Solid-State Drive Options for PowerBook 1400?

flexo

flexo

Well-known member
Hi all,

I've been trying to get my PB1400 to use (or in most cases, even recognize) a solid-state drive for a while now and after 2+ weeks and a lot spent on things that don't work, I'm out of ideas.

Things I've tried (in almost every single combination possible):
But I can't get ANY of those to work.. One of the following happens (I can't deduce it to anything other than "however the PB feels at that time")
  • Hangs during boot before Happy Mac (can't even move the mouse)
  • (MacOS 8 or 9 but never under 7?) Bombs during startup with "Bus Error"
  • Boots but drive does not show up at all (even under Disk Utility)
  • Boots and drive shows up under Disk Utility but I can't initialize ("Initialize Failed")
  • Boots and drive shows up under Disk Utility, and I can initalize, but computer hangs around ~25% during OS install
It boots and works perfectly with its stock drive though.. what y'all think might be going on here? Could it be due to the G3 upgrade installed on it?

Any ideas would be appreciated as I'm losing my mind at this point :D
 
A

A24A

Well-known member
What happens if you place one of the CompactFlash memory cards (Mac-formatted, with a valid System Folder) in an inexpensive PC Card adapter for CompactFlash, and then use it as a startup disk in one of the PC Card (PCMCIA) slots?
(download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/powerbooks/0340070APB1400UMRV.PDF pp 37-41)
 
Last edited:
flexo

flexo

Well-known member
Thanks all - I bought the SD adapter (I guess another $15 can't hurt after all this money spent)

A24A said:
What happens if you place one of the CompactFlash memory cards (Mac-formatted, with a valid System Folder) in an inexpensive PC Card adapter for CompactFlash, and then use it as a startup disk in one of the PC Card (PCMCIA) slots?
(download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/powerbooks/0340070APB1400UMRV.PDF pp 37-41)
Click to expand...
I'll try that as a last resort if SD adapter also fails, thank you for the suggestion!
 
MacUp72

MacUp72

Well-known member
A24A said:
What happens if you place one of the CompactFlash memory cards (Mac-formatted, with a valid System Folder) in an inexpensive PC Card adapter for CompactFlash, and then use it as a startup disk in one of the PC Card (PCMCIA) slots?
(download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/powerbooks/0340070APB1400UMRV.PDF pp 37-41)
Click to expand...
thats the thing I was thinking,too.. and yes, my 1400/2400/3400 work with CF cards and adapter,too..but I sometimes prefer to use a new(ly) good IDE drive instead.
so install back the IDE drive and after boot pop in a CF card in the PCMCIA slot and see if it is being recognized/formatable
 
G

GorfTheChosen

Well-known member
finkmac said:
i've heard good things about the ableconn adapter too. will work in other powerbooks that are picky about IDE.
Click to expand...

That link - while for the correct item (IDE --->mSATA/M.2 SATA) that he is looking for - will actually take him to the wrong item on Amazon ... since the one he actually wants is "Currently Unavailable" on Amazon ... and apparently they are redirecting to a SATA ---> mSATA/M.2 SATA.

Spiffy eh ?

This is the one he actually needs:

Picture 1.png
 
A

A24A

Well-known member
MacUp72 said:
thats the thing I was thinking,too.. and yes, my 1400/2400/3400 work with CF cards and adapter,too..but I sometimes prefer to use a new(ly) good IDE drive instead.
so install back the IDE drive and after boot pop in a CF card in the PCMCIA slot and see if it is being recognized/formatable
Click to expand...
Yes, (re)formatting the CF card in the 1400 while running from the internal hard drive (using a disk utility such as Drive Setup, or via Erase Disk in the Special menu) is a good idea. PC Exchange et cetera may have to be temporarily disabled.

As a first test, an attempt could then be made to drag-copy the existing System Folder from the internal hard drive to the CF card. Alternatively, use an appropriate system software installer on a CD to install a (universal) system (for all Macintosh computers). Use the Startup Disk control panel to select the CF card as the boot disk.

I have been using CF cards in a CompactFlash PC Card Adapter, or SD cards in a 6-in-1 PC Card adapter, with various operating system versions in PowerBook 500/5300/G3 series models. Mac- or PC- formatted cards can of course also be used for file transfers from/to other computers.
 
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flexo

flexo

Well-known member
Update: SD-to-ATA that @LaPorta suggested works perfectly, though I had to first boot from a Mac OS 9 CD to format it then switched back to Mac OS 7.6 CD to install 7. (Disk Utility on 7.6 hangs/crashes while formatting for some reason)

Once again, thanks all!
 
register

register

Well-known member
Earlier in the day, some results have been collected in the now defunct wiki. Parts of the wiki are still available at the internet archive, like: Flash Drive Test Results
Consider to check the notes in that article for useful information. It looks tiny, but it contains results of several days of testing. For example, there is a way to prevent a flash memory card inside the PCMCIA slot from being ejected upon restart. As you are already nearby, consider to have a look at this page, as well: SCSI Hard Disk Replacement Options

A big thank you to the people who bother backing up the intarwewebs!

EDIT
By the way: My own experience with the PB1400 series computers is that they are beautiful and reliable machines, very useable for a lot of serious work, even judged by today's standards. With flash memory you get a silent computer (no fan at all), quite snappy running Mac OS 8.1. I found it cheap to upgrade it to a proper amount of flash memory: use generic CF-to-SD-card adaptors, use generic CF-to-PCMCIA adaptors (if no SD-to-PCMCIA adaptor is available), be sure to stick to 16 bit PCMCIA equipment (_no_ CardBus), use a generic CF-to-IDE adaptor as a replacement for the internal HDD, replace the internal buffer battery using a battery holder for a bunch of AAA cells producing the desired voltage. For better accessibility, the new battery holder might share the space formerly reserved for the HDD with a much smaller flash memory option. If you have one SD card in the PCMCIA slot and one inside the HDD bay, consider to let one just serve as a scratch disk for virtual memory of about any desired size. This could give SD cards of unknown wear condition a second life until they stop working. Reworking the main battery packs is expensive and for myself it never led to any reasonable usablity improvement; thus, I tend to recommend the PB1400 for stationary use.
 
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Snial

Snial

Well-known member
Trash80toHP_Mini said:
I've been looking into 44 pin Disk On Module for 1400 etc. Has anyone gone in that direction? 44 pin DOM
Click to expand...
DOMs have a reversed set of pins. I recently bought one for my Acorn A3020 which has a 44pin IDE interface and cable. But it won't fit, you need a PCB that mirrors the pins and DOMs have socket headers not pins. Also, lots of DOMs are industrial things and they're on eBay because they're no longer reliable. So, take care!
 
Trash80toHP_Mini

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
Aha! Thanks for that reality check. Hadn't noticed that. 😳

The only DOM drives I've bought so far are untried, but because the do not have that "standard" DOM interface. I need to build adapter PCBs to use them flipped over atop the Tempo-trio card setup in the top position of the proposed Twin-Slot riser for my 6360. That's probably about as niche an application imaginable. :rolleyes:
 
Joopmac

Joopmac

Well-known member
the nicest would be a m2 sata-ssd adapter to ide
samsung 128GB ssd in it.
i have this in TAM, duo2300
 
register

register

Well-known member
Joopmac said:
the nicest would be a m2 sata-ssd adapter to ide
Click to expand...
Will such a setup provide a noticable speed benefit over an adapted CF or SD flash memory card? I found a few GB of storage space more than sufficient for a PowerBook 1400. Everyone who plans to use the PowerBook 1400 in »Target Disk Mode« (connected as an external SCSI drive to another computer), ever, should know that in such configuration only storage of up to 4 GB can be addressed.
 
J

josephlj945

New member
I've been curious about this too. Last I checked there were a few of those Ableconn adapters on eBay. I've seen some mixed reports about the 1400 being unable to use ATA6 drives; wouldn't that rule out any modern adapter like that? I currently have a 30GB HDD that I'm pretty sure is out of an iBook, possibly a TiBook (or it might be even newer honestly, I don't remember). It seems to work fine and I sort of doubt the 1400 is going to be bottlenecked by a drive that new, it seems to run pretty quick as it is. This also makes me question the validity of the "no ATA6 drives" thing.

Nonethless, it would be nice to have another option, HDDs don't last forever. My 3400c is more in need of a drive, I was going to go with a native IDE SSD from eBay, but that thing isn't as easy as the 1400 is to get to the drive, which makes me nervous about sticking just anything in it and having it not work. I almost want to just buy an eBay lot of 2.5" IDE drives and hope there's a few in decent shape. I don't trust SD cards or CF cards at all. They've always been slower than HDDs on any machine I've used them on, including connected externally via USB 3 or FW 800 on modern machines. If I put an SSD in an old computer its SATA with a reliable adapter or a native interface one.
 
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