HDD Replacement program - Did they replace my HDD?

[alksion]

I took my iMac into get my HDD replaced. After 3 days, I got a call that my iMac was ready to be picked up and my HDD was replaced.

When I look in the system profiler information, I get this as my HDD number: ST31000528AS

I asked what HDD they would be replacing it with and they said most likely a Western Digital, but if not, a Hitachi.

That doesn't look like either one, it looks like another Seagate. Am I missing something here?

Edit: I was looking at Newegg and many people said that this drive they put in my iMac fails a lot. Very mixed reviews don't have me feeling well about the "new" drive.

[Jenni8]

Mine is currently at apple now and Im very impatiently waiting. The drive was out of stock at the time but he did say it would be a western digital. I shall see. I wasn't exactly happy with my service either. We'll see how it goes at pickup. He said I'd have a chance to fiddle with it on site. So Ill use that opportunity to install iLife from my disk. And if I have a problem upgrading fully to the current iLife Ill be their and not tripping out at home. That free upgrade I got for it better still work. I have another bone to pick them as well that's is a different issue.

[alksion]

Originally Posted by Jenni8

Mine is currently at apple now and Im very impatiently waiting. The drive was out of stock at the time but he did say it would be a western digital. I shall see. I wasn't exactly happy with my service either. We'll see how it goes at pickup. He said I'd have a chance to fiddle with it on site. So Ill use that opportunity to install iLife from my disk. And if I have a problem upgrading fully to the current iLife Ill be their and not tripping out at home. That free upgrade I got for it better still work. I have another bone to pick them as well that's is a different issue.

Well I sure hope you get that western digital. I was told I was suppose to get one and not receiving what I was told is a bit frustrating. I'll probably call the store tomorrow and ask to see what's going on exactly.

[alanmcdonley]

They replaced mine with an ST31000528AS rev AP2E - it is the same speed as the old one.

Interestingly, the drive has roughly the same very, very slow random uncached read speed as my external firewire'd WD 3GB. The internal HD sequential access is 0.5-2x the external firewire WD (WD30EZRX).

I put an SSD in the optical drive slot which gives 2.2-5x performance over the internal HD (both 3G link speed).

[troutspinner]

I just had mine replaced this morning. The guy that came to the house said it was a Hitachi and the system reports "APPLE HDD HUA722010CLA330".

Happy to have it done but it is no quieter than my Seagate but I never thought my Seagate was that loud anyways. Oh well, if this fails, I'll swap out my old Seagate.

troutspinner

[Jenni8]

Originally Posted by alksion

Well I sure hope you get that western digital. I was told I was suppose to get one and not receiving what I was told is a bit frustrating. I'll probably call the store tomorrow and ask to see what's going on exactly.

I hear you as mine is also a Seagate. ST31000528AS. Needless to say, my initial experience with the "Genius" was poor. Everything he told me was useless. I had asked him about iLife and about me being able to get it back on the system, he had told me to use the original disks or purchase them on the App Store. I looked that up and the disk I have is useless as it for for Snow Leopard and would be incompatible. Luckily when I arrived to pick it up the two that assisted me were very helpful and completely understood my delima. So they just installed the iLife on the spot for me. I'm so happy about that because before I couldn't get the apps to update in the app store. Now they will update in the app store as it should.

As for the drive being a Seagate, I'm not so worried at this point. It does appear to make virtually no noise and the other one, not like it was loud, but I could hear it for sure. Also so far the computer is super cool and before it got super hot sometimes. Still early to know for sure about the temp.

Last note, I also had pointed out the screen was cloudy in the upper right corner and I found out its an ongoing issue with the 27" iMac of collecting dust. Well in process of the drive switch, they cleaned the inside of the screen for me, I have the 2 year apple care plan and before the end of it I will definitely have them clean it again before time runs out. After that I guess I'd be on my own, but its supposed to be easy to clean which I'll do when I have no warranty to void.

[alksion]

Originally Posted by Jenni8

I hear you as mine is also a Seagate. ST31000528AS. Needless to say, my initial experience with the "Genius" was poor. Everything he told me was useless. I had asked him about iLife and about me being able to get it back on the system, he had told me to use the original disks or purchase them on the App Store. I looked that up and the disk I have is useless as it for for Snow Leopard and would be incompatible. Luckily when I arrived to pick it up the two that assisted me were very helpful and completely understood my delima. So they just installed the iLife on the spot for me. I'm so happy about that because before I couldn't get the apps to update in the app store. Now they will update in the app store as it should.

As for the drive being a Seagate, I'm not so worried at this point. It does appear to make virtually no noise and the other one, not like it was loud, but I could hear it for sure. Also so far the computer is super cool and before it got super hot sometimes. Still early to know for sure about the temp.

Last note, I also had pointed out the screen was cloudy in the upper right corner and I found out its an ongoing issue with the 27" iMac of collecting dust. Well in process of the drive switch, they cleaned the inside of the screen for me, I have the 2 year apple care plan and before the end of it I will definitely have them clean it again before time runs out. After that I guess I'd be on my own, but its supposed to be easy to clean which I'll do when I have no warranty to void.

I'm glad they were able to assist with your iLife dilemma. I've had mixed experiences with AppleCare and the Geniuses being really good and then at times, being extremely poor. I noticed you get better service if you go on a weekday afternoon.

As for the HDD, it is working much better than my last one and is virtually silent like my first Western Digital. I still wish more people had input on the topic and whether or not they got their Seagate drive replaced with another Seagate.

[Jenni8]

Originally Posted by alksion

I'm glad they were able to assist with your iLife dilemma. I've had mixed experiences with AppleCare and the Geniuses being really good and then at times, being extremely poor. I noticed you get better service if you go on a weekday afternoon.

As for the HDD, it is working much better than my last one and is virtually silent like my first Western Digital. I still wish more people had input on the topic and whether or not they got their Seagate drive replaced with another Seagate.

Interesting about better service during the week. My drop-off was on a Sunday and I picked up just after they opened just last Thursday. I was surprised how BUSY they were for a weekday, even more than the Sunday I went on. They had more associates and than the weekend and were more on top of things it appeared.

So far computer is still very cool. Best test will be when I have a warm day again. Here in So. CA a warm day is nearly always in reach it seems.

I did minor research on the specific drive and didn't have anything pop out as it being bad and the reviews I found were very good.

[alksion]

Originally Posted by Jenni8

Interesting about better service during the week. My drop-off was on a Sunday and I picked up just after they opened just last Thursday. I was surprised how BUSY they were for a weekday, even more than the Sunday I went on. They had more associates and than the weekend and were more on top of things it appeared.

So far computer is still very cool. Best test will be when I have a warm day again. Here in So. CA a warm day is nearly always in reach it seems.

I did minor research on the specific drive and didn't have anything pop out as it being bad and the reviews I found were very good.

There were some fairly bad ones on Newegg.

[rw3]

If you had your iMac hard drive replaced with a Seagate, as long as the revision is NOT AP24 or AP25, you are in the clear.

There are 6 different revisions of the ST31000528AS and the only two that are covered under the iMac Seagate 1TB Replacement program are the AP24 and the AP25 revisions.