Worth replacing a hard drive on a 3 year old computer?

I'm using a Powerbook G4 12" with 1.33 GHZ and the original hardware, purchased it back in Fall '03. The past couple of days, it has started to act up - about 60% of the time, it wouldn't even turn on properly, failing to even reach the Apple startup screen. If I did succeed in reaching my desktop, applications would take forever to open or simple stall. Anyhow, I ran disk utility off the install disk and found a minor problem in the volume bitmap, which was promptly fixed. The stalling persisted. So I ran Apple Hardware Test and was given the 2STF/8/3: ata-100 ata-6 mass storage error code. I don't know what that means exactly but gauging from some of the other posts, it looks to be predicting the imminent failure of my hard drive. I'm going to try and take it into the Genius Bar tomorrow but am not hoping for much.
At any rate, the crux of my question is this: if it is my hard drive preparing itself for the great beyond, is it worth buying a replacement hard drive for my 3-year old computer? Or should I just buy a new cheap Macbook? I'm on a student budget at the moment, so I'm trying to figure out which makes the most long-term sense. Last thing I want to do is fork out for a new hard drive only to have something else breakdown. I haven't upgraded my current computer much - I added an airport card and just bought a new battery but that's it.
Any thoughts? Apologies for the long-winded post.
Powerbook G4 12" Mac OS X (10.4.6)
Powerbook G4 12" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Welcome to Apple Discussions, robtas and johndavi.
From the description it seems most likely that the internal hard drive is failing. Judging by your model of PowerBook, I would not be surprised if the drive is a Toshiba. If so, then you may also hear unusual noises from the drive.
The normal thing to do is backup/retrieve your data (if necessary or feasible) and then replace the drive. A hard drive replacement is not necessarily that expensive. Potentially you might be able to source a suitable drive online from $60 upwards and have that fitted for, maybe, $50. If you are comfortable working with a computer's innards then online structions are available here.
As for whether you should just buy a MacBook... personally I think, for now, you should just replace the drive unless you have other urgent needs that a MacBook can serve. The MBs may also have teething problems that need sorting out. Replacing the drive will be far cheaper than buying a MB.
15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.6) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

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Dad of Noel wrote:
Anyone can tell me how to prevent HDD cable from bad situation again?
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2. If it works properly the your HDD is OK.
3. Then work for some days with the OS installed to check the condition of HDD.
4. If any problem happens then you need to buy a new one or if its recently bought, go for RMA.
5. If there is no problem, then do a clean install(delete the partitions while installing OS) with your Vista Recovery.
6. Use a Better Security with MSE/Avira/Trand Micro
For Replacing with a different HDD, you must consult nearest HP Service Point for the change in your hardware configuration, so that they will register with Microsoft with the new HDD.
Note: Give the old and new HDD to HP Service Point employee.
** If your problem is solved then Mark this as Answer! **
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Worth replacing a hard drive on a 3 year old computer?

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