SSD for Clamshell

[noone]

I've gotten my hands on a few Clamshell iBooks that I'm cleaning up/restoring to give out as gifts to a couple of enthusiast friends. Part of my plan is to replace the nearly 20 year old hard drives and swap them out with an SSD of some sort.

Are there any recommendations on which pata drives I should use? I know the KingDoan one seems popular and I had one but it was a dud. I was thinking of going the mSATA + adapter route or vein using a compact flash card + adapter.

Any input on which route I should take?

 

[CooperBox]

I've never used a PATA/IDE SSD.
However these work well together:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-mSAT...357&sr=1-3&keywords=lindy+adapter+sata+to+ide

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-...499893465&sr=1-6&keywords=transcend+ssd+msata

You may find the 32GB SSD is more than adequate for your clamshell.

 

[Hrududu]

I don't know what models would be good, but replacing the drive in a clamshell is a terrible job. You might try one before buying a bunch and finding out it isn't a job you would like to repeat.

 

[noone]

Oh, I've already torn one apart, 2 or 3 times. I'm tired of doing it, which is why I was looking for SSD suggestions lol. I have no interest in putting it back together.

I managed to get a lot of 7 of them for $150 from someone who had them locally. I'm keeping one for myself, giving a couple to friends (after fixing/cleaning them up) and the others I'm still up in the air about. I really don't want to replace the drives in all of them because it would A) cost quite a bit and B) it's a royal pain in the rear. I'm really surprised that Apple thought the interior design was a good idea.

 

[noone]

I've never used a PATA/IDE SSD.
However these work well together:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-mSAT...357&sr=1-3&keywords=lindy+adapter+sata+to+ide

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-...499893465&sr=1-6&keywords=transcend+ssd+msata

You may find the 32GB SSD is more than adequate for your clamshell.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try to see if they are available here in The States.

 

[KawaiiAurora]

Oh, I've already torn one apart, 2 or 3 times. I'm tired of doing it, which is why I was looking for SSD suggestions lol. I have no interest in putting it back together.

I managed to get a lot of 7 of them for $150 from someone who had them locally. I'm keeping one for myself, giving a couple to friends (after fixing/cleaning them up) and the others I'm still up in the air about. I really don't want to replace the drives in all of them because it would A) cost quite a bit and B) it's a royal pain in the rear. I'm really surprised that Apple thought the interior design was a good idea.

As you know, Apple back in the day did beautiful hardware. Some of it, like the PowerMac G4, was easily upgradable while some was a pain to upgrade, like 12" PowerBook G4s (well, all PB G4s are a pain as you need to open the bloody thing to replace the HDD).

Nowadays, Apple uses designs that are too old and overused for their own good and doesn't even let you upgrade your RAM..

 

[CooperBox]

Oh, I've already torn one apart, 2 or 3 times. I'm tired of doing it, which is why I was looking for SSD suggestions lol. I have no interest in putting it back together.

I managed to get a lot of 7 of them for $150 from someone who had them locally. I'm keeping one for myself, giving a couple to friends (after fixing/cleaning them up) and the others I'm still up in the air about. I really don't want to replace the drives in all of them because it would A) cost quite a bit and B) it's a royal pain in the rear. I'm really surprised that Apple thought the interior design was a good idea.

Agreed that the tear-down required - removal of the screen and then that damn EMI shield to get down to the HD, is a real pain in the derriere.
To facilitate future changes of HD, one can cut a piece out of that EMI shield - a neat & tidy little mod. I've done this on one of my Clamshells. See following photos:





If/when dismantling down to remove the logic board, the task I most dislike is the removal of the DC-In board. The iFixit step for this task makes it sounds so simple. But "bruv, it 'aint!" There is just not enough clearance between the location orifice of the lower case and the DC-In receptacle to remove it without a struggle, and fear of damaging the lower case plastic rim - which must be pulled outwards in an attempt to gain clearance - whilst pushing down on the logic board at the same time. See photos below:
I currently have a clamshell completely dissembled to perform some troubleshooting in order to assure satisfactory operation prior to shipping to 'LightBulbFun' for his G4 7410 processor project. Again I struggled to remove the DC-In receptacle board.
Just done a check on another 2 Clamshells and note that due to extremely tight tolerances on these iBooks, there is virtually no clearance between lower case/DC-In receptacle. I was unable to insert even a 0.002" feeler gauge. This obviously makes disassembly/re-assembly somewhat of a nightmare. I think I'll open out at that location by a few thou, hopefully to ease re-assembly.





Whilst on the subject of iBook Clamshells, does anyone have a CD drive cover and/or leaf motif in KEY LIME that they may wish to dispose of? Or are these too like gold to find? Willing to pay the necessary premium for both.

 

[weckart]

Whilst on the subject of iBook Clamshells, does anyone have a CD drive cover and/or leaf motif in KEY LIME that they may wish to dispose of? Or are these too like gold to find? Willing to pay the necessary premium for both.

Might be quicker to get one printed.

 

[CooperBox]

Might be quicker to get one printed.

The leaf yes, CD drive cover would no doubt pose bigger problems.

As indicated in a past thread, I'm sure that a Mac PPC/vintage enthusiast with a 3D printer could make a dozen or so specific items which would be highly sought-after by some of us here, and make him/her-self some useful extra cash.

 

[128keaton]

The leaf yes, CD drive cover would no doubt pose bigger problems.

As indicated in a past thread, I'm sure that a Mac PPC/vintage enthusiast with a 3D printer could make a dozen or so specific items which would be highly sought-after by some of us here, and make him/her-self some useful extra cash.

I'm working on getting involved with a maker space. If anyone wants to do professional measurements or has some CAD experience, I might be able to get something working.

 

[alpineraven]

Go for mSATA to 44pin ATA adapter card - Ive got one in my PowerBook G3 and works well! it gives performance boost
Cheers
AP

 

[bobesch]

I've gotten my hands on a few Clamshell iBooks that I'm cleaning up/restoring to give out as gifts to a couple of enthusiast friends. Part of my plan is to replace the nearly 20 year old hard drives and swap them out with an SSD of some sort.

Are there any recommendations on which pata drives I should use? I know the KingDoan one seems popular and I had one but it was a dud. I was thinking of going the mSATA + adapter route or vein using a compact flash card + adapter.

Any input on which route I should take?

I'd suggest mSATA plus Delock-Converter.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/granites-ibook-g3-clamshells.1747559/page-8#post-22145536

CooperBox showed the sophisticated way to swap the drive bypassing the nearly complete disassembling iFixit-way.
There's another Clamshell enthusiast calling that the quick&dirty-way:

You'll find more at http://ibook-clamshell.com/index.php/en/

 

[CooperBox]

I'm not so sure about mine being the 'sophisticated way' to swap the drive, but there's certainly more work involved, i.e to completely remove the EMI shield and rework it. I must confess that in my post #7 above, I didn't emphasize or detail the need to modify the HD mounting bracket.
Over the last week during some troubleshooting, I've removed & reinstalled a clamshell logic board so many times - guess I even did it once in my sleep - having received an elbow in the ribs!.
The following shows how the HD mounting bracket should be modded (removal of 4 tabs) to allow rapid change of HD (or SSD) once the keyboard and top case have been removed. I forgot to take a photo of the bracket afterwards so I've rapidly photo-shopped it rather crudely - but I think you'll get the gist.
After:-



Before:-



Reflecting on all the above, I think the 'quick & dirty' method may well be the way to go, as removal of the EMI board necessitates screen removal. If ever there was a case of form & aesthetics trumping the serviceability element of a laptop computer, the G3 iBook clamshell is up there with the 12" PowerBook G4.
In comparison I've just picked up a superb looking IBM Thinkpad G40 for just a few dollars. HD removal 15secs - magic!