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Second hdd in Powerbook 12''

ftored

ftored

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 29, 2005
135
1
Anyone tried to remove the optical drive and install a second hdd there? I was wondering if it can be bootable when installed there? As i guess you can use a sata hdd with ide to sata converter? And use a larger and faster drive.
How can one mount it with no optibay?

Anyone?
 
I would not even attempt this in a 12" PowerBook. Maybe not even a 17". Too small for that much heat. Optical drives produce much less heat.

Another big fault of this plan is all the extra battery the system would use with 2 HD's.
 
I'd imagine this is easily possible with an Optibay type solution but without, I don't see it happening. You can get the knockoffs cheap on Ebay. The connectors on the drives in the iBooks/PowerBooks are the same as the drives the PATA drives in pre-unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros, they are just taller drives. They are also the same as older iMacs (G5, white and silver Intel up until they switched to SATA optical) The issue of having it bootable is unknown to me but I'd imagine it would work.
 
ftored said:
Anyone tried to remove the optical drive and install a second hdd there? I was wondering if it can be bootable when installed there? As i guess you can use a sata hdd with ide to sata converter? And use a larger and faster drive.
How can one mount it with no optibay?

Anyone?
Click to expand...

You would need something like this, but in reverse side:
http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/340729700001-p-8339.html

I don't know if it even exist.
Optibay is certainly a better and trouble free solution. You can order it in SATA or PATA version. I wouldn't worry about heat, PBs have quite efficient cooling + aluminum case (which is in fact a part of cooling system).
OFC it will be bootable.
 
My friend did this to his g4 and ive been considering it. I dont see why it wouldnt be bootable. What he did was replace the stock drive with an ide ssd and put a tb in the optibay. With an ssd your battery life wont be hit as hard and heat wont be an issue. Id put the ssd in the optibay as sata ssd's are cheaper.
 
So you can get optibay with SATAor PATA for a powerbook and the conversion to PATAis already built in. Nice didn't know that.

Battery wont be an issue as i rarely use it with no power supply. Heat may concern a bit, because here is always hot. I think i will go for it. Just need to find that cheap knockoff on ebay for optibay:p
 
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