[willxcore]

hello, i recently had a problem where, as i was installing a program i got an error message saying that there was a corrupt file on my harddrive and when i clicked cancel installation my laptop froze and shut down, only never to turn on again. Now since my powerbook is covered under and extended warranty i figured i could take it to apple and have them look at it. Now when i took it to the apple store, they looked at it, didn't say anything about the 2 dents near the battery that iv had since i bought it (never caused any problems at all). They told me that they had to reinstall osx and i would lose all my data and the only way for me to recover it, i would have to take it to a data recovery center and that meant spending more $ than i want to . i have most of my schoolwork saved on a flash drive anyway so it didn't bother me that much and i gave them the go-ahead. about 10 minutes later, the dude tells me that the osx install failed about half way through and that my hard drive is corrupt or damaged. so i asked them what they would have to do to fix it and he told me they had to replace my harddrive, but in order to do that they would have to fix the dents on the other side of my computer, which had nothing to do with it. they told me that i would have to spend 800-100 dollars for the new parts and labor and my warrenty wouldnt cover it because of accidental damage. bullshit.
now im left with a powerbook that boots into nothing.
when i try to install osx on it myself it says my harddrive is corrupt, even after i reformat.

so what im gonna do is replace it myself but i was wondering if there was any specific kind of harddrive i need?

i have a 15 inch aluminum powerbook g4 with a dead 100gb harddrive.

[Ganesha]

Powerbook G4 15in Alum Take-Apart

The drive you need is a 2.5" ATA-6 drive. This interface is sometimes called EIDE. You DO NOT want one that is SATA. Best Buy sells them as do many other retailers.

Note: Buy a proper screwdrivers size #00 and #000. While it's possible remove the screws with a screwdriver that is the wrong since, the risk of damaging the screw is very high.

[romeosc]

You can claim it on your homeowners policy or your Safeware insurance. Safeware will not cover defective hardware, but get it in writing from Apple that the "dent caused it!"

[Sherman Homan]

I know it is frustrating, but laptops, Mac and PC, go through use that desktops never dream of. It is a good thing you have a backup! The dent means G force. G force means dead hard drive. Maybe not to you but it does to Apple and it will to your insurance agent. You can try to file a claim with your home owners insurance... but make sure you find out the long term meaning if you do that. They may never insure you for anything ever again.

[willxcore]

yea, i know this, they told me.
but those dents happened a month after i bought the laptop, and when he checked out my laptop before he reformatted it and erased all my data, he didn't say anything about them.
i just wanted to know what kind of hard drive i need, and ganesha answered me, but is there any specific brand or model? or can i use any 2.5" drive thats eide?

[mduell]

Any 2.5" IDE/EIDE/ATA/PATA (oh how many more names can people think of) drive will work. I'd recommend Seagate since they have a 5 year warranty (everyone else offers 3 or even 1).

Link to 2.5" Seagate ATA-6 drives at Newegg

Looks like 160GB ($120) is the best bang for the buck at the moment.

[willxcore]

sweet, that looks awsome, i think im gonna do that,
i can format it at the osx install screen right?

[mduell]

Yes.

[solofx7]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Any 2.5" IDE/EIDE/ATA/PATA (oh how many more names can people think of) drive will work. I'd recommend Seagate since they have a 5 year warranty (everyone else offers 3 or even 1).

Link to 2.5" Seagate ATA-6 drives at Newegg

Looks like 160GB ($120) is the best bang for the buck at the moment.

is 200gb the largest you can go on a laptop drive right now?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by solofx7 

is 200gb the largest you can go on a laptop drive right now?

250GB are very close to being available... OEMs like Dell have them, but I haven't seen them on the street yet.