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dosequis · Nov 2, 2005, 01:05 AM

I am going to be purchasing a replacment hard drive for my iBook G4. Is there any advice that anyone has for me such as brands to look at or places to buy them from. I am going to go with an 80GB drive I think. I am just looking for recomendations on places to buy them or certain brands to stay away from. thanks.

harrisjamieh · Nov 2, 2005, 02:43 AM

Im not sure on any recomendations, but I personally would suggest for you to get a 5400RPM drive, for a nice little speed increase

ghporter · Nov 2, 2005, 09:29 AM

Hitachi's TravelStar drives are top-of-the-line. Hitachi and IBM had a joint venture that developed the DeskStar and TravelStar lines, and eventually Hitachi took over. These are great drives, and they are coming down in price (a little slower than other brands) so that the premium you pay for a laptop drive is becoming much less of a problem.

Definitely get a drive with a rotational speed of at least 5400 RPM; if you can afford it, go as high as 7200 (some people think 7200 RPM drives are built to higher standards, but at the very least they have the potential to retrieve data from random seeks faster than 5400 RPM drives), though the iBook probably can't take full advantage of the higher throughput potential of 7200 and faster drives.

amazing · Nov 2, 2005, 11:18 AM

barefeats.com has a shootout with the drives in a firewire external case. One relevant statistic is the noise rating, where Seagate seems to be quieter.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard61.html

I'd recommend zipzoomfly.com but you can always check for deals on places like pricegrabber.com

galarneau · Nov 2, 2005, 01:26 PM

I put a 100GB Seagate Momentus in my 12" iBook 1.33GHz, and it's not quiet at all.

The seek-read-write noise is almost non-existent, but the basal rotational noise of the drive spinning sounds like a fan.

JCT · Nov 2, 2005, 01:26 PM

I recently swapped in a 60GB Seagate Momentus 5400 RPM HDD into my G4 800 iBook --has worked great.

JT

galarneau · Nov 2, 2005, 01:33 PM

I put a 100GB Seagate Momentus in my 12" iBook 1.33GHz, and it's not quiet at all.

The seek-read-write noise is almost non-existent, but the basal rotational noise of the drive spinning sounds like a fan.

GraphicUmp · Nov 2, 2005, 10:34 PM

I just put a Fujitsu 5400 RPM, 8 MB Cache, 60 GB drive in my 12" iBook (bought the drive from Newegg.com).

The stock drive was a Fujitsu 4200 RPM, 2 MB Cache, 30 GB drive.

The performance increase was great - and it's as quiet as the stock drive (absolutely silent). It has fluid dynamic bearings and extra shock protection - all good for portables.

mduell · Nov 2, 2005, 11:59 PM

I'd suggest 80GB 7200RPM Hitachi from Newegg, only $168.

amazing · Nov 3, 2005, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by galarneau

I put a 100GB Seagate Momentus in my 12" iBook 1.33GHz, and it's not quiet at all.

The seek-read-write noise is almost non-existent, but the basal rotational noise of the drive spinning sounds like a fan.

Just curious: perhaps it is the fan?? putting a faster HD in would tend to raise temps enough for the fan to kick in? Have you got Temperox or Temperature Monitor installed, which would tell you if the fan kicked in, and at what speed?

Anyway, I'd suggest a 5400 100 GB Hitachi since you can get a good price at either newegg.com or at zipzoomfly.com. It's a nice balance of speed vs noise vs temperature, and $30 cheaper than the equivalent Seagate. With freight, around $141

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145092

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=100528

ghporter · Nov 3, 2005, 10:24 AM

A faster hard drive may be a bit warmer, but not hot enough to make the fan run constantly.

amazing · Nov 3, 2005, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

A faster hard drive may be a bit warmer, but not hot enough to make the fan run constantly.

Agreed. It's just that it might be enough, when added to other processes that we don't know about (user accounts of their computer's condition being so very incomplete) that it would kick the fan over the edge.

As a for example, I still like to run Shanghai II in Classic, because it's still got by far the best graphics and user experience of any mahjong solitaire for X. Well, Classic spikes processor performance to the ceiling. If I forget I've got it running then temps and fan noise go sky high. Another thing that we might not know about is whether the user has their laptop's processor performance set to "highest". Tons of stuff, tons of uncertainty in user reports.

galarneau · Nov 3, 2005, 05:00 PM

It's not the fan.

I can tell when that kicks in.

Besides, I tried the drive in an external case, and you can tell that it's just a loud drive.

ghporter · Nov 3, 2005, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

Agreed. It's just that it might be enough, when added to other processes that we don't know about (user accounts of their computer's condition being so very incomplete) that it would kick the fan over the edge.

As a for example, I still like to run Shanghai II in Classic, because it's still got by far the best graphics and user experience of any mahjong solitaire for X. Well, Classic spikes processor performance to the ceiling. If I forget I've got it running then temps and fan noise go sky high. Another thing that we might not know about is whether the user has their laptop's processor performance set to "highest". Tons of stuff, tons of uncertainty in user reports.

Those are very good points, but I don't think laptop drives are hot enough that they would be likely to push the thermal envelope that much, at least not with a laptop that's actually in good condition (not full of dust, good thermal link to CPU, physically intact, etc.). I could be wrong in my concept of how warm they get today, but the last time I replaced one, a year or so ago, I actually felt it when I pulled it out (from a Dell notebook that had JUST been running full tilt), and it was "warm to the touch." Now a desktop drive...That's something I could believe getting hot!

amazing · Nov 3, 2005, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by galarneau

It's not the fan.

I can tell when that kicks in.

Besides, I tried the drive in an external case, and you can tell that it's just a loud drive.

Galarneau: thanks for getting back on the noise factor! Sad to say, it kills one of my illusions about upgrading to a Seagate in my 12" PB. I really do like a quiet laptop...

I guess I'll be thinking about the Hitachi instead.

mduell · Nov 3, 2005, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

Galarneau: thanks for getting back on the noise factor! Sad to say, it kills one of my illusions about upgrading to a Seagate in my 12" PB. I really do like a quiet laptop...

I guess I'll be thinking about the Hitachi instead.

The Hitachis and Seagates are within a decibel of each other (across all sizes and spindle speeds).

mduell · Nov 3, 2005, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Those are very good points, but I don't think laptop drives are hot enough that they would be likely to push the thermal envelope that much, at least not with a laptop that's actually in good condition (not full of dust, good thermal link to CPU, physically intact, etc.). I could be wrong in my concept of how warm they get today, but the last time I replaced one, a year or so ago, I actually felt it when I pulled it out (from a Dell notebook that had JUST been running full tilt), and it was "warm to the touch." Now a desktop drive...That's something I could believe getting hot!

I agree. 1-2.5W spread out over ~20 in^2 really isn't that much heat.

galarneau · Nov 4, 2005, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

The Hitachis and Seagates are within a decibel of each other (across all sizes and spindle speeds).

I don't know about that, but I do know that I wouldn't buy another Seagate. It's much louder than the original Toshiba 40GB hard drive I had.

dosequis · Nov 6, 2005, 03:37 PM

My order from zipzoomfly for a 100 GB 5400 Hitachi HD has shipped.

chabig · Nov 6, 2005, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by galarneau

I don't know about that, but I do know that I wouldn't buy another Seagate. It's much louder than the original Toshiba 40GB hard drive I had.

I have a 100GB Seagate Momentus drive in my 12" Powerbook and it's completely silent. My last Powerbook had a Fujitsu drive and it was quite a bit noisier.

Chris