iBook Hard Drive upgrade

[Island Dog]

I called Compusa and they want $179 for a new drive, and $140 to install it. He told me the biggest drive you can put in an iBook G4 is 80 gig. Is that true?

Does anyone know who can replace the drive for cheaper, or is it really that hard to do yourself?

What is the proper hard drive to buy. Newegg has many notebook drives but I'm not sure what specifications I'm looking for.

Thanks for you help.

 

[DeSnousa]

You can use any 2.5" drive (don't quote me on that). As for installation, what a rip off. I paid AU$90 ~ US$65. Look around for the best deal. I did the same and ended up saving $100

 

[titangears]

I upgraded my iBook's hard drive myself, and to do it you have to be very careful & patient. The process is filled with many potential pitfalls. I'm not sure I would want some low wage punk at CompUSA opening up my iBook and doing it.

 

[shadowmoses]

I upgraded my iBook's hard drive myself, and to do it you have to be very careful & patient. The process is filled with many potential pitfalls. I'm not sure I would want some low wage punk at CompUSA opening up my iBook and doing it.

I agree with that, but at least if they break it compUSA will cover the costs, if you break it your screwed...

SHadow

 

[Island Dog]

You both have good points. I'm just not sure what to do now.

 

[kugino]

it depends...are you a fairly meticulous person? if you are, i say do it yourself. it's not hard...it just requires some patience and a good system of keeping track of all the screws (there's a lot of them). i believe you can put in any 2.5" drive, so if you can get one of the newer 100GB ones, they would work. i replaced my own drive and things have been fine.

i agree - i wouldn't want some low-wage punk doing it...i trust myself more.

 

[myshoeshurt]

He told me the biggest drive you can put in an iBook G4 is 80 gig. Is that true?

Apple sells the iBook G4 with the option of upgrading to a 100GB hard drive.

 

[mikemodena]

I upgraded my iBook's hard drive myself, and to do it you have to be very careful & patient. The process is filled with many potential pitfalls. I'm not sure I would want some low wage punk at CompUSA opening up my iBook and doing it.

Actually, that's a half truth. My best friend works there as a computer repair person (we're in high school, and they pay him $11 an hour which isn't bad for a part-timer, so he's not really low wage) and I know he does a really good job with the computers he does fix. He told me he recently replaced a logic board on a dual processor G5 the other day. So if you were to have CompUSA do it, chances are you'll get a competent technician, and if you don't.. they have to pay for it.

 

[YS2003]

I don't even think about doing the upgrade on my trusty iBook (40 GB HD). There are so many screws and so much to loose (I hope Apple will make the upcoming Intel Mac more user upgradable). I would rather using a very portable Firewire external HD (such as Lacie mobile 100 GB) rather than messing with my iBook. My 2 AL PowerBooks have 80 GB; so I don't really worry about their capacity. I also have 4 external HD to back them up.

 

[solvs]

Can't you have an Apple store do it for like $40? $140 is way too much, especially if you're overpaying for the drive there. Buy from Newegg and find another place to do it that's Apple certified and will guarantee it, or see if a local place will do it cheaper if you buy the drive from them. You can have up to 120GB in the iBook (maybe even 160), so you probably don't want to have someone like that do it anyway.