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What HDD to buy for a powerbook g4?

J

Jaqen

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 18, 2006
31
0
I believe the hdd is dead so I need to find a replacement but I've no idea which cause there are 93487534231 kinds. Only thing I can really find via googling is that it has to be a 2.5" ATA but there are several different kinds of ATA hdds... so confusing. I was thinking this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136345

ATA-6, ATA100, I dunno...

I'm guessing they don't even make 500 gb 7200 rpm drives that would fit in a powerbook g4...
 
Alright... the powerbook in question is a 17". Would that model still take the same hdd as your 12"?
 
Jaqen said:
Alright... the powerbook in question is a 17". Would that model still take the same hdd as your 12"?
Click to expand...

The former hard drive would work, but the later one would not. You need to get a PATA hard drive for PowerBooks, SATA hard drives won't work. And yes, it would be the same for the 12" and 17".
 
alright thanks a lot. yeah i realized it was sata then edited the link back out. silly me.
 
I'd like to upgrade my HDD and do they make 7200rpm ATA's? Just curious, would like that small speed boost in loading things is all.
 
I have the 6 year old 60gb 5400rpm hdd which was sold with the 15" pb. The lack of storage is no problem but once it's been on for about 2-3 hours or if I'm playing a game, it heats up a lot and then whirs quit loudly. I might just get a 250 gb IDE drive, 7200rpm of course. I'm still aiming for an ssd but cannot afford the prices these days and cos hdds are so darn cheap, I can't miss it. What do you guys think?
 
I'm going through the same decision at the moment. I've posted a question over at the Apple discussion page.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2116886&tstart=0

I'll copy/paste it here in case I get any alternate answers. Also, the question i asked contained a list of suitable drives, which I believe represents the extent of the options at this time:

<snip start>

Yes, my 3 year old internal 80G Toshiba finally died recently (clicking noises, unmountable) somewhat spontaneously!

Looking at my options for a replacement, the decrease in production of 2.5" PATA drives means it's almost self-selection by default!

I'm looking for any feedback from users with real world experience of any of the drives below:

Western Digital:

160G http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=276285&CatId=3093
260G http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=287583&CatId=3093
320G http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=349068&CatId=3093

Seagate:

160G http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=238231&CatId=3093

Samsung:

160G http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155940

On paper, there's nothing really to separate these drives. They all have pretty much the same transfer rates, weigh about the same, have similar shock/vibration ratings as well as a 3 year warranty.

What I'm really interested in (apart from general performance and perceived speed, which I assume will also be very similar) is *reliability*!! Oh, and how quiet and battery friendly these drives are.

I'll probably buy two (my other laptop is the same age and has the same original Toshiba HDD, so I think I'll make a preemptive strike on it!) and maybe even a spare, as it looks like the availability of 2.5" HDD is thinning and in the future, we may even be paying a premium for them being manufactured in small numbers

Also, assuming 100G was plenty of storage space, can anyone out there give me a good reason why I should seek out the now even rarer 100G 7200 drive in preference to any of the above? I keep reading that modern 5400 units offer similar performance to older 7200 units however, I'm still finding the odd article that contradicts that, indicating that the older 7200 units are still 'faster' overall, albeit not by that much.

Any comments based on real world experience and/or objective advice would be gratefully received.

<snip end>

Take a look at the responses I got there which, in summary were that there's nothing much to choose between all these drives and also, that there's no point in touching 7200 drives anymore, compared to modern 5400 units.

Anyone have any other comments on these drives?

Thanks.
 
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