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CooperBox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
I believe there was a fairly recent thread recommending the best SSD to install to a G3 Clamshell. I've spent some time searching, but failed to find it.
Would therefore be thankful if someone could point me to the link, or better still give up to date information on the most favourable current SSD's suitable for the 466MHz firewire Clamshell. Also if the same would suit a Powerbook Pismo.
Believe that converter requirement is for an IDE 44 pin>mSATA with 2.5" frame.
 

MacCubed

macrumors 68000
Apr 26, 2014
1,618
494
Florida
Both of those laptops have the 128GB HDD Capacity limit, so the SSD would need to be a smaller capacity. As for the actual adapter, get one with the Marvel chipset. The one I usually recommend is out of stock
 

666sheep

macrumors 68040
Dec 7, 2009
3,686
292
Poland
I have Samsung 840 EVO 120GB in my Clamshell and it works OK with such adapter (JMicron based):
http://www.dx.com/p/msata-to-2-5-ide-44-pin-adapter-card-green-black-320960
Just used the double sided tape to secure it inside.

DiskTest 61.22
Sequential 40.82
UncachedWrite 46.48 28.54 MB/sec [4K blocks]
UncachedWrite 50.03 28.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]
UncachedRead 25.59 7.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
UncachedRead 57.49 28.89 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 122.37
UncachedWrite 73.13 7.74 MB/sec [4K blocks]
UncachedWrite 87.51 28.02 MB/sec [256K blocks]
UncachedRead 900.39 6.38 MB/sec [4K blocks]
UncachedRead 154.44 28.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
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0248294

Cancelled
Jan 10, 2016
713
869
There's also KingSpec IDE SSDs, which fit easier inside the original hard drive caddy. But I do think the price per GB rating on those is a little on the high side, IIRC.
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,822
2,494
Baltimore, Maryland
Does anyone have experience using the SpeedTools ATA Hi-Capacity Driver with an SSD and an adapter? If it works, the OP could get a larger SSD, use another Mac to partition it properly into a 128GB (first) partition plus another partition with the remainder, install the OS on the first partition, and use the remaining capacity for files.
 

CooperBox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Thanks guys for your very helpful replies.
The mention of the KingSpec IDE SSD's jogged my memory that these were mentioned in the original thread which I couldn't find. I search just led me to: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/granites-ibook-g3-clamshells.1747559/page-7#post-20702939
This gave a particular mention to be aware of the PA25.6 in the KingSpec model number.
So in general, good information for anyone wanting to breath new life into a Clamshell and/or Powerbook G3
 

bobesch

macrumors 68020
Oct 21, 2015
2,142
2,220
Kiel, Germany
I would go for the mSata with mSata-IDE-adapter too.
- Delock 62495 Konverter IDE 44 Pin > mSATA with 2.5 frame (7 mm) (27€)
(the Delock-frame can be fixed with 4 screws provided with the package, so the SSD is really fixed instead of just clambed in the iBooks HDD-frame)
- Transcend MSA370 internal mSATA SSD 128GB (mSATA, 6Gb/s, MLC) (62€)
#187
 

666sheep

macrumors 68040
Dec 7, 2009
3,686
292
Poland
Anyone has Marvell based mSATA adapter in Clamshell and cares to post Xbench for comparison sake?
I'm curious if there's any difference in a favor of Marvell compared to JMicron one.
This should be the Clamshell or other ATA33 Mac otherwise score won't be comparable.
 

MacCubed

macrumors 68000
Apr 26, 2014
1,618
494
Florida
Anyone has Marvell based mSATA adapter in Clamshell and cares to post Xbench for comparison sake?
I'm curious if there's any difference in a favor of Marvell compared to JMicron one.
This should be the Clamshell or other ATA33 Mac otherwise score won't be comparable.
I could pull the mSATA SSD with the marvel chipset from my DLSD PowerBook and try it in my Lombard
 

MacCubed

macrumors 68000
Apr 26, 2014
1,618
494
Florida
If it isn't a big problem for you, it would be interesting to see the result.
I will try once I get the time, as I have to install Tiger on the SSD and then put it into my Lombard. My Tiger disc is an earlier one, so it won't work with my DLSD. I could either download a later version, or install from my TiBook, both of which will take time
 

666sheep

macrumors 68040
Dec 7, 2009
3,686
292
Poland
There is no hurry in PowerPC world :)

BTW: I have scavenged Transcend IDE SSD from this Clamshell and I think I'll throw it into G3 Beige. It will be fun.
 

cmstuber

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2015
17
7
I recently threw in the cheapest msata 120gig stick from amazon along with the cheapest msata to ide adapter (both shipping from the US) into my 467mhz clamshell FW SE. And another setup into a 1.5ghz PBG4. My xBench score looked slightly better than the one posted above. Nothing beats the silence of the clamshell. the msata fully saturates the bus constantly. You can tell an obvious quickness to bootups and the opening of apps. did i mention the silence? the absolute silence? it's a totally different experience. I think all my ppcs will be msata ssd in the very near future.
The msata on the PBG4 is totally boss. read and write speeds are constantly 85mb/s+. on an ATA100 bus, that's nearly as good as it gets. and to be honest that speed is better than most of the sata2/3 drives that come through the shop on a daily basis. not too shabby for a 13 year old computer.
 
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