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How hard is it to put in a Hard Drive in my iBook.

I

iBunny

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 15, 2004
1,254
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I am currently in Iraq, so I cant go to like an apple store. I want to Buy a High end 7200 RPM Hard Drive for my iBook and Install it. What tools to I need. And how hard is it really to install. I build my own PCs but never have disected a laptop. Any good info/guides/personal opinions.

Thanks all :D
 
It's a pain in the a$$. I did the upgrade on a 500 MHz G3 "snow" iBook and I had more screws left over than I know what to do with. My advice would be to bring it to a certified Apple repair technician and have them install it.
 
Don't try it. It is really hard. iBooks are very hard to take apart aside from RAM and Airport cards. Try to go beyond those two things, and you risk it all.

Much better to just wait and bring it to an Apple store.
 
I'd say it's a 5/10, and I'm very experienced. I've even taken apart every computer in my sig and my old g3 ibook was the most tricky.
 
Pismo said:
...I had more screws left over than I know what to do with.....
Click to expand...

A lot of people have said this. If you do decide to do it, Bunny, then either make good diagrams of where you took the screws out, or use your digital camera to document it! Also, there're service manuals floating around the net for the iBook which have detailed photos....
 
Pismo said:
It's a pain in the a$$. I did the upgrade on a 500 MHz G3 "snow" iBook and I had more screws left over than I know what to do with. My advice would be to bring it to a certified Apple repair technician and have them install it.
Click to expand...
Heh. I know an Apple service centre who says "never again" and refuses to do it. There's just no way for them to make money tying up a technician for that long.
 
i did it with this iBook 1Gz G4 i'm using right now. i only ended up with one unaccounted for screw, which is pretty good in my opinion. it took about an hour to dismantle and get to the hard drive, but took almost 2 hours to put it back together, mostly because i found screws here and there that i needed to replace. the actual replacement of the HD is easy...the hardest parts for me were:

1. unclipping the clips along the back of the iBook so that the case would open.
2. unscrewing all those screws from the heat shield and remembering where they went.
3. managing the speaker(?) wire and other wires up in the left corner speaker area.
4. putting the thing back together again...

there's just a lot of crap to manage. but, it was worth it...my 5400 rpm 80 gigger works great and no more lugging around an external fw drive.

if you're the careful type, it's not that big a job. the one set of instructions i found on the web (it was from a french site...check xlr8yourmac.com's FAQ section for the link) was helpful...i don't know about the UK site up above. i wish i had taken pictures and would've posted them if i wasn't so frustrated putting the thing back together. good luck...you'll feel great when it's finished.

p.s. my brother in law's in iraq, too...take care of yourself! :)
 
Just to let you know, when I installed the hard drive in the snow G3 iBook, I voided the extended Applecare warranty. Later on, the airport was acting really flakey so I brought it to an Apple retailer and had a certified Apple tech look at it. He saw that the case was cracked a little (it's a biatch to pry apart) and saw some screws missing. He gave it back to me and told me that I voided the warranty and said that probably no one will fix it and honor the warranty. I had to pay $200 to get the airport problem fixed and had them replace the missing screws. Lesson learned.
 
Hard!!! Use pbfixit.com

I've replaced two hard drives in an iBook. Prying the case apart was by far the hardest part. Next were the speaker wires, which I ended up not unplugging and instead did a lot of bending.

The best instructions I found were at pbFixit.com

I was going to pay someone to do it, but it was so expensive plus I was going to have to leave it for a week, I decided to do it myself. It took me 4 hours :eek:

Make sure you have the right tools - it will make it a lot easier.
 
jwdawso said:
I've replaced two hard drives in an iBook. Prying the case apart was by far the hardest part. Next were the speaker wires, which I ended up not unplugging and instead did a lot of bending.

The best instructions I found were at pbFixit.com

I was going to pay someone to do it, but it was so expensive plus I was going to have to leave it for a week, I decided to do it myself. It took me 4 hours :eek:

Make sure you have the right tools - it will make it a lot easier.
Click to expand...

I just looked at that guide and holy crap... I dont think I am going to tear into it. I guess I will just do with my slow ass 4200rpm drive.
 
Jesus, I thought you guys were being pansies about how hard it was, I just went through the whole pbfixit tutorial, that's freaking insame for a notebook hard drive...

I'm just hoping the next revision has a 5400 rpm hard drive option so I don't have to go through that mess on a new laptop.
 
ZildjianKX said:
Jesus, I thought you guys were being pansies about how hard it was, I just went through the whole pbfixit tutorial, that's freaking insame for a notebook hard drive...
Click to expand...

It's all fun and games till someone gets their bluetooth adaptor poked out! :eek: ;) :D
 
ZildjianKX said:
Jesus, I thought you guys were being pansies about how hard it was, I just went through the whole pbfixit tutorial, that's freaking insame for a notebook hard drive...

I'm just hoping the next revision has a 5400 rpm hard drive option so I don't have to go through that mess on a new laptop.
Click to expand...
I don't think "pansies" is a good word for it, but I do think many people here are blowing it out of proportion. It is tedious certainly, but no part of the job is actually difficult. I have replaced about a dozen of them, and in most cases, they were people who brought their machines in, were told we would charge them $200 to do it (takes less than 2 hours after you have done it a couple times.. our notebook rate was $125/hr), and they took their machines home to try it themselves... bringing them back in pieces a day or so later. If you are willing to do it right, and (as another poster said) document the disassembly it is very do-able if you are competent working on notebooks, even without detailed instructions. The instructions that are floating around on the web, though, certainly make it easier.. wish I'd had them the first couple times through it.

If you are not willing (or able) to take the time, space, and effort to document it, do yourself a favor and pay to have it done. Read the walk-throughs on the web a few times and decide if you have the patience and attention to detail to do it right. You aren't going to be judged harshly for deciding it is beyond your scope. You will be given grief (or a larger bill) if you tackle it and fail.

My position on computer repairs, especially notebooks, is this: With the right manuals, tools, and advice, anyone who can assemble a backyard swingset can disassemble and rebuild an automatic transmission... but is it worth your time and sanity?
 
im planning on taking my rev a powerbook 12" apart to change the hard drive this summer due to the hard drive failing, it is now a desktop booting off an external firewire drive...... i would like to get the portability back sometime, and i think i can do it so long as i take the time to do it right..... but it sure will be tedious
 
IndyGopher said:
I don't think "pansies" is a good word for it, but I do think many people here are blowing it out of proportion. It is tedious certainly, but no part of the job is actually difficult. I have replaced about a dozen of them, and in most cases, they were people who brought their machines in, were told we would charge them $200 to do it (takes less than 2 hours after you have done it a couple times.. our notebook rate was $125/hr), and they took their machines home to try it themselves... bringing them back in pieces a day or so later. If you are willing to do it right, and (as another poster said) document the disassembly it is very do-able if you are competent working on notebooks, even without detailed instructions. The instructions that are floating around on the web, though, certainly make it easier.. wish I'd had them the first couple times through it.

If you are not willing (or able) to take the time, space, and effort to document it, do yourself a favor and pay to have it done. Read the walk-throughs on the web a few times and decide if you have the patience and attention to detail to do it right. You aren't going to be judged harshly for deciding it is beyond your scope. You will be given grief (or a larger bill) if you tackle it and fail.

My position on computer repairs, especially notebooks, is this: With the right manuals, tools, and advice, anyone who can assemble a backyard swingset can disassemble and rebuild an automatic transmission... but is it worth your time and sanity?
Click to expand...

i agree. it's not difficult to do in the sense of being so complicated that you'll get lost. it's just tedious and requires a lot of patience and care. if you're the meticulous-type, you'll find it actually a bit fun to do. i did. it does, however, void your warranty, so be extra-careful. i decided that i REALLY wanted to put my 80gb drive inside rather than using it in my portable external, so i went ahead. i haven't had a problem at all. it's not for the easily-discouraged, but it is do-able. the detailed directions look a bit difficult simply because there's a lot of crap to remove prior to getting to the HD itself. once you're in, it's easy. just keep track of all your screws!
 
huh!?! i replaced the HD in my iBook about 1 week ago and it wasn't hard at all. besides prying the case apart everything is some basic screwing job, if you got the right tools it's an easy job. i would recommend sticking the screws to a tape, screw by screw so you have no problem getting the right screw at the right time when putting it back together. i also would think twice about replacing the original with a 7200rpm HD, afaik it tends to get a lot hotter than the original 4200rpm hd - there may occur some small cracks on the case where you rest your wrist (hd is right underneath there) due to the heat.
 
I've done it to, a PowerBook 5300, 1400, 3400, G3 Wallstreet, Lombard, Pismo, iBook Clamshell, iBook white and a 12" PowerBook G4. It's not as hard as people make out.

Use mugs to put different layers of screws in is my best tip. (As in each page of the guide you follow from any of the links above, use a different mug for.)

On another note, how come you in iraq? Are you an iraqi? Or a reporter? Or even in the forces?
 
Instructions for replacing HD in an iBook G4:
 

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wordmunger said:
Compared to replacing the HD on my clamshell iBook, that looks easy.
Click to expand...
Compared to replacing the HD in a Pismo (which I've done numerous times) it looks extremely complicated... ;)

Edit: Remember before you get where these instruction start you'll have to "remove the following" (under Preliminary Steps):
• Battery (two pages, trivial)
• Keyboard and RAM shield (8 pages, the fiddeling starts)
• AirPort Extreme Card (covered by the above)
• Memory card (3 pages, trivial)
• Bottom case (8 pages, looks pretty straight forward, but you need to be careful)
• Bottom shield (4 pages, straight forward but again be careful)
• DC-in board (3 pages, easy)
• Top case (10 pages, pretty complicated)
• Top shield (6 pages, 15 screws and a bit of fiddeling)

Then, start with the instructions above, which is pretty straight forward...

So, you basically have to tear the machine completely apart. I wouldn't do it myself, at least with an iBook under warranty... ;)

(Anyone interested in me posting the above mentioned instructions...? It'll take a few minutes and quite a few posts, but I could do it...)
 
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