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Advice: Hard drive for PowerBook G4

Love

Love

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
1,782
4
Just southeast of Northwestshire
I've got a lovely 15 inch PowerBook G4. I have 2 gripes. It runs a bit hot, and the hard drive is a tiny and slow 4200RPM 80GB Toshiba (it sounds like an iPod drive, yes I can hear them, except this is much louder).

So, it's obviously time for a new HD. I've got a 320GB desktop drive that is incredibly heavy. Not good for carrying around. So, I am asking the MacRumors community if they have any decent drives in mind. The PB is a 1.5 GHz 15 inch model manufactured in early 2005.

I want your advice for which brand of drive to purchase. I'm now looking at this drive. For those of you not wanting to click the link, it's a Seagate Momentus 5400 RPM 160 GB drive. just the right size.

I like seagate drives, but i'm wondering if a Hitachi or a WD is working out better for anyone. WD drives haven't been the best for me, every single desktop drive i've had from WD has died within 6 months. I have had a decent WD mobile drive, until while it was turned on it fell off the couch (My dad said he was sorry). Head stuck to platter while out of warranty. Too bad.

So, any suggestions?
 
gootz

gootz

macrumors member
Aug 7, 2006
46
0
SF Bay Area
I put a Western Digital 250GB in my Powerbook about a month ago. No problems yet although I would of preferred a Seagate.
 
D

dacreativeguy

macrumors 68020
Jan 27, 2007
2,032
223
Put a 7200 RPM drive in it. The speed increase is huge and will give new life to your old powerbook. Check out newegg for good deals.
 
M

Michael CM1

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2008
5,681
276
The only hard drive failure I've ever had was from a Seagate, which is why I don't use them. I replaced the factory one in my MBP with a 320GB 5400rpm WD drive. I think it was $180. I was able to replace it myself, but not without putting some nifty scratches on the bottom (these screws are a beeotch to get out).

I really don't know if what one of the other posters said is true about a 7200rpm drive having a noticable difference. Since you're on a G4 notebook, you may have other bottlenecks that would keep you from utilizing a 7200rpm drive. But I can't say that for sure. I wouldn't spend too much on a laptop that old (I'm guessing 3 or more years?).

If you want to spend less, get the WD 250GB. Also, buy a $15 kit and turn your old notebook drive into an external hard drive. But whatever you do, don't be like some crazy poster that said he was going to put a solid state drive in his PowerBook. That's beyond nuts. :)
 
S

steeler

macrumors regular
Jan 30, 2008
164
4
I bought that exact Seagate 160GB drive for my 15" G4 Powerbook (1.67) about 4 months ago. I went with the 5400rpm Seagate over a 7200rpm because as I understand, a 7200 drive will generate more heat and not necessarily give much better performance on the PB G4. So far, I've liked it. It was $110 at newegg.com.
 
Love

Love

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
1,782
4
Just southeast of Northwestshire
i don't know. The 4200 RPM drive is slow as hell. the 7200 RPM drives aren't as easily available for ATA and it might be bottlenecked as michael said. the 5400 rpm drive just doesn't sound much faster than the 4200 though. Hmm :/
 
MacInTO

MacInTO

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2005
1,195
216
Canada, eh!
I can recommend the Seagate 160 GB drive. I put that in my G4 a few years ago (have since sold it). It worked really well; I didn't have any problems and it was fast also.
 
J

jonathandodson

macrumors newbie
May 31, 2008
10
0
Chicago
Skip the 7200rpm....I've tried lots of different ones and have never noticed a difference.

Right now the sweet spot for price and size is the 160GB. Get the Seagate and throw the old drive in a MacAlly enclosure.
 
nsbio

nsbio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2006
634
0
NC
I do not see any problem with WD 250Gb. Why not go for that instead of 160? I installed the 250GB WD in my PB two months ago and it has been great.
 
Love

Love

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
1,782
4
Just southeast of Northwestshire
I have a really decent machine. To me, it is only a few weeks old. I am quite appaled with the MBP's track record (mooooo) and my MacBook came making a buzzing noise right out of the box.

I love my PowerBook, but it's difficult to find a decent HDD for it. What should I do? I'm so pressed for space on this thing I've been reduced to using OS X Panther because of the space issues. NewEgg, the place that seems like the only place that has Samsung ATA drives, which I kind of am considering., does not ship to Canadaland. I want a 250 GB, but I can not bring myself to get another CrapMaster...erm Western Digital. They've been incredibly unreliable for me, and rather noisy too. I had a Seagate in my 12 inch PB and it was awesome, but a bit noisy. (Not the ticking from the head/slider/servo arm, but the humming of the spindle motor.) I'm looking at a Hitachi or a Samsung, basically. The two hardest brands to find.
 
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