Apple Notifies iMac Owners of Expanded Seagate Hard Drive Recall

Reimbursement??

I paid $289 to have my drive replaced a few months back after it crashed. Anyone know if they will reimburse this cost? Could it be that for once I walk into the Apple store and leave with extra cash in my pocket?

MCP-511 said:

I had the same concern. If the drive is totally not working, I would not be to worried about it. However, mine was not booting and would state SMART status failed, but it would boot off the SD card I setup when it started acting up. It was making a lot of noise. The drive was readable and I could copy stuff off of it. Thus my concern, because it refused to let me delete anything off it as if it was locked. Even my admin password would not allow me to drag anything to the trash. I managed to erase it with disk utility today though. Now I feel much better about taking it in for the free repair.

I have not received any e-mail from Apple yet and I bought it directly form the Apple store.

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I've had two fail on me already, replaced both times under AppleCare - most recently just a few months ago, so I'm in the same boat as the other poster who doesn't know if I needs replacing or not. My guess (based on years of experience with Seagate) is hat if its a Seagate, it'll be toast sooner or later.

In any case, when you're dealing with the Genius, ask them to give you the old HD back to you once they've yanked it and replaced it, and they will. Luckily, they did for me, since my last backup had been months before.

Also, if you use the drive in a USB enclosure afterwards, you might be able to pull data off it and possibly even write to it.

Scottspeare said:

I paid $289 to have my drive replaced a few months back after it crashed. Anyone know if they will reimburse this cost? Could it be that for once I walk into the Apple store and leave with extra cash in my pocket?

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My aunt is in the same boat but don't know what she paid. She did receive the letter so I wonder if when they replaced it they just put the same model drive in. In any case I would think they would reimburse. Trying to find out myself.

Scottspeare said:

I paid $289 to have my drive replaced a few months back after it crashed. Anyone know if they will reimburse this cost? Could it be that for once I walk into the Apple store and leave with extra cash in my pocket?

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If you believe you have paid for a repair or replacement due to this issue, contact Apple regarding a refund.

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From apple website.

http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

Yes you can apply to get your money back.

Does anyone know how long this harddrive replacement will take once you drop it off for service at an Apple Store? Is it same day service? Or will take a few days

Gasu E. said:

Does anyone know what happens to your old drives? I'm concerned about giving them a drive with all my private data.

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My 2009 iMac is getting the replacement drive swapped this week. They keep the old drive. I backed up my data and wiped the drive clean before dropping it off.

pnoyblazed said:

Does anyone know how long this harddrive replacement will take once you drop it off for service at an Apple Store? Is it same day service? Or will take a few days

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I had my iMac in for a graphics card replacement. They had the right card in stock so they replaced it while I waited. Probably the same way with the drive.

Maybe call them first to make sure they have a replacement drive in stock.

Will I be able to keep my existing HDD

If I replace my drive under recall warranty will I be able to keep my hard drive that is in my imac now?

So I have a ST31000528ASQ in my late 2009 27" iMac, which is a Seagate 3.5" drive. However when I plug my serial number into Apple's website, it says my hard drive is not eligible.

I guess I will have to give them a call.

Got the notice... Had a couple of questions.

1) will a time capsule backup be sufficient ( will it save everything including iTunes libraries and iOS backups. Etc.

2) what's the best way to wipe the drive clean?

3) any other backup tips to make sure I back up everything. I already saved my photos but I'm also looking at apps as I have parallels installed and I don't want to reinstall everything again.

4) what do I do if I don't have my SL OS disks? Any way A/C will send you a replacement? I believe they are in storage.

Thanks.

I also got the email today informing me about this.

However, even though I am able to get the replacement - my question is, should I? Even though I am eligible, I don't have an issue with my HD. I lucked out.

Is it even worth it for me to get it swapped if my current HD isn't having any issues? The nearest Apple Store is an hour away from me.

I have not received the email. Last week I suspected my hard drive might be failing because of system freezes.

Will I be able to keep my old HD? (In UK?)

And this is why Time Machine can be your best friend.

hetrigger said:

I wonder what the turnaround time is...

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I took my 2010 27" in to the Genius Bar Monday and got it back today. No more gurgling. What a difference.

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pnoyblazed said:

Does anyone know how long this harddrive replacement will take once you drop it off for service at an Apple Store? Is it same day service? Or will take a few days

Click to expand...

When I took it in to the Apple Store (Crocker Park, Westlake OH) they quoted me 3-5 days - and it took 4 days, as I just picked it up this morning. Some other posts I've seen on other boards say they got it back the same day. I guess it just depends on how busy your Apple Store is.

Gasu E. said:

Does anyone know what happens to your old drives? I'm concerned about giving them a drive with all my private data.

Click to expand...

Took mine in today. I did 2,backups prior. Time machine and super duper . I watched as they erased my hard drive while logged into a bootable network drive I then gave them permission to install a new drive . Interestingly it will take 3-5 says to get the machine back.

And NO... you do not get the old drive back.
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I got my computer back the next day!

I have a 2011 iMac with a Seagate HD and I did not receive an email.

I called Apple and it was explained to me there is a production date range of effected iMacs. My iMac was was purchased July 2011 and was produced after the problem was corrected.

xxgilxx said:

Seagate...gate....

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Ha! This made me snicker.

elgrecomac said:

Took mine in today. I did 2,backups prior. Time machine and super duper . I watched as they erased my hard drive while logged into a bootable network drive I then gave them permission to install a new drive . Interestingly it will take 3-5 days to get the machine back.

And NO... you do not get the old drive back.

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IMO by all rights Apple should clone your HDD to the new one, do the switch then erase the original HDD when you get back to the store to pick it up. This way you can see you HDD being erased and check then all your files/programs are where they should be. I would still have a backup solution at home, just in case.

Yes I know there still needs to be a level of trust they don't do anything with the data in the time they have the HDD but I think most would prefer it to the hassle of migrating back to the new HDD. I know for me that could take up to 15 hours for the 300Gb of data I have on my main HDD.

Years ago I replace the HDD in my moms iBook and did it this way. Clone the HDD, swap them over and it's working as normal a short time later.

My first 2010 iMac has the loudest hard drive I ever had in a computer. It was a Seagate. I could not believe that Apple would use such a bad component. I changed 3 iMacs until I got one with a WD hard drive. Ultimately, I left more aware of the fact that Apple also focused on cost cutting. My experience at the Apple store was also poor.

MacScott said:

I received the email yesterday. Mine is working fine so I am in no hurry.

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Same here, plus I have installed an Crucial M4 256gb SSD as my boot drive, the segate is now a second drive, nothing super important on it.

I took my 2009 iMac into the genius bar (in the UK) today and they said it would take 7-10 days as they were busy, I said that wasn't good enough and stood my ground; they said come back in half an hour. Seagate drive replaced with Hitachi.

the8thark said:

I own a 2011 iMac. But I didn't receive such an email. Maybe my iMac is not affected by this. I hope so.

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maybe u got SeaGate with capital "G"

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olsiris said:

I took my 2009 iMac into the genius bar (in the UK) today and they said it would take 7-10 days as they were busy, I said that wasn't good enough and stood my ground; they said come back in half an hour. Seagate drive replaced with Hitachi.

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7-10 days? Im trying to be an optimist and realist. But how they are busy?

hetrigger said:

I wonder what the turnaround time is...

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When my hard drive failed back around May, I had a turnaround time of about four days.

SteveJobs2.0 said:

My first 2010 iMac has the loudest hard drive I ever had in a computer. It was a Seagate. I could not believe that Apple would use such a bad component. I changed 3 iMacs until I got one with a WD hard drive. Ultimately, I left more aware of the fact that Apple also focused on cost cutting. My experience at the Apple store was also poor.

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No surprise to me here although components in some cases are limited can't all be perfect.

I haven't had to deal with the Apple Store much. The one near me I just go in and look around for a few minutes each time. I haven't had to deal with the "geniuses" and hopefully never will. I like to fix my own stuff.