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An Adventure Swapping Hard Drives - An Almost Guide With Pics ^^

monkey86

monkey86

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
351
0
London
I got my WD Scorpio and USB Caddy, used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the 250Gb WD from my stock 60Gb (Leopard) here's some pics of the process of taking the laptop apart (not as detailed as the www.ifixit.com guides - which i followed!)

the workspace (living room table!) - heroes on vlc ;)

PowerBook G4 1.33/1.25/250! PowerMac G4 933/1/5/300 xD

workspace.jpg


removing the screws is easy, but make sure you dont lose the EMI finger or you'll fry your memory!

i was really not looking forward to removing the keyboard, the data lead is very fragile! but with care, it comes out easily!

keyboardremoval.jpg


then more screws, (15 to be accurate, my powerbook (second hand was missing 2 screws!!) then lifting off the trackpad cover easy again, if you are careful!

taking out the 2 connectors on the logic board is tricky they are extremely fragile and will break if you are not careful - almost done!

trackpadremoval.jpg


then finally, removing the harddrive. taking apart the caddy and literally swapping the drive over and following the instructions (www.ifixit.com) in reverse!

harddriveremoval.jpg


I have had a lot of experience with desktop macs and pcs but have Never taken apart a Laptop!

this is NOT meant as a guide i am just sharing my experience, i did the swap in 40 minutes - the cloning took me about an hour :)

any questions or help pm me :)

Kris
 
there are tons of videos on youtube
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i dont need a guide ;) ive done it (thanks tho!)

Nice walkthrough; I'll be doing this on Friday.
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its cake if you take your time (i was bricking it but so happy its sorted, leopard runs like a dream on my 12")

if you'd like an adventure, attempt that on an ibook g4
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haha i've heard they are murder!! - not going for that :D
 
an ibook g4 is definitely an adventure, took me around 90 minutes and a lot of stress. I think apple decided to place all the excess screws they had into the ibook g4, because there has to be at least 10 different types
 
I'm actually trying to swap out my 12" PowerBook hard disk this weekend. Wish me luck!! Does anyone know if i should install Leopard or Tiger on it? My specs are 867mhz/1.2G RAM/160GB 5400 HD.

I would wish to have Leopard installed but I dun want my whole powerbook running really slow after that.
 
I'm actually trying to swap out my 12" PowerBook hard disk this weekend. Wish me luck!! Does anyone know if i should install Leopard or Tiger on it? My specs are 867mhz/1.2G RAM/160GB 5400 HD.

I would wish to have Leopard installed but I dun want my whole powerbook running really slow after that.
Click to expand...

i think that it will work ok, im not sure the processor will be too fast but i think it will be useable - if you are worried stick with tiger :D

an ibook g4 is definitely an adventure, took me around 90 minutes and a lot of stress. I think apple decided to place all the excess screws they had into the ibook g4, because there has to be at least 10 different types
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there is 50 screws total! you dont need to take them all out to swap the hdd but i will have to take a load out to swap the bottom case :S

Did you label all the screws, cause I think I'll have to do that.
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i did, i used tape to hold the screws togther and labelled them with 1. the part they came from (e.g. batt compartent) 2. the step it is (1 - 16 corresponding to the ifixit step) and 3. the number of screws that should be in the tape package. its the best way, they are so easy to lose, make SURE you dont loose the emi finger!! (will fry your ram!)
 
I'm proud to say that I have successfully swapped out my old hard disk with a 160GB 5400 Seagate. Followed the instructions from ifixit.com and they have a very good PDF document that you could print out and attach the screws to it with sticky tape as you're taking them out. Really easy way to keep track of the screws.

I'm installing Leopard right now. Hope that my PowerBook will be breezy after this. The specs is now : 867mhz / 1.2GB / 160GB 5400 Seagate HD

Next modification will be my MBP once the AppleCare warranty expires.
 
I did this with my MBP pro recently and it went fairly well.

Although I'm not entirely satisfied with the palm rest it sticks up a little bit which I don't think it did before. It isn't much but if anyone has any tips on how to get it back in to place I would like to hear it!

Still - it is worth it for the larger HD!
 
the palm rest shouldnt stick up as the hard drives should be identical (2.5") take the mbp apart again and make sure all the screws are flush and then when you replace the trackpad assembly make sure that all the clips fasten back in place otherwise you will have a raised plam rest :)

I'm installing Leopard right now. Hope that my PowerBook will be breezy after this. The specs is now : 867mhz / 1.2GB / 160GB 5400 Seagate HD
Click to expand...

i think that it will work well its powering along on my PB 12" G4 1.33/1.25/250 so i dont think that you will have too much slowdown - if you do just go back to tiger ;)
 
monkey86 said:
When you replace the trackpad assembly make sure that all the clips fasten back in place otherwise you will have a raised plam rest :)
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Yeah, I did all that - the screws are okay - it;'s the clips which don't seem to clip in at the front - I think there are two which stand up and however hard you press they don't clip in... (it's not the clips with the screws in through - they are okay) :confused:
 
it takes a LOT of force to get them to clip back in, keep pushing

stiphone said:
I'm installing Leopard right now. Hope that my PowerBook will be breezy after this. The specs is now : 867mhz / 1.2GB / 160GB 5400 Seagate HD
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theres nothing breezy about a 867mhz g4 running leopard

it barely runs on my 1.2gig
 
theres nothing breezy about a 867mhz g4 running leopard

it barely runs on my 1.2gig
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there is no 1.2Ghz PB 12" 1.0 1.33 1.5 is all :)

on my PB (Sig) it runs perfectly - im using it now, Vuze, Adium, Firefox (5 tabs), Wallsaver, External HDD...!
 
rolex54 said:
an ibook g4 is definitely an adventure, took me around 90 minutes and a lot of stress. I think apple decided to place all the excess screws they had into the ibook g4, because there has to be at least 10 different types
Click to expand...

How on earth did you manage to do it in an an hour and a half!:eek:

Took me that time just to get the damn hard disk out, and another 2-3 to get it all back together again (plus another hour the next day when I realized I had a screw in the wrong hole!)

You are right about the screws..I think there was about 35 of them, and about 30 of them were different.. pain in the ...

Wish I had put a 250gig in now, as I'm not going to do it again. But you live and learn, I have no fears about doing any other mac now. Definitely an adventure!

edited to add pic of screws.
 

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Cor Blimey!

Im doing my Powerbook 12" this weekend aswell.
Im taking the advise you have all gave thanks.
Can I just ask what bit is the emi finger?
 
Jaymax said:
Cor Blimey!

Im doing my Powerbook 12" this weekend aswell.
Im taking the advise you have all gave thanks.
Can I just ask what bit is the emi finger?
Click to expand...

Silly piece of metal held by the small screw at the edge of the memory door. Just pay attention to how it came out and arrange it the same when you put it back. The screw attaches to the bottom of the keyboard.

Cheers,
 
monkey86 said:
the palm rest shouldnt stick up as the hard drives should be identical (2.5") take the mbp apart again and make sure all the screws are flush and then when you replace the trackpad assembly make sure that all the clips fasten back in place otherwise you will have a raised plam rest :)



i think that it will work well its powering along on my PB 12" G4 1.33/1.25/250 so i dont think that you will have too much slowdown - if you do just go back to tiger ;)
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Thanks. Just to update everyone, I have installed Leopard on my PB and it is running perfectly. It's a lot faster than it used to and I'm glad i did the hard disk swap. It's worth my 2 hours of intense work ;)

I've installed Adium, Firefox, Netnewswire, NeoOffice, Zinio Reader, 1password, VLC and it works perfectly. It's gonna be portable office now and i'll use my MBP as my desktop replacement.
 
stiphone said:
Thanks. Just to update everyone, I have installed Leopard on my PB and it is running perfectly. It's a lot faster than it used to and I'm glad i did the hard disk swap. It's worth my 2 hours of intense work ;)

I've installed Adium, Firefox, Netnewswire, NeoOffice, Zinio Reader, 1password, VLC and it works perfectly. It's gonna be portable office now and i'll use my MBP as my desktop replacement.
Click to expand...

You should have switched to a 7200 drive with leopard. Did that with a 1Ghz powerbook last year and it is very usable even with only 512MB Ram.
 
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