Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

nredman · Nov 7, 2005, 07:47 PM

so the other day i updated my G4 800mhz iBook to 10.4.3 - i dont think that is my problem - i think my hardrive is dead - from reading some other websites online - it will not start up - i booted from my tiger install to try to reinstall tiger but the hardrive SMART status is Failed - anyone have experience with this - i assume my hardrive is dead. how much do it run to get a new one? maybe i'll just buy a new mac and sell this one as is

Cucucachoo · Nov 7, 2005, 08:14 PM

I've never had experience with a bad drive as you discribed. although i do have experience with replacing a HD in a G3 iBook. Its not for the faint of heart. If you are thinking of doing this repair for yourself i suggest getting a service manual to help with the dissasemble and reassemble. You can find the manual online if you do a google for it. Thats where i found mine.

Good luck.

mduell · Nov 7, 2005, 09:02 PM

When SMART says fail, yea, it's probably dead.
New drives range from $60 to $240 depending on speed and capacity.

ghporter · Nov 7, 2005, 09:02 PM

RIP, I'm sorry to say. When SMART says "Failed" it means it. The good news is that you can get a very good drive for not too much money.
At Mac Connection you can get some very nice drives for not much money-I like the Hitachi 80GB, 5400RPM drive for $136, myself.

nredman · Nov 8, 2005, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

RIP, I'm sorry to say. When SMART says "Failed" it means it. The good news is that you can get a very good drive for not too much money.
At Mac Connection you can get some very nice drives for not much money-I like the Hitachi 80GB, 5400RPM drive for $136, myself.

i'm not sure if i could install it myself - i wonder how much apple charges to replace a drive

Cucucachoo · Nov 8, 2005, 09:59 PM

i'm not sure if i could install it myself - i wonder how much apple charges to replace a drive

If you would like to review the service manual I used to upgrade my drives, messege me and ill send you a link. Its a PDF, i found it to be very handy.

galarneau · Nov 8, 2005, 11:03 PM

CompUSA will install hard drives for $29

I even asked if that included Apple, and they told me it did, and they have a sign saying they are an Apple Authorized Repair center, so it won't void your warranty.

That being said, I installed a 100GB Seagate in my iBook, and it wasn't bad at all. I just took my time, and kept everything very organized.

I'm even thinking about adding a DVR-K05 SuperDrive now that they're natively supported under 10.4.3

galarneau · Nov 8, 2005, 11:06 PM

Whoops. Double Post.

nredman · Nov 9, 2005, 04:00 PM

well i tried to start up my ibook today and now it only makes it about 5 seconds and then shuts itself down. does apple install hardrives even after your warranty expires. i could check around town to see if there is someone who can do it, i don't really want to pay for it - anyone want to buy it from me?

SpaceMonkey · Nov 9, 2005, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by galarneau

CompUSA will install hard drives for $29

Wow, that's actually pretty reasonable.

nredman · Nov 9, 2005, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Wow, that's actually pretty reasonable.

yeah not too bad - so is there anyway that someone can still read my data on this drive after they take it out?

galarneau · Nov 9, 2005, 04:25 PM

You mean you don't have backups?

I've read about people putting the drive into a ziplock bag, and then putting it in the freezer for several hours. Then take it out and try to read the data off it... probably easiest if you have an external drive case.

A google search would probably yield more specific info. As I said, I have never done this myself, but have heard of it yielding good results.

nredman · Nov 9, 2005, 04:32 PM

i have pretty much all my data on my ipod because i just recently updated to 10.4 - i was just wondering if the person who fixes it or the person i sell it to would be able to read any sensitive data off the dead drive.

galarneau · Nov 9, 2005, 08:42 PM

Chances are that they would have to put in quite a bit of effort to resurect your drive.

I wouldn't worry about it.

brokenjago · Nov 9, 2005, 10:32 PM

They could always put it into an enclosure, connect it to a PC and use SpinRite 6 on it - which now supports Mac Drives - and possibly get all your "sensitive data" off of it.

If they really wanted to.

And those interested in SpinRite, the apparently legendary data recovery utility, more info can be found at http://www.grc.com.

No I don't work for them.

nredman · Nov 10, 2005, 02:58 PM

just ordered an imac on amazon - going post my ibook in the marketplace - if anyone wants to fix it and is interested - pm me

thanks for the help guys

Mojo · Nov 10, 2005, 07:18 PM

No Way would I trust a CompUSA tech to install an iBook drive for $29. As the old saying goes: "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

nredman · Nov 12, 2005, 05:59 PM

just wondering what you guys this i could get for my ibook on ebay - i was going to post a "feeler" thread is the marketplace but i always hate those so here goes -

iBook G4 800mhz 640ram ( extra 512 ram from cruial or ramjet i can not remember) & airport extreme card. dead hard drive. looks like new.

any ideas?

galarneau · Nov 12, 2005, 09:08 PM

Considering you can get a refurb 1.2GHz from Apple for $720, I'd say $500-$600 for an 800MHz with a dead drive.

TheoCryst · Nov 14, 2005, 03:19 PM

Quick question about this: Can I put a regular, off-the-shelf notebook HDD in an iBook, or do I need a special Apple HDD? I'm thinking about getting an old-ish 1.2gHz G4, brand new, for $700. I know I'd need to get more memory (comes w/ 256k), but could I replace the 20 gig built-in with the 60-gig from my old Toshiba notebook?

TheoCryst · Nov 14, 2005, 03:21 PM

Double post, sorry

nredman · Nov 18, 2005, 03:16 PM

do you guys think it would be worth a shot to try to reset the ibooks pmu????

seanc · Nov 18, 2005, 03:20 PM

Just skimmed this thread but resetting the PMU won't bring the HDD back to life i'm afraid.

turtle777 · Nov 18, 2005, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by galarneau

CompUSA will install hard drives for $29

I assume that only goes if you buy the HD from them.
Gotta be lucky to get a great deal.

-t

turtle777 · Nov 18, 2005, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by nredman

do you guys think it would be worth a shot to try to reset the ibooks pmu????

Well, you could give it a shot. But don't set your hopes to high...

-t

galarneau · Nov 18, 2005, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I assume that only goes if you buy the HD from them.
Gotta be lucky to get a great deal.

-t

That's a good question. I'm not sure if that's the case or not.

galarneau · Nov 18, 2005, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by TheoCryst

Quick question about this: Can I put a regular, off-the-shelf notebook HDD in an iBook, or do I need a special Apple HDD? I'm thinking about getting an old-ish 1.2gHz G4, brand new, for $700. I know I'd need to get more memory (comes w/ 256k), but could I replace the 20 gig built-in with the 60-gig from my old Toshiba notebook?

Yes, any notebook drive will work... with the exception of some really old drives that were more than 9.5mm thick, and some of the very new drives which have a Serial ATA interface, instead of the usual Parallell ATA interface.

99.9999% sure your 60GB drive would work just fine.

hookem2oo7 · Nov 18, 2005, 07:12 PM

i have a toshiba 60gb hd in mine that i bought from fry's electronics...i bet your's will work. mine is a Toshiba MK6021GAS