SSD for iBook G3

[megasad]

I recently reclaimed my very first Mac, a late 2001 iBook with a 600MHz G3 and 640MB RAM.

http://shrineofapple.com/blog/2012/03/04/ibook-g3/

My sister thought it was dead but it turned out to only be the yoyo power supply, a very nice Apple Genius gave me a more modern one for free!

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/xcart1/images/D/g4yoyo2.jpg

The machine still works in all regards, nothing's broken, and the battery even lasts around 3 hours.

However, accustomed to SSDs as I now am, the machine is surprisingly loud. When the disk spins down it's completely silent, so I reckon it's time to open it up one last time and install an SSD

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/235141/fixing-an-ibook-display/#post2302568

I'm choosing between two 32GB models, from Transcend and KingSpec:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B007N9I1UW/
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0047U9AR8/

Has anyone used either? Is one better than the other? And does anyone know if Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X 10.1 will see the SSD as just another hard drive? Or is 10.4 somehow required?

Also, WiFi related, does WAP work in 10.1? Or only 10.4?

 

[seveej]

Hi OP,

I have the very same machine, and have upgraded the original HDD (which I also thought was loud, but cannot say if this was due to it being old), but not with an SSD but in stead with a normal 120 GB 5400 rpm HDD.

I cannot say that the machine would have been loud after the upgrade, but naturally as SSD would bake it virtually silent.

I have no experience of SSD's in G3's, but I century installed 64 GB version of the transcend into a PowerBook G4, and it seems to work flawlessly (albeit not as quickly as you would hope).

RGDS,

 

[ybz90]

I am currently restoring a PowerBook G4 (also the reason I returned to MacRumors after a long hiatus), and am actually doing the same thing to it. I've always been somewhat astounded by how little heat these computers produced compared to modern ULV systems.

In your case, you might be able to get away with a CF card and an adapter, which would probably be the cheapest option as well. I'm not sure the exact speed of your iBook, but I don't think it's even ATA/100. Given the transfer rate, I don't think you would necessarily notice the benefit of getting an actual PATA SSD (which itself is already highly limited by the slow connection) vs just the CF card solution.

 

[tom vilsack]

I've replaced a couple hard drives on ibook G3...not the easiest laptop to take apart,but using ifixit and # plastic bags and all went well...you won't have room for "CF card and an adapter"...

Forgot i asked about same project another ibook 3g user did with ssd...below link...said in terms of real world speed...very nice improvement.

ssd in ibook G3 600

 

[skinniezinho]

I would say go to the cheapest one, both will perform faster than the ide bus on the ibook so it is fine =)
Go for it =)

 

[megasad]

…I've always been somewhat astounded by how little heat these computers produced compared to modern ULV systems.

I always appreciated that, as far as I could tell, I never heard the fan come on once. If I remember correctly, the hottest part of the machine was in fact the left palm-rest, the area immediately above the hard drive. So it should run even cooler with an SSD!

…I'm not sure the exact speed of your iBook, but I don't think it's even ATA/100.…

...you won't have room for "CF card and an adapter"...

I'll keep it simple by just using a straight 2.5" PATA SSD, that'll hopefully increase the chances of everything working as expected. And I remember when I got this "Late 2001" model as a replacement for my broken-latched "Dual USB", I was so excited that the bus went from 66 MHz to 100 MHz

Can anyone recommend an equivalent to "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test" that will run on the iBook? I want to check what the speed of the current hard drive is.

I'm also digging out all my old Mac OS install discs, may make six partions, one each for 9.2, 10.0, 10.1. 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4. Or not

 

[skinniezinho]

I always appreciated that, as far as I could tell, I never heard the fan come on once. If I remember correctly, the hottest part of the machine was in fact the left palm-rest, the area immediately above the hard drive. So it should run even cooler with an SSD!



I'll keep it simple by just using a straight 2.5" PATA SSD, that'll hopefully increase the chances of everything working as expected. And I remember when I got this "Late 2001" model as a replacement for my broken-latched "Dual USB", I was so excited that the bus went from 66 MHz to 100 MHz

Can anyone recommend an equivalent to "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test" that will run on the iBook? I want to check what the speed of the current hard drive is.

I'm also digging out all my old Mac OS install discs, may make six partions, one each for 9.2, 10.0, 10.1. 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4. Or not

A quick search:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1391109/

or this:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120704113548693

 

[Intell]

Can anyone recommend an equivalent to "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test" that will run on the iBook? I want to check what the speed of the current hard drive is.

You could give XBench a try. It's rather outdated, but it still works well for hard drive tests. Its general computing tests are accurate as well, if they are done on PowerPC Macs.

 

[megasad]

…or this:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120704113548693

Nicely done, thank you!

Running this on my MBP:

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024k of=tstfile count=1024 && purge && dd if=tstfile bs=1024k of=/dev/null count=1024 && rm tstfile

Gave me these numbers:

Write: 165.1 MB/sec
Read: 179.6 MB/sec

Which are approximately the same as those reported by Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

I'll have my iBook back this coming weekend, will try it on there then.

 

[blesscheese]

I recently reclaimed my very first Mac, a late 2001 iBook with a 600MHz G3 and 640MB RAM.

However, accustomed to SSDs as I now am, the machine is surprisingly loud. When the disk spins down it's completely silent, so I reckon it's time to open it up one last time and install an SSD

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B007N9I1UW/
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0047U9AR8/

Has anyone used either? Is one better than the other? And does anyone know if Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X 10.1 will see the SSD as just another hard drive? Or is 10.4 somehow required?

Hi,
I haven't gotten an SSD for my iBook yet, but I have been looking at the Transcend model as well. The 32GB and 64GB models are fairly inexpensive.

I have used a CF adaptor in my PowerBook G3 Lombard and Pismo (with 8GB and 16GB CF cards), and they work well. Depending on the adaptor, you shouldn't have any problem fitting them into an iBook. However, with the low price now for the SSD's, the larger sizes are more feasible than using CF cards.

Also, when installed, it should just be like any other drive...you should just have to format it and go. Do you have the original system disks? If not, you should connect the new drive externally first, format it and clone the drive using a program like SuperDuper, to save the hassle on doing this after you install the drive.

 

[megasad]

…Also, when installed, it should just be like any other drive...you should just have to format it and go. Do you have the original system disks? If not, you should connect the new drive externally first, format it and clone the drive using a program like SuperDuper, to save the hassle on doing this after you install the drive.

I have the original restore disks, yep. I used them to make the system factory fresh, it's funny to use Mac OS X 10.1 and iTunes 1 again after all these years There were even 14 free songs (this was before pre-iTunes-Store) I'd forgotten all about, check out the attached image!

So I may leave it like that, not even update to 10.1.5, but may install 10.2, 10.3 or 10.4, depending on which one works best with WAP and the newly-free Adobe CS2.

 

[ybz90]

A quick search:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1391109/

or this:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120704113548693

The write command is fairly accurate, but the read one is prone to give outrageous numbers (my Air apparently can read at 4500+ MB/s), though on older interfaces, this probably won't be a problem.

 

[skinniezinho]

The write command is fairly accurate, but the read one is prone to give outrageous numbers (my Air apparently can read at 4500+ MB/s), though on older interfaces, this probably won't be a problem.

lol yes, my HDD gives 200MB/s
Maybe it has something to do with "system caching", like in AJA Speed test.

 

[tom vilsack]

megasad: when you go about this project...can you take lots of pics....looking forward to seeing how this all works out. (really interested to see if will work with mac os 9+)

 

[Ariii]

I always appreciated that, as far as I could tell, I never heard the fan come on once. If I remember correctly, the hottest part of the machine was in fact the left palm-rest, the area immediately above the hard drive. So it should run even cooler with an SSD!



I'll keep it simple by just using a straight 2.5" PATA SSD, that'll hopefully increase the chances of everything working as expected. And I remember when I got this "Late 2001" model as a replacement for my broken-latched "Dual USB", I was so excited that the bus went from 66 MHz to 100 MHz

Can anyone recommend an equivalent to "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test" that will run on the iBook? I want to check what the speed of the current hard drive is.

I'm also digging out all my old Mac OS install discs, may make six partions, one each for 9.2, 10.0, 10.1. 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4. Or not

MacOS 9 cannot boot from an SSD .

 

[skinniezinho]

MacOS 9 cannot boot from an SSD .

A friend of mine has a pismo g3 with cf card and os9..booting..

 

[Intell]

MacOS 9 cannot boot from an SSD .

OS 9 works great from an SSD. It was able to boot from some of the earliest SSDs, ramdisks. Booting OS 9 from a ramdisk is amazing. Simply amazing. Even on really old road Apples.

 

[ybz90]

A friend of mine has a pismo g3 with cf card and os9..booting..

I don't have an experience with this personally, but I've heard that this works as well. I still recommend you get an adapter and a CF card. A PATA SSD is overkill for your system, and the cheapest I've seen is around $50-60 for a Kingspec 32GB on eBay (and even pricier for Super Talent, Transcend, etc all the way into outrageous territory for the OWC offerings).

You can get a 32GB CF + adapter for around $33 (Newegg) and $5 (ebay) respectively.

 

[MisterKeeks]

OS 9 works great from an SSD. It was able to boot from some of the earliest SSDs, ramdisks. Booting OS 9 from a ramdisk is amazing. Simply amazing. Even on really old road Apples.

OS 9 is pretty zippy even on an ancient IDE.

 

[Intell]

OS 9 is pretty zippy even on an ancient IDE.

Zippy is not a word I'd use to describe OS 9 on a PowerMac/Performa 6200's IDE bus. Glacial would better describe it. But on a ramdisk, it was fairly nice. Even the SCSI interface was faster on that machine.

 

[Ariii]

OS 9 works great from an SSD. It was able to boot from some of the earliest SSDs, ramdisks. Booting OS 9 from a ramdisk is amazing. Simply amazing. Even on really old road Apples.

Oops, I guess I was just having weird issues.. I've heard that it can't boot natively from SSD's (I know that CF cards work) and it hasn't worked for me . Sorry.

 

[MisterKeeks]

Zippy is not a word I'd use to describe OS 9 on a PowerMac/Performa 6200's IDE bus. Glacial would better describe it. But on a ramdisk, it was fairly nice. Even the SCSI interface was faster on that machine.

Perhaps not. On the on the 400/500MHz G3s I have, it runs pretty well.

 

[crammedberry]

I did the project that tom linked to earlier in the thread. I could not recommend a CF card, mostly because their read/write speeds are horrible. When I got my SSD about 2 years ago the seller was listing them for well over $100, I gave him a lowball offer, he countered it down to $100. I told him $85 was the most I would pay including shipping and her gave it to me at that price. It was quite a bit but not too bad given that this was 2 years ago and PATA SSDs are still very hard to find. You can likely negotiate your price if you're planning on getting it from ebay and I could still recommend that over a CF card. Short of that, I would recommend you go with a regular mechanical HD over a CF card.

As far as running the disk in any OS, it really just shows up as a regular drive, nothing special about it. Just jump into disk utility, make your partitions, wipe it, reformat it... whatever you need to do. I still have the computer, and 2 years later it's still works fine so I have nothing bad to say about kingspec if that helps but I don't use it as my main machine. It's more for doing some light reading as web browsing is becoming more of a drag with bigger images and bloated sites, hopefully the march towards mobile devices helps them trim down a bit.

 

[skinniezinho]

I did the project that tom linked to earlier in the thread. I could not recommend a CF card, mostly because their read/write speeds are horrible.

CF Card Read/Write speeds are only horrible if you choose low end CF Cards.
600X CF Cards are rated for 90MB/s read and write, I doubt that even most PATA SSDs do that speed (even ibook bus can't handle all that speed).
Of Course that if you buy 133X CF Cards they will have poor speeds...
PRice per Gb, the Pata SSDs are now more atractive, but sometimes there are good deals of used high speed cards out there.

 

[crammedberry]

From what I've seen the 600X cards are even more expensive than the already expensive PATA SSD drives. I would still go with the PATA drives since even at the price I paid 2 years ago, it is still less than what the CF cards go for, but that's just me. Now a days you can probably find a PATA SSD for significantly less.