Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Expands Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program for 2009-2011 iMacs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Just curious, all the folks here that replaced the hard drives, wasn't there something about these late iMacs that prevented others from replacing the hard drives? Something about a custom firmware and temperature sensor that only Apple can replace?
I want to replace my internal drive to a 2TB and have been wondering about this.
I want to replace my internal drive to a 2TB and have been wondering about this.
Even without excessive heat, or a design flaw in the hard drive ... hard drives will fail - most likely before anything else on a modern computer.
Just another reason why it's so stupid that Apple designs the iMac to make it so difficult to swap out the drive.
Me too
I've had problems with Seagate drives as well. I still have a 2TB external that will occasionally fail to show individual files (it shows that the space is used up with "something," and show the folders, but no contents.
Frustrating.
I've had problems with Seagate drives as well. I still have a 2TB external that will occasionally fail to show individual files (it shows that the space is used up with "something," and show the folders, but no contents.
Frustrating.
Yes there is an issue. But there's a software program that overrides the Apple sensor and instead uses the SMART info from the drive to control the fans.
It's safe and reliable: HDD fan control - http://www.hddfancontrol.com
----------
They are, but it takes some care and special tools. Go to iFixit to get instructions.
I've replaced the hard drive in my aluminum iMacs twice now... both times sucessfully.
Hi
Maybe someone around can help me a bit ...
I´ve been on Mac laptops since ever ... started on 91 with a 100 c and my last one was a Macbook ( black ) 2,4 GHz cure duo.
After getting an iPad I saw no reason for a laptop anymore so got myself an 21´iMac which is eligible for the HD replacement program ..
My problem actually is that I am not very happy with the performance of my iMac, I found the 2,4 MB to perform better ( its a cuore duo 3,2 GHz mid 2010 with 4 Gb Ram ) iPhoto takes maybe 1/2 minute to open and probably the same time to close , iTunes is a bag of pain , playing a movie freezes much to often specially when pausing the movie and trying to play it again ,terrible , opening pages .. etc it really feels slow ..
Are 4 GB of Ram not enough ? or the performance issues has to do with the HD ?
I ask you cause if Apple is going to replace my HD I could ask them at the same time to upgrade the RAM to 8 GB and replace my superdrive which busted two months passed the guarantee ..
By the way .... it would be my 3rd superdrive , ibook G4 , Macbook 2,4 and now my iMac all SD´s busted and I hardly use them , What is wrong with Apple´s SD´s ?
Thanks
Regards
Maybe someone around can help me a bit ...
I´ve been on Mac laptops since ever ... started on 91 with a 100 c and my last one was a Macbook ( black ) 2,4 GHz cure duo.
After getting an iPad I saw no reason for a laptop anymore so got myself an 21´iMac which is eligible for the HD replacement program ..
My problem actually is that I am not very happy with the performance of my iMac, I found the 2,4 MB to perform better ( its a cuore duo 3,2 GHz mid 2010 with 4 Gb Ram ) iPhoto takes maybe 1/2 minute to open and probably the same time to close , iTunes is a bag of pain , playing a movie freezes much to often specially when pausing the movie and trying to play it again ,terrible , opening pages .. etc it really feels slow ..
Are 4 GB of Ram not enough ? or the performance issues has to do with the HD ?
I ask you cause if Apple is going to replace my HD I could ask them at the same time to upgrade the RAM to 8 GB and replace my superdrive which busted two months passed the guarantee ..
By the way .... it would be my 3rd superdrive , ibook G4 , Macbook 2,4 and now my iMac all SD´s busted and I hardly use them , What is wrong with Apple´s SD´s ?
Thanks
Regards
Last edited:
Bring it in to Apple to replace the HD, install new OS and it will most definitely improve, don't buy RAM from Apple, they are too expensive, it is very easy to do it yourself and safe money, if you don't know how, ifixit.com has nice guides on how to replace RAM.
It's such a bonus to hear that my 3 years old iMac would get a brand new HDD free of charge! As I notice it has been slowed down significantly recently...
But I wonder after I got it replaced will they install the lastest Mac OSX in it (I have Mountain Lion now) or just dump in a blank HDD and leave all the work for me to do?
As it was running Leopard when it's out...it will be very troublesome to upgrade to ML as I have lost the disc of Snow Leopard....
Or can I just restore everything from Time Machine without upgrading the OS first?
But I wonder after I got it replaced will they install the lastest Mac OSX in it (I have Mountain Lion now) or just dump in a blank HDD and leave all the work for me to do?
As it was running Leopard when it's out...it will be very troublesome to upgrade to ML as I have lost the disc of Snow Leopard....
Or can I just restore everything from Time Machine without upgrading the OS first?
Last edited:
This makes me a bit (i dont know why) comforatble to hear that iMac word is still randomly uttered in Apple Toys Inc.
I recently went through this process of trying to squeeze every bit of the iMac I recently bought.
I upgraded the RAM to 16 GB( even though people say you could stick 32 GB).
Was migrating from Windows so had years of documents and files lying around on various external drives.
So anyways, after I was done transferring/deleting/moving into my iMac, I noticed that my internal hard drive was making a lot of grinding noise. Most likely heavy defragmenation.
After researching the whole issue of defragmenation on Mac's in general, I found there are two camps of people. One who say the OS X is advanced enough to not try to fill every nook and cranny of empty space and rather writes large files to the available empty space in your hard drive. The other camp that even though that's true, you are still left with lot of empty spaces.
So the software to do that is likely iDefrag or Speed disk or something.
As a last ditch attempt, i backed up my Mac to my Time Machine and then did a restore.
No more grinding noises and my programs are fast and zippy.That seems to have fixed the defrag issue..
I also wanted to tweak the network side of things to see what could be improved. Realized this whole IPv6 stuff is chaos. Lot of ISP's don't support it yet and if you have IPv6 turned on in your mac make it to "Link Local" only. Your internet lookup's are fast. And lastly, make sure the DNS servers you use are the fastest. Your local ISP's DNS server's are necessarily not the fastest. Try this utility from Google
http://code.google.com/p/namebench/
It figures out the best DNS servers for you based on your location. My ping times have improved and so have lookups. I had OpenDNS before and have switched to Google DNS servers, even faster.
So you could upgrade the RAM and then do a backup and restore and it will defenitely help.
Get a fast external drive and dump your iTunes and iPhoto library into it and it gets even better. I went the thunderbolt way and 60 GB worth of Pics in iPhoto is fast and snappy.
Even after all that you are not satisfied then you have to get a new mac...
Last edited:
so is it likely that if my hard drive has been running fine for the last 3 years won't be likely to fail in the near future? Or should I have it replaced anyway?
I bought my iMac online and had it delivered because I don't have a car to bring it home in the first place... so will they arrange a courier to come pick up?
and finally will they replace the hard drive only or swap the entire unit with a refurb? I guess many of us would still remember the yellow and grey bar on the screens... returned it 3 times and finally got a perfect screen... don't want to get a crappy screen back...
I bought my iMac online and had it delivered because I don't have a car to bring it home in the first place... so will they arrange a courier to come pick up?
and finally will they replace the hard drive only or swap the entire unit with a refurb? I guess many of us would still remember the yellow and grey bar on the screens... returned it 3 times and finally got a perfect screen... don't want to get a crappy screen back...
Thanks. Been looking into this as well. To let the Mac control the temp...
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/05/18/an-easy-solution-to-replace-the-hard-drive-in-a-2011-imac
Must be very old iMac's then
So the first bit of iMac news we get in a long time is about the HDD recall, doesn't inspire confidence when I'm looking at getting a new one soon
As for moving data and OS X, I suggest that you make sure your backup is up-to-date and working but by all rights they should clone your HDD to the new one, then swap them out and make sure everything is working before wiping the original HDD of peoples personal info.
Last edited:
Too bad they never bothered addressing the battery murder common in the MacBook Pro 3,1. I guess that's more a design issue than a faulty part that they could replace. I'm on my third battery with that machine. None of the batteries lasted a normal lifespan.
Does anyone know what specific model numbers of the 1TB Seagate HDD that are affected?
My 24" 2008 iMac recently had its 500GB WD HD replaced (suspected HD failure) with a 1TB Seagate HD (Model: ST31000528ASQ, Revision: AP24). Is that one of the affected Seagate HD listed under Apple's replacement program for 2009-2011 iMacs? I know I don't apply for the replacement program but I would like to know if my HD is one of the affected HDs listed.
My 24" 2008 iMac recently had its 500GB WD HD replaced (suspected HD failure) with a 1TB Seagate HD (Model: ST31000528ASQ, Revision: AP24). Is that one of the affected Seagate HD listed under Apple's replacement program for 2009-2011 iMacs? I know I don't apply for the replacement program but I would like to know if my HD is one of the affected HDs listed.
Well, this is good for my mom. Her iMac had some hard drive issues early-on. They aren't appearing anymore, but you never know...
----------
First of all, Hitachi drives FTW
Also, I don't like the new iMac design. The iMac G5 was actually easier to open than your average Dell, though the computer itself was unreliable. A few screws on the bottom that don't even come off, and the whole back cover comes off and reveals everything inside.
I have a 2006 iMac that I'm selling right now, and I've opened it up 3 times so far. It's a pain. You have to take the FRONT cover off. WTF? Why, Apple, why?! Yeah, this was actually a big factor in my selecting of a used 2008 Mac Pro as my new computer. There, a computer that's easier to repair/upgrade than a custom PC
My iMac qualifies for the replacement and here's the drive I currently have:
ST31000528AS:
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
Model: ST31000528AS
Revision: AP25
Serial Number: 9VP8XXXX
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
krravi,
I did a lot of reading, as someone else mentioned I fixit has step by step instructions. Don't buy the drive and tools there unless cost is not an issue. You can find everything you need on amazon for around 110.00 shipped.
Late 2009 iMacs like mine don't have the taped on temp sensor, but as long as you get the same brand drive. In my case it was seagate, the plug that is now for the temp sensor just plugs right onto the new drive and works perfectly.
Pm me and I will send you the part# for the parts I bought.
I have a 256 SSD + 1TB HDD. The system profiler shows that it is a Seagate, but when I enter the serial number, it says my machine is not eligible, i.e. not part of the program. I got my machine right after Lion released and ordered it around August 5th when I knew that it would ship with Lion pre-imaged, rather than up-to-date eligibility. So technically it is after July, but I am curious how they know that this Seagate drive isn't part of the bad batch?
I had to read this twice. It's not often you hear something like that from a business!
I'm in the exact same boat. Late 09 iMac purchased in Feb 2010. Hard drive is slowing down! Hopefully this black friday we can scoop up a deal on an SSD.
Does the drive have to fail or can we just ask for a replacement since it's eligible?
Last edited: