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fishguy · Oct 25, 2004, 02:39 PM

Whats the current thinking on upgrading the hard drive with Apple vs finding a faster (5400 rpm) drive elsewhere and installing myself. Is it worth it to do it myself? What are some of the best large capacity drives available for the iBook? What exactly am I looking for - any 2.5 inch drive or something more specific?

thanks

Fishguy

kugino · Oct 25, 2004, 03:54 PM

the laptop hard drives are pretty standard these days - 2.5". the highest capacity is the new 100 GB drive...the 80 GB has come down in price to about $179. i'm not sure how much apple charges for the upgrade...didn't know they even did that. but i'm sure it would cost quite a bit. i replaced the 30 GB on my 12" G4 to an 80 GB hitachi travelstar...the plus is that it's free and you get this great feeling of satisfaction after it's completed (and working)...the minus is that it voids your warranty and it takes a lot of time and it's not a guarantee that everything will work perfectly in the end...

good luck.

jamil5454 · Oct 25, 2004, 04:14 PM

Can you use an external enclosure? For $179, you can get a firewire-powered ext. enclosure and a 200 gig IDE drive.

jmoonb · Oct 25, 2004, 05:37 PM

Upgrading the HD is definitely worth it, although you should wait until your warranty expires. If you do plan to upgrade, get the seagate momentus 40gig hd. Its faster than the 5400 travelstars. The reason why I recommended a 40 gig is because from the money you save, you can buy a good external hd case for your old ibook hd. Another option is to get the hitachi 7k60. However, I think its a bit overpriced for the marginal speed improvements you get over the 5400rpm drives.

kugino · Oct 25, 2004, 07:53 PM

Originally posted by jmoonb:
Upgrading the HD is definitely worth it, although you should wait until your warranty expires. If you do plan to upgrade, get the seagate momentus 40gig hd. Its faster than the 5400 travelstars. The reason why I recommended a 40 gig is because from the money you save, you can buy a good external hd case for your old ibook hd. Another option is to get the hitachi 7k60. However, I think its a bit overpriced for the marginal speed improvements you get over the 5400rpm drives.

yeah, i would probably recommend that people wait until their warranties are over...as for the size of the HD, it's an individual thing...40 gb would be inadequate for me, as i keep movies and other stuff on my HD...i do have a portable firewire external HD (my old ibook HD), but it's still not the same as having everything on my ibook.

MARINEOSX · Oct 26, 2004, 01:53 AM

i upgraded the 40 gig in my ibook to a 5400 rpm 80 gig 16mb buffer toshiba any of the laptop drives will work they are all made to the same specs by every company i know this for a fact and it isnt that hard to install your self if you have had some fun taking any electronic component apart. Also the drive i purchesed was about 200 because of the large buffer. if you are going to do it your self let me know and i can give you a link to a great web site that has perfect step by step instructions for taking apart your ibook.

ALSO THIS IS IMPORTANT!

the warantee will not be void as long as you keep track and put every screw back in the right spot and wipe the finger prints off of the static shield the only thing they wont cover is the hard drive and hey you already know how to take that out if need be right?

Danoir · Dec 7, 2004, 11:30 PM

MarineOSX,

Could you post that link? I'm thinking of upgrading my brand-new iBook's HD because I:

a. regret not getting the 80GB BTO and
b. could possibly do better than what Apple would have given me after all.

I have upgraded HDs and RAM in both a 333 iMac and a 450 iMac DV+, though never anything in a laptop. Anything you can provide would be useful.

Thanks,
Dan

p.s. I assume if I pop a 5400k in there the battery life will deplete more quickly. Right?

audvidsvs · Dec 8, 2004, 06:17 AM

I would think twice about trying this if the only experience you have here is adding memory to some desktops.
It is a much different deal to open and dive this far into an ibook if you do not have significant experince IMO!

I have been doing this for as long as there have been laptops and the ibook is one of the most tricky to work with at this level.I don't know why but they are makingthem harder to take apart with each generation. I think it is not right to suggest that just anyone try this,I can picture a lot of cracked plastics or worse.

You do have to start somewhere but I suggest not here.
I have heard that Apple certified repair centers will change drives for under $50.00 but I have not tried this.

As for the newer drives,they also have improved power consumption.
I just stuck a 100gig drive in my PB G4 12" and it seems to run cooler and the battery lasts longer with it in there. It also is less noisy and vibrates less.

It was worth it to me.

MARINEOSX · Dec 8, 2004, 05:21 PM

Sorry that it's been so long. I have been sucked into Halo 2 on Live. Any how here is a great set of instructions to taking the iBook apart. I would recommend looking at these reading them completely and then decide on wether or not to do this install yourself. I have been a custom Car and home audio video or anything pertaning to 12VDC or 120VAC installer for over 3 years, so I have had alot of experience playing and taking apart delicate electronics. If you don't think you can do it, don't atempt it because it would be very frustrating and agonizing to break or not remember how to put something back right. This is not to hard from some of the things I have done but it is scary. If you do do this yourself take your time and remove the screws in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction and place them on a strip of tape in that order so when you are reassembling you can just go backwards it will make things much easier.

with that said here is the link.
http://www.bluap.nl/mac/ibookdual.php

iluvmymactoo · Dec 8, 2004, 07:21 PM

I had my HD upgraded via an AppleCentre from a 30GB 4200rpm to 60GB 5400rpm

The only thing I found is that I can hear the HD spinning more so than I did with the previous 4200rpm. It's not as whisper quiet anymore

At first I thought it was the fan, but the Tech confirmed that it is infact the HD spinning that I hear...he even changed it for me from a Fujitsu to a Toshiba but the noise persists.

MARINEOSX · Dec 8, 2004, 07:55 PM

That is Strange. I have a toshiba 80 gig 5400rpm and I never hear it.

Also how much did they charge you to swap it?

iluvmymactoo · Dec 8, 2004, 10:30 PM

Here in Australia it initially cost me something like $300, when he exchanged the drive again of course he did that for free.

The noise is not loud. Actually you really only hear it in my study where it is relatively quiet.