iBook - iBook hard drive swap

Well I decided it was about time that I replaced the hard drive in my trusty iBook so I looked on the internet to see if there were any pitfalls and things to watch out for. I am typing this on my upgraded iBook so it clearly worked but not without resorting to soldering a surface mount connector back onto the motherboard of the laptop!

Anyway for any iBook owners out there contemplating doing the same it is not THAT difficult BUT you will need to make sure you have a T8 torx driver (or equivalent alley key), a small philips screwdriver (size 0), large flat bladed screwdriver, paper, pen and a fishing tackle type multi compartment box.

There are numerous sets of photographic instructions for this upgrade so get yourself a copy but what I would do is write on the paper "page 1, picture 1 - 2 screws pot 1" then draw a diagram of where each screw goes! I ended up using 15 compartments and an A4 piece of paper BUT I knew where every single screw went when putting it back together.

Watch the connectors and remember that there are numerous iBooks that all look VERY similar. I have a 1.33GHz 12" iBook and the photographic manuals were all for slightly different models and so they referred to airport cards that were not where they were supposed to be etc. If you use the photographic instructions AND make notes as you go that you should be ok.

Don't force anything it all comes apart and goes back together without any force!

Don't try and pull cable connectors off the motherboard you WILL break them!

Don't drop tools onto the motherboard - I have done this before ONCE (its all too easy to drop your screwdriver and damage a delicate surface mount component).

iBooks need 9.5mm thickness PATA, 2.5" hard drives (this is most drives now).

Ibooks of 1GHz or less can only handle 120Gb hard drives (there is a specific 1GHz model that will handle more but this will need research, I think the one with 500Mb on board will handle any size!)

I fitted a Western Digital Scorpio 250Gb 5200rpm drive costing £64.99 (from scan.co.uk)

Now...... IF YOU HAVE THE SAME MODEL AS ME READ THIS BIT CAREFULLY!!

When you get to the point of removing the top plastic section of the case be EXTREMELY CAREFUL.

The case is attached to the motherboard by THREE separate cables:

the trackpad cable, the cable for the speakers and the power button cable.

The trackpad cable will detach from the motherboard quite easily but if you have never disconnected these type of cables be careful and lever the connector from the socket a bit at a time from either side. The speaker cable connection should pose no problems either.

NOW FOR THE PROBLEM - It is a well known fact amongst Apple repairers that the power button connector on the iBook 1.33Ghz is VERY badly soldered onto the motherboard and it is probably best NOT to disconnect it but to carefully lift the case top and release the wires from behind the cellotape which holds it giving you enough distance to move the top to the side of the laptop whilst you remove the metal cover underneath and gain access to the hard drive itself.

I can vouch for this because I DID break the connector off the motherboard and I am a component level service engineer! (clearly a ham fisted one! )

If you do pull the connector it is likely to break one or both of the little solder tags off the front of the motherboard connector. This will need re-soldering from the top side using a fine tipped soldering iron. Luckily this is bread and butter for me but if you are not used to doing this you will end up down at the Apple repairers with a large bill!

Don't let this put you off though as if you follow the instructions and the above things I found then it is not a difficult job but take your time

This is the errant connector:



The electrical connection is just in front of the connector when looked at from in front.