Need advice for replacing imac hard drive

[bezza123]

My hard drive is knackered on my 17 inch iMac (think its a 2006/07 model) apple shop want £180 to replace it which quite frankly I think is a rip off. They said I can do it myself but its a bit fiddly! Ive got limited experience of replacing parts on a PC but never on a mac.

They said I need a SATA 2 3.5" hard drive, would this be compatable? HARD DRIVE (http://www.memoryc.com/storage/internalharddrive/1tbsamsungf1spinpointsata2.html)

Any other tips would be great.

Or how can I set up an external HD to run OSX for my iMac, as thats what id prefer to do really?

Many thanks

[Hellhammer]

See my guide (http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn%27t_boot) before buying anything.

To install OS X into external HD, just boot from the install disk and plug in your external HD and select it when the installer asks where you want to install it

[MacHamster68]

get a firewire external drive if you dont trust your skills to open the iMac
Ok you could always try it ,but be very careful ,extremely careful as it always sounds and looks easier then it is

i always tend to buy a test object , which is anyway broken already from ebay
to use for spares , so as i cant break it further there is less to worry , but i know after what i need to look out for when it comes to upgrade /repair my own Mac's
ok its a expensive way , but better training on a broken one, then risking to break your own one