[megasad]

I know what kind of hard drive I need; a 2.5" model, no higher than 9.5mm. And I have found instructions online. What I don't know is where to buy one in the UK. Could someone who knows such things tell me? Also, if there is any one model that is better than any other, that'd be a help too. I'm looking for a 7200rpm model, at least 30GB in size, but that's about all I know.

This is to make my iBook useful once more, until new eMacs are released.

Also, does anyone know where to buy hard drive enclosures? The one inside my LaCie FireWire thingy is trapped, due to the power supply in said box exploding. If I take it out myself, will putting it in an enclosure mean I can get all my stuff back?

Thanks,
Simon

[engaged]

I bought an IBM Travelstar; 40GB, 8MB cache, 5400rpm - haven't heard of 7200rpm notebook drives. Got it from Dabs. I went for the IBM because of the 8MB cache and the 5400rpm speed - it has made a world of difference to my Late 2001 iBook.

Also, I was lucky enough to get hold of the proper Apple manual!

[kiteless]

No 7200rpm drives exist in that size (at least, not yet) - simply too much power needed and they'd run too hot for the space inside most laptops.

ebuyer.com and scan.co.uk also sell 2.5" drives. 30Gb is around 80 quid, 40Gb around 95.

As for enclosures, rlsupplies.co.uk have a good range (I have my DVD writer in one) and megadataonline.co.uk are worth a look too - some are bit cheaper. Assuming it's just the power supply that blew in yours and the disk is fine, then putting it in another enclosure should work.

[The Placid Casual]

I second Dabs.

Seems like a decent company from my dealings with them in the past... (bought 3 hard drives)

Peace,

Marc

[megasad]

http://rlsupplies.co.uk/item2566.htm
-or-
http://rlsupplies.co.uk/item2569.htm

For ~�3 more I can get an enclosure with USB 2.0 as well as FireWire. So, unless having both somehow impacts performance of the FireWire, it makes sense, if only for the future. Will it have any affact upon performance of the FireWire?

[willed]

Can anyone estimate how much it would cost to buy a 30G drive and get it installed by someone? I'd guess that the HD is more difficult to swap than RAM, so wouldn't really want to do it myself. Need the room though - only got 10G!

[megasad]

Originally posted by megasad:
http://rlsupplies.co.uk/item2566.htm
-or-
http://rlsupplies.co.uk/item2569.htm

For ~�3 more I can get an enclosure with USB 2.0 as well as FireWire. So, unless having both somehow impacts performance of the FireWire, it makes sense, if only for the future. Will it have any affact upon performance of the FireWire?

So I could not be bothered with the USB 2.0 and bought the first one. Happily, the 60GB drive inside my LaCie thingy is all okay, and so I have not lost the last two eyar's worth of stuff. Now I simply await those new eMacs... I predict they will be here by at least June 2004!

[agentz]

Originally posted by willed:
Can anyone estimate how much it would cost to buy a 30G drive and get it installed by someone? I'd guess that the HD is more difficult to swap than RAM, so wouldn't really want to do it myself. Need the room though - only got 10G!

My local Apple dealer charges �55 per hour for labour. Anywhere between about �40-�50 seems to be about average for an hourly labour rate at the moment.

For an experienced dealer/serviceperson a full hour should see an iBook hard drive swapped out and data transferred from your 10Gb drive although it might be pushing it a little so more realistically I'd bank on 2hrs labour to be safe. By the time you factor in the cost of say a 30Gb hard drive (like the travelstar someone mentioned) you could be looking at �150-�180 for this upgrade.

Hell, if I lived closer to Oxford I'd offer to do it for ya for a bit less than that including the supply of either a 20Gb or 30Gb drive - I've done about 15 hardrive replacements in the last couple of months.

[jtc]

Originally posted by kiteless:
No 7200rpm drives exist in that size (at least, not yet) - simply too much power needed and they'd run too hot for the space inside most laptops.

Hitachi makes a 60 GB, 7200 RPM drive (08K0939). You can get 5400 RPM drives in any size (up to 80 GB). They don't use much more power than 4200 RPM drives (maybe 1 or 2 tenths of a watt - you might lose a couple of minutes of battery life if you upgraded), and heat shouldn't be an issue since the drives seem to run pretty cool in the iBooks.

If you are going to pay to have it installed, go with an 80 GB 5400 or 60 GB 7200 drive. It won't be much more, and the extra space and speed are worth it.