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Level 1

4 points

SSD Hard Drives for older PowerBook G4 and similar laptops

Duncan, or someone with a similar name asked whether or not the new SSD drives would fit into an older Apple laptop computer with or without an adapter. Obviously this is the key issue - whether the dimensions would allow a fit for a new drive and possibly an adapter in the very small space allocated for the hard drive bay.

I also have an older PowerBook G4 and took it apart before to upgrade the factory hard drive of 40 GB for an 80 GB Fujitsu IDE type drive. Recently that drive also went out, and I hoped to replace it with a brand new Samsung 500 GB SSD drive that has no moving parts, and would of course not generate heat or noise. These both seem to be issues for smaller laptops and for laptops in general.

I was unfortunately disappointed to discover that I needed an adapter, since the 44 PIN connection does not fir with the newer SATA type. Using an adapter would also create the problem of not fitting both into the computer physically.

Not giving up hope, I found a manufacturer in Asia who still makes SSD hard drives with ATA 44 PIN connectors and thus the computer can accept the new drive. They come in various sizes and prices, and include low shipping charges. So for less than a hundred dollars, a solution has been found, and the older computer can be kept running, although it does not compare to its younger brother laptops that are in the Apple constellation, which have SSD drives factory installed.

Others have successfully installed SSD drives into older laptop computers, which may extend the life of the products until the owners can afford to replace them with something else.

Repair shops will not accept such older laptops for repairs so this is the only option that was open for me. I will update this post after the new drive arrives and it has been installed. I still have the rights to use the system software, and still own those CD upgrades, so a system installation should be able to be performed by again installing the operating system from the CD.

Posted on May 21, 2019 1:20 PM

Top-ranking reply

rcosta887

Level 4

3,604 points

Posted on May 21, 2019 4:47 PM

Another (much cheaper) option would be to simply use a 2.5-inch IDE (i.e. 44-pin PATA) to Compact Flash adapter, which are designed to fit easily in the available 2.5-inch drive space. Just add your own Compact Flash card.