Hard drive upgrades for Clamshell iBook

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mode7girl

Guest
I have a 10GB HD in my clamshell and I want something at least 40GB or more, mainly so I can put all my music on the iBook and have it sync with my iPod. What are the different options for replacing the drive? Is is worth it to buy a 72000 rpm hard drive or would that just be noisy and use up battery life? Any recommendations for a hard drive model?
 
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M

m1k

Guest
As far as I know, hard drives are quieter now than they were 'way back then'. Also, apparently, a 72000rpm model uses up no more battery than a 48000rpm model.

So go for it! You can get 7200rpm laptop models in up to 80GB I think. I'd probably go for a 40-60GB one. Fujitsu and Western Digital are both excellent companies.

Good luck!
 
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MacBook 2.4Ghz Black 4GB;iPod Touch 8GB;iPod mini 4GB silver;Logitech MX1000;
hatachi ibm is better
 
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B

Badger

Guest
The clamshell iBook is one of the most complicated cases to open. You might want to look at a service that will will do the installation as well as sell you the drive. MCE offers 40, 60 or 80 gb harddrives with installation. Drives are both 5400 and 7200 rpm depending upon the size. Check it out at www.mcetech.com and follow the links.
 
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M

mode7girl

Guest
I found a website with detailed install instructions and I've painted snow ibooks before taking the shell off, so I think taking the older ibook completely apart isn't too daunting.

I found a 5400rpm 40GB Hitachi/IBM travelstar 5K80 which is only $88, so I think I may go with that. They have 7200rpm 60GB drives for $170, but I don't think it's worth the extra money for one. 40GB should give me 20GB which matches the size of my iPod and an extra 10-15GB to use for storing other files which I think is enough.
 
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M

mode7girl

Guest
I finished the installation. It took about 2 1/2 hours (I work pretty slow though). It's kind of intimidating having your clamshell in different halves as you have to take the screen off in order to remove the shielding and access the hard drive. It worked great and I partitioned the drive with 4GB for YDL and a little over 33GB left for Mac OS X. The drive is a 5400rpm Hitachi Travelstar ($91 shipped from Bananapc.com) and the iBook is almost silent when operating. It does make a faint clicking sound every once in a while which must be the arm on the hard drive going back and forth. Once I get everything configured, I'll pair it up against my brother's identical Clamshell 466 SE and check read times, etc.
 
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M

Mr.Guvernment

Guest
the_New_guy said:
hatachi ibm is better


to each their own - i wont trust IBM or matrox with my life but i will WD - especially since i have 1500g total in WD hd's and the they are all still runnings - from 40g upto 250G drives.
 
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J

Julehti

Guest
Where did you find instructions?

mode7girl said:
I finished the installation. It took about 2 1/2 hours (I work pretty slow though). It's kind of intimidating having your clamshell in different halves as you have to take the screen off in order to remove the shielding and access the hard drive. .
I tried to google instructions, but didn't succeed. Can you provide us a link to Clamshell's HD installing instructions, please.
Is there anything particularry difficult procedures? (I've teared Mac Portables and Duos into atoms, so I'm not a complete rookie)
 
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"Mac Portable" - now there's a laugh ;)
 
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Mr.Guvernment

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Just an FYI a 7200RPM HD would not go into a clam shell i dont beleive - the 7200RPM drives need ATA-6 and even the G3 Ibooks it think only have upto ATA-5
 

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