It still works!

Well, I bit the bullet today and went out and purchased a new HD for my laptop, then installed it myself. The way I figured it, I couldn't screw the computer up much more than it was already. I was just sick of reinstalling OS X every few weeks or so when my old HD ceased functioning. I went over to Birmingham to CompUSA at the Galleria complex and bought an 80GB for $70 (after rebates). I was never able to run tests on it since to run tests on the HD, you can't boot from it, so a gentleman at CompUSA ran a test for me and said it was bad, then went and found a HD for me to purchase (there's a "B" story here about another store associate not knowing what he was talking about, but I pressed on). Got it back home, and opened my computer up to install the new HD. Booted it up and it worked fine (just needed an OS on it). I purchased 10.4.6 while I was at CompUSA so I did that too and now I am back and ready for the world. Here are a few pictures from the "surgery": The first, the pulled off components (sans the screws, they're sitting on a paper guide), then my new HD, The second, the open computer with the old HD still in it and the tools of the trade, The third, same as the second basically but with the old HD removed, the fourth is the computer rebooting and preparing to install OS 10.4.6--this is the first sign that I didn't completely destroy the hardware.