Hi all,

I have a 1.5Ghz G4 Powerbook with a 15 inch screen; I use it heavily. Today its hard drive died and I am now in the process of sourcing a replacement. I've taken enough electronic devices apart to feel confident about replacing the drive myself.

My question is this: What sort of drive do I actually need to get? Is there a generic set of specs I should be looking at? Any recommendations would also be welcome.

The drive that died was an 80GB 5200rpm drive - I increased the drive speed when I ordered it.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

- Henry

2.5" ATA notebook HDD, 9.5mm.

They come in 5400 and 7200 rpm varieties by Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, etc.

Thanks for the quick reply, Huy. Any recommendations on a drive?

Whatever you can afford?

Biggest/fastest would be good.

Something like a 160GB Hitachi/5400rpm, 8MB buffer (about $170)

If you want 7200rpm there are 100GB ones out, also by Hitachi (around the same price). Choose another brand if you are comfortable with Seagate or WD.

Personally I only buy Seagate drives - because WD and Hitachi come with 3 years warranty while Seagate offers 5 years.

Thanks again, Huy. Is Hatachi the way to go then? As this just happened to me in the last 24 hours and I had no intention of replacing the drive, I have no idea what is good and what is not.

As you've suggested, I might upgrade the size of the drive and could even push the speed up to 7200rpm.

Just been looking for replacement drives online. Is an SATA the same as an ATA?

- Henry

I haven't owned any Hitachi drives (as far as I'm aware), they've mostly been Toshiba and Seagate in my PowerBook's and MacBook.

My drive died on me last week (Seagate 160GB) so I know the pain - took 2-3 days for warranty which was excellent (Singapore to here).

It depends on your budget, if you can afford to get a 7200rpm drive, you might benefit from that. If you want more space and don't mind the 5400rpm, go for that.

Warranty is a consideration too.

Thanks, Huy. One more question: Is an SATA the same as an ATA?

- Henry

No it's not.

SATA is Serial ATA, which works on newer MacBooks/MacBook Pros.

You want ATA, which works on the G3 and G4 notebooks.

O.K. So I want a Parallel ATA drive rather than a Serial ATA drive, right?

Yes that's right, ATA/IDE or what's known as PATA now for Parallel.

When my powerbook HD 100GB 5400rpm 2.5" PATA died,

i replaced it with a 100GB 7200rpm 2.5" PATA from Seagate...

i like Seagate for internal drives and 5 year warranty but im sure they all have similar warranties...

cheers

Thanks for all your help, Huy - I really appreciate it. I could probably have found the same information through other means but it would have taken me a long time and I am keen to get a replacement drive ASAP, as I'm sure you can identify with.

Hope you have a good 2008!

- Henry

Most offer 3 year warranty, which should be enough time if things die, but for roughly the same price, why not get 5 years warranty?

I got a new drive last year (which died, but a replacement was sent out) and the warranty is until 2012. That's peace of mind, that if it dies it'll be replaced as well and they (Seagate) have a policy of even upgrading you to a better/bigger model if they don't have any old stock in place (which could be true, in 3 or 5 years).

@Henry: No problems! My drive just died the other week and I issued an RMA immediately. Currently on that new drive right now. (It's a refurbished/certified one, but it looks and feels brand new to me).

OK, thanks for the recommendation, The Architect.mac.

- Henry

Nice to know about the warranty information, Huy. I've only had my Powerbook for 3.5 years so was a little surprised that the drive died on me. To be fair, it has travelled a fair bit and I'm a relatively heavy user so I guess there has been a lot of reading and writing done over the years. I'll look into a drive with a five year warranty to put my mind at ease in case it happens again.

- Henry