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Hard Drive Upgrade
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Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Well, I ordered a 17" Powerbook with a 5400 RPM hard drive on 10/15, and it still hasn't shipped. I'm not upset simply because of the delay, but because I've received 3 notices of "unexpected delays". I'm thinking of going to the local Apple store to just buy a stock model. However, if I do that, I am also planning to purchase either a Hitachi 7K60 or 5K80 drive to replace the stock drive. I'd like to know if the 17" comes with instructions on how to replace the hard drive. If not, does anyone know where I can find some instructions on how to do the replacement? I'm hoping that it will be simple enough to do myself, as I'd rather not take it to a technician despite voiding the warranty.
(Last edited by blythe; Nov 6, 2003 at 10:40 PM.
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blythe
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2002
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Originally posted by blythe:
I'm hoping that it will be simple enough to do myself, as I'd rather not take it to a technician despite voiding the warranty.
Depends on what you think is simple. There are 18 screws that need to be removed and a bunch of ribbon cables to unplug. Basically, you need to remove the top of the case and you should be home free. Not the worse installation in world. That honor goes to the iBook, clamshell or current.
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Happily using a Mac since '89
MacPortable: 16Mhz 1meg/40meg System 6.0.8 - 16lbs Yeah baby!
Powerbook 17" 1.33Ghz 2GB/100GB 8x Superdrive
Powerbook 12" 867Mhz 1.125GB/80GB 2xDVD-R RPC1
MacbookPro 17" 2.33Ghz
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: California
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Could you actually download from this link? It seems to be permanently busy, and once I did able to log in, but the download never starts ... almost as if it is on a zero bandwidth connection ...
-A
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Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Status:
Offline
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Originally posted by iohead:
Could you actually download from this link? It seems to be permanently busy, and once I did able to log in, but the download never starts ... almost as if it is on a zero bandwidth connection ...
-A
It took me very many attempts to successfully get the file. Just keep trying. Incidentally, every time I failed I was trying to download the file using IE 6 on Windows. I was successful on the first attempt using this command in a terminal:
curl -O ftp://grijan.cjb.net:21000/macintosh...bg4_17_133.pdf
This PDF has the instructions to replace the hard drive. It looks pretty daunting, and I'm going to have to get a set of Torx screwdrivers, but I'm going to give it a try.
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blythe
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: State O' Maine
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Wow ... quite a site ... very nice!
It took about 30 minutes for me to download the 15" PB manual, 6.2megs, using a RoadRunner cable modem, AirPort ... I think his server is a bit slow.
Rather than daunting, it looks to me like a "piece-of-cake" to change the hard drive. Remove the top assembly, a clip, 4 rubber bumpers, the connector, and you're there. Albeit, I would go VERY slowly ... plus I have a good set of WIHA torx, etc. drives ... www.wiha.com has some really nice sets for around $25 .... Not-to-mention that at my age the Dazor magnifying lamp also helps. 
Bottom line, as oppossed to my 10GB iBook, I expect my present 80GB to last awhile ... I wonder what will be the max for these 2.5" drives?
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HWMO: 2.5gHz DP G5, 1.25 gHz 15" AL PB, 1st Gen iPod, Shuffle
SWMBO: 0.8 gHz 15" FP iMac, 0.5 gHz iBook, 3rd Gen iPod, Shuffle
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2003
Status:
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It is not "daunting", nor are there a BUNCH of ribbon cables to unplug when swapping the Al 17inch Powerbook hardrive. The first time I did it, total time 1 hour and I WAS VERY careful. I made a small diagram with the location of each screw as some are threaded different so you neeed to make sure you put them back in the right spots. There are three ribbon cables, the only tricky one os the keyboard one. You have to make sure to feed it through right or you will not be able to connect the keyboard back.
You need a Torx #8 and and some precision phillips head screw drivers and PATIENCE. A good hint I read on this forum is to use a toothpick to get all the tabs lined up. That part is what gave me a headache!
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Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Status:
Offline
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Well, I just finished my upgrade, and my new 17" PB is noticeably faster. I installed an extra 1 GB SO-DIMM, for a total of 1.5 GB of RAM, as well as the 7K60 drive. The installation took about 1.5 hours. Taking the PB apart and installing the components was easy. Reassembling the PB was a lot trickier. It wasn't really a problem, except that I could never get the top case completely flush with the bottom case. There are some slight gaps between the two halves. I tried everything to get it completely flush, as that was the way it was when I bought it, but with no success. I checked the cables on the inside to see if there were any obstructions, but I didn't see anything out of place. In any case, here's a word of advise. If you don't have magnetized screwdrivers, make sure you don't clip your fingernails right before you start, like I did. You'll need them!
I then tried to install Panther by inserting Disc 1 and pressing the C key. I got to the part in the installer where you choose a disk to install onto. No disks were present, so I opened Disk Utility from the menu and formatted my new drive. After quitting Disk Utility, the installer would display my new drive, but wouldn't allow me to install on the disk. A reboot fixed that problem and the installation then went fine.
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blythe
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