Tips on buying new hard drive?

I'd like to install a new hard drive in my 800 mhz iMac G4, but I don't really know enough about hard drives to know what to buy. Would any internal hard drive work with my Mac or do I need to get a specific type of hard drive? Thanks.

Hello,
The iMac uses a standard desktop PC hard drive. It is 3.5" wide and in the iMac G4 uses the IDE connection (also known as ATA or Parallel ATA, ATA 66, etc) but not the SATA (serial ATA) connection as this is different. You should buy a 7,200rpm drive as these are faster than the 5,400rpm drive that came in the iMac 800MHz. You should also look for one with a cache of 8Mb or higher as this also increases the speed.
I've heard mixed reports from 800MHz iMac owners; some are limited to the 128Gb IDE limit found on older IDE Controllers and others are not. I'd advise sticking to a 120Gb internal drive to avoid disappointment. There is essentially no limit to the size of drive you can connect externally via Firewire.
Here is a list of suitable hard drives.
It's pretty fiddly to work inside an iMac G4 so you must be cautious. Always take anti-static precautions. Here are three options for guiding you through the procedure:
MacWorld
xlr8yourmac
Service Manuals
I've also taken a fair few photos which you can find here.
I'd advise reading the reports on the xlr8yourmac's drive database so get other people's experiences first.
You must replace the Thermal Paste when you close the iMac up or it will overheat.
It's probably worth replacing the PRAM Battery whilst you're in there as these have a finite life (once they fail to re-charge you may start to run in to snags - it's only a $5 part). You might also give consideration to upgrading the 'factory' RAM slot.
regards
mrtotes

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Need help buying new hard drive

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I have one of the last generation Macbooks and my hard drive died on me again. this the second hard drive and I only have the device for 1 year and 10 months.
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Hi Puck84,
Puck84 wrote:
1) Is it normal for a Macbook to kill 2 hard drives in less then 2 years? Could it be somthing about my Macbook specific or the way that I use it?
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Puck84 wrote:
2) I don't really feel like spending at least 200 euro's at my Apple reseller to have a new hard disk installed... So I was wondering:
2.a which hard drives are suited for my type Macbook
2.b where do I find them / at which price (within Europe / Belgium)
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Replacing the hard drive in your model MacBook is very easy. Instructions on how to do so are even in the User's Manual that came with your MacBook. If you no longer have the manual, you can download it from here:
http://support.apple.com/manuals/#macbook
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http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/cat/Hard-Drives---Internal/subcat/2.5%22- SATA-Hard-Drives
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Private Message

Advice about buying a new hard drive

I have a TOSHIBA Satellite L25-S1216. I have not been able to boot into Windows XP for 3 years using the factory Recovery and Applications/Drivers DVD and the Fully Recover procedure on the back of the DVD packae. I have been using Linux for the past 3 years. Ubuntu SMART test disk utility tells me I have 20 bad hard drive sectors. I have concluded I should buy a new hard drive, since mine has 20 bad sectors. My current hard drive is ATA-6, so I know I need a PATA compatible hard drive. I'd like to increase to maybe 60 GB from the current 40 GB. I'd also like to go with a solid state drive, but there don't appear to be many PATA compatible solid state drives.
And I don't want to get too complicated or expensive; I want to stay with my current Windows XP. Not sure if a SATA PATA interface adapter would work to allow me to use a SATA solid state hard drive or not. I know (from reading knowledge base posts) there is also the potential problem of the older BIOSs not recognizing the newer Advanced Drive Format drives.
QUESTION: Does anybody have any advice about buying a hard drive that would work for me? How can I be reasonably sure a hard drive I buy is compatible with my computer?
Thank you,
Bob
Solved!
Go to Solution.

either get a pata drive (you can get larger than the stock 40gb) or use your $ towards a more current new/used laptop. pata ssd would be a waste and I doubt adapter would work. also, ms is dropping support for xp so it would be a good time to upgrade to something with a more current os as well.
L305-S5955, T9300 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 60GB SSD, Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit

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