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120 GB 7200 rpm drive for Powerbook G4
- Thread starter sam10685
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Where would I get it? I can't find that either in a 2.5 inch size. Biggest I see is 100 gigs.
killerrobot
macrumors 68020
Have you thought of getting an external HD at all? That's generally the easiest solution for more storage.
I have but I don't want to deal with something plugged in at all times and I want my system to be speedier.
Does any brand make 120 or 160 gig 7200 rpm drives? 160 gig, 7200 rpm is a build to order option on the macbook pro.
mkrishnan
Moderator emeritus
That's what CanadaRAM is saying... the iBook and Powerbook use Parallel ATA (PATA) drives, whereas the Macbook and MBP use Serial ATA (SATA) drives. The SATA drives are readily available in the larger sizes, but the PATA are not. I looked around earlier when I saw your thread the first time, and I also cannot find any >100GB PATA 2.5" drives. There's no workaround to put a SATA drive inside the PB, as far as I know. So your best bet, if you really want an internal, is to settle for the 100GB/7200....
Awesome... Didn't see that the MBP was a SATA drive. Next question is would 5400 rpm with maxed-out ram (1.25 ghz) be noticeably faster? (I have 4200 rpm; 768 Mgz RAM now)
mkrishnan
Moderator emeritus
1.25 giga*bytes* (GB) not gigahertz. 😉
The easiest way to tell would be to run the Activity Monitor program, look at the memory usage tab, and at the bottom, the page-outs. If this number is large, and if it is increasing from day to day (it resets on reboot, though), then your computer can benefit from more memory. 🙂
Probably yet another silly question but is 229,169/66,735 bad? Also would a higher RPM HDD do anything?
mkrishnan
Moderator emeritus
You only care about the second number (page-outs). Depends on how long your up time is. Probably you'd benefit from more RAM. One way to be sure is to reboot the computer and then check back in a couple of days or at the end of the day.
However, my guess is, yes, you'd benefit from more memory. As a point of reference, my iMac G5 / 2.0 GHz has 1.5 GB of RAM, and having been up without reboot for 7 days, 22 hours, it has 274 page-outs. 😉 I.E., it has plenty of RAM for my use.
Upgrading your HD RPMs will speed up your computer, but the RAM issue is an independent one. With 66,000 page-outs, unless your computer has been on for months without reboot, I would guess the RAM would make a bigger difference for you.
killerrobot
macrumors 68020
I'm on a C2D 2.33 ghz with 2gb. Been up for a little over 10 days and have 24704 pages out and 100mb of free RAM left. I've got plenty of ram, it's just time to restart the computer.
Also, I think that some torrent programs running nonstop for 10 days are the culprits of such high page outs, um... so I hear.
Lord Blackadder
macrumors P6
I've been up 12+ days on my 1.33GHz PowerBook G4 running Tiger w/1.25GB RAM, and I'm at 3000+ page outs. I need to do some cleanup methinks.
I'd get an external firewire drive if I needed that much extra space on my PowerBook. 2.5" drives are pretty expensive compared to 3.5" drives...
Awesome... Thank you! It's been 9 days and 20 hours without a reboot so I just bought a gig of ram because 66,000+ outs sounds like a lot. That'll put me at 1.25 gigs of ram. (I get confused with gigahertz/gigabytes...) Don't know if i'll up the HD. Doesn't sound like it'll increase speed too greatly but I could use more HD space. (By the way, is there anywhere that says what RPM I have now. It's the stock drive from when i bought this 12" Powerbook in August 2004.)
mkrishnan
Moderator emeritus
If this is the Powerbook G4/1.33GHz with the 60GB HD, I think it's 4200 RPM. I don't know of any easy to tell directly from the system, although if you do Apple menu -> About this Mac -> More info -> ATA (on the left side of the system profiler), you'll get a model number and brand for the drive, and you can Google it. 🙂