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Apple Launches 27" iMac 3TB Hard Drive Replacement Program

TMRJIJ said:
Not all Seagate drives are bad, guys. I been using their SSHDs for year. Moving on to Solid state soon as prices get cheaper.
They are still better than Western Digital
Click to expand...
I don't know about you, but most consumers probably don't have nearly a large enough sample space to draw any conclusions like that. I manage our family's numerous hard drives, but that's still probably not enough. For me, WD has been pretty reliable, and every single Seagate we've had has died within a year.
 
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AlecZ said:
I think they've had these kind of repair programs for literally every post-2005 iMac model besides the ones our family has, and all of them have had problems. From now on, we're probably getting Hackintoshes.
Click to expand...
Not exactly the path to problem-free computing, but have fun!
 
Apple should charge far less. Certainly, less than Amazon, because you are not buying just one SSD stick as with Amazon, but a full computer. Now, add to that the extra RAM price and the extra whatever else (including cables, adapters, etc), and you end up paying twice or more for the computer. In other words, Apple could slash the prices of all their devices to half and still make huge profits, significantly expanding global market share. But they do not get it.

Further, check this out (competition is good):

SanDisk Expands Into the External Storage Market with World’s Highest- Performing Portable SSD
New family of offerings feature world’s fastest line-up of Type C-based portable SSDs
COMPUTEX 2015 — TAIPEI, Taiwan – June 1, 2015 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today entered the portable SSD market with a family of high-performance drives, including the SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable SSDs, the world’s fastest line of Type C-based portable SSDs; and the SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSDs, the company’s new pocket-sized, rugged drives.
These new drives come with both USB Type-C and Type-A cables to provide the ultimate flexibility when working between systems.
SSD lines feature a three-year warranty.
The SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSDs will be available worldwide in capacities of 120GB, 240GB and 480GB, at MSRPs of $99.99, $149.99 and $239.99 respectively. The SanDisk Extreme 900 SSDs will be available worldwide in capacities of 480GB, 960GB and 1.92TB at MSRPs of $399.99, $599.99 and $999.99, respectively.
http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandis...-with-world’s-highest-performing-portable-ssd

Details:

SanDisk Extreme 500 portable SSD
120GB and 240GB
Seq. Read: 415 MB/s
Seq. Write: 340 MB/s
http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-500-portable-ssd

SanDisk Extreme 900 portable SSD
480GB, 960GB and 1.92TB
Seq. Read: 850 MB/s
Seq. Write: 850 MB/s
USB 3.1
http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-900-portable-ssd
 
Lancer said:
Weird thing in the story they tell people to backup before taking you iMac in, it's just common sense to have a valid backup anyway. But that aside you would think Apple would make a backup and do the transfer for you or assuming the drive hasn't failed use it to transfer data back to the new drives.
Click to expand...
Okay, think about what you're saying here. It's better that the customer backup their own stuff, rather than Apple....at least for Apple's sake it is. As much as you think it's common sense to do so, most people won't. 9 times out of 10 the only thing people even think about saving are their pictures. They forget about everything else. If you have a faulty drive and expect Apple to backup your stuff they will be blamed if the backup fails. That's why they want the customer to do it. If the customer insists they do it then the customer will have to sign a waiver so Apple assumes no responsibility for lost data.
 
JustThinkin' said:
Not exactly the path to problem-free computing, but have fun!
Click to expand...
More problem-free than these stinkin' iMacs. My brother's been collecting PCs from e-waste and Hackintoshing them, and they're working well thus far. Except for the one I screwed up by shorting out the molex while installing LEDs...
 
I wonder if/when Apple will ditch hard drives completely, no more Fusion drives and go SSD only? That might also make the iMacs & Mac Minis thinner, and we all know how much Apple loves thinness!
 
AlecZ said:
More problem-free than these stinkin' iMacs. My brother's been collecting PCs from e-waste and Hackintoshing them, and they're working well thus far. Except for the one I screwed up by shorting out the molex while installing LEDs...
Click to expand...
Of course they can work well. You'll just replace your old problems with a new set of problems.
 
JustThinkin' said:
Of course they can work well. You'll just replace your old problems with a new set of problems.
Click to expand...
What set of problems? The only problems I've seen have been inability to perform major updates immediately (which we don't do anyway) and that iMessage requires some special setup. Hackintoshes work just fine as long as you use the right hardware.
 
Marx55 said:
Apple should charge far less. Certainly, less than Amazon, because you are not buying just one SSD stick as with Amazon, but a full computer. Now, add to that the extra RAM price and the extra whatever else (including cables, adapters, etc), and you end up paying twice or more for the computer. In other words, Apple could slash the prices of all their devices to half and still make huge profits, significantly expanding global market share. But they do not get it.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid it's you who doesn't get it.


The reason Apple makes huge profits is because of their pricing. They're able to charge these prices because they refuse to commoditize their products. They're the only ones holding the industry to a higher quality standard. I wish that were hyperbole, but I'm afraid it's quite literal. No one else. For example, few of us would be using IPS panels if it weren't for Apple. They're in such a strong position because they've "taken the high road."



Now you propose they drop their successful approach and follow the route of those who struggle to make big profits (e.g. Samsung, or worse yet other Android device makers)?

Everyone would suffer if Apple did this. Your imaginary world - with high-end products at low-end prices - doesn't exist.
 
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AlecZ said:
What set of problems? The only problems I've seen have been inability to perform major updates immediately (which we don't do anyway) and that iMessage requires some special setup. Hackintoshes work just fine as long as you use the right hardware.
Click to expand...
All the little exceptions to normal operation add up over time, and become annoying.

You'll take away the option to let others perform much of the maintenance, that's all.
 
My iMac qualifies for the new HD, but I've never had any problems with it. Apple's website recommends I go through with the replacement, but do you think the benefits outweigh the hassle of taking it in? Are the specs the same on the new hd or is it the same? Thanks!
 
jeffleejtj said:
My iMac qualifies for the new HD, but I've never had any problems with it. Apple's website recommends I go through with the replacement, but do you think the benefits outweigh the hassle of taking it in? Are the specs the same on the new hd or is it the same? Thanks!
Click to expand...
The disk that I believe you have is notorious for having the highest failure rate of any in recent history. They'll certainly replace it with a different model. So it's probably worth the trouble.
 
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HenryDJP said:
Not that I'm speaking up for Apple but you've gotta be kidding right? Right now (and I'm not mentioning any names) I've read a few on here that are going to the Apple store to get a replacement drive even though their hard drive hasn't failed.

Quote from the article headline: "Apple has determined that a small number of 3TB hard drives...". That means not every drive was affected. For Apple to write code in their OS to automatically tell people their product qualifies for a hard drive replacement every customer will bombard the Apple store (when it's already insanely crowded) requesting a replacement even though nothing is wrong with their drive.

Of course they want every defective drive to come forward, otherwise they wouldn't announce a replacement program, but people should only get it replaced if it's defective.
Click to expand...

"...but people should only get it replaced if it's defective"

Wait... What? It's a Recall!

I think you've got this all backwards.

Yes it's a small number and that's why only a certain set of Drives are being recalled. That's why you enter your SN and it TELLS you to go and get it replaced if yours falls within the range.

The CONSUMER'S drive could fail next week or the week after... who knows when or if at all. That's not the point. The point is that Apple is TELLING people with Drives manufactured between a certain date to come forward and have the drive replaced.

This is how recalls for products work.

I fall in this category. And it's a massive PITA to lose my computer for a couple of days and then have to reinstall EVERYTHING. I can either do it all fresh or from a back up. I'm considering putting in the hard yakka and doing it all fresh...
 
smoking monkey said:
"...but people should only get it replaced if it's defective"

Wait... What? It's a Recall!

I think you've got this all backwards.

Yes it's a small number and that's why only a certain set of Drives are being recalled. That's why you enter your SN and it TELLS you to go and get it replaced if yours falls within the range.

The CONSUMER'S drive could fail next week or the week after... who knows when or if at all. That's not the point. The point is that Apple is TELLING people with Drives manufactured between a certain date to come forward and have the drive replaced.

This is how recalls for products work.

I fall in this category. And it's a massive PITA to lose my computer for a couple of days and then have to reinstall EVERYTHING. I can either do it all fresh or from a back up. I'm considering putting in the hard yakka and doing it all fresh...
Click to expand...

Sorry about my previous post. I just read the terms on Apple's website. I was unaware it was an actual "Recall". I thought Apple was just honoring a replacement to anyone who had problems with this hard drive whether or not their Mac was still in warranty.
 
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Just got my iMac with 3 Tb HDD to Apple store for under screen dust repair and lo w mic volume. Pointed to the article, they agreed to change my HDD for free, but they don't have it stock. It takes 1-2 days to get it for them.
Once ahain thanks Macrumors for the info.
 
Marx55 said:
Apple should charge far less. Certainly, less than Amazon, because you are not buying just one SSD stick as with Amazon, but a full computer. Now, add to that the extra RAM price and the extra whatever else (including cables, adapters, etc), and you end up paying twice or more for the computer. In other words, Apple could slash the prices of all their devices to half and still make huge profits, significantly expanding global market share. But they do not get it.

Further, check this out (competition is good):

SanDisk Expands Into the External Storage Market with World’s Highest- Performing Portable SSD
New family of offerings feature world’s fastest line-up of Type C-based portable SSDs
COMPUTEX 2015 — TAIPEI, Taiwan – June 1, 2015 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today entered the portable SSD market with a family of high-performance drives, including the SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable SSDs, the world’s fastest line of Type C-based portable SSDs; and the SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSDs, the company’s new pocket-sized, rugged drives.
These new drives come with both USB Type-C and Type-A cables to provide the ultimate flexibility when working between systems.
SSD lines feature a three-year warranty.
The SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSDs will be available worldwide in capacities of 120GB, 240GB and 480GB, at MSRPs of $99.99, $149.99 and $239.99 respectively. The SanDisk Extreme 900 SSDs will be available worldwide in capacities of 480GB, 960GB and 1.92TB at MSRPs of $399.99, $599.99 and $999.99, respectively.
http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandis...-with-world’s-highest-performing-portable-ssd

Details:

SanDisk Extreme 500 portable SSD
120GB and 240GB
Seq. Read: 415 MB/s
Seq. Write: 340 MB/s
http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-500-portable-ssd

SanDisk Extreme 900 portable SSD
480GB, 960GB and 1.92TB
Seq. Read: 850 MB/s
Seq. Write: 850 MB/s
USB 3.1
http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-900-portable-ssd
Click to expand...


You don't understand but you also have to factor in the assembly prices, the guarantees, the OS and the apps made by Apple for the computer. Unlike Windows PC, Apple provides its own OS free of charge but RD costs do exists. Assembly also costs money.
 
JustThinkin' said:
The disk that I believe you have is notorious for having the highest failure rate of any in recent history. They'll certainly replace it with a different model. So it's probably worth the trouble.
Click to expand...

I had big troubles with Seagate hard drives recently. I think their quality is really down.
WD seems fine, but you never know.
I began to back up all my stuff on external USB3 Toshiba drives, you never know.
 
Corrode said:
For a second I thought this was to let those poor people with HDDs to upgrade to SSDs like the iMac should come with.
Click to expand...

Of course, Apple should have added 3 TB SSD drives that would have cost more than the whole iMac. So tell me, did you expect Apple to do that for free or with their usual margin?

Tankmaze said:
why would they fail? Is it because the thermal space in an imac would make the hard drive fail?
Click to expand...

Most likely because the manufacturer made a mistake in the design of these drives. Or because the manufacturer received some substandard components from a supplier. Both has happened before, with Apple and with any other computer manufacturer.

0x100 said:
HDD has a speed bottleneck, but SSDs have the price per gig and space bottleneck. All depends on what you're doing with your system and it's good there is a choice with SSD or HDD and even SSHD.
Click to expand...

For example, that 3TB HDD can store 3,000 Gigabytes of movies at a low cost, and movies need no more than three megabyte/second or so disk speed, while that hard drive likely provides 100 MB / second. More than 30 times faster than needed. Paying the price of an SSD drive for storing movies, or even a huge collection of audio books, is just a waste of money.

Lancer said:
Weird thing in the story they tell people to backup before taking you iMac in, it's just common sense to have a valid backup anyway. But that aside you would think Apple would make a backup and do the transfer for you or assuming the drive hasn't failed use it to transfer data back to the new drives.
Click to expand...

First, assuming that people have common sense is a pretty big assumption :)

Second, the data on the drive is your responsibility and only yours. Even if the defective hard drive is Apple's fault, Apple won't make backups, won't restore backups, won't be reliable for lost data, and neither would any other manufacturer. Insurance companies won't pay for lost data either. And we are talking about 3 TB drives here. There will be _lots_ of data on these drives, and backup / restore will probably happen overnight.
 
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gnasher729 said:
Of course, Apple should have added 3 TB SSD drives that would have cost more than the whole iMac. So tell me, did you expect Apple to do that for free or with their usual margin?



Most likely because the manufacturer made a mistake in the design of these drives. Or because the manufacturer received some substandard components from a supplier. Both has happened before, with Apple and with any other computer manufacturer.



For example, that 3TB HDD can store 3,000 Gigabytes of movies at a low cost, and movies need no more than three megabyte/second or so disk speed, while that hard drive likely provides 100 MB / second. More than 30 times faster than needed. Paying the price of an SSD drive for storing movies, or even a huge collection of audio books, is just a waste of money.



First, assuming that people have common sense is a pretty big assumption :)

Second, the data on the drive is your responsibility and only yours. Even if the defective hard drive is Apple's fault, Apple won't make backups, won't restore backups, won't be reliable for lost data, and neither would any other manufacturer. Insurance companies won't pay for lost data either. And we are talking about 3 TB drives here. There will be _lots_ of data on these drives, and backup / restore will probably happen overnight.
Click to expand...

Mac32 said:
If you buy an iMac, do yourself a huge favour and choose a pure SSD solution. It is a much safer and stable option, not to mention faster! :)
Click to expand...

If you give me the money for a 3TB SSD drive, I will.
 
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