Dead Macbook I want to get rid of - anybody interested?

Latte Other Software & Development
1

If this doesn’t bear fruit I will turn to eBay, but I thought I’d try here first (if that’s ok).

I’ve got a Macbook that has died - it’s either a teeny, tiny power-connector that has gone, or it’s the motherboard (according to a genius). Otherwise it’s in tip-top condition. The casing isn’t cosmetically perfect, but I’ve still looked after it pretty damn well.

So yeah, if you know how to cannabilise/modify/repair Macs, or want to try, let me know.

I am hoping for about £200-300 for it, but I don’t know what people are willing to pay; so I’m happy to negotiate.

Ooh, the other thing is that I haven’t wiped the hard-drive. Either I could do with some advice on how to do that, or I will have to take it on trust that is you decide to use the hard-drive, you’ll do a clean install.

Thanks a lot!

2

Hi Sebbi,

I’m not interested in the macbook, however as a word of advice on formatting your hard drive.

The best way is to remove the drive from the Macbook and place it inside a USB or Firewire enclosure. Connect it to a Mac (Windows or Linux will do) and erase the drive using Disk Utility.

Removing the hard drive is simple; you can access the drive by removing the battery. Google ‘macbook hard drive replacement’ or visit ifix.com for online or downloadable instructions complete with illustrations.

USB or firewire drives are cheap and can be found easily on many web retailers. Seeing as you’re in the UK (me too!) I recommend buying from ebuyer.com. This one will do the trick nicely:
ebuyer.com/product/143545
Assembly is easy and you’ve scored your self a portable drive for your efforts.

I hope that helps - at least from a conceptual level. If you need more help then google is your friend, otherwise feel free to PM me.

cheers,
ChrisR

3

Thank you very much. I have been thinking of getting a small external drive for a while so this is pretty good.

I have ordered the casing you suggested as a result.

4

And as a matter of your personal security, wipe that drive… in fact, do it about seven times.

5

No worries mate, glad to have helped.

6

I think the plan now is to use that as a small portable external drive and then sell the Macbook without a hard-drive. I figured if it’s going to be used for parts, the hard-drive won’t really be a selling point, it’ll be the things like the DVD drive and the casing and things like that.

But I probably will do as you suggest anyway.

7

Not to try to come off as a computer geek, because I’m definitely not, but when my iBook died (motherboard) and I replaced it with the MacBook, I had the same thrifty thought to use the old 60GB hard drive for backups. However, my trusty local Mac mechanic thinks it is a truly bad idea: the hard drive is the weak link in the computer, and an old one is even weaker, and compared to a new external drive this is like writing your memoir on a kleenex…

She and I could be dead wrong, of course. It won’t be the first time for either of us.