Ordered new 7200rpm drive for PB...

[sbornia]

Just ordered a replacement HDD for my G4 PB 1.25ghz, which I dropped and then considered replacing with a new MB. Some of you called me nuts (in a nice way) for even thinking of putting a lot into fixing it, and as it turns out my cost may only be $100 plus some time.

The tech at the Apple store confirmed today that the drive was dead, and said they'd charge at least $280 to fix it. He actually suggested I go to a third-party store (MAC in Berkeley) to get a bigger drive for the same money. I decided to DIY (DIM?) and ordered an 80GB 7200rpm Hitachi from OWC.

"80GB?! You p****! Who uses such a small drive these days?!" Well, the dead 80GB drive was only about half full, so it'll be just fine. Plus, this way I limit my continued investment in a "multi-generation outdated laptop" - thank you Apple Corps ;-)

I'm going to look for some tutorials on installing a drive in this vintage machine, but if anyone has links at hand I'd appreciate the tips.

Thanks again to everyone who advised restraint on this thing!

 

[TheStu]

Just ordered a replacement HDD for my G4 PB 1.25ghz, which I dropped and then considered replacing with a new MB. Some of you called me nuts (in a nice way) for even thinking of putting a lot into fixing it, and as it turns out my cost may only be $100 plus some time.

The tech at the Apple store confirmed today that the drive was dead, and said they'd charge at least $280 to fix it. He actually suggested I go to a third-party store (MAC in Berkeley) to get a bigger drive for the same money. I decided to DIY (DIM?) and ordered an 80GB 7200rpm Hitachi from OWC.

"80GB?! You p****! Who uses such a small drive these days?!" Well, the dead 80GB drive was only about half full, so it'll be just fine. Plus, this way I limit my continued investment in a "multi-generation outdated laptop" - thank you Apple Corps ;-)

I'm going to look for some tutorials on installing a drive in this vintage machine, but if anyone has links at hand I'd appreciate the tips.

Thanks again to everyone who advised restraint on this thing!

www.ifixit.com

You need to pull the battery, remove the ram, remove the EMI Finger from the RAM compartment, remove the airport, remove the 3 screws from the battery compartment, remove the 2 screws on the right side front, remove 2 screws from the left side front, remove the screws on the back, remove the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys. Undo the 2 screws located underneath those keys (covered in gray plastic stickers) remove the keyboard, remove the 12-15 screws from underneath the keyboard, carefully remove the palmrest assembly (do not pull too quickly, you will break the power connector). Remove 2 screws from the drive caddy, remove 4 more screws from the drive caddy, remove the data cable from the hard drive.

With the new drive... go backwards.

 

[sbornia]

www.ifixit.com

You need to pull the battery...

Holy s.... what have I gotten myself into? Thanks for your reply, I have the weekend to prepare myself mentally.

Side note: as many of you know, OWC is just awesome. Ordered the drive at 5pm, got email notification that it shipped tonight.

 

[forrestmc4]

It isnt as bad as it sounds. PS You don't have to take those screws out of the bottom of the keyboard.

 

[TheStu]

It isnt as bad as it sounds. PS You don't have to take those screws out of the bottom of the keyboard.

How else would you remove the palmrests to get at the hard drive? Some (read all i think) of those screws go into the metal endo-skeleton of the machine.

And no, it isn't as bad as it sounds... just a lot to remove (be sure to keep them organized!) Also... be incredibly careful when unplugging the power and mic cables. They like to come off of the logic board and are a pain to reconnect... Trust me, I know... I had to re-solder it on.

 

[sahnert]

I just replaced the hard drive in my 12" PB a few days ago. I was able to do the replacement without disconnecting the mic and power cables. I also used an empty ice cube tray to organize all of the screws (one compartment per step). It was actually quite easy to do I thought.

 

[SoLibertyDies]

I ordered a new HD for my iBook before reading into how complicated the older books were to upgrade. I made it through but not without many tears and much pain.

sigh.

really just stay organized and it's not very difficult.

 

[sbornia]

Thanks for all of the advice. The Fixit site has a very detailed PDF with step-by-step instructions, including a sheet to help you keep the screws organized. Though I like the ice cube tray idea a lot, too. Anyway, the gf and I are going to work on it together (aw, how sweet) to minimize chances of screw-up. Or maybe double them, who knows ;-) I will post a post-repair report of the results...