Replacement HDD for iMac G4

[fooyork]

Hi there… I am getting a bit confused and wondered if someone might be able to confirm for me…

I have come into possession of a rather poorly iMac G4 (original 15 inch 800Mhz). It has a very dead internal HDD.

I think it needs a 3.5 inch ATA 66 HDD. Can anyone point me towards a link somewhere to make sure I buy the right thing before I start surgery?

Honestly, I used to be better at this kind of thing.

Colin

 

[ahurst]

Hi there… I am getting a bit confused and wondered if someone might be able to confirm for me…

I have come into possession of a rather poorly iMac G4 (original 15 inch 800Mhz). It has a very dead internal HDD.

I think it needs a 3.5 inch ATA 66 HDD. Can anyone point me towards a link somewhere to make sure I buy the right thing before I start surgery?

Honestly, I used to be better at this kind of thing.

Colin

Depends on your price range! If you're looking for something cheap, you might be able to find a used IDE HDD for cheap locally via craigslist/kijiji/marketplace/etc. If you're willing to pay a bit more, the simple and nice option is an OWC SSD, which they sell pre-fitted to be tossed in any 3.5" IDE Mac: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMXLE120/

 

[fooyork]

Depends on your price range! If you're looking for something cheap, you might be able to find a used IDE HDD for cheap locally via craigslist/kijiji/marketplace/etc. If you're willing to pay a bit more, the simple and nice option is an OWC SSD, which they sell pre-fitted to be tossed in any 3.5" IDE Mac: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMXLE120/

Hi there! Thanks for this… really I don’t want to be spending too much cash, it’s just a bit of a tinkering project to get back up and running to some kind of vaguely usable extent!

Do you know if this is what I want?

Seagate DB35.3 Recertified 3.5"IDE Internal Hard Drive 80GB 7200 Desktop PC HDD 5711783852148 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Seagate DB35.3 Recertified 3.5"IDE Internal Hard Drive 80GB 7200 Desktop PC HDD at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

I just know I will end up getting the wrong drive without some help!

Thanks so much!

Colin

 

[ahurst]

Hi there! Thanks for this… really I don’t want to be spending too much cash, it’s just a bit of a tinkering project to get back up and running to some kind of vaguely usable extent!

Do you know if this is what I want?

Seagate DB35.3 Recertified 3.5"IDE Internal Hard Drive 80GB 7200 Desktop PC HDD 5711783852148 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Seagate DB35.3 Recertified 3.5"IDE Internal Hard Drive 80GB 7200 Desktop PC HDD at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

I just know I will end up getting the wrong drive without some help!

Thanks so much!

Colin

Yep, that should be fine! As long as it's a 3.5" IDE drive it'll work as long as it hasn't failed. You can try testing it with Techtool or something for bad sectors once you've installed the drive.

 

[fooyork]

Yep, that should be fine! As long as it's a 3.5" IDE drive it'll work as long as it hasn't failed. You can try testing it with Techtool or something for bad sectors once you've installed the drive.

Thanks for your help! I have ordered one!

Now to attempt the repair: I have never opened a G4 iMac before - the tutorials make replacing the HD in a PowerBook G4 look like a walk in the park in comparison!

 

[ADunsmuir]

Thanks for your help! I have ordered one!

Now to attempt the repair: I have never opened a G4 iMac before - the tutorials make replacing the HD in a PowerBook G4 look like a walk in the park in comparison!

While you have it open, it is a good opportunity to max out the RAM. It is another area where things are different from the PowerMac G4s - you have one desktop DIMM and one laptop SODIMM.

 

[Berenod]

Actually, for just a very little bit more money you could get a sata to ide adapter an then a 128Gb SSD.
Much more responsive with an SSD.
Just make sure to get an adapter with a marvel chipset

Ram upgrade is always good, if the iMac is open you can upgrade the standard sized internal 256 mb stick with a 512 one.
The other (laptop sized) ram stick is always easily replaced later on, just need to take of the bottom for that.

 

[Berenod]

Thanks for your help! I have ordered one!

Now to attempt the repair: I have never opened a G4 iMac before - the tutorials make replacing the HD in a PowerBook G4 look like a walk in the park in comparison!

It actually is not too hard, I always make lots of pictures with my phone during the disassembly, makes it easier if I get "lost" a bit during reassembly
Just watch some of the disassembly videos you can find on YouTube...

PowerBooks are indeed easy, but I just did an iBook, and boy, did Apple make that hard!

 

[za9ra22]

Thanks for your help! I have ordered one!

Now to attempt the repair: I have never opened a G4 iMac before - the tutorials make replacing the HD in a PowerBook G4 look like a walk in the park in comparison!

I would second (or third) the SSD suggestion. The OWC upgrade is the one I used on mine for simplicity and convenience, but there are cheaper alternatives that also work, and while the overall 'speed' improvement is limited because it isn't a fast computer, an SSD makes it much more responsive due to faster access times. It also significantly reduces noise and heat generation, which is good for you because it's much quieter, and the computer because anything that helps these systems produce less heat also reduces stress on the system.

Working inside a G4 iMac is fiddly and space is extremely tight. Since the HD is mounted above the optical drive it means removing that is essential. In itself not an issue other than being fiddly, but getting it back in afterwards can be a bit frustrating because there is quite literally no wiggle room.

When I switched my HD out, I also replaced the optical drive at the same time, and as others have suggested, maxed out the RAM. I also replaced the PRAM battery.

Other than being fiddly, they are pretty easy to work on however.

 

[Berenod]

I would second (or third) the SSD suggestion. The OWC upgrade is the one I used on mine for simplicity and convenience, but there are cheaper alternatives that also work, and while the overall 'speed' improvement is limited because it isn't a fast computer, an SSD makes it much more responsive due to faster access times. It also significantly reduces noise and heat generation, which is good for you because it's much quieter, and the computer because anything that helps these systems produce less heat also reduces stress on the system.

Working inside a G4 iMac is fiddly and space is extremely tight. Since the HD is mounted above the optical drive it means removing that is essential. In itself not an issue other than being fiddly, but getting it back in afterwards can be a bit frustrating because there is quite literally no wiggle room.

When I switched my HD out, I also replaced the optical drive at the same time, and as others have suggested, maxed out the RAM. I also replaced the PRAM battery.

Other than being fiddly, they are pretty easy to work on however.

Can totally confirm!

Forgot about the Pram battery, absolutely best to replace, as you need to take out the motherboard to get at it!

added reason for the SSD, those harddrives in the G4's are now getting very close to being 20 years old, so the chance on failure starts to get pretty high!
Even the ones you buy now, they might work years, months, or if you are unlucky, fail after a few weeks.

Even "new old stock", so drives usually manufactured 20 years ago, but never sold/used, might only work a short time, bit like a car with just a few miles on it, but stored standing still in a garage for 20 years, guaranteed heaps of headaches!

Mine is a cheap 120GB SSD (about 20$), partitioned into tw 60GB partitions, one with Tiger, and the other with Sorbet Leopard.

 

[fooyork]

Well, I went with a 'refurbished' IDE as I didn't want to really spend anything on this project - the little thing only cost me £20, is pretty beat up and has some rather deep scratches in the screen... so it was more of a challenge to see if I could get it up and running.

I am happy to confirm that I have managed to do the repair though! Turns out it had been taken apart before, the ribbon cables had been disconnected from the motherboard and never replaced, so the optical drive wasn't even registering... the old HDD had been removed completely!

That was a really quite challenging job though - the video tutorials mostly seem to relate to the later iMac G4s with different internals, and as the previous work inside had unseated a number of the cables it was relatively tricky to figure out what went where. I managed to get it back together though, gave it a new blob of thermal paste on the heatsink and managed to reseat the motherboard section to the main computer section. It even turned back on, recognised both the HDD and the optical drive... I have installed Mac OS X 10.4 on it!

I completely forgot about the PRAM battery though... though I now feel confident enough to go back in again at some point to replace that!

 

[fooyork]