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Powerbook g4 hard drive replacement and battery replacement

J

jusstoogood

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2011
9
0
Hi all,

I've been thinking of upgrading my 12 inch powerbook to a new hard drive and a new battery. I've been thinking about getting the OWC 60 gig SSD just for the performance factor and because i don't need much hard drive space to begin with. However, part of me feels that I should just get a 250 gig 7200 RPM western digital. If anyone has any suggestions on which hard drive I should get that would be great, I've done some research, but i'd like to get personal feedback. Also when it comes to the battery, I was going to go with the NewerTech battery or a battery from Freshbattery.com, I've read positive reviews on both.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!
 
Powerbook G4's take old PATA drives. This is a huge bottleneck for modern SSDs. Just get a standard PATA HDD.
 
Yep, if you want to use a SATA drive you'll to fit a PATA<->SATA interface in between the connector and the HDD (so you'd need to find an interface small enough). And even then you're limited to <= SATA 1 speeds.
 
I picked up the 5400rpm WD 250gig hd for the 800Mhz TiBook I picked up two months ago.

I looked at the OWC SSDs as well but decided to go for the extra space instead... I also wonder how OS 9 would handle SSDs. :)
 
I picked up a WD 320GB 5400rpm from Staples for $71.72 after sales tax and a nice $20 instant discount/coupon. I have yet to install it as I dread unscrewing my powerbook 15".

I would loved to have a 7200rpm but didn't see any and the discount was calling me. Well, I had to call around various stores to see if any were in stock. Luckily I found one.
 
FWIW, I'd say NO to the SSD as there is a bottleneck on the PATA interface of the PowerBook. Not to mention, I think it is difficult to find a PATA SSD at a comparable price. Heck, even PATA HD's are pricey (but not as pricey as an SSD), but probably the best route.
 
jusstoogood said:
Hi all,

I've been thinking of upgrading my 12 inch powerbook to a new hard drive and a new battery. I've been thinking about getting the OWC 60 gig SSD just for the performance factor and because i don't need much hard drive space to begin with. However, part of me feels that I should just get a 250 gig 7200 RPM western digital. If anyone has any suggestions on which hard drive I should get that would be great, I've done some research, but i'd like to get personal feedback. Also when it comes to the battery, I was going to go with the NewerTech battery or a battery from Freshbattery.com, I've read positive reviews on both.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...

I have a western dig 250 gb 5400 rpm caviar blue in my powerbook g4 12. It works great and it's also great on power.

For batteries, go with this one:http://www.newertech.com/products/pbg4_batt_al12.php

----------

Btw, putting a new hard drive in the powerbook g4 12 (and any apple notebook from this time period) is a pain in the ass. You have to pry open part of the case from these little latches, so make sure not to bend the aluminum, because it's almost impossible to bend it back.
 
Davy.Shalom said:
Btw, putting a new hard drive in the powerbook g4 12 (and any apple notebook from this time period) is a pain in the ass. You have to pry open part of the case from these little latches, so make sure not to bend the aluminum, because it's almost impossible to bend it back.
Click to expand...

I put a WD 250GB Scorpio Blue drive in my wife's 12" PB. I totally missed any latches thing because the guide I followed on iFix it has you taking off the keyboard and top case. Once they are off though, access to any part is pretty easy. It's just the space to get things out that's tight.
 
is there a real difference between the 5200 and 7200? or a 7200 and an SSD? I plan on keeping this thing as a primary laptop for at least another year or so until i get into grad school where i plan on buying a brand new macbook. I figured i'd invest some money into it now to keep it dependable, and 'cause i love the thing. I'm definitely looking at all options here, and haven't completely ruled out the ssd just because i always wanted to max this powerbook out.
 
You will not benefit from an SSD. The PATA interface in your PowerBook is limited to 100 MB/s so anything faster than than is useless. Also, I don't know about other makers but Western Digital don't even make 7200 rpm PATA HDDs
 
Jolly Jimmy said:
You will not benefit from an SSD. The PATA interface in your PowerBook is limited to 100 MB/s so anything faster than than is useless. Also, I don't know about other makers but Western Digital don't even make 7200 rpm PATA HDDs
Click to expand...

Sorry but you have no clue what the heck you're saying. You don't seem to understand the concept of seek speed. A decent SSD will be faster in the same way a 7200rpm is faster than a 5400rpm. Regardless of the maximum drive interface speed a faster drive will move about within that limitation much faster than a slower one.

A good SSD will boot, open apps, save files, access virtual memory and do every single other function a disk does faster than a magnetic drive. Try to see past the tip of your nose when you give people advice.
 
zen.state said:
Sorry but you have no clue what the heck you're saying. You don't seem to understand the concept of seek speed. A decent SSD will be faster in the same way a 7200rpm is faster than a 5400rpm. Regardless of the maximum drive interface speed a faster drive will move about within that limitation much faster than a slower one.

A good SSD will boot, open apps, save files, access virtual memory and do every single other function a disk does faster than a magnetic drive. Try to see past the tip of your nose when you give people advice.
Click to expand...

Fair point, I did not mention seek speeds, which I do happen to know about. But did it warrant insults from your part? Why the outright nastiness? Up yours mate.
 
Jolly Jimmy said:
Fair point, I did not mention seek speeds, which I do happen to know about. But did it warrant insults from your part? Why the outright nastiness? Up yours mate.
Click to expand...

So you "know about" seek speeds yet the fact completely left you while trying to "help" someone. I simply don't take kindly to misinformation when someone asks for help. He didn't ask to be misguided and told half truths.
 
zen.state said:
So you "know about" seek speeds yet the fact completely left you while trying to "help" someone. I simply don't take kindly to misinformation when someone asks for help. He didn't ask to be misguided and told half truths.
Click to expand...

Still doesn't justify the random and baseless insults. Politely add your thoughts to the thread or clear off. No one benefits from your over the top reaction.

-------

OP, in my opinion an SSD would be a waste of money seeing as you won't fully benefit from it's speed. Yes you'll see better seek speeds but you won't take advantage of the faster read/write speeds. I would go for a 7200rpm HDD, but then again if you have the money to spend on an SSD then go for it.
 
Jolly Jimmy said:
OP, in my opinion an SSD would be a waste of money seeing as you won't fully benefit from it's speed. Yes you'll see better seek speeds but you won't take advantage of the faster read/write speeds.
Click to expand...

You're totally wrong. Zen is right.
OWC SSD wil saturate ATA100 in PB in R/W, what any mechanical PATA HDD can't do. Not to mention about IOPS and access time. Money is the only limit.

OP, check this out and notice that tests were on ATA 66 in Mystic:

http://lowendmac.com/macdan/md11/legacy-ssd-in-mystic.htm

and this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1155671/

Contact OP of above thread for further info about OWC SSD in your particular Mac.
 
666sheep said:
You're totally wrong. Zen is right.
OWC SSD wil saturate ATA100 in PB in R/W, what any mechanical PATA HDD can't do. Not to mention about IOPS and access time. Money is the only limit.
Click to expand...

What part of what I said is wrong? He won't take advantage of the super speedy R/W speeds. PATA is capped well below what a SSD is capable of.
 
It´s not that you are wrong, it´s that "super speedy R/W" are not that big of a deal.
SSD are great because of the IOPS, which are not limited by the interface.
I have an iMac with SSD and PATA interface, and let me tell you it has been night and day. SSD rocks this computer hard.
No, I don´t get 250+ R/W but it is the least of my concerns. R/W is overhyped marketing shenanigans.
 
charlieroberts said:
It´s not that you are wrong, it´s that "super speedy R/W" are not that big of a deal.
SSD are great because of the IOPS, which are not limited by the interface.
I have an iMac with SSD and PATA interface, and let me tell you it has been night and day. SSD rocks this computer hard.
No, I don´t get 250+ R/W but it is the least of my concerns. R/W is overhyped marketing shenanigans.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. Useful information like this is of actual benefit to me and others rather than hateful outbursts. Good on you.
 
Jolly Jimmy said:
Thanks for the explanation. Useful information like this is of actual benefit to me and others rather than hateful outbursts. Good on you.
Click to expand...

You're being rather mellow dramatic there. Saying you "don't know what the heck you're saying" when you in fact don't is not offensive at all. It's the truth. I didn't call you a name or curse you. Then when I ask you to see past the tip of your nose it's legitimate sage advice. You told the OP three times not to bother and that it was a waste when thats the exact opposite of the truth.

In this situation you were indeed not seeing past the tip of your nose because you only brought up the least important fact of what makes a good boot/system drive.
 
I won't be back for obvious reasons but you might want to learn what that expression you're using actually means. You're using it wrong. 3 times!
 
Jolly Jimmy said:
I won't be back for obvious reasons but you might want to learn what that expression you're using actually means. You're using it wrong. 3 times!
Click to expand...

It means you don't have any vision of the bigger picture. Thats how Canadians use it.
 
zen could be somewhat "blunt" at times, but I can piece out bits of information from his post that helps me educate myself.

Back to topic, I have purchased a replacement battery from OWC and I am satisfied with its performance. And I am saving my pennies right now for me to be able to replace my HDD with a legacy SSD from OWC. I have a 15" Powerbook by the way, and it is my primary mobile computer. I travel a lot and I think it is just right to replace the mechanical drive with a solid state one.
 
Thanks for the tips! I'm still looking into the SSD just to keep the powerbook snappy. Is there a speed difference between the SSD size, 'cause i really was just thinking of getting a 40 gig or 60 gig if i went the ssd route. 'cause i read somewhere on this forum that a 5400 rpm 250 gig will run just as fast as a 120 gig 7200 rpm just because of the size of the hard drive. Sorry if that last sentence doesn't make any sense, i'm just trying to make a smart decision. all the help is really appreciated.
 
With SSD it is similar, but depends a lot on the architecture, so there are models that run faster depending on the capacity of the SSD.

However, the speedup is mostly sequential R/W which are bottlenecked anyhow. Bottomline, get the amount of storage you need from your SSD, don't worry so much about the potential speed increase.
I assume you are going with OWC? I think those are the best bet for your pb, and you will enjoy the speed a LOT!

I have a PB g4 and am planning on doing the same upgrade, going to get the 60Gb, mainly because I don't want to spend 500dlls and then have the pb die on me. I can deal with only 60gb
 
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