 and 2930 will not function in these system. Adaptec has no acceptable replacement at this time.
The Adaptec PowerDomain 29160N (APD-29160N), PowerDomain 29160 (APD-29160) and PowerDomain 39160 (APD-39160) are Universally keyed and will fit into either 5 V or 3.3 V PCI slots, so these cards will fit into PCI or PCI-X slot but have only been tested minimally in the Power Mac G5. No new issues have been seen in this configuration.
Although in the above statement it states that some pci cards will fit pci-x slots I've read elsewhere that there have been problems with booting and whatnot, f**in' nightmare innit.
I was thinking that a usb to scsi adapter would be the answer to my prayers but it seems that the adaptec usbxchange doen not support osx (wtf? dark ages or what?) and the usb2xchange (usb2.0 version) is pc only
I dunno mate, all this shit makes me wish I got a g4 instead, would've saved me lots of cash and hassle.
Apparently adaptec are looking into pci-x scsi cards but I've not yet found anything. If anyone knows any different please let me know.
Oh well, looks like I'd better get busy with the manual chopping.
ez.