iMac Hard Drive Replacement

Diagnostic tools are suggesting my 27" iMac hard drive is about to fail. It occasionally has trouble booting so I'm inclined to believe the prognosis (Techtool Pro). It also seems to 'thrash' for no apparent reason.

Looking at various websites for replacement disks I see they say 'hard' for the task. Have any of you done done an HD change? I'm IT and technically competent (even built my own computers in the past).

Is this a DIY job or do I have to resort to an expensive Apple repair?

Sensible suggestions please.

This may be of help to you

Ash

WOW. Thank you for the link. I'm used to taking PCs apart from behind etc. but never by removing the screen. In retrospect it is possibly obvious as there are no visible torq screw heads any where else.

Mac lovers best quit here... I'm basically an engineer/improviser.

At the moment, thinking whether to go out and look for a 'proper' suction cup or improvise. Well, the engineer part took over and I used what was available. Worked fine (I did give it a good clean first) and voila the innards are exposed. Now it is simple.

Thanks Ash you have saved me an expensive visit to the Apple store.

BTW the iMac was under extended warranty, unfortunately expired. I had booked an appointment at the Genius bar but this has now saved me the expense.

I used to build my own *****ws PCs but converted to iMacs years ago. Until now much more reliable/stable. Now I'm even more confident having actually got inside one

No problems glad it helped you, Indeed apple dont like to make upgrades/repairs easy for anyone so people will just say sodd it ill just pay to have it done lol i also love the build/fit pcs (get all the family round all the time lol). The only mac ive ever had to fix was a mac mini that had the same problem you had basically the hard drive had packed but lucky for my it was simple as sticking something sharp in 2 points n the base and levering the case off.

Ash

Thanks for that... brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Got the sucker!"

I found this link if anyone wants to have a go at replacing something on the previous version of iMac- it's for the video card but shows the important bit of how to get the damn thing open!

Im not going to lie and say im a mac fan because TBH i don't really like them lol, But i actually like the older imacs shown in the vid you posted more than the new ones lol

Ash

This site http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/Mac gives instructions on how to replace many parts on many models of Mac's.

I was thinking of an iMac for my next Mac as IMO they represent the best value but I was dismayed to read this article suggesting that replacing the hard drive with a non-Apple part is practically impossible now on the newer models. I've just swapped the hard drive in my 4 year old Macbook Pro though not because it has failed (the old hard drive is now in a hard drive caddy as an external storage device) but because I needed more storage internally.

All that just to change a hard disk! I just hate "integrated" computers.

its why i like to build my own and can choose a case to put each part exactly were i want lol like the one i just built i chose a case that allowed the psu at the bottom for various reasons lol

Yeah. On my PC I can change a drive in less than 2 minutes (or just hang it out the side if I'm feeling lazy!). At least Apple have made it slightly easier to upgrade the RAM on the newere Mac Minis. I guess these computers are designed for people who are happy to pay a dealer to repair/upgrade them.

yes this is true i looked at the cost to upgrade a few things during the check out on the mac on-line store i was fairly shocked to upgrade from 4-8gig (2x4GB) of ram its £160 it only cost me £26 for 1x4GB stick when building my PC.and looks like they've stopped offering HDD upgrades on the imac the only thing remotely to do with storage is external storage at £769 for 4TB (4x1TB) ive goto say i wish i had that sort of money to spend on a computer of any kind lol.

Ash

Most Mac users don't upgrade their computers. They don't need too or have inclination to do so.
If a hard drive fails it is a problem but as has been seen it's possible to DIY it.
If extra storage is needed an external can be used.
I think PC users don't get the idea that Mac users want their computers use rather than to tinker with.

well i wouldn't say i like to tinker once its built i dont tend to go inside again, until i built a new one. I have owned a mac in the past (although only for 2 month) and besides the fact that it was a c2d that cost 3 times more than the system ive got now. I didn't find much difference in day to day use considering i used windows/linux on it 95% of the time (didn't care much for osx after buying one). so sold it on to a friend who needed one for his college work and built my current pc and had a few hundred left for a rainy day.

External storage is not always desired extra plugs needed extra ports on computer needed.

I get that most mac user simply use them for there ease of use (and most of them going on people i know use them on the notion there free from viruses malware and such other nasty's although we with any common sense know that's just not true especially now more than ever)

But after my little rant i still find it shocking the cost apple charge for the upgrade for people who do want the upgrade, and the fact they make it so hard to do it your self if you want to do so.

Ash

I'd agree that most Mac users are probably just users rather than being interested in computers per se. On the other hand, this is a discussion about how to install a new hard disk....

They have two drive bays. So you can add another disc.

If it bothers you a lot then don't get one. Voting with your feet/wallet is always the best idea.

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Jul-11 18:02:55)

To which, other than trolling, you have not contributed.

It's an appliance at the end of the day. You don't get many people moaning that a Sky+ is hard to open or something similar. It's a device you switch on and use. If the specs aren't to your liking then you customise it before shipping.

The majority of people will never open it. When you have a 10 gigabit expansion port then there's no reason to open it to add more storage.

Have you not noticed that desktops are dying out? they make up 10% of computers sold now. They are for the geeks and gamers.

I only have one self built computer now and that never gets used.

Laptops are what people buy and use now.

I've had this Macbook Pro since 2008. I've only done one upgrade to it, replaced the HDD with an SSD.

I could bump up the RAM but 2GB is fine.

If you're not a gamer or doing CPU intensive work then there's not really much need to upgrade in a hurry.

That's like saying that the drivers of expensive cars aren't interested in cars. The majority of computers users just like car users get someone else to do all the techie stuff. Be it a friend, relative or a shop.

I had to do this on my iMac, I followed a video guide on youtube, it was a hairy and scary thing to do and took about 40 mins, but was entirely successful. The scary part was that there are all these folk who say that you cannot do it cos its a mac etc. and I lost my bottle.. A few weeks later, the same disk error happened to a friend, I was called out to do it, and second time round it took about 10- 15 minutes, mainly because I was not scared this time round - take heart - do it!!

Ewen

You're quite right. I like to be able to fix my car; I like to be able to fix my computers. Others are happy to pay for these services. No problem.

In reply to a post by gilesjuk:

Laptops are what people buy and use now.

They can be almost as bad.
We had a 15 month old £600 laptop die due to a motherboard failure recently.
Impossible for me to source components and after convincing currys to repair it free of charge they weren't able to get hold of the parts. Went for recycling in the end!

Once you pluck up the courage to replace the HDD it is a fairly straightforward process. The video and instructions on the other referenced site gave me enough confidence to go for it. I used to build my own Windows PCs for years but eventually gave up on Windows. The biggest problem with the 27" iMac is the bulk and weight of the LCD panel. Took me just under 30 minutes. In hindsight I should have gone for an SSD.

As another poster pointed out the cost of Apple parts is expensive. I recently upgraded the memory on my system and sourced the SODIMMS from Crucial at a fraction of the cost of the Apple product.