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[RossDarker]

Recently got a PowerBook G4 15" 1Ghz Titanium. I was just using Mac OS 9 when the hard drive started clicking then got a sand timer with a black and white beach ball in. I had to shut it down with the power button because everything stopped responding. I booted it back up, but got a grey screen and eventually a flashing floppy disk with a question mark. I then booted of a CD and something started screaming inside of the computer, was quite loud. Then booted to a tiger dvd after loud screaming and clicking on boot and opened disk utility. It would not load the disks. Same on a Mac OS 9 CD.  Used target disk mode to a Mac mini G4 and same result from disk utility, and terminal with "diskutil list", it would not erase with "diskutil eraseDisk", just did nothing. So I shut everything down and took the Hard Drive out of the powerbook, booted back off an external firewire, and there was no more screaming, so I know that the internal drive had failed. What I noticed was that the fans were running at full speed constantly, which I expected because I have heard of fans related to the hard drive. I need to put a new Hard Drive in there obviously, but I need the fans to run like they originally did and not at full power all the time, when the new drive is in. Which drive should I get, so the fans will work properly? Someone please list Hard Disk and SSD options, that will make the fans run as expected when I install the new drive. Cheers.

[macStuff]

i think u should inspect the original drive
shouldnt it have the specs that you neeed to know on it?
you could even try finding the same part number and then look up its specs
and find a suitable subsitute

i think once u replace the drive it should work without issue
re: the fan issue.. isnt it safe to assume that was some kind of response to some type of hardware failure?

check the service documentation from apple!
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/board,168.0.html

[RossDarker]

i think u should inspect the original drive
shouldnt it have the specs that you neeed to know on it?
you could even try finding the same part number and then look up its specs
and find a suitable subsitute

i think once u replace the drive it should work without issue
re: the fan issue.. isnt it safe to assume that was some kind of response to some type of hardware failure?

check the service documentation from apple!
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/board,168.0.html

Can't seem to find any apart from 1 that will not arrive until halfway through April. I see similar ones with the same IDE PATA connectors, would these work? Also on your link there was nothing for a Titanium PowerBook G4. I just want to be very careful on choosing to make sure everything functions the same. Has anyone else replaced their drive in their tiBook do you know? I don't really want to have to pay too much cash for these either.

My failed one is: Toshiba MK6021GAS

I see a cheap one that is: MK8032GAX

they both look extremely similar, the new one is 80GB. The failed one is 60GB.

[GaryN]

The MK8032GAX should work. It will be a slight waste of $$ since it's an ATA-100 drive and the TiBook has an ATA-66 interface, but when you're looking for parts for old equipment of any kind, you mainly look for what works.

The fans had gone into what some tech types affectionately refer to as "jet mode". That's what happens when the boot cycle crashes or gets otherwise interrupted midstream and the fans get powered up without the controller loaded. It sounds scary because you normally never get to hear them running flat out at full speed. That simply never happens in normal use. Don't sweat it.

[macStuff]

yea dont sweat it

before u go out and order that "Special part" out of fear of the fans malfunctioning
i would seriously just get your hands on *ANY* new drive and stick'er in
and let us know what happens

if u are spending $$
personally i would buy a PATA/IDE SSD
https://www.ebay.com/itm/KingSpec-PATA-IDE-2-5-2-5-Inches-64GB-MLC-Digital-SSD-Solid-State-Drive-4R63/131681468772?epid=605514027&hash=item1ea8d3c164:g:q20AAOSwjyhaTgzr

i dont remember hearing anyone complain about fans in a tibook after doing so?
ie: the differences between a mechanical drive + ssd i dont think will cause the fans to run at high speed constantly

[RossDarker]

Won the MK8032GAX for about £4 which is pretty good. It arrives next week so I will let you know how things go when I install it in.

[RossDarker]

I installed the hard drive in and everything seems to work fine, fans and all. At first after installing the OS onto it, got a kernel panic when booted but quick fix using disk utility to repair the volume and it is all good now.