It’s rather comical how many screws are required to be removed in order to take a hard drive out of a Macintosh 12-inch G4 Powerbook:
- 2 screws on the outside right
- 4 screws on the outside back
- 2 screws on the outside left
- 2 screws on the ouside bottom
- 4 screws on the ram cover
- 1 screw inside the ram bay (removing the ram first)
- 3 screws inside the battery bay (removing the battery first)
- 2 screws hidden under the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys (by far the craziest spots for screws, you have to POP OFF THE KEYS to get these screws)
- 2 hex screws on the top of the keyboard (so far all the screws have been removable by a really tiny screwdriver, but these hex screws required me going to the hardware store and buying the SMALLEST HEX WRENCH EVER MADE BY HUMANKIND)
- 12 screws on the motherboard (all of varying sizes, THIS MOTHERBOARD IS ONE SMORGASBOARD OF SCREWS)
- 2 more screws holding the hard drive bracket to the motherboard
- 2 more screws to hold the bracket to the hard drive
As if that wasn’t enough screws to drive you screwy, they are all different sizes. So I put each group of screws into their own labled little paper boxes.
It was such an adventure that I felt like Indiana Jones going after the ark of the covenant. But once I uncovered that shiny silver box, there was nothing left inside–at least I didn’t have giant rock-ball chase after me.
Once I put humpty dumpty back together again, I forgot to put the 12 motherboard screws back into humpty. Oh well. I ain’t taking it apart again. Humpty sure had a big fall.
that’s odd. I have a G3 Powerbook (2000 model code-named Pismo). You know how many screws you need to unscrew to get the Pismo’s hard drive out? two. There’s two spring latches on the keyboard that you squeeze and remove the keyboard and the hard drive is right there. You just need to unscrew the hard drive carrier and un-latch the cable to the hard drive and you have a 2.5 hd in your hands.
g3 pismo powerbook… world’s greatest laptop
maybe it’s four screws.