PowerBook G4 HDD replacement

[Davy.Shalom]

Ok so my PowerBook G4 (specs in the bottom, except 250 GB drive) HDD is failing. It is the standard 80 GB one that came with the notebook. I have a 250 GB WD scorpio ready to go in, but I have a couple of questions.

First of all, if I use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my existing disc to the new WD scorpio by using a PATA drive enclosure (USB 2.0), will it boot once put in the notebook? Does it need to be a firewire enclosure to be able to boot?

Second, what is the average life of the original Hitachi drives (80 GB) that were put in this model of PowerBook. This is the 1.33 GHz model with the superdrive 4x.


I just want to know what to do before I disassemble it.

Thanks

 

[mbradyrn]

First of all, if I use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my existing disc to the new WD scorpio by using a PATA drive enclosure (USB 2.0), will it boot once put in the notebook?

Yes -- if you clone -- then install it into the powerbook, it will boot.

Does it need to be a firewire enclosure to be able to boot?

Sort of -- normally you have to use firewire to boot from an external drive to a powerbook, but see this link to get a different view.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384





Second, what is the average life of the original Hitachi drives (80 GB) that were put in this model of PowerBook. This is the 1.33 GHz model with the superdrive 4x.


The answer is -- it depends (honest -- that's the best answer available) See the attached link to get a longer version of 'it depends.'

http://blog.backupinfo.org/2006/07/how-long-should-hard-drive-last.html

 

[Davy.Shalom]

Alright, thank you for your reply. I shall check out the links a bit later.

Have any of you guys tried it, and know it works?