Is replacing the internal drive as scary as it sounds?

My internal hard drive (80 GB on a G4 Powerbook 15" 1.33 MHz) seems completely gone. I can boot from an external hard drive as well as from the optical drive...so I think the computer is otherwise ok.
Disk utility S.M.A.R.T. says my internal drive is failing and it won't mount it.
My question concerns whether installing a new drive myself is as scary as it sounds at ifixit?
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-15-Inch-1-1-5-GHz-BT-1-1/Hard-Dr ive/54/8/
I'd like to avoid the apparent high cost of an Apple Authorized repair shop...or am I being foolish?
Thanks for any help.

I've done this hard drive procedure four times. Its not that difficult. You need the proper tools so I suggest going to a computer store and spend $20.00 on a good computer toolkit.
Print out the disassembly instructions and once each screw is removed place in a container , labeled so you know which screw goes where.
The only problem you'll have:
1) the screws holding the hard drive sled, one may be difficult to remove so you may need to "bend" the sled frame slightly while holding it under slight pressure to get some torque on the screw itself. Actually you don't really need that particular screw if you happened to have a problem with it.
2) once you have to lift the keyboard up take care because of the tiny ribbons attached to it. Lift up and towards you as you face the monitor side of the powerbook. Watch how it comes out because you'll need to replace same way.
3) the connector ribbon from the hard drive to the motherboard is not a big deal. Just use your finger nails and pry up then be sure to seat it properly once you get the hard drive installed.
All this sounds over bearing but is not; just take your time and don't panic. Its just a piece of equipment.

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There are modified device plugins here.

Is it worth it to replace the hard drive of a brand new macbook?

I'm buying a Macbook today and realize it would be cheaper to buy the 160gb laptop, and switch out the hard drive to a 320 gb (its only $76, compared to the $300 difference between the 160gb macbook and the 250gb macbook).
I picked out the hard drive and I know where the hard drive in my laptop will be located, and how to remove and replace it. However I'm a little worried about actually doing it. I wouldn't need to back anything up because I haven't used it before, so can I just replace the hard drive before I ever even turn it on for the first time?
Also, I've never done this before..
What are the risks I'm taking by doing this?
and, is it worth it?

Yup, gotta love OWC!
Try this:
1. Place order for DIY (external enclosure kit + HD) kit.
2. While waiting for delivery, enjoy your MacBook.
3. When kit arrives, back up your MacBook to DVDs!! You know how, right?
4. Swap drives. Careful, you'll need to swap the 4 mounting pins from the current HD to the new one. Our current HD uses hex-keyed pins. And the kit came with enough screws, right?
5. Install "old" HD from MacBook into enclosure (FireWire 800 (zoom!) for Pros, USB for Not Pros). You did order the right one, right? And it came with the right cables, right?
5a. Boot 'Book from that external device (you know how, right?). Maybe not as fast via that cable, hm?
6. Restore to the new internal HD and now reboot from it. Check that all is well before . . .
7. . . . erasing "old" HD in new enclosure. Your backup was fine, right?
8 (and last). Use "old" HD in enclosure as your Time Machine device. What could be better? Continue to use DVDs to back up the whole Mac. (Though there are even cooler ways to bulletproof it . . .)
With Leopard's tools, and these new Macs, geekery will never be the same. It's insanely easy to keep your stuff safe and sound for not that much $$. So gofer it!
MSES

How do I replace the hard drive?

I got a message that my internal hard drive is failing, and I need to back up the data I can and replace it.
I'm running a 27' iMac and I can open any of the users except for the main one. The unit just freezes while booting, unless powered up in safe mode.
Is it possible to do this myself, or ... what options are open to me?
Thanks.

If you have never worked on a computer before and, especially, working inside Macs, in general, and iMacs, specifically, then this is NOT a DIY project for you to undertake.
The aluminum model iMacs are an excersize in patience and tedium to get at anything inside.
Take your Mac into either an Apple Store or Apple Authorized repair service center and pay to have them replace the hard drive.
Apple uses proprietary hard drives that have a special connection for temp sensors that control the iMac's internal fans.
Try and get a backup of your data before you bring this in for the hard drive replacement.
Good Luck!

How do I replace the hard drive in my Macbook Pro

Okay...
I need more space on my computer, so I want to replace the hard drive. I have no OSX install disk, but my computer is running Lion from the app store download. Can I just back up my data onto my new hard drive, and literally just swap them out? Also, how should I back up my drive? should I use a hard drive enclosure with my future drive, and just use time machine or something? Would time machine back up everything? Would the drive become bootable? Please help!

The best way to do this is buy your new drive. Get the largest you can buy, and don't buy anything from Western Digital, just a recommendation. The Samsung 1TB is pretty sweet. Put that drive in a external encloser (they're inexpensive). Using CarbonCopyCloner, clone your internal drive to your external one. This is the cleanest way to do it.
Then, boot to the cloned drive, just to make sure it works. It's just a test. Shut down. Replace drive (you can find the instructions for your MacBook Pro, by searching the support section of this website, the manual is there).
Start up with new drive. Make sure everything is fine. Use old drive in external enclosure as either a data drive or scratch drive for Photoshop or whatever you do.
I would set up Time Machine going forward with your new drive. You need a drive at least as large, and probably 50% larger than your internal drive.

I want to replace the hard drive on my A1181 Macbook

My hard drive is acting funny at times, I haven't lost anything yet, but the boot time is taking longer, as well as loading regular programs. I know it is an older model, but I think between the hard drive being replaced to a solid state drive, and the ram being upgraded to the max that it can take(I think 8GB total), it should do better. Any ideas on doing this myself? I used to work on desktops and replace the internal workings on those, but this little laptop is different. I need to replace the outer shell too, but i think it only comes in the white unibody style for this model.

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I want to replace the hard drive with a larger drive

can I back up my hard drive onto Time Machine then replace with a larger drive then just use time machine to restore without reinstalling all the software?? I currently have a 5400RPM 320 GB hard drive and I want to replace with a 750 GB 7200RPM drive.

Yes you can, but I'd advise you use cloning software and another powered external drive instead, leave the TM drive as extra backup.
What you do is this. Get another external drive equal or larger than the 750GB drive.
Use Disk Utility to format this drive HFS+ Journaled.
Then download a (donations accepted, but otherwise free to use) copy of Carbon Copy Cloner, then clone your OS X boot drive to the external drive.
Hold option and reboot the computer, you will get a choice of bootable drives, including the external drive.
Once your booted off the clone, check it out and Repair Permissions in Disk Utility on both drives.
Once your happy it works good. Then make the internal hard drive switch.
When that's done, hold option and boot off the clone and simply reverse clone onto the internal drive.
You can also hold c and boot off the installer disks and use TimeMachine to restore to the internal drive.
However if there is a problem with your new internal drive or your disks are scratched, or your Superdrive fails, your might have nothing to boot from, with the clone you can option boot off of that and order a replacement drive or simply use it until the replacement arrives.
(well I guess you could place the old drive back in, then switch it out again, but it's risky working inside a machine, you could lose screws or static charge something or accidentially pull a cable, so the less inside time the better, plus you'll need the larger drive anyway to TM too.)
So you get a lot more protection that you can get online and working in a few seconds with a clone.
TimeMachine drives are not bootable, I wish they were but they aren't.
So it's best to have both methods at the ready in case one fails.
(disclaimer: I haven't used TimeMachine myself my needs are more specialized, I'm quoting second hand information and may contain inaccuracies as I'm not a TM expert)
For further information I point you to Pondini's excellent guide of the capabilities of each here.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Clones.html

Replacing The Hard Drive, How To Install The OS Again?

Hi all again! Sorry for posting so many questions.
I have a macbook pro late 2011 model. I want to replace the hard drive with an SSD drive but I am not too familiar with Mac products. My question is... do I just take out the old hard drive and put the new one in? Is there a CD with the Max OS on it that I could then use to install the OS onto the new drive?
Thanks!

There are a large number of DIY's, HowTo's and the like on the subject, may want to search a bit.
If you re comfortable to the layout and content of the current internal drive, the quick & dirty would be:
Get an external enclosure for the new drive.
Connect/power up, then use Disk Utility to prep the drive for Mac use: GUID partition scheme & Apple Extended (Journaled).
Use Disk Utility or CarbonCopyCloner to clone the internal volume onto the external.
Test to ensure all is well.
Swap drives when ok.

Why does Mac force boot to the recovery partition even when an external recovery option is selected? This disables the option of reformatting the internal drive because it is in use running the recovery partition.I have yet to find a viable solution.

To make a very tedious story short, My Mac decided that it would crash and not reboot the OS. I decided to bite the bullet and just reformat, sacrificing my very important data. I have tried just about every trick in the book. There is one one major problem I am facing. When I try to reformat the internal HDD using Disk Utility. It fails to unmount. "Make sure that all applications and files are closed on this disk.", Suggesting that the computer is ignoring my command at startup to boot from my external recovery drive, and using the Recovery partition on the problem drive, making it impossible to reformat the drive. When the internal drive is removed and connected by another method it is not recognized.
I failed to read the fine print on the box that suggested I purchase another Mac to fix problems with my primary Mac because any utility with the potential to fix the problem can only be run on a functioning Mac.

Booting to any version of the Recovery system, the built in partition on the internal drive, a recovery partition on an external drive or from the Online internet system will not stop you from formatting the Macintosh HD partition on the internal drive. So your problem is not that you are booting from the internal Recovery HD partition. It is probably your internal hard drive has problems, failing.
You could try booting the system from the Online system. At startup hold down the Option/Alt + Command + r keys and keep them held down until you see a globe on the screen. That will boot the system from across the internet from the Apple servers completely removing the internal drive as a boot source. If you still can't erase and format or repartition and format the internal drive then your drive has problems and will need to be replaced.

Can the internal drive be updated to larger capacity

can the internal drive be changed to a larger capacity,current drive is 160GB?

If you have a Unibody MacBook Pro, then, it is a simple exercise replacing the hard drive.
Youtube will have video instructions.
ifixit.com will have step-by-step photos to guide you.
Any 9.5mm height, sata II drive will work in your MBP from either Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Fujitsu or Hitachi.
A 7200 rpm drive is recommended for extra speed.

DIY: Is it possible to replace the Hard Drive on a MacBook?!

It seems it is permitted to replace the Hard Drive on a MacBook (13"). I found Apple "Hard Drive Replacement Instructions 073-1045 Rev A" dated 26 Jan 2007.
OK this is very basic-- but my question is: When you get the Hard Drive and Install it-- can you boot from an external HD and then FORMAT THIS DRIVE? Where to PURCHASE the drive?
Thanks as I prefer to do this as my data is backed-up and to wait 15 days to have Apple do this in Belgium... I need this Mac!
Thanks for any comments.-- Again, key question is: WILL THE HD be unformatted or ??? and how to format. I have an external drive (several) or can boot from the DVD.
THANKS!
Steve

You'll find a good tutorial here: http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/installation.cfm.
Be sure to prep the new drive properly:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disk. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button and set the partition scheme to GUID, then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Now you can clone your external drive to the new internal drive:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the internal volume from the left side list.
2. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the internal volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the external (startup) volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Replaced the Hard Drive, now there's no power! What did I do?

Any help would be appreciated!
I have a PowerBook 17" G4 and I just replaced the hard drive. After using ifixit's directions, I hooked everything up and tried to start it. Nothing! I re-opened the case and checked all of my connections. Nothing! Not a peep. Then I put my old hard drive in and reconnected. Still nothing.
I was seated the whole time and, to the best of my knowledge, never built up static electricity. I can't figure out the next step. Also, I tried to reset the PMU, but I'm not even sure that would have worked since it won't start. The PB is old, so a new one is probably in order soon, but I'd like to get another year or so out of it.
Any ideas? I've read that the logic board can fail. If so, is that easy to replace? I'm no expert, but I did (unsuccessfully) install a hard drive!
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have.

You also have to sometimes accept that everytime you open up and unplug things, you run the risk of disturbing something.
No matter how experienced you are, I have seen many times where just the act of swapping a CPU or changing RAM has triggered a failure elsewhere in the system.
I think the culprit of these occurances is voltage remaining in the capacitors. It is widely acknowledged that holding the power button down for 30 seconds after unplugging devices can restore function, so it is equally likely that failiing to do so, and failing to release the charge held in the capacitors before doing work can lead to internal discharges when plugging and unplugging devices and therefore lead to unwittingly damaging equipment.
Just a theory though.....

My hard drive on my MacBook Pro stopped working and I had to replace the hard drive. I cannot get my playlists and photos to appear in my iTunes and iPhoto. Does anyone know how to resolve this?

My hard drive on my MacBook Pro stopped working and I had to replace the hard drive. I cannot get my playlists and photos to appear in my iTunes and iPhoto. Does anyone know how to resolve this?

Peace Lilly wrote:
... Will I loose everything if I connect the iphone to the itunes as a new device?
To avoid that...
See these 2 Links...
Syncing to a New Computer...
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

Is replacing the internal drive as scary as it sounds?

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