Making a SILENT iBook G3 Clamshell!

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Thanks to Linode for sponsoring this video!
Last month, I unboxed an old iBook G3 Clamshell that was generously donated to the channel by Victor. It had some problems with its CD drive, so today we're going to attempt to replace it while also installing an SSD!
Adapter I Used: amzn.to/43V9u43
SSD I Used: amzn.to/3P653za
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction & Recap
04:22 - Removing the iMac's CD Drive
06:12 - Taking Apart the iBook
13:49 - The Current Predicament
15:03 - Mistakes Were Made
19:08 - Testing the Drives
21:10 - Continuing the Disassembly
23:53 - SSD Time
26:27 - OS 9 Install
28:42 - Reassembly
28:57 - Completion
Original Video: • Testing Apple's FIRST ...
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● Gear I use to make these videos: www.kit.co/mjd
Camera: amzn.to/3ipyKc5
Tripod: amzn.to/3pqxycn
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● Affiliate Links:
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● Music/Credits:
Background Music:
"A Night Alone", "Cancun", "Rest" and "Ersatz Bossa" from the KZbin Audio Library
"Mining by Moonlight", "Dispersion Relation", "Spy Groove" and "Airport Lounge" by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com
Outro Music: Silent Partner - Bet On It
Amazon Affiliate Notice: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. All Amazon links that I provide will use my affiliate code with Amazon.
Some materials in this video are used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, and research.
#MichaelMJD #iBook #SSD

[@mrgrumpy888]

Trying to change an optical drive or hard drive on an apple laptop from 1998 - 2009 ends up changing you as a person... I've never seen this sort of excessive overengineering on any other laptop of that era.

[@sjgrall]

iBook G4 was the worst imo, along with 12” PowerBook G4.

[@ch.illmatic]

​@@sjgrall I opened up my 2005 14" ibook g4... Never turned on again🤣it was a nightmare

[@sjgrall]

@@ch.illmatic I took my 2004 14" iBook G4 apart not long before I sold it, and added Bluetooth to it internally. I had no idea what I was getting into. I ended up snapping the magnesium chassis and had to replace that. I also replaced the top case, bottom case, and lid cover. That thing looked brand new by the time I was done, and sold appropriately (I sold it in 2009 so I only got a couple hundred for it).

[@megatronskneecap]

@@sjgrall No this is just Jony Ive designs lmfao.

[@megatronskneecap]

Just Jony's designs.

[@sjgrall]

I spilled water on mine around 2003, and I literally heard it sizzle. Took the whole thing apart to dry it out, and put it back together. I swore I'd never do that again. That Mac was still working a decade later.

[@RilaGaems]

does it still work?

[@sjgrall]

@@RilaGaems unfortunately, I sold it about a decade ago when I needed money (which I regret doing!!). It still had the original hard drive in it at the time, and despite heavy use 2001-2004, was in mint condition.

[@RilaGaems]

💀💀

[@cakedon]

I swear those things are on par with Nokia 3310 in terms of durability, I've bought a 2011 Mac Mini a couple of months back and it's super durable too (although I haven't really done anything extreme with it)

[@andresbravo2003]

I know you make mistakes, but i was probably never spill on my laptop again.

[@philtkaswahl2124]

Man, I remember using SSDs to bring new life to my old stuff, and how it took awhile for my brain to adjust from the subconscious expectation that there had to be some hard drive noises to know it was running.

[@joshj88]

Silly enough I stuck to a spinning Samsung 2009 ide in my Mac mini G4 Becuase I didn’t trust the IDE to mSATA adapters from china. And it’s plenty fast for an OS optimized and designed to run on spinning rust. It’s 5400RPM and an 8mb cache

[@dxtremecaliber]

@@joshj88they are good tho upgrading to an SSD would be an huge upgrade in terms of speeds

[@camirock17]

"Last seen: 9 years and 2 months" uff, those were the best times.. glad you fixed it

[@xXRedTheDragonXx]

This upgrade process is crazy, but with Apple it's honestly not all that unheard of. I can personally only think of two different Apple products where the hard drive upgrade/replacement process isn't an absolute nightmare and those would be a few years of Macbook and the Mac Pro line. Everything else is just like this, which is crazy considering that hard drives are usually some of the most common upgrades you might want to make to a system...

[@Stabby666]

I did a similar upgrade on my Graphite 466 clamshell last year, but after maxing out the RAM and adding the SSD there was really nothing much it could do as it was way too slow for a modern browser. So I designed a replacement logic board that hosts a raspberry Pi compute module (CM3) and runs the original display, and uses the keyboard and trackpad. It's a straight swap, being the same dimensions as the original (it looks pretty empty though!) Benefits are that it has full Wifi, bluetooth, and is much faster, so I can actually use it in coffee shops (my main reason for doing it :) ). Thinking of selling the logic board so others can do the same, but unsure it'll work out to be worthwhile! Cheers!

[@ojdon]

Please do! That sounds amazing!

[@kyle8952]

If that's true then why haven't you posted any pictures or video of it anywhere?

[@shepherdosterompton]

@@kyle8952it took me 5 seconds of googling to verify he indeed did this including pics of the PCB

[@vitamins-and-iron]

that’s so awesome

[@The_Boctor]

Polycarbonate, silent, and toilet seat-shaped. Not a common combination, but a good one.

[@protocetid]

I really want another computer to look like this in a more standard rectangle shape, IDK if it's nostalgia or weird taste. Complete with an OS that doesn't have oversimplified and flat visuals, something shiny like Vista or OS X.

[@BenyKorenberg]

Your videos are so good... Great job... You got a great voice, great pace, background music is very nice and fitting... Awesome, keep up the good work...

[@TheFakeVIP]

Great video as always. Almost at 100 million views now, congrats! You've earned it over the last 13 years!

[@thecomputergeek101]

100 Million views?

[@QuantumScratcher]

@@thecomputergeek101 total views on every single video on the channel

[@OmerBonfil]

Wow, awesome work. I really missed seeing this one. I had it back in the day. It's awesome.

[@blueban9252]

I think you are the best youtuber that i seen making these old-hardware videos

[@ColdSphinX]

You can use any IDE SlimDrive, they all have the same mounting points for the faceplate and that slim ide port on the back, even modern sata slimdrives use the same faceplates but would oviously be incompatible on the backside.

[@timb7085]

Heh - all of the iBooks were a challenge when trying to replace the hard drive - tons of different screws and stuff to disassemble. The TiBooks were a bit easier - but still serious surgery. The one small plus on the iBooks was the ease in upgrading memory - it was fairly easy to get to under the keyboard. (Even the TiBooks required more disassembly to do that). As always - great video - thanks!

[@ollieduracell]

As I always say, my go-to for all my geek needs. Nice one Michael

[@bwicklander]

I will be tackling my g3 clamshell this weekend. Looking forward to it all working.

[@steelsmith6230]

I gotta say I love see the amount of storage that was excellent for older technology.

[@flotowncomputerguy6243]

The great thing about these old Macs is they don't care if the SSD is slow or lower end. The bus speeds are so limited that even the slowest SSD and adapter will still likely max it out

[@blainepalmerza]

Awesome video, Michael!

[@andresbravo2003]

Congrats for your Patreon Page. You did it good for making PC, Mac and Linux related videos!

[@zafilerusse]

Nice! More of such stuff please 🙂

[@stale2665]

Boy am I glad I didn't have to service these laptops when i did that kind of work. That's a huge amount of work just to swap a HDD. A hard disk replacement shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

[@littlewillie65]

I've got one of these -- it still works, sort of. I was trying to change out the hard drive for a sd to ide adapter. Went ok until I managed to break the trackpad cable. Those ribbon cables in ALL mac products get very brittle over the years...

[@GodSaveTheUnitedStates]

I hope I can find one of these to buy at a decent price one day. This was a fantasy computer for my wife back when she was a child and I'd love to salvage one for her. I think she liked the purple one best? I donno maybe one day lol. Love the content man!

[@almightyconicalflask4997]

The AlmightyConicalFlask approves.

[@idkhonestly9985]

No way the AlmightyConicalFlask approves

[@ebixq]

guys The AlmightyConicalFlask approves

[@TheAmethystAurora]

It's true - the AlmightyConicalFlask approves!

[@themacintoshnerd]

@@TheAmethystAurora They don't want you to know that the AlmightyConicalFlask approves but it's true!

[@genericlc]

I’d never think that the AlmightyConicalFlask would approve! It’s a miracle!

[@PurpleMaleFroslass]

Okay, so I have to say this for those who worked on blueberry iBook G3s like mine. Mine absolutely would not take any burned media, but the second I gave it proper pressed OS9 install media it was fine. Even games only worked if they weren't burned, even when they were scratched. Old drives not playing nicely with CD-Rs is an annoyingly common issue.

[@Dragonsrule89]

Putting an SSD in an old Apple product? Druaga1 would be proud!

[@AidanGeeMedia]

Druaga1 vibes 😂 loved the video as always, thank you!

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

I was gonna go to bed. But MJD uploaded. Sleep can wait!

[@quicoys]

Let’s go he’s back!!

[@reimu7139]

I've had to replace a hard drive in one of these more than once. The third time I gave up, and learned that you can just boot off of a USB flash drive that's HFS formatted... very, very slowly. And I was still more okay with that than replacing the HDD again.

[@kirishima638]

I didn’t think these machines supported USB booting?

[@reimu7139]

@@kirishima638 They sorta do! I had an iBook non-SE (the one with no Firewire) and for some flash drives, you could just boot with it already plugged in. Open Firmware defaulted to the USB drive since the internal HDD was dead. I believe newer iBooks required you to drop into the OF shell and enter in some commands to boot from USB, but it was still possible!

[@kFY514]

It feels more tedious to disassemble than modern Macs (though admittedly there's less things you could swap on those). It's nuts :O

[@MattExzy]

It was definitely a revelation when the white MacBook arrived - the hard drive just slid out from a shield in the battery compartment with just a few screws. Apple no doubt had feedback from their service people.

[@AverageMichaelJordans]

I feel that with PC laptops as well

[@protocetid]

@@AverageMichaelJordans ever heard of business laptops and Framework?

[@Ardonn]

@@AverageMichaelJordans *windows laptops. a mac is also a pc

[@sanamasakodotxml]

Love the coming up part! Definitely use that more!

[@30anerds]

I so want this laptop LOL. Such a wonderful example of the Tangerine iBook.

[@Firepulser]

Used the same drive setup to upgrade my Compaq Presario 17XL360 to SSD. 10GB slow to 120GB fast :)

[@danandlaundry]

No matter how envoved or hard or old the laptop i always ALWAYS like to try to put in an SSD as I don't really like having a hard disk drive in a portable device such as a laptop as if you drop it not only do you risk breaking the laptop but worse all of your data would get destroyed where as with an ssd at least your data is less likely to be destroyed from dropping

[@denis-rk9lg]

great video

[@gillesp782]

It is best to pre-install the OS from another Mac (a Pismo for exemple). You can partition it and create a dual boot OS9/OSX. My 6 clamshell have a Dual Boot OS 9/Mac OS X Tiger, and one for fun have OS 9/Jaguar/Panther/Tiger with 4 partitions.

[@datjamaicanjerk1230]

Michael kinda hurt my feelings by not adding RAM 😢😜 love the content dude 👍🏿

[@suryakamalnd9888]

Amazing video bro.. love this stuff.. imagine it being scilent 🤯

[@Supadupanerd]

Is it possible that there is an adjustment pot for the disc drive to adjust the gain of the laser?

[@30anerds]

How is the performance after the upgrade? I just got a 466 SE Firewire and am going to do it. Were there any tricky parts to be careful of? Did you watch a video of it, or did you have a guide? Wonderful job.

[@alanharkleroad4376]

He assured us before nothing goes right in Michael MJD video.

[@jordankelly6781]

Thanks!

[@TheMactrix]

I have the last model...high end graphite... and had the HD replaced with an SSD. Awesome deal for this classic. Oh, the DVD drive catch was broken...so I had it repaired...and as long it was going under the knife... I had it done. LOL

[@quicoys]

I love your content, you’re the best tech KZbinr! ❤

[@dumbfloppa]

yez

[@stephanemignot100]

Damn, I wan't one now! Too expensive in France though, to put a SSD in the eMac is a more reasonable thing to do, great video!

[@random_person618]

Michael catching up to Linus's segue style quickly!

[@darkside6450]

Pretty damn cool to be honest

[@rg40xs]

Hey MJD! Do you ever use Dial up on the old Computers before the Ethernet or Wifi (or something) Because it might be me who hasn’t seen you use a Modem.

[@ImJakeAnimates]

Hey man.. I got an IMac G4 that I dearly love, but unfortunately because it’s so old, a part in it failed and it no longer boots, it only shows the Apple symbol and loading icon. Any idea what failed? I’m guessing the Hard-drive, but I’m not sure.

[@FoxWolfWorld]

The old hard drive noise is part of the charm tho 😢

[@judgejrc]

nice work!!!! what is the difference in boot time between the two drives?

[@nilsbuhr]

the drive just doesnt show up. i ordered the exact same parts. even three different ssd adaptors and ssd cards to make sure. even an ide 44 pin adaptor to usb to connect to my modern imac. it's like nothing's connected... any ideas?! 😢

[@zack-lf5ks]

For some reason I was watching a iBook clamshell repair and I was thinking about putting an SSD into one and coincidentally this comes up on my recommended

[@cesarespinozaspain]

I just swapped the HD for an SSD on a 12inch G4 Powerbook not as cray as this but it was a challenge, Now it won't boot from a usb installer waiting for OSX 10.5 install media to arrive and hopefully i didn't brick it... I give you props for this project.

[@goclunker]

It won’t boot from usb. Google how to do it in open firmware. Its NOT native. You have to go into OF and type in a few commands to get usb boot 🙃

[@cesarespinozaspain]

@@goclunker I covered my bases and I installed via a osx 10.5 retail DVD. I have a 128gb USB drive with leopard through big sur installers. She didn't like that even with the terminal commands

[@goclunker]

@@cesarespinozaspain the only way it works through usb is a virgin osx dmg made via disk utility

[@Cart1416]

looks fun

[@lordpurchase9189]

I found an old MAC Book running OS 8 and I have a Apple restore CD that has OS9 from an iMac G3 I got a while ago but the HDD in the old MacBook started to fail and my plan was to put an SSD int it somehow via an adapter and install OS9. Does OS9 Support TRIM? I wish I could get a Clamshell or 3 but I can never find them for a good price regardless of working condition.

[@maxtornogood]

$69 is a *NICE* price, shocked that you don't feel the same Michael!

[@Philfluffer]

You are one of the few KZbinrs where the viewers never see your face. Ever notice that? This was also one of the few videos you have made that didn’t completely blow up in your face!

[@KendrixxPlayzzVR]

10:13 literally mjd complaining while doing it then when the adhesive is off he stops 😂😂😂😂

[@95Comics]

If you were to install an operating system on this ibook clamshell would you be able to say watch KZbin videos if it was small enough like if you use puppy linux or is there just nothing that you can actually use these computers for any more?

[@Osifilms22]

Yoo could you make a video on the IBM's strongest rocks, the ThinkPad T Series? I've got a T23 with a Pentium III and 1gb of ram from 2001 and I really love it since it runs perfectly like the day it was first made.

[@kirishima638]

Can you make a similar video for the Dual USB white iBook? I have a 700mhz model.

[@CantankerousDave]

2:35 - they weren’t talking about CD-R compatibility. Burned discs last a very short time compared to pressed discs.

[@KarmaMan82]

I've thoght, changing harddisk on my 17 inch - MacBook Pro from 2008 is the screw-hell, but iBook G3 Clamshell hits everything!

[@goclunker]

Try an ibook g3/g4

[@diversost]

A silent PC or mobile device is what I prefer the most. If I don't need something very powerful I can use a Mini PC with passive cooling and SSD or M.2 storage drive

[@Skp37583]

Hi i love this channel

[@WellBeSerious12]

Awesome! Anyone here ever replace older laptop internals with other OEM/custom/SBC/SOC/IOT hardware? So as to keep outer exterior, but with better hardware.

[@jasm817]

Very cool 😎👍

[@kencreten7308]

Silent. It surprised me too. No proc fan?

[@andrewdupuis1151]

i try replace my cd rom in 2011 MacBook pro from old laptop from pc laptop its does work however its little to big

[@RIGID.]

I know it sounds crazy but i just had a brainstorm. What if you had a WiFi to lan adapter then connected it to a network switch and a router. Here's the plot the wifi connected to the adapter is an portable Hotspot. Is it possible. Can you have a portable lan party?

[@everyonesloopy]

You can kind of do this with a WiFi repeater and your smartphone/hotspot so in theory, yes?

[@RIGID.]

Just imagine a lan party in a van or something. My question is would the router connected to the switch work?

[@everyonesloopy]

@@RIGID. depending on what kind of lan party you want to do, if you want to do a modern lan party all you would need to so is connect the computers and or game consoles like the Nintendo switch directly to the Hotspot wifi but, if you want to do say a retro lan party you would need to have something like a jackery and connect a wifi repeater to your Hotspot and connect an ethernet switch to the repeater and then you would have your lan for retro machines at least that's how I would do it, I never have so I can't say exactly if this would actually work

[@RIGID.]

@@everyonesloopy I was talking about retro lan parties. Imagine like a whole 5 or 6 computers connected to that. No need for lan subscriptions (if hotspots and wifi existed then)

[@BackwardSabotage]

And I thought swapping my mom's laptop's HDD for an SSD was complicated... (A Lenovo E41. You have to take out the keyboard to take out the lower plate to take the drive. It's nuts)

[@gregneumarke9373]

Can you share a link to that IDE adapter and flash module you used?

[@MichaelMJD]

I meant to put those links in the description when I published this, but they're added now. Thanks!

[@BigWillieFreestyle]

Druaga1 approves of this video, my fellow smoker 👍🏻

[@GoodTofuFriday]

why did you not just transfer that ribbion cable adapter to the new drive from the start...

[@MishraArtificer]

An M.2 to IDE adapter? Color me and my old IBM Thinkpads intrigued...

[@BilisNegra]

It was a necessary ill trashing that CD drive in the first part of the video. The rest went smoothly, so it wouldn't have been an MJD video without that!

[@jonbme4673]

Can you give us a link to the files to install windows 95 on the Wii pls

[@JamesDee]

Hello Smokers... wait wrong channel.

[@Windows_Vista828]

good vid

[@DeathracerXD]

Totally not trying to get a matching green ibook and imac g3

[@VIRACYTV]

I’m guessing not, but does it boot any faster?

[@bc100dev]

18:37 damn, my childhood game

[@Emi-xh4ld]

I can see a new video series in the making "Installing windows XP on the iBook G3"

[@ugzz]

You found a seller for the white ide bridge that came with a drive? huh.. i've been buying them blank and putting drives in.. and the drives i got cheap have a picture of a shark on them and the labels are printed with a laser printer and so poor quality they are illegible.. 2 of the 3 of them have already failed on me.. skipping those moving forward!

[@SaM64pes]

Does the sound work?

[@keraptus9816]

I was drunk and didn't realise you uploaded lol

[@NicVandEmZ]

I believe there others laptop that use the same style drive I hp dose too

[@jameslaidler2152]

Dumb question, is there DVD drive which would fit in this shell? Short of changing the entire motherboard, how high an operating system can this handle? Were they using Intel chips at this point and it can handle Windows of some sort?

[@Arachnosoft]

The ultimate Clamshell revisions (made between September 2000 and May 2001), model name M6411 (FireWire SE) could be ordered and shipped with an optional 4x DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive (Sony CD-RW CRX820E). But they were equipped with PowerPC processors only, so they couldn't handle Windows at all. The first Intel Macs supporting another OS appeared in 2006.

[@80sTechKid]

Not just silent, MUCH more reliable!

[@ivanokmunoz]

Use isopropyl alcohol to remove adhesive in the future

[@trulysam_]

Nice video like always, Micheal! I never thought what you did was possible, great work. :) (i got 87th comment and i'm the 4.4kth person to view this! nice, sorry for bragging tho)

[@nixboox]

I just find it amusing that this was the generation when the Mac was made to be so effortlessly upgradeable with its single-point open case and hinge...but the iBook is last generation, designed never to be touched by human hands, engineering. I can't believe no one at Apple thought being able to upgrade the hard drive was going to be important. I'm glad they ended this practice in the later Macbook models where you had just eight screws on the bottom and you could have access to everything you wanted to upgrade.

[@oakley6884]

16:57 why didn’t you do that anyway?

[@Kyharra]

I swear this dude always chooses the hardest option lol

[@elgato3767]

You should make a video on how Microsoft still hosts the download for Windows 8.1

[@AnthonyChopra]

hoo im going to use that wallpaper on my macos13

[@bretthibbs6083]

Just curious why didn't you just buy a regular 2.5 ssd to me I thought it would be simpler to buy a regular 2.5 ssd instead of what you bought. I'm not sure where you are from but I have a MicroCenter here in Minnesota about 15 minutes from where I live and you can get a great deal on a 2.5 ssd

[@abigaillilac1370]

I hate working with ribbon cables so much. Nintendo LOVES fragile ribbon cables just as much as Apple. The original Game Boy has a killer ribbon cable that will self destruct if you breathe on it wrong, and they carried that design philosophy with them when they designed the Switch Joycons.

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

The worst one of those is on Apple displays. There are several electronics embedded into the flat flex cable and, even with people that are crazy enough to try to repair it, there's a 50% chance you're gonna damage the flex cable either attempting to de-solder it from where it's connected or putting it back in.