adding exrernal master hardrive to ibook

L

le_bonn

Registered
hi everyone i hope you wont think me presumptuous coming on here and asking for help from the offset but i am at my wits end. I am a third year student and am in desperate need of a working computer and cant afford to send it of to get fixed. you are my only chance.

i have an Ibook G3 900 running osx 10.3.4. i have been having loads of problems for the last 8-10 months i have totally reinstalled every thing twice and this offers a very temporary fix. i have recently downloaded tech-tool and this informed me that 2 of the s.m.a.r.t. test are failing totally with a threshold of only 1, there are also thousands of bad blocks on my surface hard drive. am i correct in thinking that my built in hard drive is a write off? if so how do i go about installing and setting up and external hard drive to act as the main drive, is this possible i just dont know.

Please help me, i will be very grateful

your Liam
 
'i hope you wont think me presumptuous coming on here and asking for help from the offset' - no one, nor you, should think such.

'... am i correct in thinking that my built in hard drive is a write off?' - based on what 'TechTool Pro', most likely.

'if so how do i go about installing and setting up and external hard drive to act as the main drive, is this possible i just dont know.' - yes, it is possible; particularly, since your iBook G3 900 MHz has a FireWire port.

All you need to do is purchase an external FireWire drive; or, just buy the external FireWire (some also come with a USB 2.0 connector) enclosure and then purchase any size (in GB) 3.5" (8.89 cm) ATA hard disk drive, hdd, you can afford. Sometimes the pre-enclosed models equal the price of you purchasing the two components. You will also require a standard 6-pin FireWire cable.

The iBook contains a 2.5" (6.35 cm) ATA hard disk drive. They are typically more expensive than the 3.5' (8.89 cm) hdd, when equivalent in Giga Bytes.

Should you find a 2.5" (6.35 cm) ATA hdd, and want to install it, go to 'pbfixit.com' for instructions.
 
You will need a drive that supports booting an operating system -
not all external firewire drives will do this.

This 80 GB FW drive will meet that requirement.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/ME2FW7080GB/

or, for $52 more, you can get this 250 GB FW drive.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/ME2FW7250GBJ/

I have the 250 GB model - my iBook hard drive died
2 years ago and i now boot it from the external drive.

I also use the FW drive to back up my powerbook and powermac.

* the hard drive on the 250 GB model is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 drive - which is a much better drive than the Hitachi DeskStar 7K80 in the 80GB model.
 
'You will need a drive that supports booting an operating system - not all external firewire drives will do this.' - it is not the hard disk drive, hdd; but, the FireWire to ATA (or FireWire to SATA) printed circuit board's chip set which determines external hdd bootability.

Any hdd (manufacturer, size in GB, etc.) should be able to be used, with today's 'FireWire' chip sets.

While true that, in the past, some FireWire chip sets would not allow one to boot from an externally connected hdd - they are now far and few between. Again, I am not saying that all FireWire chip sets will boot an externally connected hdd; but, I have yet to come across one (FireWire chip set) - yet.

Beware of the 'Hitachi DeskStar' (formerly of IBM) series hdds, they [not necessarily every model] are known to produce a just audible whine - like a kittens 'meow' or an infant child's cry. They do this during the calibration period of a second of so, within every minute, for the duration that the hdd is ON.
 
I agree with Barhar, I think. :D

You are better off replacing the internal drive. You can put a faster, higher capacity drive in there and get a performance boost instead of a hit from using an external.

The replacement is not for the faint of heart, but it is doable by a hobbiest. All you really need is time, a screwdriver and a little patience.
 
thanks alot for all your help i will have a think about your sudgestions and let u now how it goes.

once again thanks

liam
 
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