How to Replace a hard drive in a Powerbook G4 Aluminum

Here is the How to on replacing a hard drive in your powerbook with out spending the cash on costly repair labor. Replacement hard drives can be bought on numerous online stores or at your local computer shop.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Cloth larger than your laptop (clean lint free)
• #0 philips tip screw drive
• T8 torx driver
• Grounding strap

1. Memory cover removal, 3 screws located under the battery. Shut down the laptop.
   
   Disconnect all cables.
   
   Remove the battery.
   
   In the battery bay remove the 3 screws holding down the memory cover and slide the cover back to remove it from the laptop casing.
2. Position fingers to release the ribbon from the connector Touch the metal under the cover to reduce the risk of static discharge.
   
   Remove the memory chips by releasing the tabs so they pop up and then gently pull them straight out.
   
   Using the tips of your fingers. loosen the track pad connector by pulling the white locking bar toward the battery housing. (take care as these ribbon cables and the connectors are very delicate and are easy to break)
   
   Slide the track pad cable out of the loosened connector.
3. Screws removed from the cover are outlined. Notice the small orange ribbon cable this is the track pad cable. Remove the case screws. Pay close attention to where they go as they are different sizes, mark them in bags or with paper so you remember where they go
4. Turn the laptop to the normal position (battery bay facing down)
   
   Located on the sides (located near the ports DVI and Charger port) of the powerbook are 4 screws per side.
   
   They need to be removed, they are all the same screws so they can be mixed up with themselves.
5. Here the upper case is being seperated from the lower case. Open the laptop and turn it so that the screen faces towards you.
   
   Gently begin to pull the upper case half off. Begin to gently lift from the back and work around the edges. Be patient as the upper case my stick or seem hard to pull off.
   
   Once the upper case half is free, lift it off the laptop.
6. The sound cable runs directly over the hard drive and is fragile, exert care when removing. Remove the sound cable (be careful as this cable is also fragile) There may be tape holding the cable down to the laptop, the tape can be removed with the cable.
7. Here is the 4 drive bay screw and the ribbon cable. Disconnect the hard drives ribbon cable from the logic board and then remove the 4 torx screws that retain the hard drive. These screws will need to be replaced in to their respective hole. (the shorter of the screws is replaced in the right front corner.
8. The hard drive is ready to be removed at this point, the speaker cable will need to be rerouted from under the the hard drive ribbon cable to allow the hard drive to be totally removed.
   
   Once the hard drive is removed from the drive bay, disconnect the ribbon cable from the drive and connect it to your replacement drive. make sure that the cable is seated on the correct pins and not on the jumper block.
   
   Install any jumpers that the hard drives manufacturer recommends. Hard drive specifics vary from drive to drive so consult the user guide for your hard drive.
9. The reassembly is now just the reverse of the disassembly. Tape that was located on ribbon cables may be adhered back in it's respective location.
   
   Once the drive is reinstalled and the laptop is booted up you will need your copy of your operating system disk. From here OSX will guide you through initializing and formatting the drive along with the installation of the core operating system.

Tips & Warnings

• Make mental notes of where the screw were removed from as some are sized and need to be replaced in it's proper hole.
• If possible back up your drive or files so they can be transfered to the new drive.
• If the old drive is still good you may want to buying a fire wire or usb2 external case and creating a external storage device.
• Use a disposable ground strap if available to reduce the risk of electrostatic discharge
• Observe all precautions to reduce the risk of electrostatic discharge so as to not damage any components.
• Do not mix up the screws, some are a specific length and require reinstallation in it's correct hole.