Stupid question about PowerBook hard drive

In article ,
Tom Anderson wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> My PowerBook's hard drive has died, so i'm going to buy a new one. Are
> laptop hard drives standardised, or do i need to find a model-specific
> drive?

They're not model-specific, but there are variations. Depending on the
age of your PowerBook you'll need to be aware of the interface in use
(ATA in your case) and the maximum height requirement on the drive
(which I believe in your case is 12.5mm).

G
 >> Stay informed about: Stupid question about PowerBook hard drive 

In article ,
Tom Anderson wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> My PowerBook's hard drive has died, so i'm going to buy a new one. Are
> laptop hard drives standardised, or do i need to find a model-specific
> drive?
>
> I have a 15" G4 PB, with an 80 GB drive, 5400 rpm i think. I can dig out a
> model number if need be.
>
> For instance, can i just buy any one of these (one of the PATA aka IDE
> ones, anyway - i'm PATA, right?):
>
> http://www.drivemylaptop.co.uk/LaptopPartsList.aspx?pt=16
>
> And plug and play?

Not just any one of those. Some of those are SATA, which isn't what you
need. You may need to reformat the drive after installing it, but aside
from that yeah, they're plug and play.

In general, you need a 2.5" ATA drive. There might be a height
restriction (9.5mm vs. 12mm), I'm not sure about your specific PowerBook.

If you're not completely sure, try <http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/> to
find models that'll work with your Mac. They only list models they
sell, but if they say one will work for you then it will. Even if you
don't buy from them, that page can help figure out what you need.

> Could i get a 100 or 120 GB one instead?

Sure, or bigger if you like.

> How about 7200 rpm? They're not much more expensive, but what do people
> think about performance vs noise and battery life?

Depends on your needs. With recent models the effect on battery life is
not all that pronounced, but it's not zero and of course they cost more.

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Independent Mac OS X developer since 2002
http://www.atomicbird.com/
 >> Stay informed about: Stupid question about PowerBook hard drive 

On Mon, 5 Nov 2007, nospam wrote:

> In article , Tom
> Anderson wrote:
>
>> My PowerBook's hard drive has died, so i'm going to buy a new one. Are
>> laptop hard drives standardised, or do i need to find a model-specific
>> drive?

Thanks to everyone who replied - i shall be going shopping ASAP!

tom

--
102 FX 6 (goblins)
 >> Stay informed about: Stupid question about PowerBook hard drive