Looking to upgrade PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5 1.33GHz) Hard drive.

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Looking to upgrade PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5 1.33GHz) Hard drive.

The hard drive crashed it was an 80GB apple model that is the biggest that originally came with the. powerbook. I was wondering if it is wise to put a larger one and if so which type can I order IE... how big data storage and type IEE etc.

Thanks

all, Mac OS X (10.6.4), server, osx, laptops towers etc

Posted on Oct 29, 2010 11:41 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 29, 2010 12:45 PM in response to eric gant

Not a computer guru by any means but I just went through this with a 1.67ghz G4 PB 15" with a crashed hard drive that I was given to me by a relative.

You can replace your HD, the only large ATA drives currently available, I believe, are from Western Digital, their 320gb drive is the largest and is available through Amazon for about $90. Other vendors sell the drive as well.

Go to ifixit.com for excellent instructions on how to do this mod. The HD replacement is a little complicated and you should go through the ifixit instructions to see if you are comfortable tearing into your computer to that degree BEFORE you buy a HD.

Good Luck!

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Answer 2

eric gant Author

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Oct 29, 2010 1:16 PM in response to Dave Wilson5

Not a problem on being able to handle opening the equipment been doing it for a long time.
Just wasn't sure about the drive. Didn't want to order one and have it be the wrong one to tall etc.

Thanks for the advice. Ifixit has come along way since I started using it as a reference.

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Answer 3

DonH49

Level 6

16,716 points

Dec 11, 2010 10:09 AM in response to eric gant

I've done a few self hard drive upgrades on the PB line. SEagate and Western Digital eide drives are all ok. I go for 320 gigs.

One caveat though. Occasionally when booting from the install DVD, DU will not recognize the drive. A second re-boot will fix that issue. Otherwise not too bad a job. Just make sure you diagram out on YOUR table where each screw belongs, nothing fancy just a simple diagram.

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