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Think the 160GB 1.8" iPod Drive can be crammed in an Air?

AirmanPika

AirmanPika

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
307
2
Vandenberg AFB, CA
I know its really too early to know for sure but I wonder if the 160GB Drive from the iPod Classic 160 could possibly be crammed into the MacBook Air. I hope that apple didn't slim down too much and just left the 160GB out due to supply reasons. I'd be tempted to swap the drive with my 160GB iPod drive if I could make it fit and if the interface was the same on both. 80GB is just too little space.
 
marclapierre13

marclapierre13

macrumors 6502a
Jul 7, 2005
869
0
AirmanPika said:
I know its really too early to know for sure but I wonder if the 160GB Drive from the iPod Classic 160 could possibly be crammed into the MacBook Air. I hope that apple didn't slim down too much and just left the 160GB out due to supply reasons. I'd be tempted to swap the drive with my 160GB iPod drive if I could make it fit and if the interface was the same on both. 80GB is just too little space.
Click to expand...

Thats a great idea. Although I am not a fan of the MBA, and wont buy one, this would be an awesome option for anyone considering the MBA.
Although, after the price of a iPod and MBA, you are in the same price range as the MBP
 
3

3nm

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2006
991
0
i doubt it. otherwise apple would have done it.

also, are you willing to void your $1800 laptop's warranty?
 
H

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
If the MBA uses a 1.8", I don't see why not. You'd have to wait for guides to show up first though, unless you were particularly experienced and particularly adventurous.
 
AirmanPika

AirmanPika

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
307
2
Vandenberg AFB, CA
marclapierre13 said:
Thats a great idea. Although I am not a fan of the MBA, and wont buy one, this would be an awesome option for anyone considering the MBA.
Although, after the price of a iPod and MBA, you are in the same price range as the MBP
Click to expand...

Very true, but since I already have the iPod and its only got 56GB on it I might as well do a swap as the benifits are worth it in my case.

As for the warranty...I upgraded the harddrive in my Macbook Pro to 250GB and its at service now getting the LCD and Battery replaced. I guess it depends on what you do to the machine and who the tech is that looks at it but as long as you don't break anything just opening the unit doesn't necessarily void the warranty.

Opening it probably won't be an issue. I'm good at that kind of stuff. While it is a 1.8" Drive though, the 160GB drive is thicker so we'll see. Apple may have designed the thing for only the 80GB Thickness.
 
D

djellison

macrumors 68020
Feb 2, 2007
2,229
4
Pasadena CA
The 80gb and 160 gb iPod Classics are not the same thickness, which I think is down to the drive- there's only 3 mm in it - but the MBA seems like it's on the bleeding edge of packaging, and thus that 3mm might be 3mm too far.

Doug
 
K

kenyatta

macrumors newbie
Dec 25, 2007
1
0
heatmiser said:
If the MBA uses a 1.8", I don't see why not. You'd have to wait for guides to show up first though, unless you were particularly experienced and particularly adventurous.
Click to expand...

Same thing here. Waiting to see the take-aparts show up before deciding to buy one.

Also, I'm not exactly sure how much faster this drive would be but Samsung has a 5400rpm 1.8" drive. Might make for a nice replacement.
 
P

polevault139

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2006
342
0
Illinois
How much would the 5400 rpm hard drive deplete battery life. Depending on how much you need to access it I could see 30-60 minutes of battery time gone.
 
CWallace

CWallace

macrumors G5
Aug 17, 2007
12,020
10,719
Seattle, WA
How thick is the 160GB unit?

If the 80GB unit uses one 80GB platter and the 160GB unit uses two, it might be too tall to fit. Remember the MacBook could not use just any 2.5" SATA HDD - it had to be under a certain height limit.
 
spaceballl

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2003
2,892
285
San Francisco, CA
They are both 1.8" drives, but they have different thicknesses, hence the reason the 160gb iPod is a bit thicker. Man i wish they would have offered that as an option, though. I'd buy the MBA if i could get more disk space!

as far as cramming it in there, doubtful, if not impossible... bummmmmmer
 
D

dehgenog

macrumors newbie
Aug 9, 2004
22
0
polevault139 said:
How much would the 5400 rpm hard drive deplete battery life. Depending on how much you need to access it I could see 30-60 minutes of battery time gone.
Click to expand...

Everything I've read about this question lends itself to the idea that going from 4200rpm to 5400rpm improves battery life. The decrease in read times actually overcomes the extra energy needed to spin the drive.
 
D

dehgenog

macrumors newbie
Aug 9, 2004
22
0
spaceballl said:
They are both 1.8" drives, but they have different thicknesses, hence the reason the 160gb iPod is a bit thicker. Man i wish they would have offered that as an option, though. I'd buy the MBA if i could get more disk space!

as far as cramming it in there, doubtful, if not impossible... bummmmmmer
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the thickness is added battery capacity, not a thicker disk drive.
 
AirmanPika

AirmanPika

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
307
2
Vandenberg AFB, CA
Well I've been doing some more research on this. First important thing to find out will be exactly what interface the Air hard drive is...PATA ZIF or CE-ATA. Based on the presentation pics I believe its PATA ZIF

The second part is determining exactly which hard drive the 160GB iPod uses. Seems the toshiba 160GB Drive I initially figured it was uses a CE-ATA Interface which is not likely what apple uses on the iPod. The guts on both iPod classics are likely the same except the hard drive and the 80GB one uses a ZIF PATA Interface if I recall correctly. Samsung does happen to make a 160GB PATA 1.8" Drive but I can't find any specs on it as the only model info I got for it is that its a Spinpoint N2 160GB.

Also of note is that the 80GB drive in the Air is definitely NOT the one in the iPod classic. That drive is only 3600RPM not 4200RPM like in the Air. Of course Toshiba and Samsung both make 80GB 4200 RPM Drives that range from 5-8MM height with PATA and CE-ATA Interfaces so its hard to pinpoint a specific model.

I would open up my ipod and look myself but I'm having a hell of a time trying to get it open. I'm not gonna bend or scratch this thing.
 
AirmanPika

AirmanPika

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
307
2
Vandenberg AFB, CA
OK found more info. Thanks to an image on AppleInsider I found the MacBook Air hard drive is a Samsung HS082HB Hard Drive with a PATA ZIF Interface and its 5mm thick.

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...up=72&type=60&subtype=68&model_cd=306&tab=fea

apple-macbook-air-33.jpg


From what I have determined all the larger 1.8" hard drives (100-160GB) are 8mm thick so the questions left are...

Is there room in the MacBook Air for an 8mm Drive?

Is the iPod 160GB Drive PATA ZIF and is it 4200 RPM?

If both are a yes then I might have me a new notebook soon.
 
one1

one1

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2007
1,168
28
Chattanooga, TN
BiTurboMunkie said:
i doubt it. otherwise apple would have done it.
Click to expand...

Yeah? Then what would they have done with REV B's?

Apple can't just shove the biggest thing in there and put it out the door. They have to have room to sell their Rev B books. If 3mm were what made the difference, Apple would have made room inside the case (and they likely did).

Now you really want to get me talking, show me remote disk to an Ipod as a slave drive.
 
xfiftyfour

xfiftyfour

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2006
2,573
0
Clemson, SC
one1 said:
Apple can't just shove the biggest thing in there and put it out the door. They have to have room to sell their Rev B books.
Click to expand...
That's absurd. Apple isn't going to cripple their current machines just so that they have room to grow. They're going to offer whatever is readily available (taking into account cost and supply factors) and assume (correctly) that technology will have improved by the time they're ready to release an update.
 
S

ShinyToy

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2008
21
0
How about waiting till you can get a 128 gig flash drive and pop that in there. Should be out in a couple of months.
 
H

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
xfiftyfour said:
That's absurd. Apple isn't going to cripple their current machines just so that they have room to grow. They're going to offer whatever is readily available (taking into account cost and supply factors) and assume (correctly) that technology will have improved by the time they're ready to release an update.
Click to expand...

No, he's right. Apple's never going to offer the biggest hard drives or most amount of memory as standard. If they did, they wouldn't have stuff to absurdly overcharge people to for the privilege of upgrading.

There are 320gb drives on the market now, but you're never going to see them as "standard" on the MBP (nevermind the MB) until stores are regularly selling 640gb+ drives. In fact, the standard drive size on an MBP is 120gb, and it's even less (80gb) on the Macbook.

Apple isn't any different from any other manufacturer; they all put small drives and small sticks in their computers, and ask you to pay for the upgrade.
 
AirmanPika

AirmanPika

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
307
2
Vandenberg AFB, CA
Sigh so much for that idea. My poor 160GB is now scratched and slightly battered for the sake of curiosity.

Samsung Spinpoint HS161JQ 4200RPM, 2MB Cache, CE-ATA Interface (needed to be PATA ZIF to fit the macbook air)

160gbipodhd.jpg
 
C

clarkcamp

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2008
6
0
Well, my hard drive died after i crashed on my bike last week. i tried upgrading to a 100 gb drive that is 8mm tall, and yes, the 3 mm difference makes a huge difference. The bottom casing of the Macbook Air wouldnt close with it in. Also, no one has the 5mm drives in stock so my MBA is currently driveless. It sucks.
 
Z

zainjetha

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2007
931
2
Get it back in your iPod Classic 160GB and make sure it works, dammit!

What are the other options of a harddisk that would fit MBA, if they increase HDD space i will be onto them like flies, two of them straight up: one for my dad and myself..
 
pilotError

pilotError

macrumors 68020
Apr 12, 2006
2,237
4
Long Island
HS082HB is the biggest drive at 5mm according to the Samsung Site. The 100+ drives are all 8mm. This drive has an 8MB buffer though. Most of the others are 2MB.

Guess we'll have to wait until the shrink the disks or make cheaper flash drives.

The search is on for 5mm drives!
 
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