A good Hard Drive?

[jkpieren]

I have an intel 20' iMac and I am pretty sure the hard drive died. I am getting the folder with a question mark and I can't find my hard drive anywhere to do a start up or disc utility on it.

So my question is where can I buy a new hard drive, I am not really finding a good website anywhere, there is ebay but I would like to find something else to compare. I want at least 500 gb maybe 1tb.

Does anyone know how much it would cost to get it replaced at an authorized specialist? or can I do it myself.
Any info would be great

 

[BlueRevolution]

I've always wanted a 20' iMac, but I'm not sure I'd be able to fit it in the house without adding loft ceilings...

Take a look over at Newegg.

The quote I got from my local certified Apple dealer was $60 I think, so I opted to replace it myself. It's doable if you have some experience with such things and don't have a warranty to void, but everything is packed in there pretty tight so if you're not comfortable with mucking around a bit it's best to pay someone to do it for you.

 

[Archon Gold]

a good place to buy hard drives is www.macsales.com

as for installing it, you should be able to do it yourself.

 

[jkpieren]

Do any of you have a recommendation for a certain type of brand, one that is better then the other. What does the imac come with from the factory?

 

[SpeedFleX]

i think western digital to be the best so that would be my recommendation.

 

[surflordca]

Do any of you have a recommendation for a certain type of brand, one that is better then the other. What does the imac come with from the factory?

I like the Samsung F1

 

[Cave Man]

I like the Samsung F1

Me too.

Samsung: 0/8 failures
Seagate: 1/6 failures (the firmware issue on the 1.5 TB drive)
IBM: 0/1 failures
WD: 3/5 failures (and sh!+y customer service, too)

WD will never get another penny from me.

 

[velocityg4]

Personally I don't care for the Samsungs the few I have had have been much louder and ran hotter than my Hitachi's and Seagates. Western Digital is always a decent brand.

As for replacing it yourself do you have the White Intel iMac or the Aluminum model. As the White model is much easier and far less daunting for do it yourself replacements.

While you are at it you might as well max out the RAM. With the higher RAM, new Hard Drive and a fresh install of OS X your iMac will feel like a brand new computer. You might also consider a backup drive if you don't have one already.

This 1.5TB Seagate is a good buy.
If you want to stick with 1TB then this Seagate should also work well.

Watch out for green or environmentally friendly models as they are usually a slower 5900RPM. Which is fine for a data storage drive but a bit slow for a boot drive.