[TiBook Terry]

I have a 200 GB LaCie FireWire HD, and I was wondering what steps I need to go through to install a larger PowerBook HD (I currently have a 30 GB HD, but I'd like to buy a 60 or 80 GB HD and install that).

Can I backup my entire HD onto the FireWire drive and simply swap out the PowerBook HD?

Also, when purchasing a new PowerBook HD, is the faster rpm always the better (or is it louder, hotter, etc.)?

Any help would be appreciated!
Terry

[Grip]

First off, I have no experience with your particular laptop. Having said that:

When I installed a new HD in my 12" Powerbook, I followed this online guide. It helped me, hope it helps you.

Definitely backup anything you'd want to reinstall on the new HD. However the worst-case scenario (in terms of data preservation) is you still have the original HD.

There are many HDs to choose from. Some are louder than others so shop around for the specs you are looking for. Good luck.

[Brad]

We have a recent related thread in the Apple Products forum: New PowerBooks - self-installed 7200 HDs

Replacing the internal hard drive is risky business. Unless you're quite comfortable with taking apart delicate equipment, I would not advise it. You'll break the warranty and maybe your PowerBook too.

[Luca]

If you have a TiBook, it should be reasonably easy to install a new hard drive. That was one of the user-upgradable features of the TiBook (no longer user-upgradable according to Apple in the aluminum PowerBooks). Here's what you want to do:

- Buy a replacement hard drive. You should definitely go for a 5400 RPM at least, because they're hardly any more expensive than 4200 RPM drives and a bit faster. You can get a 60-80 GB, 5400 RPM hard drive for around $100-$130, or you can even spring for a 60 GB, 7200 RPM hard drive for about $150. They do run a little bit hotter and draw a little bit more power, but the speed increase more than makes up for it. NewEgg is a good place to go to buy laptop hard drives.

- Back up the contents of your current hard drive to your external. One way of doing this is to simply run Carbon Copy Cloner, a free (well, $5 shareware, but you can use it without registering) piece of software that makes an exact duplicate of your hard drive on another hard drive. You can clone your 30 GB drive over to your LaCie, then clone it back to the new hard drive you install and you'll be able to use it just like before without even reinstalling OS X.

- Before you take your original hard drive out, make sure you reformat it. You can make this easier by booting from your Firewire hard drive. Go to System Preferences, choose Startup Disk (after cloning), and select the external hard drive as your startup device. Once you are booted up, you can use Disk Utility to format your internal drive. That way, once you remove it, you don't have to worry about the next user of the drive having access to all your stuff.

- Once you've cloned all your stuff to your external drive and formatted your internal drive, you can do the swap. Apple Support has an article explaining how to replace the hard drive in a TiBook, but the directions are different depending on which model you have. Do you have any more information about it other than that it's 667 MHz? There were two 667 MHz PowerBooks, one of which has an 1152x768 screen, VGA output, and a 16 MB video chip. The other one has a 1280x854 resolution, DVI output, and 32 MB video. If it's the older model, the information is available here, otherwise, it's available here

Brad, if you'll notice, he has a TiBook, not a new aluminum PowerBook. It's not the same.

[Brad]

D'oh. I didn't notice that.

Yeah, the titanium models are a lot easier to upgrade than the aluminum.

[TiBook Terry]

Luca,

Thanks for the great info. Thanks also for the cool links to the store, cloner program, and article.

(In case you were still wondering, I've got the "older" version of the 667 MHz TiBook, so smart thinking about including both links.)

Did/Do you have a TiBook, or do you just know a lot about apple computers?

Terry.

[Luca]

I happen to have a pretty extensive knowledge of Macs, particularly when it comes to upgrades and modifications. I haven't owned a TiBook myself, but my dad has one. I've also done a lot of tinkering with various Macs, especially the Wallstreet PowerBook G3 and the PowerMac G4. But I have also opened my dad's TiBook, to install an Airport card. It's not the easiest upgrade you can do (it's much easier to replace the hard drive in the older PowerBook G3 models), but it's still a lot easier than with the latest round of PowerBooks.

[FFL]

I've done at least a dozen TiBook hard drive upgrades, including 2 on my own 'book. And yet, my experience was completely unneeded in this thread - wow!

It sure is great having Luca around, because he generally knows his stuff, and I don't have to bother correcting, or adding to, what he sez!

Now Brad on the other hand... he's usually pretty sharp, but kinda blew it in this particular thread...

D'oh. I didn't notice that.

... a thread started by someone calling himself TiBook Terry

I have a related (to Terry's) question that I would appreciate some help with:

I am upgrading the 30GB HD on my 400MHz Powerbook to a 100GB one. I bought a coolmax USB 2 enclosure for the new HD, and installed it in there. I had thought that it would show up as unformatted, and i could then format it, use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy my 30GB onto the 100GB, then swap the 100GB into the powerbook. The powerbook (nor my WinXP PC either) refuses to recognize that there's anything plugged into the USB port. Is this because the HD is unformatted, or some other reason?

What would be the simplest way in which to upgrade to the new HD without re-installing the ton of custom software on my machine?

Thanks very much for any help. Oh, and I'm a PC power user, but a Mac novice. So I won't take offence at any "obvious" instructions!

[Luca]

Try swapping the hard drives, putting the 100 GB into the PowerBook and the 30 GB into the external enclosure. If the PowerBook recognizes the 100 GB drive when installed internally, and it doesn't see the 30 GB, then it's almost certainly the enclosure. Otherwise it's probably the new hard drive.

Luca, thanks for the suggestion. It finally turned out to be the USB connection: when I got a firewire enclosure, things got better, and I've just managed to succesfully clone my old HD onto the new one. I had lots of help from AppleNova, and the Carbon Copy Cloner forum at Bombich, and I'm very grateful.

So, once again, thanks, Luca! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond - I've been trying various things to get it to work.