Swapping out hard drives - Quicksilver

I have 2 identical G4 Quicksilver PowerMacs and the logic board is fading fast on the first one. The 2nd one has been offline for a few years now and I would like to move the drive with my apps and data from the 1st machine into the 2nd one (I started the 2nd one today and it ran great).
Other than moving my drive to the 2nd machine, are there any other things that I should consider? Both drives are the same size, same make/model etc. I was going to move the larger RAM sticks to the 2nd machine and boot it up prior to the swap but cannot think of anything else that might be a show-stopper.

Hello BB,
I'm with Grant.
I'm sure they do, but I've never seen a logic board fade fast, or slow; they usually work or they don't, and they don't fail very often.
By, contrast, hard drives fail all the time - particularly when they're eight years old - and often in a protracted manner, so that you can see (or hear) their demise coming. It might be time to be sure you're backed up.
If your Macs are absolutely identical, everything interchanges freely. (2001 and 2002 Quicksilvers, however, are not identical, as the 2001s do not natively recognise the larger [over 128GB] hard drives.)
Dual processor Quicksilvers tend to run a little hot - some hotter than others - which can shorten component life. If you don't mind the extra noise, you can fit a more powerful CPU fan; makes it sound like a leaf blower, though.
Regards,
Jon

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Hi
I phoned Apple Care to ask the same question as I changed the stock RAM sticks and hard drive a month ago.
I even phoned up twice and spoke to two different staff to make sure I get the same answer.
Basic as the previous post stated, the warranty remains the same apart from the new parts you replace. However, Apple Care people told me if something went wrong when you are installing the new parts, then your warranty is not valid.
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Swapping out hard drives

I have a 2008 (pre-unibody) macbook pro whose video just died. I'd like to put its bootable drive in an older 2007 intel mackbook pro. I've installed it on the older machine but the apple logo and the loading animation is all that I get upon bootup. Do I need to reset something first? Many thanks in advance.

Hi s,
There is no "reset." It's likely that there is something hardware specific in the OS. You could try booting from the install disc and installing a new OS on it (which would preserve your user folder, settings, and apps).
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Message was edited by: tjk

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Mac OS X (10.4.9)
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They did not do backups of any kind, it was not necessary<<</div>
It wasn't? I think you've proved that theory wrong!
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Can I swap the hard drive from MacBook Pro 17 (2009) to MacBook Pro 15 (2006)?

My MacBook Pro 17 (2009) died. Pushing the power button gets no response. I had had problems with it for some time turning it on, it usually taking many many tries. Plus when I'd try to do a restart after updating software, instead of doing so it'd shut off super quick with a *pop* sound. There was never any of the typical hard drive going bad sounds I've read about and seen in videos. Since it has refused to turn on I've gone through every suggestion I can find to get it to turn back on. Unhook the battery and try starting from just the power cord; the shorting the power pads move; some thing undoing the battery, counting to 10, and then the next steps now escape my memory, but doing more counting to 10 inbetween; unplugging the battery and leaving it sit for 2 days with no power cord plugged in either, then hook it to a power cord and turn it back on; and so many more.
Also the symptoms just before this fiasco were as follows: I had a CD in the internal drive and was browsing through the images on it via the handy previewer using the space bar. Then I decided to quite, tried ejecting the CD by dragging the icon to the trash, and nothing. I tried again. The same. Then I pushed on the eject key, with the ejct icon popping up on the screen momentarily, but still nothing. Then it appreared as though some things worked and other things were not working. In my frustration I went to the Apple menu and clicked restart with a wince knowing it was going to take forever to turn back on. It did the usual quickly off with a *pop* and made super short lame attempts to turn back on when using the power button. Of course the CD kept trying to spin for a split second and then the little indicator light on the front would go out, then no noise at all.
Since I do not believe it is the hard drive (of course I could be wrong not being a Mac nerd at all), I was wondering if I can switch the hard drive to my Macbook Pro 15 (2006)?
I tried this, but it would not read the hard drive. Just a blank grey screen. If it is possible to do this swap, what are the exact steps to do? Please answer like I'm completely illiterate on this, because I really am. I'm super scared of losing everything on the dead MacBook's hard drive. Yeah yeah, I know: then why have I not been backing things up? I had the week prior. Believe me I WILL be doing it daily from now on if I get this mess straightened out!
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Name: MacBook Pro 17 (info gained from the serial on the bottom and then looked up online)
Model: A1297
Model Code: mbp_17_early_09
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed: 2.8GHz
RAM Type: DDR3 PC8500 SODIMM 1066MHz
RAM Slots: 2
Max RAM by Slot: 2 x 4GB
Maximum RAM: 8GB
RAM Pairing: Modules may be installed individually
Hard Drive Connection: SATA 300
Hard Drive Platter Size: 2.5"
Device Connectivity: USB 2.0, FireWire 800
Video Output (base graphics option): Mini DisplayPort
Expansion Slots: ExpressCard/34
Max Operating System Version: 10.6.8 (I believe that is what was last on the computer)
Name:    MacBook Pro 15" (retrieved from the System Profiler on this Mac)
Model Identifier:    MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    4 MB
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Boot ROM Version:    MBP22.00A5.B07
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OGELTHORPE really sorry to keep bugging you, but it's obvious you know what you are talking about and I'm stuck on thin ice here getting this fixed, because there are no authorized Apple reps here. I would rather shoot myself for messing up, then to trust someone who "says" they can fix my Mac down here.
I checked out a company owned by ebay that is the same down here, called MercadoLibre. There are quite a few adapters listed there. I'd like to give you links for some and was wondering if you minded taking a look to tell me if any seem to fit the bill. Some have specs in English, others don't. (Google translater is my friend!)
#1. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-415826915-adaptador-usb-a-ide-y-sata-con -cables-y-fuente-envio-gratis-_JM
#2. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-416270876-usb-20-to-ide-sata-25-35-hard- drive-_JM#D[S:HOME,L:HISTORY,V:1]
#3. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-416384859-adaptador-usb-20-a-sataide-_JM
#4. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-415596152-adaptador-usb-20-para-sata-e-i de-manhattan-_JM
#5. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-416061182-adaptador-de-usb-a-sata-o-ide- 3525-con-fuente-externa-_JM
#6. http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-416061069-convertidor-usb-20-a-sata-hdd- 25-soporta-hasta-1tb-_JM
These are all cost effective enough that I don't care the price - cheap, expensive - whichever will work the BEST!
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Just so you can see what all is listed right now:
http://listado.mercadolibre.com.uy/7200-rpm-hdd-2.5-macbook-pro
Another newbie question: How do I check what the amount if RAM is presently installed in it? (I might be a greenhorn, but I take pride in not being a dumbie and I learn when taught)
Right now, I'm willing to spend almost anything. I want a few files that are on the HDD at the moment that I was stupid and did not backup on my external. One file I worked on all day due to the dimensions I had to design it at and each effect took a long time to render. I really don't want to do that one again!.. I'm also willing to spend anything that won't cost me the price of a new iMac. Figure that should be the next one I buy that is affordable, but won't be overworked like the MBP was.
Once again, thanks much for all of your help!

Can I swap my hard drive to another ibook g3?

My screen has broken [liquid damage] and to get it fixed it'll cost £100-£300 and I don't know if it's just the screen gone. It will be cheaper probably to buy a new ibook off ebay and sell my ibook in parts. But I'll need to back up my 60gb hard drive. Firstly, how do I do that? If I remove it will my data all be gone? Can I install that in another ibook g3 [whether of same speed and RAM or not]? The hard drive is seemingly undamaged because the computer still turns on and surely you need data from that to power up - or at least it means the logic board is fine.
Anyway, how do I back it up? Would it actually be better buying a new ibook off ebay - do I need the exact same specifications as mine in order to swap hard drives if that's possible
thanks

Steph,
First what kind of liquid? Coffee, coke, wine and the like can be very corrosive to minute electrical traces on the motherboard.
the liquid went onto the top part of the keyboard where the speakers and power buttons are found but may have got into the inner edge of the screen and obviously with that not going on it has broken it.
Not necessarily the LCD but the cables for the LVDS and inverter go through that area. Also liquid in that area can easily find it's way to the logic board and that could be fatal. I intend to post instructions on dealing with liquid problems. First of all iBooks should have all power pulled and necessary drying out procedures initiated before attempting power up.
the cursor is not moving so i guess that has broken and so i can't test if the keyboard is working because i can't get logged on. the battery has decharged itself so somehow liquid has got into whatever powers that up, maybe the adapter port as that's on the side?! it does still power up, i can hear it whirring, does that mean that the logic board is still ok? and when you said that if i have a working logic board i can recover data that way, does that mean if i put my logic board from my ibook into a new one, my data would still be on it?
Your data is on the hard drive.
and with the powering up but no screen image does it also mean that the hard drive is still intact?
Probably. Will it go into target mode as in my first post?
Richard

Decided to use MacService to swap my hard drive

I have 80 gb hard drive that was running out of space. So, for 245, I got a 160gb Hitachi drive, which includes shipping, cloning the new drive, and installation. I went to the local MacMall and they wanted 350 to do it, or I could have bought the hard drive for 110, and the drive case for 40. That would have saved me 100, but that is not enough to get me to open the case, and swap it. I am pretty handy, and have even built a computer before, but I just did not want to mess with my powerbook that much. I will let you know how it goes. The web site is macservice.com.

I just got my powerbook back today from Mac Service. I can't tell the difference at all. And that is great. The hard drive is now huge, my computer is working as fine as ever, and that is exactly what I wanted. Now, I can use my old hard drive as an external backup after I hop to MacMall in Torrance and get a case for it for about $30. While I am there, I may upgrade my RAM to 2 gb from the current 1 gb. The price for that will be about $60, since I have a Dec, 2005, model, with the PC 4200 ram.

Thinkpad Edge S430 - Swapping out optical drive for HDD?

Hi There
I just ordered myself an S430 with a 128gb SSD HDD included. I didn't see an option to replace the optical drive with a secondary HDD (e.g. a 500gb) so have the optical drive in as standard. Now, I would have rather changed this out for a secondary HDD or for a Blu-Ray drive, thinking I could do this myself once bought...Looking at other posts it looks like you can swap out the optical drive for a Blu-Ray drive, although I would preferably get a secondary drive over the Blu-Ray, but I'm hesitant over a few things:
Is this possible to do myself (swapping out for either secondary HDD or blu-ray drive) without voiding the warranty? (I got it with 2 year warranty)
Is it actually possible to do at all? (swapping out for a secondary HDD)
Thanks
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Unfortunately, I have found no hard drives that are compatible for your optical bay. I do believe the reason you can change out your optical drive is to change to a blue-ray or CD, or DVD, maybe a player or burner. But like I said, I have found no hard drive that can fit in your optical drive. You may be able to find what I could not but I have been looking all over the web.
I know how you feel, my computer at home can not have any hard drives in the optical bay as well.
Best regards,
Alex
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Swapping out hard drives - Quicksilver

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