[geeks] Swapping hard drives in a G4

Brian Dunbar brian.dunbar at liftport.com
Thu Sep 7 20:29:18 CDT 2006


Brian Dunbar wrote:
> I've got two G4 Powerbooks.  They do not have the sam RAM or processor
> speed.  OS on the first is 10.4.6
> 
> The LCD backlight on the first has crapped out.  Is it possible to
> simply plug the hard drive from the one with a broken LCD to the healthy
>  laptop with a minimum of fuss and bother from the operating system?
> 
> And yes I could simply move everything from one to the other.  But.
> 
> I'm due for an new Mac from work Real Soon Now.  The less fuss and
> bother I have to get up and running for a few weeks the better.  The
> thing works it's just not very usable as a laptop and the lack of the
> LCD for a second screen on my desk is driving me bats.
> 
> 

Follow up.

In the end I did take the non-broken PB G4, re-install Tiger and during
 the install process have it suck the user data, network settings and
applications from the old PB to the new one by firewire.  It's up, I've
got a laptop with a working LCD, all my 'stuff' and a slightly larger
hard drive in the process.

Some reasons why - I'm fumble-fingered and the prospect of buggering up
the hard drives left me cold.  And, frankly, Apple has - and I knew this
before from reading but I know it now for a fact - made it king-hell
easy to upgrade machines.  It only cost me, really, two hours of time
and poof, done.

So I'm a happy guy.  Thanks for all of your comments - it's nice to know
that a place like 'The Geeks List' exists.

-- 
Brian Dunbar
System Administrator
Liftport - The Space Elevator Company

brian.dunbar at liftport.com
aim: bdunbar1967

this email is: [ ] bloggable [x] ask first [ ] private

Remember.
But move forward, too. Light a candle, yes. But also drive a rivet.
~Lileks



More information about the geeks mailing list