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Recycled Computing

Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook

- 2009.11.19

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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

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