Hate to beat a dying horse...

[OULittlebit]

I'm sure everyone's already asked some form of this question, but I want to upgrade my 1.2 ghz 12inch iBook g4 hard drive. I only have 30GB, it's quite sad really. So what's the best internal hard drive? Does anyone have an idea? I want a 60GB one and it's got to be internal, I don't understand the point of an external hard drive on a portable. I'm very closed minded to that.... but I am up to find out what to install.

Dumb question: Does Apple upgrade these for you (I mean can you buy one through them and they do the install?)

 

[Balin64]

I'm sure everyone's already asked some form of this question, but I want to upgrade my 1.2 ghz 12inch iBook g4 hard drive. I only have 30GB, it's quite sad really. So what's the best internal hard drive? Does anyone have an idea? I want a 60GB one and it's got to be internal, I don't understand the point of an external hard drive on a portable. I'm very closed minded to that.... but I am up to find out what to install.

Dumb question: Does Apple upgrade these for you (I mean can you buy one through them and they do the install?)

Hey Man:

Of course you can upgrade the drive: but it is very, very difficult. The iBook is NOT easy to open and work on, but some people have done it. I recommend giving these people a try:

http://www.powerbookresq.com/hitlist-browse.php?category=PowerBookResQ_Hard_Drives

They may be able to upgrade your iBook.

Also... I don't know what you do on your iBook, but I have a new 12" PB and while the 80 GB drive is nice, it is getting full...

 

[dobbin]

Yeah, I would also recomend that you get bigger than a 60Gb if you can. If you're going to the trouble of upgrading it, you might as well go the whole way.
I also have a 12" G4 iBook but mine has a 60Gb drive already. I thought it would be plenty coming from a 20Gb on my old cube, but I am already close to 50Gb. My 4 mega pixel camera takes photos at about 2Mb each so if I take 500 on my holiday (very likely) then thats another 1Gb used up. You can never have to much memory in my opinion, and it always fills up more quickly than you expect!

 

[Mord]

i'd go for the biggest drive you can afford, 60GB is not that much more, i had a 20GB drive in my ibook, then i replaced it with an 80GB drive and i have already filled 50GB of it, if i had got a 60GB drive i would only have 10 left.

 

[homerjward]

yeah, i agree with everyone else here--get bigger than 60. perhaps wait a couple weeks (?) until the 120gig drives are commercially available as opposed to just oem's. i got an 80gig drive on my emac and ive used up more than half of it already in 3 months without realizing it i don't even have any pro applications installed or anything, or do any video

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

If you're going to change it, then 60 isn't enough (I know because that's what my iBook has but I cannot afford to change it at the moment). Go for a 100 (or 120) GB 5400 disk.

Any (authorized) Apple Service Center should be able to change the disk using about an hours labour. Ask around. Maybe some even will do it for free if you buy the disk through them...

 

[deebster]

Most major drive manufacturers make 2.5" drives and depending on what day of the week it is one might be getting better reviews than the others.

As other posters have said, get the biggest capacity drive you can, and be sure to go for a 5,400 rpm one. Or even 7,200 if you really feel the speed need.

I replaced the combo drive in my iBook last year and whilst it was fiddly and scary (my first time doing any kind of hardware mod) it really wasn't so difficult. XLR8yrmac.com have links to a few online (dis)assembly guides and, if you can find it, the iBook service manual helps too

It's roughly 50 screws to undo (and keep track of, so an ice cube tray or egg box or 3 come in handy) and a bit of prising of the case (an old credit card is useful here, but don't use anything metal and/or too inflexible as the iBook casing is easily damaged once you start getting at it).

By far the most worrying part is opening the casing after you have removed the initial bunch of screws. It takes a bit of elbow grease and a firm hand, but too firm and you could be hurting your Mac. After that it's just a case of following instructions.

Hope this helps you a bit.