Upgrade iBook G4/1.33GHZ/ Hard Drive

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Level 1

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Upgrade iBook G4/1.33GHZ/ Hard Drive

I've been reading through multiple posts and am a bit intimidated by the problems related to HD upgrade so maybe this question could help summarize all the answers from other posts.
I have an iBook G4 with FUJITSU MHV2040AT OEM drive. I run 10.4.11 with 1GB RAM. I will likely pay to have a new drive installed because although I would like to do it myself, I simply can't make the time right now. So here are my questions:
1) How critical is it to have the exact system CDs that came with this specific iBook? Our family has multiple iBook/MacBooks, etc. and these disks are now scattered. Is the only way to figure out which of two sets of CDs (or DVDs) came with the computer to call Apple Support? [1 iBook G4 was purchased late 04, the other actually in July 05]
2) I understand this iBook requires what is known as an EIDE, a.k.a. IDE, a.k.a. ATA, a.k.a. PATA type drive. Is this correct? Are they all the same?
3) Drives of this type seem to be available as large as 325GB from Western Digital for little more $ than a 160GB or 250GB. Is there a capacity limit I should consider in terms of useable formatting? I know they all have the same statistical probability of failure so why not buy the highest affordable capacity?
4) I see no mention of physical size in the posts. Is this a consideration or do all PATA drives have the same physical dimensions and will fit in the iBook case?
5) I also want to upgrade to newer OS. I understand 10.5.xxx will run on this iBook but I want to make sure I am aware of any limitations.
6) Lastly, is there a smooth way to transfer everything to the new drive. By this I mean applications, preferences, documents, iTune play lists, etc., etc.? So often I find backups are great for files but nothing else. Is a "Disc Image" what I should be researching for this?

Thank you for any help you can provide. I admit, many of these individual questions may be answered in previous strings I have not yet read, but I haven't found any that really deal with these in one place. Perhaps this may help others thinking of doing the same?

iBookG4 and multiple others, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Mar 22, 2009 7:57 AM

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Answer 1

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Mar 22, 2009 10:12 AM in response to crtolson

Hey MacTrue and Welcome to Apple Discussions,

1) How critical is it to have the exact system CDs that came with this specific iBook?

Not too critical since you'll want 10.4.11 on them anyway. So that's the installer you'd need 10.4.2.

2) I understand this iBook requires what is known as an EIDE, a.k.a. IDE, a.k.a. ATA, a.k.a. PATA type drive. Is this correct? Are they all the same?

Yes sort of. Actually they are referred to as 2.5 PATA to distinguish them from the 3.5 which are for desktops. What you don't want is a SATA which is totally different.

3) Drives of this type seem to be available as large as 325GB from Western Digital for little more $ than a 160GB or 250GB. Is there a capacity limit I should consider in terms of useable formatting?

No.

I know they all have the same statistical probability of failure so why not buy the highest affordable capacity?

Right. Here's the ones that OWC has for the 2004 model:
http://tinyurl.com/ckdr2s
You should call them and talk to their knowledgeable sales people. That way if there's a problem you will have someone to go back to.

4) I see no mention of physical size in the posts. Is this a consideration or do all PATA drives have the same physical dimensions and will fit in the iBook case?

No and that's why it's important to deal with a place that will stand behind what they recommend. If you did have a problem with size it would be in a much older drive that was higher than the newer ones.

5) I also want to upgrade to newer OS. I understand 10.5.xxx will run on this iBook but I want to make sure I am aware of any limitations.

The requirements for Leopard are 887 MHz G4 and above so you're fine. The larger amount of RAM is good also.

6) Lastly, is there a smooth way to transfer everything to the new drive. By this I mean applications, preferences, documents, iTune play lists, etc., etc.? So often I find backups are great for files but nothing else. Is a "Disc Image" what I should be researching for this?

If I were doing this I'd clone your entire hard drive over to an external FireWire hard drive using an appt like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. That way when your new drive is in you can just boot from your clone and CCC or SuperDuper it back onto your new drive after you format it.

You also say "iBookG4 and multiple others" so if one of the multiple others was a Mac w/ a firewire port another way would be to use target mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Richard

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Answer 2

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Mar 22, 2009 11:35 AM in response to spudnuty

spudnuty wrote:

4) I see no mention of physical size in the posts. Is this a consideration or do all PATA drives have the same physical dimensions and will fit in the iBook case?

No and that's why it's important to deal with a place that will stand behind what they recommend. If you did have a problem with size it would be in a much older drive that was higher than the newer ones.

What's the thickness? I haven't gone through it yet, but don't recall if the maximum size is 9.5mm thick or perhaps 12.5mm.

5) I also want to upgrade to newer OS. I understand 10.5.xxx will run on this iBook but I want to make sure I am aware of any limitations.

The requirements for Leopard are 887 MHz G4 and above so you're fine. The larger amount of RAM is good also.

If there are applications in the original Tiger installation, it might be possible to do an upgrade rather than just a clean install of Leopard.

6) Lastly, is there a smooth way to transfer everything to the new drive. By this I mean applications, preferences, documents, iTune play lists, etc., etc.? So often I find backups are great for files but nothing else. Is a "Disc Image" what I should be researching for this?

If I were doing this I'd clone your entire hard drive over to an external FireWire hard drive using an appt like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. That way when your new drive is in you can just boot from your clone and CCC or SuperDuper it back onto your new drive after you format it.

How about cloning to the replacement drive using an enclosure, followed by sending the new cloned drive off to the service facility for installation.

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Answer 3

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Mar 22, 2009 8:06 PM in response to crtolson

MacTrue:

Welcome to Apple Discussions.

Richard has responded to your specific questions. The new 320 GB HDD should be fine for your iBook G4. The tech support department at OWC is very good and helpful, if you have further questions, give them a call.

Replacing the HDD yourself will take approximately 1 hour of time. It is a very intense job and requires concentration and uninterrupted time. That said, it may not be much more time than it would take to drive to the shop to take it there, and then to bring it back. Should you decide to consider installing it yourself, post back for suggestions. If you need assistance with the actual installation you may email Richard or me

😉 cornelius

Message was edited by: cornelius

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Answer 4

crtolson Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 23, 2009 6:08 PM in response to crtolson

What a fantastic welcome to the forum. Thank you for the input from everyone! I'm strapped for time to dig into this for a few days but it sounds like I've found a place where I could get some help and more advice. Although I think you've answered my questions completely I'm going to leave the 'no' button highlighted until I can dig into what has been said.
One question pops up in my mind right away however is the 10.4.2 installation. It seems like I've read other posts with HD upgrades with major strings related to the exact install disks. It sounds like a trivial point in the answers here.
Before I go further I'll spend some time digging into the wealth of information you've provided and maybe I'll be able to ask more intelligent questions than the vague reference here.
Thanks again, I'll be in touch soon.

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Answer 5

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Mar 23, 2009 6:31 PM in response to crtolson

MacTrue wrote:
One question pops up in my mind right away however is the 10.4.2 installation. It seems like I've read other posts with HD upgrades with major strings related to the exact install disks. It sounds like a trivial point in the answers here.

If you have a bootable clone or an external enclosure, it's a trivial thing to format a drive in HFS+, which you would need.

The exact installs discs are important. It should refuse to install on a machine that it's not meant for. However - you should be able to install anything using a retail version of OSX past the release date of your machine. I heard there are versions of Tiger out there past 10.4.2.

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Answer 6

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Mar 23, 2009 7:07 PM in response to crtolson

MacTrue:

Great! Glad you feel that way. Ponder your options, ask questions, and when you have decided, we will be here for you.

In terms of the re-installation of Tiger after HDD replacement, y pw has outlined a way around the installation disk issue. Using either an external firewire HDD, or a firewire enclosue, you can clone the entire contents of you current HDD to the new HDD when installed. We will give you step by step directions when you are ready.

😉 cornelius

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