Upgrade from Panther to Leopard - how much hard drive GB is needed?

Even though the system requirements on Apple say 9GB is needed, I hear that I really should have more than that and should get a larger hard drive. Has anyone had experience with this? I currently have 11 GB.
In terms of getting a larger hard drive, what is the difference between an external hard drive versus an internal one? Should I get 80 GB or more? Does it replace my current 74.4 GB one or does it add to it? What would work best with Leopard and my PowerBook G4?

Hi again Camille,
Your 74GB is really an 80GB, because manufacturers use a 1000 scale instead of 1024. Thus, you need a 100 or larger. Per other thread, I'd recommend larger. One can never have too much storage capacity, and files keep getting larger and larger, especially if you work with video data.
If you get an external, that means you'd have to haul it around with you, limiting the portability of your PB, but that is an option. I have a 500GB with several partitions sitting next to my PB which I usually leave connected and use for backups.

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  • Upgrading from Panther to Leopard

    Hello,
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    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. 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 and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
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  • Upgrade from Panther to Leopard on PowerBook G4

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    Number Of CPUs: 1
    CPU Speed: 1.5 GHz
    L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
    Memory: 512 MB
    Bus Speed: 167 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: 4.8.4f1
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