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Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement

What you need

  1. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement, Outer Case: step 1, image 1 of 3 Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement, Outer Case: step 1, image 2 of 3 Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement, Outer Case: step 1, image 3 of 3
    • Release the back handle of the PowerMac. Slowly pull out the cube by holding the end of the handle. Watch for any parts that may become entangled with the outer case.

    • Push back the handle after you have taken the core out of the case.

  2. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 2, image 1 of 2 Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 2, image 2 of 2
    • Place the cube upside down and remove the four T10 Torx screws on the front plate. Then remove the two screws on each side.

  3. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 3, image 1 of 1
    • Slowly lift the plate off the cube and disconnect the power cord.

  4. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 4, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the four pillars from each corner.

    • The pillars should come out fairly easily.

    If the Cube has an Airport card installed, it must be removed. This can be accomplished by disconnecting its antenna, and pulling gently on the clear plastic tab on its end. The bracket it is contained in must be unlatched from the frame and rotated out of the way to get to the two optical drive mounting screws beneath it.

    olearydq - Reply

    There is a ribbed cooling plate attached to the hard drive that must be removed before step 7.

    isitism - Reply

    There is no need to remove the four pillars. Skip step 4. In step 5, don't turn the Cube on it's side. The Airport slot swings out like a door, providing access to the IDE ribbon and power cables to complete step 6. Complete steps 6 and 7 while the cube is upright.

    Timothy Hood - Reply

    You really don’t need to remove all four pillars, or any of them depending on the repair you’re doing. They can be pulled out easily enough, just remove any that get in the way.

    N B - Reply

  5. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement, Hard drive: step 5, image 1 of 1
    • Lift Airport slot.

  6. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 6, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the power cord from the hard drive.

    • Remove the IDE cable from the hard drive.

    • Grip the sides of the hard drive and slowly pull outward.

    To remove the IDE cable you just pull up firmly on the white FOXCONN tab. If it’s stuck you can work it by pulling up on the left and right sides of the tab until it loosens.

    The power cable is much harder to yank out and really takes a lot of pressure and finesse to release. It may be difficult to see but you do want to pull out that entire white block, not merely the top portion. Just grab the two sides with the wing tips and work it out bit by bit. It also helps to have a flat and thin instrument like a spudger to wedge under some of the plastic edges on this plug as you work it out, using the spudger as a lever to help pry the plug out of the hard drive.

    N B - Reply

  7. Power Mac G4 Cube Hard drive Replacement: step 7, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the three top screws of the hard drive use a T8 bit and remove the heat sink.

    • Carefully slide the hard drive to the open side (side without the IDE and power cables) to remove the drive.

    • Turn the drive over, remove the sled rail with a T10 driver for its two screws. Transfer the rail to the same side on the new drive.

    • Insert new hard drive.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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Ryan Chun

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Cal Poly, Team 2-7, Johann Summer 2010 Member of Cal Poly, Team 2-7, Johann Summer 2010

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One Comment

Strictly speaking, steps 2 through 4 aren’t necessary: you can just unscrew the heatsink from the hard drive, as in step 7, and carefully lift it out (I found that tilting it toward the optical drive and then pivoting it out worked).

bobtheflyingsquirrel - Reply

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