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About to replace PowerBook HD. Any last minute tips?

AlBDamned

AlBDamned

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 14, 2005
2,641
15
Hi folks,

yesterday I purchased a 160GB Seagate Momentus (5400RPM) to go in my Powerbook, upping from an 80GB Hitachi.

I'm going to use the iFixit guide, but does anyone with any experience in this have any last minute tips? I've read undoing the catches around the superdrive area can be a bit tricky, as can the hard drive cord/ribbon itself.

Should be interesting!
 
I did exactly the same thing with my 17"PB. It's fairly easy, but when you are putting it back together, make sure to routh the trackpad cable down through the hole it came out from. You'll see it's one of the first things you take off when disassembeling, and the ifixit guide doesnt mention it when putting it back together. Other than that be careful and enjoy your new drive.

Joe B.
 
Thwarted!

Damn, I got all the way to the hard drive on this and the third screw on the actual HD bracket rounded out. Now it's impossible to unscrew. Then, having conceded defeat, when putting it back together the two torx screws on the top of the keyboard also rounded out, so I won't even be able to try again at this rate.

Anyone got any tips for rounded out screws on a Powerbook? A trip to my local repair shop beckons I think.

Damn!
 
Yea, this proves the importance of the proper tools when donig these kinds of jobs. I would't worry, I'm sure if worst comes to worst you'll be able to carefully drill out the screws and get new ones, although this can be really nerve wracking and pretty much scary.

Sorry to hear that your upgrade went south...better luck lext time...

Joe B.
 
mrviga said:
Yea, this proves the importance of the proper tools when donig these kinds of jobs. I would't worry, I'm sure if worst comes to worst you'll be able to carefully drill out the screws and get new ones, although this can be really nerve wracking and pretty much scary.

Sorry to hear that your upgrade went south...better luck lext time...

Joe B.
Click to expand...

I don't have a drill to try it but I think in any case I'll let someone with experience do it. Guess I'll be using the 160 drive is an external for the time being...

(Damn again!)
 
Success!

Finally managed to swap this drive and no drilling necessary. Who says you have to remove all the screws on the retaining bracket... ;)
 
I don't think that would work for the same reasons a G5 in a PowerBook (OR iBook) wouldn't work - Logic board compatibility, heat issues, etc.
 
AlBDamned said:
I'd actually thought about putting Xeon's from a Mac Pro in it. I was told that would work....
Click to expand...


Sadly it won't because of the difference in chips, pins and all.


But how cool would it be to have a dual core XEON laptop. anyway you should be able to get replacement screws for it at a hardware store. When I was working on my Ti powerbook I dropped the cup that had all the screws in it (d'oh) I was not able to find the screws at a big chain hardware store, but the little ma and pop hardware store (the ones were you ask for the strangest thing and they know right where it is) had them in stock, and I had to pay them a whooping $1.50. My new hard drive is coming for my powerbook tomorrow so good timing with the post.
 
I'd actually thought about putting Xeon's from a Mac Pro in it. I was told that would work....
Click to expand...

I'd pay to see/use that!

No, But seriously. Powerbooks can be very tricky to traverse. I just recommend going very slowly and touching something metal every minute or so. That way it'll be the same as when you took it apart. (I personally have never had a static incident, but a friend of mine rendered his laptop useless due to a shock he gave it.)

I'm gonna put a bigger HD in my Powerbook later on too. iFixit guides are great for that stuff. Glad to see you installed successfully!
 
SuperCompu2 said:
I'd pay to see/use that!

No, But seriously. Powerbooks can be very tricky to traverse. I just recommend going very slowly and touching something metal every minute or so. That way it'll be the same as when you took it apart. (I personally have never had a static incident, but a friend of mine rendered his laptop useless due to a shock he gave it.)

I'm gonna put a bigger HD in my Powerbook later on too. iFixit guides are great for that stuff. Glad to see you installed successfully!
Click to expand...

Cheers. The iFixit guide was excellent and I nearly had it the first time but the damn last screw on the HD stopped me. Once I'd done a bit of research and asking people, I realised that you can actually leverage the HD out of the retaining bracket, without actually removing the bracket itself.

I wouldn't try that with all three bracket screws still in, but with just one left there was just enough give in it.

Was still pretty nerve-racking putting it back together and until it booted up with the new drive my fingers were crossed! I'd be reasonably confident doing it again though. :)
 
synth3tik said:
Sadly it won't because of the difference in chips, pins and all.
Click to expand...

I was joking - that guy's G5 thread made me laugh though ;)

synth3tik said:
But how cool would it be to have a dual core XEON laptop. anyway you should be able to get replacement screws for it at a hardware store. When I was working on my Ti powerbook I dropped the cup that had all the screws in it (d'oh) I was not able to find the screws at a big chain hardware store, but the little ma and pop hardware store (the ones were you ask for the strangest thing and they know right where it is) had them in stock, and I had to pay them a whooping $1.50. My new hard drive is coming for my powerbook tomorrow so good timing with the post.
Click to expand...

No problem. I'm not going to need the new screw for the moment thankfully. I didn't want to take a drill to it but in the end I didn't need too.

There's a little hardware store down the road from me just like you describe. I went in there a while back in search of some citronella candles and the guy looked at me, burrowed under a shelf that was packed with all sorts and came up with two candles - legend!
 
A trick that I used instead of a drill was some puddy that I got at an art supply store. I smushed the puddy on the screw and slowly twisting it out. it takes a few attempts to get the screw out enough to get a pliers around it. But for me it seemed to be less trouble then the drill could be.
 
synth3tik said:
A trick that I used instead of a drill was some puddy that I got at an art supply store. I smushed the puddy on the screw and slowly twisting it out. it takes a few attempts to get the screw out enough to get a pliers around it. But for me it seemed to be less trouble then the drill could be.
Click to expand...

So the putty/puddy filled the gaps of the rounded out screw? Was it pretty solid stuff?

I was looking at trying pliers but only had a big pair. I think you probably need a set of the pincer style ones?

I'm sure I'll try getting it out at some stage.

Another small problem I'm now facing: because I put the 160GB drive in an external case temporarily, it's partitioned. The Lacie firewire interface on the external only recognised 128GB as it's an early version.

I'm not sure now how to get rid of the partition without wiping the drive and I don't want to do that just yet because it means cloning the drive again using my old drive and copying it back to the newly wiped (and not partitioned) drive!

Again, not a major problem but would be good to reclaim the 20GB without all that hassle!
 
Speaking of iFixit guides, I toyed with the idea of getting a new bottom case because mine is pretty banged up, but then I saw the work involved in replacing it....

Can you imagine getting halfway through that and messing something up. :eek:
 
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