kurt hahn1

Q: Pb G4 Aluminum: SSD install how-to, RAM and OS 10.5 question

Hi,

 

I've bought a Macbook Pro 15" Retina last year, and my old Powerbook was gathering dust since then. So, mostly for fun, I decided to install an SSD and I am really surprised by the results. It's the 1.5 GHz G4, and it has only 1Gb of RAM, but it's almost like a new computer, I'll probably start using it again around the house. The graphics card still shows its age, full screen youtube videos will stutter, but everything else is really smooth and quick.

 

In case you'd like to do something like that with your Powerbook, you'll need a 1.8" Micro-SATA SSD instead of a standard 2.5" SATA SSD. This is because you need some free space to fit your adapter (Micro SATA to IDE) into the space where the original 2.5" HDD was located. I got this adapter from ebay, btw. Once the new SSD plus the adapter is installed, there's still some room left, this needs to be filled so that the SSD won't move and damage the adapter and connector cable if you carry around the powerbook. I haven't found good filler material yet, suggestions are welcome. I guess the material needs to be resistant to heat, it can get pretty warm in there.

 

Here are my questions:

- My Powerbook is one of those which had a defective memory slot, and I failed to bring it in during the extended warranty period, which means it has only one working RAM memory slot. Since the OS could work with 2 G of RAM (if both slots were working), could I use a single 2 Gigabyte RAM module? Or is it limited to 1 Gb per slot?

- Temperature: After resetting the NVRAM and SMC, the fans hardly ever start spinning now (before they were spinning as soon as I opened a web browser, now I need to watch a youtube video in double-size format for quite a while before they start). Interesting fact, it needed the reset (SMC?), before that they just kept spinning like before. BUT...the SSD gets pretty warm, or probably even hot, since I can feel how warm the trackpad gets, and the SSD doesn't even touch it. I'm sure there's a lot of "data-traffic" with just 1Gb of real memory, but I was using it for a few days with a 2.5" SSD (without closing it, just for testing purposes), and I didn't notice such high temperatures. Do Micro-SSDs get hotter than normal ones? I guess they have a built in mechanism that shuts it down when they get too hot? Will it die soon if it gets very hot all the time?

- MacOS: I don't remember why, but I never upgraded my Powerbook to 10.5, so I don't know if it's even compatible with 10.5. Is it? And can I still get 10.5?

 

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with my old Powerbook right now. At startup, it takes a little time until it finds the startup disk (I guess that's because of the SATA to IDE adapter), but once it has found it, everything's so fast and silent, it was really worth it.

Powerbook G4 15" (&iBook G3 300MHz), Mac OS X (10.4.11), null

Posted on Aug 22, 2015 1:11 PM

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Q: Pb G4 Aluminum: SSD install how-to, RAM and OS 10.5 question

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Aug 22, 2015 1:15 PM in response to kurt hahn1
    Level 10 (270,278 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 22, 2015 1:15 PM in response to kurt hahn1

    Maximum RAM per slot is 1 GB. You will have to purchase Leopard on the Internet. Look for it on Amazon or eBay. Be sure you only buy the retail discs. They may be expensive now.

     

    Be sure you have set the Startup Disk preferences for the startup drive or the OS spends time searching for it. The fans should always be running, although they run at an idle speed unless they computer gets hot.

  • by kurt hahn1,

    kurt hahn1 kurt hahn1 Aug 22, 2015 1:32 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Aug 22, 2015 1:32 PM in response to Kappy

    Thanks, I'll have a look at the prices for 10.5 / Leopard. 

     

    I just held my ear to the keyboard (now that I know where everything's located ) and you're right, they are spinning, probably very slowly. Since the original HDD was probably louder than the fans at idle, I always assumed they were off most of the time.

     

    As for the startup disk setting, thanks for the advice, but I did that just after zapping the NVRAM, hence my guess that the SATA to IDE adapter is slowing things down at startup. But even so, it boots in less than a minute, and in a few seconds more you have Safari's home page open, so I think that's fine.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Aug 22, 2015 1:40 PM in response to kurt hahn1
    Level 10 (270,278 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 22, 2015 1:40 PM in response to kurt hahn1

    Yes, you are correct, then.

  • by kurt hahn1,

    kurt hahn1 kurt hahn1 Aug 22, 2015 2:27 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Aug 22, 2015 2:27 PM in response to Kappy

    So I've found a retail version of 10.5 on ebay for 50$ (shipping incl.), it was the cheapest I could find in 5 minutes, and I'm kind of on a spending spree anyway, so I figured "what the heck", a few clicks later and it's mine, should be here next Tuesday . Is that too expensive? I got it mainly for Time Machine, especially since that new Micro SSD is getting so hot all the time, it might be a good idea to back it up.

     

    I have a huge 2Tb drive to back up my Macbook Pro with Time Machine, if I want to use the same drive to back up my Powerbook as well, do I need to partition the drive? The file created on this drive is named backups.backupdb, I guess if I connect it to another Mac with Time Machine it will try use the same file name and make a big mess?