Preventative maintenance on PB

[doctor pangloss]

My 12" powerbook has been working well for 2 years now. I'd like to get another 2 years out of it.
Is there internal cleaning or preventative maintenance to the hardware that's helps longevity?

I've freed up a bunch of hard disc space because I heard it's not to good to run the PB at capacity. I keep many files on a lacie drive now.

 

[crees!]

I've had my PB for just about 2 1/2 years I believe. It still runs amazingly well. I have an external drive I use as an archive for those files/projects I need to keep but don't need to have taking up space on my drive. Plus it's partioned so I use the other half as a backup/clone of my PB.

Whenever Apple releases a new major version of the OS (10.3, 10.4, 10.5,...) I backup and wipe the entire drive clean by writing zeros over it. Call it my spring cleaning whenever a new release comes out.

Don't spill anything and you'll be set. I just bought a new battery because mine turned to crap and held about a 30 minute charge.

That's about it really.

 

[yippy]

For hardware? Essentially not a thing. Just take care of the battery by running it completely down at least once a month and you should be fine.

When hardware breaks it happens for one of two reasons. 1) you dropped it/spilled on it/crushed it, ie abused it severly or 2) No reason at all, it will just die and would have died no matter what you did (usually a manufacturing defect).

 

[doctor pangloss]

I've had my PB for just about 2 1/2 years I believe. It still runs amazingly well. I have an external drive I use as an archive for those files/projects I need to keep but don't need to have taking up space on my drive. Plus it's partioned so I use the other half as a backup/clone of my PB.

Whenever Apple releases a new major version of the OS (10.3, 10.4, 10.5,...) I backup and wipe the entire drive clean by writing zeros over it. Call it my spring cleaning whenever a new release comes out.

Don't spill anything and you'll be set. I just bought a new battery because mine turned to crap and held about a 30 minute charge.

That's about it really.

Thanks for the tips. I've partitioned my external drive too good idea about the clone thing.

I bought a second battery and have been alternating them and conditioning them periodically according to the manual. Good battery service so far.
Between conditionings I try to keep them fully charged when I can.

 

[timswim78]

In addition to the good ideas that others have mentioned, here are some other ideas.

- Do your best to keep the thing cool. I think that the best environment for a laptop is a smooth, flat surface. Using it on a blanket, lap, etc. can cause it to get hot because air is not moving freely.
- Back up your data regularly. Hard disks often fail, usually without any warning. Getting data recovered from a failed disk can cost thousands of dollars, and the process can take days or weeks.
- As far as the optical drive goes, only put clean discs into it. Dirty discs can foul up your laser and the moving parts in the optical drive.