upgraded iMac G3 hard disk - worry about heat?

R

rikers_mailbox

macrumors 6502a

Original poster

Sep 27, 2003

739

0

LA-la-land

• Mar 16, 2005

• #1

For some background on this, read my earlier thread here. Basically I have just outfitted a iMac G3 400Mhz with a new, way bigger internal hard disk. (I'm excited.)

The old disk was the standard 10Gb, 2 Mb cache, 5400 rpm disk. The new is a 80 Gb, 8 Mb cache, 7200 rpm Maxtor drive. I have read some websites stating that with higher rpm drives may generate too much heat. Is this really a concern? How can I tell if it's running hot?

If it is a problem, would only the drive overheat or other devices too?

Any help/wisedom is appreciated. Thanks,
-r

 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5

Oct 11, 2004

12,417

6

On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada

• Mar 16, 2005

• #2

No scientific evidence, but an iMac is not nearly as cramped as a laptop, and new hard drives are more efficient than the old ones. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

kgarner

macrumors 68000

Jan 28, 2004

1,512

0

Utah

• Mar 17, 2005

• #3

I upgraded my old 233 iMac from the 5400 to 7200 and never had any problems.

 

Freg3000

macrumors 68000

Sep 22, 2002

1,914

0

New York

• Mar 17, 2005

• #4

Upgraded my 333 Mhz Blueberry iMac from a small 6GB drive to a 40GB 7200 RPM drive two years ago (actually it may be three years ago...wow). Anyway, no problems at all. Works great (besides the fact that I am forced into partitioning the drive...grrrr)

 

Jigglelicious

macrumors 6502

Apr 25, 2004

421

0

NYC

• Mar 17, 2005

• #5

Nope its no problem, even with the fanless slot loading models. I put a 80gb Samsung drive in mines, and its working fine, even running 24/7 (and its overclocked 100mhz too!)

 

N

Norouzi

macrumors 6502

Aug 6, 2004

399

25

Philadelphia, PA

• Mar 17, 2005

• #6

I'd have to agree with everyone else, I've upgraded quite a few iMac G3 hard drives, as the ones with the 10GB Maxtor's tended to fry (literaly), and the typical one's I put in were 80GB 7200 RPM drives. No one ever had any problems.

 

R

rikers_mailbox

macrumors 6502a

Original poster

Sep 27, 2003

739

0

LA-la-land

• Mar 17, 2005

• #7

Cool. Thanks everyone. I'll sleep better at night knowing that all is fine.

I will also note that since installing the new drive, my old iMac has a new lease on life. It runs SO much quieter (can hardly tell it's on at all!) and is. . wait for it. . . snappier. The faster rpm and larger disk cache really make a difference.

I'd like to see a 1999 era PC running XP perform this well.