PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement

Use a coin to turn the battery locking screw 90 degrees to the right.

Lift the battery out of the computer.

Remove the four Phillips screws from the memory door.

Slide the memory door away from the memory compartment.

Remove the long black Phillips screw next to the memory card.

Remove the small EMI finger beneath the black screw.

On the keyboard, remove the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys.

This is scary - take a deep breath before continuing. Place your index finger under the upper left corner of the key and lift up until you hear a click. Then, transfer your finger to the left edge of the key and lift up to pull the key off.

You're freeing the two tabs on the left of the key from the two small holes in the plastic scissors mechanism.

Use your fingernail or a small flathead screwdriver to peel up the gray stickers covering each of the screws.

Remove the two short Phillips screws.

Lift the keyboard by the 'esc' and 'eject' keys and gently lift up until the keyboard is vertical.

Grasp the keyboard connector ribbon near the connector and disconnect it from the logic board.

Remove the three small Phillips screws from within the battery compartment.

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise and remove the two medium-length Phillips screws from the casing.

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise again, and remove only the bottom screw on either side of the hinge.

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise just one more time, and remove the two Phillips screws on the exterior wall of the battery compartment.

Turn the computer over and open it up.

Remove the following 14 screws:

Six 2.5 mm Phillips on either side of the keyboard area.

Five 4.5 mm Phillips on the left half of the keyboard area.

One 7 mm hex in the upper left corner of the upper case (a T6 Torx driver will do the job nicely).

One 15 mm Phillips in the upper middle of the keyboard area.

One 16.5 mm hex in the upper right of the upper case (again, a T6 Torx driver will work well).

Peel up the two pieces of foil tape on the left side of the keyboard area.

Carefully disconnect the microphone and power cables from the logic board. Using your fingernails or a dental pick, carefully pry the connectors from their sockets. Make sure you're pulling only on the connector and not on the socket.

Use the orange plastic loop to disconnect the trackpad cable.

Starting at one of the upper corners near the screen, work around the frame, separating the upper case from the lower case.

Lift the upper case off the computer.

Remove the two Phillips screws from the hard drive bracket.

Use the orange plastic loop to disconnect the hard drive cable from the logic board.

Use the orange cable to pull the hard drive up, then pull it and the hard drive bracket out of the computer.

Remove the two Phillips screws on the bottom of the hard drive.

Remove the two Phillips screws and black rubber bumpers from the right side of the hard drive bracket.

Lift the metal bracket off of the hard drive.

Carefully peel the orange hard drive ribbon up from the bottom of the hard drive.

Disconnect the hard drive cable from the hard drive by applying even pressure on both sides while maintaining a firm grip on the drive itself.