G4 Powerbook and hard drive upgrade

Comments

• Reply 1 of 8

  neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member

  July 28, 2003 6:42PM

  Yes, you will probably see a dramatic improvement. Look at barefeats.com. They have compared the actual performance of computers with different hard drives. Hitachi and one other company have come out with 7200 RPM HDs. The Hitachi looks interesting. Seems as if the power requirements are not onerous.
• Reply 2 of 8

  soobaaaa Posts: 5member

  July 28, 2003 7:09PM

  Thanks for the info!!! Anyone switched the hard drive themselves? Is it something a newbie of average intelligence can do?
• Reply 3 of 8

  reg Posts: 832member

  July 28, 2003 8:26PM

  I recently switched from a 20 to 60 @ 5400rpm. The swap is easy. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to completely copy over the entire disk. The 5400 is a big inprovement over the original hard disk.
  
  
  
  reg
• Reply 4 of 8

  paul Posts: 5,278member

  July 28, 2003 8:39PM

  I am also trying to decide between a 60 4200, 60 5400, 60 7200, and an 80 4200... speed is a concern... but I don't want to take much of a hit in battery life or heat output (although the hit in the wallet is also a concern )
  
  60 4200 is the cheapest and slowest... 60 5400 seems to be the sweet-spot 60 7200 seems a bit unproven to me and I am not sure about the reliability of it... the 80 4200 would have been great if it was 5400... and I probably would have justified the higher price... but once you get to these high densities... is it really going to make a big difference? which is faster the 80 4200 or 60 5400?
• Reply 5 of 8

  mac+ Posts: 580member

  July 28, 2003 8:42PM

  Hi soobaaaa,
  
  
  
  I'm in the exact same position (Ti550 - 20G, but only 256 RAM).
  
  
  
  Anyway, I was originally thinking of buying a portable FireWire HD, which I could keep when I next upgrade. However, your suggestion has got me thinking. "Replace the original HD" - but how would you transfer the data across? (Dumb question perhaps - but I've never done it before and would not know where to start!)
  
  
  
  
  
  I was also toying with the idea of finally succumbing to the iPod for a back-up HD - but that was too extravagent and I won't buy one until a colour screen and iPhoto interaction is incorporated!
• Reply 6 of 8

  reg Posts: 832member

  July 28, 2003 10:07PM

  For my transfer I used a MCE Transport Pro FW enclosure. I used firewire because of the speed. I used Carbon Copy Cloner, www.bombich,com/software/ccc.html- very good, very easy and the price is very good. Put the new HD in the enclosure connect up the firewire launch CCC and let it go. I had 18 G on my old drive. This will extrend the life of my Ti 500 by several years. The HD install is easy and only required a small phillips screwdriver. I cannot tell the difference in heat or battery life.
  
  
  
  reg
• Reply 7 of 8

  1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member

  July 29, 2003 6:55PM

  I personally have my eye on the expensive, but very fast 7200 rpm 60GB. Another contender, also by Hitachi/IBM is the 5400 80GB.
  
  
  
  But what I'd REALLY like is a hypothetical 7200rpm 80GB drive.
  
  
  
  Seek times are much faster w/ faster spinning drives, actual transfer rates go up mainly due to arial density (high capacity). So in terms of speed, the 7k60 and 5k80 are probably equivalent. The added bonus is that the 7k60 is available now (at ~$350 USD).
• Reply 8 of 8

  paul Posts: 5,278member

  August 9, 2003 9:41AM

  anyone know of any good links to find where to buy these HDs?