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I have installed a new hard drive into my iBook but the system doesn't see it.

I have a 12" G4 iBook which had a 60gb drive that had begun to die. I purchased a new 160gb drive. I went through the agonizing process of replacing it.


When I booted to the install CD, the volume was not listed as an install option, nor did it show up under Disk Utility.


I took appart the laptop again, checked both ends of the cable, left it in pieces (just enough connected to boot) and again booted to the install disk. Same thing, no hard drive.

iBook G4 (Raphael), Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 11, 2011 1:52 PM

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19 replies

May 12, 2011 4:25 AM in response to David Jonathan Emiley

David Jonathan Emiley wrote:


Let us assume it is the full black retail. It would allow me to reinstall over my 4.11 installation when I had my dying hard drive in.


Let us not assume anything. Are the CDs black? An Upgrade installation would work over 10.4.11, but would not work on a new drive because it would be looking for Mac OS X 10.3 in order to to upgrade it. This is the difference between a full install set and an Upgrade.


Why did you buy a 10.4 CD set when all iBooks G4 have a DVD-capable optical drive, and 10.4 came on DVD as a default?


I am using 10.4, it came with 10.3.


How did you originally upgrade to Mac OS X 10.4? With this set, some other set, or did you buy the iBook used with Mac OS X 10.4 already installed? Do you have the original system discs that came with the iBook when it was new? If so, are you able to install that on the new hard drive?


The 128 GB hard drive size limit does not apply to any iBook G4.

May 12, 2011 5:42 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

The disks are CDRs. Hence the let's assume. Even if it was an upgrade, it would at least SEE the drive and say no, you can't install there, like it does when I have it plugged into the USB conection.


I could install 10.3 from the original CD's to test your theory. Or I could attempt to clone the drive (there are bad sectors which make this difficult, but I could use xunbutu and gddrescue.)

May 16, 2011 7:21 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

The 10.3 disks were the original disks that came when it was new.


Also cable and logic board are ruled out because it is working fine with the 60gb hd I have in it right now (and am using to post this message).


At one point when I had it disassembled, I had is such that I could switch hard drives in and out. 60 is detected, 160 didn't.



Possible test I could perform:

1. I have a 40gb drive (old) and could see if that shows up. It wouldn't suprise me if it does.

2. I could clone the 60 to the 160 and see if that boots. I think that is unlikely.



Are there no firmware upgrades that might solve this?

I have installed a new hard drive into my iBook but the system doesn't see it.

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