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Recycled Computing

The iBook Can't Replace the Hard Drive Blues

- 2009.04.28

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After an influx of MacBooks into the Hatchett hacienda around Christmas time, I inherited my daughters G4 iBook with a pixel line of death on its 14" screen. I, of course, am still bonded to my G3 Pismo in spite of its aged graphics card and limited software options. (I still use Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" and had to go searching for an older version of Skype).

Now, in addition to the pixel line of death, the iBook had a tiny 60 GB hard drive. I had dropped a 160 GB drive into the Pismo, but it was the wrong kind of ATA, and only 128 GB is useable.

Being the sort of person who can get in over his head in a microsecond, I thought that I would switch the hard drives and get the 160 GB drive in the G4 and put the 60 GB in my trusted Pismo.

Sounds simple, right?

Nope. Those of you who have tried to replace the hard drive in an iBook G4 know what I am taking about and are already trying to warn me.

The easy part - removing the hard drive on the Pismo. It's a snap. Everyone knows this.

Step 39 of 45 in replacing an iBook's hard drive

The disaster part - removing the hard drive from the G4 iBook is not a snap. The designer of this computer - I'm trying to be polite - must have worked on the clamshell iBook G3. After 42 steps (don't believe it - see iFixIt!) and some moaning and groaning, I swapped the drives.

After I reassembled the G4, I pressed the power button and - no! Meaning no power. I wasn't sure if I had made the connection from the power button and the main board, so I took it apart and saw that the connector had broken away from the main board.

I got them G4 blues

Can't replace my hard drive easily

I got them G4 blues

Apple - your iBook frustrates me

Well, I had to strip the iBook down to get at the main board, and I am now waiting for Mr. Mike to solder the connection. Keep your fingers crossed.

Soapbox time: Apple has done a good job of making the hard drive accessible on the white MacBooks that my sons and daughter have. But - and it's a big but - I have a modest proposal for Apple.

If I was building an ideal laptop, I would make the following things accessible and removable - the hard drive, the RAM, the AirPort Card, the CPU, and the graphics card. Oh, an Express Card slot would be good, to. I don't want much, just a laptop I can use for the rest of my life.

Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook, 11.19. Yes, it is one of the most difficult Apple notebooks to disassemble and reassemble, but a 10 GB hard drive just will not do.
Macintosh Remote Control with Chicken of the VNC, 10.06. Sometimes you want to or need to control another Mac remotely. The free Chicken of the VNC program is a great tool for doing exactly that.
Upgrading a Pismo PowerBook with a Slot-load Drive Salvaged from an iBook, 10.01. Starting with a spare DVD-ROM module and the SuperDrive from a G4 iBook, the author ended up with a SuperDrive in his Pismo PowerBook.
Why the 20" iMac Is Perfect for Home or School, 09.29. The aluminum iMac has plenty of power and screen space, yet it's small enough and light enough to tote from place to place.
More in the Recycled Computing index.

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