01-03-2009, 11:05 AM

My question is: can I just remove the hard drive from my iBook G4 as is, put it in an external case and, when I want to work on my hobby housed on that (incl. apps), boot my MacBook from this drive and proceed to work?

Most importantly, since I use my MacBook heavily in my work plus personal use, I don't want to run any risk of accidentally messing up its hard drive and I don't want to load all my hobby stuff onto it.

Background: iBook G4 developed 'barcode' like images on the screen. Repair tech says not the hard drive... video something and not worth fixing given the age of the laptop.

Used it exclusively for my hobby and have it set up the way that's most useful to me from You Control Desktops to various apps.

If this is doable, what do I need to be aware of? Is it really as simple as just putting the iBook hard drive in an external case (firewire I was thinking) and booting my MacBook up from it?

Thanks very much for any advice/cautions.

01-03-2009, 11:24 AM

You could easily put it in an external case and access it from your MacBook, you will not be able to boot off the G4 disk however.

That said you will be able to use any apps on the drive and of course access all the files

01-03-2009, 12:08 PM

Thanks for the response. Need a bit more clarification: if I don't 'boot' from that ibook drive, then my 'You Control' desktops and the files I've organized around those won't show on my MacBook will they?

A big reason I wanted to be able to 'run' off the iBook drive is all the organizing I've put into it (genealogy- years and lines worth.) With the You Control desktops I've set up, I can be working on different lines at once but bounce between them via the desktops and all the documents end up in the correct families, etc. as I work.

Are there other possible solutions I'm not aware of? Short of buying a used iBook and installing my old iBook's hard drive on it.