The right side wrist-rest (right when you're using the computer) houses the hard disk drive.
The left side while using the computer houses the battery.
Agh, yes, I meant lower-right-hand wrist rest. This is what I get for taking note of where the hard drive is when my MacBook is upside down with the battery out.
Yes, if it's the
lower-right-hand wrist rest, it sounds like a hard drive problem. I'm unaware of anything that would make the battery make funny sounds, or that would make the battery cause system lockups.
What I said about the PowerBook G4 still applies - this sounds very similar, in terms of symptoms, to what happened when I had a failing hard drive in it.
Does anyone know how easy that is to do yourself? And also what's the maximum HDD size you can put in a white MacBook?
It's relatively easy. You have to remove the battery, unscrew three screws, and pop out a panel to gain access. Then you pull on a tab, and the hard drive + mounting stuff pulls out. I'd recommend, if you feel at all comfortable with a screw driver, take a look at it before purchasing a hard drive (just take note of which screws went where in the battery compartment, as well as which way up the drive was if you're going to do this!). If you think you can replace it safely yourself, it
is considered a user-replacable part on the plastic MacBooks, last I checked.
Size is whatever you can get that fits the drive bay. I believe most 2.5" SATA drives will fit - I can't remember the precise measurements, but you could always just measure the current drive and use that as a guide.
