Anyone changed the HD of a rev D iMac?
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Screamingbeaver
macrumors member
Sure you can do it...
It isn't the easiest to do, but you can do it. I bought an iMacDV/400 off of eBay with a failed HD and bought a replacement at CompUSA and slapped that bad boy in and we're movin' n' groovin'. I can't remember exactly where I found them, but somewhere in Apple's tech info library deal, there are step by step instructions on how to do it. A lot of screws to take out and stuff, but just remember what size screw goes where and you'll be in business. It does mention that the following should only be by an authorized tech person. Whatever.....
Good luck and buy the biggest friggin' drive you can. Storage is cool!
It isn't the easiest to do, but you can do it. I bought an iMacDV/400 off of eBay with a failed HD and bought a replacement at CompUSA and slapped that bad boy in and we're movin' n' groovin'. I can't remember exactly where I found them, but somewhere in Apple's tech info library deal, there are step by step instructions on how to do it. A lot of screws to take out and stuff, but just remember what size screw goes where and you'll be in business. It does mention that the following should only be by an authorized tech person. Whatever.....
Good luck and buy the biggest friggin' drive you can. Storage is cool!
benjaminpg
macrumors regular
I've done it. It was very easy. A while ago Macworld published an article on how to do it. If you search their web archives at www.macworld.com you can find it. You basically just pop off the case, unscrew the hard drive. Disconnect it, put the new one in and put it all back together. Before buying one, make sure you get a 5400 rpm drive, NOT a 7200 rpm drive, as anything faster than 5400 will create too much heat.
Billicus
macrumors 6502a
I found the article. Here it is: http://www.macworld.com/2001/10/howto/imac.html
FattyMembrane
macrumors 6502a
i've heard from several people that a 7200rpm hard drive (western digital in particular) will run at the same temp as the crappy maxtor ones in our imacs now (sometimes, even a degree cooler).
i was wondering how you get everything running after you've installed the drive. to you just turn on the computer, wait for the blinking question mark, and insert the install cd, or do you have to mess with a bios and other things that i dont know how to do?
i was wondering how you get everything running after you've installed the drive. to you just turn on the computer, wait for the blinking question mark, and insert the install cd, or do you have to mess with a bios and other things that i dont know how to do?
Screamingbeaver
macrumors member
Easy...
Thats the beauty of a Mac. No Bios or anything. Exactly what you said. Through a CD in and hold 'C' down and away ya go.
Thats the beauty of a Mac. No Bios or anything. Exactly what you said. Through a CD in and hold 'C' down and away ya go.
bousozoku
Moderator emeritus
It sounds easy enough to do although a bit more challenging that with the PowerMacs.
With the trouble my dad's had with his iMac's drive, I may clean up my 80 GB Maxtor and remove it from its FireWire enclosure and give the iMac a boost, as well as more reliability.
Of course, that means I get the 6 GB drive for FireWire...hmmm. Oh well, ATA drives are cheap.
With the trouble my dad's had with his iMac's drive, I may clean up my 80 GB Maxtor and remove it from its FireWire enclosure and give the iMac a boost, as well as more reliability.
Of course, that means I get the 6 GB drive for FireWire...hmmm. Oh well, ATA drives are cheap.
mischief
macrumors 68030
Some notes:
First of all an iMac Rev D and an iMac DV are completely different. The Rev D was the last of the tray-load machines and replacing the drive is about as obnoxious as adding RAM and I don't reccomend it to inexperienced techs. That having been said:
iMac rev D's require that if you are installing OS X that you create a partition of less than 8GB for OS X due to limitations between OS X and the motherboard. This is also true of Beige G3's.
Mac's do not support certain drive address jumper settings (cable-select setting) and of course the CD ROM and HD must have different addresses. Check the IDE addresses in system profiler before take down. Usually the CD ROM is set to "zero" and the HD to "one". Some of the connectors inside are rather delicate so keep in mind: they're thumb screws not car oil filters.
First of all an iMac Rev D and an iMac DV are completely different. The Rev D was the last of the tray-load machines and replacing the drive is about as obnoxious as adding RAM and I don't reccomend it to inexperienced techs. That having been said:
iMac rev D's require that if you are installing OS X that you create a partition of less than 8GB for OS X due to limitations between OS X and the motherboard. This is also true of Beige G3's.
Mac's do not support certain drive address jumper settings (cable-select setting) and of course the CD ROM and HD must have different addresses. Check the IDE addresses in system profiler before take down. Usually the CD ROM is set to "zero" and the HD to "one". Some of the connectors inside are rather delicate so keep in mind: they're thumb screws not car oil filters.
mischief
macrumors 68030
Re: Re: Some notes:
Yes. Any ATA drive of ATA-66 or faster, it will scale down to the speed of the controller.
U need only an 8 GB partition in respect to where the OS X system resides EXCEPT for drives larger than 120GB, which require somwhat more agressive partitioning. Of course seek time on a Rev D iMac with a drive over 60 Gb will suck no matter what U do just from the system but being so narrow.
Yes. Any ATA drive of ATA-66 or faster, it will scale down to the speed of the controller.
U need only an 8 GB partition in respect to where the OS X system resides EXCEPT for drives larger than 120GB, which require somwhat more agressive partitioning. Of course seek time on a Rev D iMac with a drive over 60 Gb will suck no matter what U do just from the system but being so narrow.