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1.8" iPod drive in a Powerbook, and other fun PB drive questions

szsiddiq

szsiddiq

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Im currently working on a mod for my 12"PB, and might need some more internal realestate. Does anyone happen to know if i can pull a 1.8" drive from my iPod and put it in my powerbook?
 
darn, after shipping, they want $25...ill hold off on that for now...thanks for the info
 
of course ther's one more thing...is the drive sturdy and reliable enough to run an OS?
 
I used to boot OS X regularly off FireWire iPods. It wasn't very fast, and the iPod would get rather warm, but there were no disasters.

Quite a few ultralight notebooks use these drives too.
 
that sounds pretty fair then...
now ive got to decide wheter i shud pry the harddrive outta my iPod or find one with a broken screen. ive an 80gb hd in the powerbook right now. dont want to go any smaller than 60. also, if space becomes a problem i may remove the super drive. selling that would help cut costs too i guess.
cant wait til i can get started.
 
the problem i see here isn't the speed (it's noticeably slower than a normal laptop drive), but the longevity of the drive. they're not designed for continual access (eg running an OS), more occasional access to fill an iPod memory... you may find the device dying on you after a year.

what are you doing to your powerbook? please tell 🙂
 
Those drives weren't designed for MP3 players. Toshiba came up with them (and use them) for their small notebooks, to run operating systems.
 
iMeowbot said:
Those drives weren't designed for MP3 players. Toshiba came up with them (and use them) for their small notebooks, to run operating systems.
Click to expand...

he's right, they werent designed especially for mp3 players. and likewise, they're not the most optimal for os accessing, but they shud work fine i think
 
bigandy said:
the problem i see here isn't the speed (it's noticeably slower than a normal laptop drive), but the longevity of the drive. they're not designed for continual access (eg running an OS), more occasional access to fill an iPod memory... you may find the device dying on you after a year.

what are you doing to your powerbook? please tell 🙂
Click to expand...

ill tell u as soon as i can 😉
 
another question:
what type of interface does the superdrive use? can it be reused as a harddrive input?
 
szsiddiq said:
another question:
what type of interface does the superdrive use? can it be reused as a harddrive input?
Click to expand...

It's ATA, just a different connector. Adapters are made (have one to use with the Newer Universal Adapter kit). Someone makes a harddrive upgrade that replaces the optical drive (in PowerBook, and perhaps 17" MBP), giving you two harddrives internal.
 
WildCowboy said:
Are you looking for something like this?
Click to expand...
i have seen these...but i guess what i want to kno is whether or not i would need to purchase something like this...basically, im not looking to spend a few hundred on it. i just wanted to kno if the superdrive bay used the same IDE interface as the hard drive bay, and if that could support a hard drive natively, without buy MCE's solution.
 
what i really want to kno is, can i simply by an ATA adapter? the MCE solution takes up the space that i was trying to save by taking the superdrive out in the first place. i would only put an HD in if there is space remaining after other redesigning is done.
 
Hmm £200 for a 100gb 7200 Optibay that would definitely cure my storage problems.Guess I need to go out and do some work.🙂
 
Just re-read my response earlier - I was thinking of going from the mini-ATA on the SuperDrive to 44-pin ATA. But, since that company makes a kit to put in the 2nd HD, I'm sure there's an adapter to go from mini-ATA cable to 44-pin for the HD.
 
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