Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Recycled Computing

Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook

- 2009.11.19

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter.

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

Tweet this article. Short link: http://bit.ly/3fqkFf

For those who remember the Clamshell that I was using as a sign-in computer at school - here's an update!

The Clamshell had three areas that needed to be upgraded before I would want to take it on the road.

  1. More RAM is like Geritol to old computers, and I could go out and buy a 512 MB chip to speed up things a bit. (About $30.)
  2. Old laptops have old batteries, and the Clamshell needs to get a brandy new battery. The current (old) battery can start the laptop, but within 10 to 20 minutes it dies tragically. ($80 to $120)
  3. Lastly, it only had a 10 GB hard drive, and that just will not do. ($60 and up.)

Inside a Clamshell iBook
Inside a Clamshell iBook.

Free Things First

I operate on the notion of doing free things first, and I just happened to have a 30 GB hard drive lying around.

I wanted to install Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", which comes on DVD, but the Clamshell has a CD-ROM drive. So I removed my Pismo's hard drive and installed the 30 GB drive in it, because, the Pismo has a DVD drive and can run the Tiger installer.

With the 30 GB drive firmly in place in the Pismo, I wiped the drive and partitioned it three ways. I installed a minimal version of Tiger on the first partition, put OS X 10.3 "Panther" on the second, and OS 9 on the third.

ice cube trays are great for holding small screwsNow came the hard part: I had to put the drive into the Clamshell.

First, I gathered up my ice cube trays as a home for many, many tiny screws and, on another computer, launched a browser and went to iFixit.com. This was not the first time I had a Clamshell apart, and in the interval, I decided that the G4 iBook is just a little bit more treacherous to take apart than the Clamshell. It is still a daunting process. The Clamshell had to be taken apart, the optical drive removed, the screen disconnected, shielding removed, and the computer ended up in pieces (photo above).

two notebook hard drivesOnce you have the old drive out, you can swap in the new one and button the whole thing back together. Surprise, surprise! A Clamshell will boot up "Tiger" and run it.

It is not a speed demon, but if you have modest demands for this one-of-a-kind laptop, "Tiger" will work fine. I have a "Panther" partition just in case "Tiger" crashes and burns. And an OS 9 partition is nice to have, since I am known as "Mr. Legacy" around here and am called upon to bring old data to the new age from time to time.

As a tease for my next column, I have thought of a new product to make tons of money for somebody else - and leave me penniless and destitute. LEM

Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.