Will 7200 RPM Harddrive work well in Powerbook G4 15.2

[maclamb]

I am going to buy a new Powerbook 15.2/1.25G .
I would like to swap the stock 4200RPM drive for a 7200 RPM drive (9.5mm - ATA/100 I've been assured it will work in the laptop)
My concern is heat - I wonder if the increased speed of the hard drive is going to cause problems for the laptop - any ideas?

Also, I need tips on how to take the bottom off - I can get the drive swapped - but I remeber removing the bottom and replacining it is an issue
Or, shoudld I just spend the $100 and get a Apple Cert. tech to do it - and not void the warranty?

 

[shadowfax]

your powerbook should come with instructions on how to remove the bottom, and it would be wiser, i think, to just follow those.

as for the 7200 rpm drive, it's fine. it should work with the laptop, and it won't overheat it. it's designed to be in the closed space. it may, however, be substantially noisier, however. i would check on that. plus, make sure that the speed increase is worth it to you. that's a lot to spend on a hard drive that isn't going to perform that much better.

 

[GrizzlyHippo]

Will 7200 RPM Harddrive work well in Powerbook G4 15.2

I'll tell you on Friday.

My 1.25 PB and 7200prm HD arrive then and I'll install it straight away. I'll then post Xbench results.

If you decide to buy the 7200rpm drive be careful as there are 2 versions available - only one of which is built for 24/7 operation.

FYI the internal 80Gb 4200 drive is going into a Weibetech FW enclosure as an external drive.

Will report back on Friday evening.

Grizzly

 

[eyeMAJIC]

Just put mine in a PB 17" 1.33Gh

Hi there,

My new PowerBook 17 inch just landed last Friday. Powered it up, checked there were no dead pixels (and there are none ) then opened up the beast.

Hitachi 7K60 7200RPM 60Gb is now working nicely inside. It is UNBELIVEABLY fast.

There is absolutely no heat issue.
All the heat generated comes from the logic board/CPU which is near the back; the HD on the 17" is bottom left; opposite side from the Superdrive.
I have used Final Cut Express and Pro Tools 6.1.1; all VERY hard drive intensive work. Nice and cool; probably cooler than the old IBM 40GNX 5400RPM drive I stuck in my TiBook 800.

BE AWARE:

On BOTH the new Alu 15.2" AND the 17" PowerBook, the hard drive is NOT a "user serviceable item".
On the old Ti Book, IT WAS.
This means Apple publishes NO DETAILS on how to replace it, and if you do it yourself, YOUR WARRANTY IS INVALIDATED.
You're supposed to get it done at an Apple authorised service centre.
I'm quite happy doing stuff like this, and am a bit mental, like Kodawarisan, who posts step-by-step photos on his site about how to do it.

http://www.kodawarisan.com/ug/index.html

Click the "English site" link, top right. Dodgy translation!!


It is a fairly involved task, MUCH more so than the old Tibook, which was quite easy.
Lots of little ribbon connectors to tease apart without breaking. (keyboard connector, HD connector etc.)

FINAL POST FOR ALL THINKING OF DOING THIS:

There are NO "Warranty void if broken" type seals inside the Powerbook.
So if you DID break something whilst doing this, if you were very careful, you could get the old stock drive back in & don't tell them you had the thing open!!

Take care folks!

eM out.

 

[DHagan4755]

Re: Just put mine in a PB 17" 1.33Gh

Originally posted by eyeMAJIC
Hitachi 7K60 7200RPM 60Gb is now working nicely inside. It is UNBELIVEABLY fast.

Just got the 17-inch and was thinking of getting this drive and installing it. How hard is it to install and how much faster is than the stock Hitachi 80 GM 4,200 RPM ?