Sell with or without hard drive?

Question

Sell with or without hard drive?

Listen to my sad tale.

I have a Power Mac G4 933 mhz Quicksilver with a superdrive. All of a sudden, and with no provocation, the hard drive begins to click, as if it's trying to shut itself down. I panicked and turned off the machine. Little did I know it'd never boot properly again.

I've thought about replacing the hard drive, but I think I'm ready for a new machine. I'd like to sell this one. But I'm not sure whether it would be wiser to replace the hard drive before selling it, or to simply sell it without a hard drive.

Any advice?

Thanks very much.

Power Mac G4 933 mhz Quicksilver with Superdrive, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Aug 6, 2006 7:38 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 6, 2006 8:31 AM in response to Erika Dankovits

Hi

It's difficult to say. Personally if I were buying a second hand Mac, I'd replace the drive anyway, so it wouldn't really bother me whether it came with one or not. On the other hand, potential buyers may want to see the computer working before they hand over their money, which requires a hard drive.

If you do decide to replace it, instructions including a QuickTime movie can be found here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75314

If I were eBaying it, I probably wouldn't bother and give the new owner the flexibility of choosing their own drive. If I were selling it locally and expecting people to view it, I'd probably replace it.

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2006 9:13 AM in response to Rodney Culling

Hi, Rodney.

Thanks for the information, and thanks especially for the link.

I'm even toying with the idea of replacing the hard drive and keeping the machine. I'm sure with a new drive I can get another couple of years out of it. (She said cautiously.)

Thanks again.

Erika

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Answer 3

Aug 6, 2006 9:32 AM in response to Erika Dankovits

Personally I wouldn't sell a Mac 'just' because the hard drive has failed. It's unfortunate, but it can and does happen, seemingly either very early on or after a good few years. It's possible you could buy a brand new Mac tomorrow and have the drive fail within the first month. I'd take the opportunity to buy a slightly larger one if you use your computer for photos or music. 120GB drives with 8MB caches sell for around $80, 80GB drives with 2MB caches for around $50-$60.

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Answer 4

gldwng

Level 1

15 points

Aug 7, 2006 2:24 PM in response to Erika Dankovits

I could never get rid of one of my Macs,There family. Somewhere in the attic is my first Mac 2ci,god I haven't seen it in years. Just try to get my wife to part with her DV Imac, she has a newer G4 and hasn't touched the Imac in a year. Its like a pet.
In fact Apple should let us adopt new machines,not buy them.lol

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