PB G4 SSD using 1.8" SATA to IDE

Let us know how the install goes. I've been considering this for my 1 GHz TiBook if the OWC Mercury Legacy Pro ever dies on me as I'm not completely satisfied with it.

sub'd.

definetly want to see how this works, really thinking about doing the same if its worth it. Love my iBook, but the hdd is the worst bottleneck it has right now.

can't wait to hear how it goes. see would be even better!

take pics when you do the swap. pretty please.

Have a similar adapter + 256GB MSATA-SSD in my 5.9 PB since a few months works like a charm.

Added some hotglue and electric tape for isolation when installing.

I have the 2.5" version based on the same chip - it worked flawlessly for the limited time I was using it. Unfortunately it's nigh-impossible to actually re-assemble the unit with a 2.5" SSD (even when you strip off the drive enclosure).

@Bug creator & wildy,
can both of you two share pics if you still have those setups? I am honestly considering doing the same if I can ever track down my 30gb OCZ ssd.

Now quick question for those of us in this thread, SSDs are obviously the better choice, but can we use CF to acheive the same result, just on the cheap? My setups in my sig, and I honestly had the idea of getting a CF card just big enough for OS + apps, and then swapping the disk drive for one of the hdd bays and adding my storage there, since I never use disks, and especially on this model, its almost pointless. Im mainly curious if its possible, and a good idea to use a CF as the main OS/boot drive, if we want to be a little on the cheap side and not shell out oodles for the SSD

@ Grockk:

I know people use SSDs, because of the access times, but can you perform a test for me, please?

Use a big movie file (or iMovie file) or a folder with a lot of data) like around 15GB.
A) 1. copy that in your drive (i.e. dublicate it) and stop the time (DO NOT USE A BENCHMARK TOOL!)
2. copy the file to a external Firewire drive. Stop the time.

B) Copy your old drive exactly to your new SSD (which won't be exactly the same, since even SuperDuper! does a bit of defragmenting).

Now perform 1. + 2. from the SSD.
Before the tests A+B wipe the external firewire drive.

[EDIT: correction, I did not just copy, I did open the file in iMovie and exported it (not using a coedc or something, I choose, export as high quality .DV video). This will take longer than just copying anyway. Access times could do something here, which the iMovie exporting process makes use of, since it "does" something to the file. (On PowerMac G4, via SATA-PCI 35MB/s just copying the "clip" file out of the iMovie project folder. 16MB/s via the same controller, when using the export function of iMovie).]

People might now ask, if I am nuts, because they say it is all about access time and boot times and why do I even consider copying to an external Firewire Drive, where it is limited due to the Firewireport?
I did the above test with a Samsung HDD IDE 5400rpm 160GB and a WD3200BEVE HDD 5400rpm IDE. Didn't have the OS copied, though, but I was surprised that there was actually a difference. Will redo the test the next week, with an exact copy, to see, if it was the different state (fragmentation) of the OS, that caused it.
For a 16GB file I had a difference of 2Minutes when copying to the external Firewire Drive. The faster was the Samsung, but the WD was also more clattered with stuff.
Also, I would have to redo the test several times, to call this test valid.

But maybe you can do the test, too.

PS: I digged through 1,8" mSATA SSDs (plus an adapter), too, during the last weeks. I used a price comparison page. I noticed there are mSATA SSDs that would fit, but are not declared as 1,8" or 2,5", but were sorted under "modules". They are like bare SSDs without housings. I found in auctions they go for less money than others.
While IDE 2,5" SSDs cost the number GBs in EUR, here, the mSATA 1,8" drives cost half the GBs in EUR (like your 70,-USD for 128GB).

PPS: SATA 2,5" SSD wise, I remember the problem reported was always the not available space for an adapter. Height wise, did you, wildy, try cutting off the metal shield over the drive, under the plastic case of the PowerBook/iBook itself?. I remember someone mentioned a dremel, as wwell.

Imho, the msata route is cheaper. I'm running an samsung 32 gb msata ssd in my Thinkpad X41 and it works splendidly. I paid 30 euros for a 32gb msata ssd and 14 USD for the msata-pata adapter. Admittedly, my X41 is a very spartan system, basically only used for OBD diagnostics, but it works splendidly.

I wouldn't recommend CF cards. The capacity will be lacking and if you want proper speeds, you'll end up paying more than an SSD drive costs.

EDIT: obnoxious spelling. The backlit keyboard on my PBG4 died, still getting used to writing in the dark without it.

DaKKs said:

Imho, the msata route is cheaper. I'm running an samsung 32 gb msata ssd in my Thinkpad X41 and it works splendidly. I paid 30 euros for a 32gb msata ssd and 14 USD for the msata-pata adapter. Admittedly, my X41 is a very spartan system, basically only used for OBD diagnostics, but it works splendidly.

I wouldn't recommend CF cards. The capacity will be lacking and if you want proper speeds, you'll end up paying more than an SSD drive costs.

EDIT: obnoxious spelling. The backlit keyboard on my PBG4 died, still getting used to writing in the dark without it.

Click to expand...

+1

thanks for the info, thats kinda what I was thinking... def going to look into the msata ssd route, versus the ssd or cf...

Don't plan to open the PB anytime soon, so no pics here.

I used this and that.

No space or connection problem (the assembeld unit is in every way smaller than a 2.5" HD) just needed to make sure the backside of the adapter didn't short on the PB case (use some electric tape here) and than fixed it all with a few drops of hotglue.

nullx86 said:

+1

thanks for the info, thats kinda what I was thinking... def going to look into the msata ssd route, versus the ssd or cf...

Click to expand...

I'm actually considering doing the swap. I have the parts and everything. Only I just managed to fix the backlit keyboard on my powerbook, and i honestly don't know what I did. So I'm afraid of pulling it apart in case it stops working again...

Besides, i dunno if 32gb is enough for leopard. Might be a bit tight. A vlite'd XP and two diagnostic programs have a much smaller footprint that a full fledged OSX system.

Though, if I decide to go for it, I'll post the results here.

EDIT: Scratch that. the X41 takes 3.3v drives (in this case adapters) and the Powerbook 5v. I might go for an adapter and a 64gb msata ssd in the future. Have a ******** of computer i have to get sell off.

nullx86 said:

@Bug creator & wildy,
can both of you two share pics if you still have those setups? I am honestly considering doing the same if I can ever track down my 30gb OCZ ssd.

Now quick question for those of us in this thread, SSDs are obviously the better choice, but can we use CF to acheive the same result, just on the cheap? My setups in my sig, and I honestly had the idea of getting a CF card just big enough for OS + apps, and then swapping the disk drive for one of the hdd bays and adding my storage there, since I never use disks, and especially on this model, its almost pointless. Im mainly curious if its possible, and a good idea to use a CF as the main OS/boot drive, if we want to be a little on the cheap side and not shell out oodles for the SSD

Click to expand...

They're on my SLR, I'll dig them out next time I'm home. There's not much to look at to be honest though - I had to leave the keyboard off to get it to fit.

Bug-Creator said:

Don't plan to open the PB anytime soon, so no pics here.

I used this and that.

No space or connection problem (the assembeld unit is in every way smaller than a 2.5" HD) just needed to make sure the backside of the adapter didn't short on the PB case (use some electric tape here) and than fixed it all with a few drops of hotglue.

Click to expand...

The crucial m4 (modelnumber ending with SSD3, not SSD2, since the latter is 2,5") was what I was talking about, regarding the modules. I found the same on Ebay and than looked into a price comparison page. I noticed, that they are not listed under 1,8", but under "module" form factor. Then I saw that there are even more. Since not everybody on Ebay writes 1,8" besides it and they are not listed under 1,8" in price comparison sites, you can get them cheaper. 146,-EUR was the cheapest I saw for a 256MB crucial m4.


Edit: ah, I now I see. It seems 1,8" SSDs come never with mSATA (but microSATA, SATA, IDE and the less desired LIF/ZIF), while modules (at least under this comparison page I used) some with mSATA and not microSATA (they come with several other commectors, such as the "low profile SATA" PCIe-type MacBook Air SSDs). This means in return, that one needs qrockk's adapter for 1,8" microSATA SSDs and Bug-Creator's adapter for mSATA modules.
Sorry, if I messed something up in post #8 for people! Didn't want to spread false information.

I was considering the mSATA adapter, but decided to go for the 2.5" instead. Given my PowerBook is now on server duty, I'm quite glad that I did, because now I have a top-of-the-line SSD for use as a system drive in my workstation machine.

Here are the pictures anyway (excuse the poor focus on the first image):








If you try this yourself, you may wish to consider using a little ESD protection.

Wildy, what SATA-PATA chip does that adapter use?

It uses the JMicron JMH330 (datasheet). There are better chips, but all of the smaller cheap adapters use the JMicron chip AFAIK.

Wildy said:

It uses the JMicron JMH330 (datasheet). There are better chips, but all of the smaller cheap adapters use the JMicron chip AFAIK.

Click to expand...

Dang. I was hoping it was using the Marvell one.

I've been running JMircron adapters in three rigs for over 2 years and so far no issues. They're more prone to stuttering and slowdowns if the partition isn't aligned than other adapters, in my experience. Though if everything is kosher, they aren't any worse than more expensive ones.

grockk said:

Just look at random reads and writes improvements. 25x better random reads! And the sequential reads are pushing the limits of the IDE bus.

Click to expand...

Maybe I have missed something. Which program did you use for testing? Great results, though.