A hard drive is a hard drive is a hard drive, or is it?

[*old-guy*]

Hi all,
I have just taken delivery of the Pismo in my sig (via eBay). I'm delighted with the laptop but there are a couple of things that need sorting out. The first obvious thing is to get more RAM and that is already in the pipeline.
The next thing is to rip out the 40 gig hard drive and replace it with something like a 180 - 250 gig drive. The extra space would be mostly for storing and watching DVDs. But as the title implies, is any old hard drive going to work in my Pismo.
I know it needs to be a 2.5 inch hard drive and I have been told that the faster the RPM the better so 7200 is better than 5400 but what else do I need to know about a hard drive on eBay before knowing it is the one for me?
Cheers,
Steve

 

[sammich]

I don't know if it'll work.

Don't check me on this, but your max size depends on the ATA controller on the board. Googling 'ultra ata/66' wil shed some light on this.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g3/stats/powerbook_g3_400_fw.html

EDIT: here you go, and right on these very forums
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/48603/ <-- wow thats going back some

 

[JNB]

Don't sweat the speed, first. You'll never be able to tell any difference between 5400 & 7200 for 99% of things you'll do, except one will make you're wallet lighter.

The G3 Pismo accepts mostly any 9.5mm ATA drive. Here's a listing from iFixit Guides for a sampling (not necessarily a recommendation). iFixit also has great online guides for the actual process as well as an appropriate-for-your-machine parts directory.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

I think the Pismo was PATA, which means the biggest drive you can get is 160GB. I wouldn't worry too much about the speed.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Don't get a SATA drive. They use different connectors. Look for PATA/ATA/IDE. You may be restricted in the capacities you may find...

Just looking at scan.co.uk, and they have no PATA drives at 7200rpm. The largest is a 250Gb Western Digital 5400rpm for about £63. About £40 will get you 120Gb.

I'm not even sure whether the Pismos were restricted by drive capacity to 137Gb like the G3 towers were. Someone else may be able to comment on that. Not sure what you'll find on eBay, but at least that gives you an idea of the current retail stock of suitable drives.

 

[sammich]

All questions answered.

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?Model=88&Type=Data Storage&sort=a

 

[Sly]

The Pismo does not have large drive support, so 128GB is the maximum it will see. A standard 100GB 2.5" 5400rpm PATA drive will work nicely.

 

[*old-guy*]

Thanks for the advice, guys.
I shall now go and search eBay for a 120 gig hard drive but NOT SATA.
If I bid on a few and notice any familiar names, you'll be soooooo sorry later when I tell your Mom, lol