About to replace hard drive for the first time

Question

Hello,
I am about to help my grandson replace a hard drive (and upgrade the RAM) on an iBook G4 800mHz
laptop. The current HD is certified dead by our Apple Genius Bar genius, and with any luck, that's all. (I am able to boot the machine from an external drive OK)
He has purchased a Fujitsu 120GB HD from OWC (likewise a 1GB RAM chip) after careful research into compatibility with this particular iBook model. We have been studying the IFixit and powerbookmedic manuals and are thoroughly intimidated by fears of ripping connectors from logic boards (well, I'M intimidated at least!). Bought the right and proper tools, torx and philips drivers and spudgers and all. Right.
My question is this: the HD arrived with a tiny blue part taped to the package....looked like it may be a jumper (I remember this from when friend helped me replace my G4 power pc HD). Does this drive require the placement of a jumper? Also, is it always necessary to format the HD before installation of the OS? Is it really as simple as taking the old drive out and putting the new one in exactly the same way? The instructions look very straightforward, tedious, but straight forward?
Any wisdom before we start to pry open those fragile bits? thanks a bunch!
Dave

Answer 1

David,
As Adrian says use the same tape. Actually the service manual say the same thing, i.e. to remove it carefully so it can be reused.
It's called Kapton tape ( from 3M of course but apparently developed by DuPont ) and I've been interested in it for a long time since it works so well. So I Googled it ( Google is your friend ) and came up with tons of sources. This one was very informative:
http://www.technicaldevices.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=361516
"PRESSURE SENSITIVE SILICONE ADHESIVE SYSTEM ; TRANSPARENT AMBER COLOR ; USED FOR FLAME RESISTANT ELECTRICAL INSULATION, WIRE AND CABLE WRAP, WIRE BUNDLING TERMINATION, SPLICING OF HI-TEMP REFLECTIVE THERMAL INSULATING FILM ; EXCELLENT SOLDER MASK FOR CIRCUIT BOARDS ; RELEASE SURFACE FOR HEATED PLATENS IN HEAT SEALING / LAMINATION ; RESISTS HIGH HEAT OF MOLTEN SOLDER TEMPERATURES OF 100ºF - 500ºF"
Oooh now that IS some nice tape. Might have to get some of that and there are a lot of places where it's real cheap. I had assumed it was real expensive and according to Electronic Goldmine it was:
"Most distributors sell this roll for $50 to $60." They're selling theirs for $24 but that other place $1.00 for what looks like the same stuff. Wait check that, if I'm reading that right it's 6" for $1 and the other place has 36' but it's only 1/8" wide.
Crap.
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty