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General discussion

Up to no good again!

Nov 5, 2007 1:43AM PST

I'm itchy to tinker with my iBook once again, and have the materials to do it. Here's the plan:

I have a Windows laptop with a 37GB Samsung Hard Drive, 9.5 MM in height, 2.5inches standard size, 5400 RPM, 8Mb buffer, etc etc etc. Very quiet and been used for just over a year. Here it is: http://www.samsung.com/au/products/harddiskdrive/harddiskdrive/mp0402h.asp

In my iBook is a 10GB toshiba hard drive, 9.55MM in height again, 2.5 inches, 4200 RPM, 1Mb buffer, and very noisy to say the least. Here it is: http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/storage/english/spec/hdd/mk1016.htm

In case you haven't yet guessed, I want to pull the Samsung drive from the Win laptop (that I hardly use anymore) and pop it in the iBook. Then I'm thinking later I will either get a bigger hard drive for the Winbox (or I will use BMF's idea and get Flash card storage) and put Vista on it. But that's beside the point. Does anyone see any problem here or have any caveats? I have not researched properly, yet, whether OS X and 9 are compatible with the drive I intend to put in here, but I will research that. I mainly want to swap it in because of the increased storage size (it will be able to hold all of my music and programs etc etc) and the higher speed. I shouldn't think it will get too hot, although, these clamshells appear to have no fan, and just rely on heat dissipating naturally.

Lastly, if anyone can suggest any free utilities which will let me ghost my drive's current contents onto my external, and then restore onto the new drive, that'd be great. Saves putting all the data back on here and getting all the updates etc etc.

Thanks all, looking forward to hear some suggestions!

Discussion is locked

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Why rip out a drive from a WinBox? It'll be formatted for
Nov 5, 2007 9:17AM PST

Windows one would think, even if you clean it. You'd have to use FireWire Target Mode to run Disk Utility on it I believe. As far as I'm concerned, flash drives would prove to be more stable anyhow for the iBook, and I know they work for it, so why do this? If you plan on opening the iBook up and installing a new drive, a flash drive or two would be worth the effort, even if they're smaller than the other HD, which has a rotating disk like the iBook drive. Then you'd have to replace the Windows laptop drive, and that's no fun either. Bypass the WinBox and save yourself some trouble. Flash is just better and more ideal for the iBook.

I hope you consider all of the ups and downs before you do it Wink.
-BMF

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You know what
Nov 5, 2007 8:42PM PST

you are right. Why didn't I think of that in the first place? I shall buy a dual adapter which will allow me to fit in two flash cards (master and slave) and do that.

Thanks for pushing me in the right direction once again...

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Uh... You're Welcome I guess.
Nov 6, 2007 6:17AM PST

I'm not trying to make anyone do anything that they don't want to, I'm just giving my opinion and proof (or I think it's proof).

If this course suits you best, go for it. Happy to help,
-BMF

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Eventually.
Nov 6, 2007 6:30AM PST

Money doesn't grow on trees but I will be upgrading eventually. Probably after Christmas - gifts for my family are more important than for myself.

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Likewise.
Nov 6, 2007 7:12AM PST

Maybe you can buy flash drives for their iBooks too LOL. If only they made flash drives in immense sizes. That would be nice. Holiday season ought to bring some good deals on other hardware hopefully. I could use a new display, hmm... a new Windows machine (unfortunately, my HP is operational, but fails to work on WPA security and can't handle XP anymore) or upgrades for my existing one.

If I could run Boot Camp on a PPC Mac, I'd be really happy right now. If Apple or somebody could get it to run on other stuff other than the x86 architecture, PPC would be even better for people looking to switch. Sadly, this is not done, though I'd like to believe that it may come in the future. Unlikely, since my theory is Apple is trying to eliminate PPC and make everyone use Intel, which can be supported by the requirements of Leopard (though that can be avoided) and the dominance of Intel's new products.
-BMF

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It's not just size, it's expense
Nov 6, 2007 7:56AM PST

Those things are expensive! To get two 16GB Flashcards, it would cost me almost

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Wow. Didn't know that they were THAT expensive.
Nov 6, 2007 8:11AM PST

Ouch. Well, Windows does have the majority of the world. At least you've been able to pick out what's what for you. Me, I'm a Mac person. Left Windows and glad to have switched, though I'm dependent on Windows everyday Sad. MS did a good job though, got to hand them that.
-BMF

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I take it you use Windows at your workplace then...?
Nov 6, 2007 8:28AM PST

I'd see that as a blessing :-]

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I do use Windows, but it's not really Windows anymore.
Nov 6, 2007 11:48AM PST

Long story. Too much ranting and etc. in it LOL. But yes, I use it every single day. Kind of what prompted me to Mac. I'm happy with my choice, as I guess you can see.
It's not a blessing for me (the machines I work with are terrible and the software... ugh, don't get me started). I really don't mind it though. I've been making the best of it. More reason to appreciate OS X.
Windows on my own machines is okay though. I have my own XP desktops with Pentium III chips, one being my not-so-good 500Mhz machine that needs some maintenance that I have neglected to perform :-0. The HD is trashed (with junk) from the short period of time it was used for iTunes. Oh the horror! It was okay for awhile (this is where the ominous music comes in), but then iTunes 7 happened. Then Macs happened and everything was good again (cheery music!). LOL. I'm quite okay with my systems in the end.
And what do you use? Ubuntu or Millennium? Wink LOL.
-BMF

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XP 2000 OS 10 Panther!
Nov 6, 2007 8:49PM PST

^No Linux here. Maybe soon to Vista!

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Come on, XP is the best
Nov 7, 2007 8:53AM PST

by far. You know I was just kidding (no offense Linux). Why go with Vista? XP is going to live much longer for the time being, and at least it works. I'd wait for Vienna, or Windows 7, or whatever you want to call it because that should be much better. 2010 is a long wait though.

But people who like Vista will like it for their own (and unknown I may add Happy ) reasons. LOL. I bet they wonder why Mac users love OS X, though it's quite easy to figure that one out.