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Apple Restricts Hard Drive Replacements on New iMacs

Suicide By Bad Business Decision....

Little by little Apple's obsession with closed systems is pissing off more and more people.:mad:

The backlash will come....and it will be a sad day in Cupertino.

No reason for this other than greed.....sad.

Apple used to be an engineering company (emphasis on past tense).
 
I was planning on getting one of these iMacs, but decided a Mac Pro would be better. Now that this article is out, I find myself very happy with that decision.
 
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I think we are witnessing the end of the Mac for hobbyists. Apple has seen the light with hundreds of millions of non user repairable iOS devices sold. The average consumer is now their market. They offer the support needed in their stores. The tinkerer who supported those users all these years are no longer needed. I'm one of those tinkerers and this is very disheartening to see. Apple was founded on a hobbyist mentality. So sad to see it go. I think whatever follows lion will be the deathblow on the OS side. No longer can we tweak the hardware, then the software and there you have it. Apple has become a home appliance company. Thinking of taking my $350 share price and running. I love my Mac, but when I can no longer fix them myself, I'll look for something else.
 
quizdogg said:
I would have to respectfully disagree with your opinion of who apple's biggest customers are.
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my statement had nothing to do w/ who apple's biggest customer are, but the possible incorrectness in your assertion, namely all average apple product shoppers have not exercised due diligence in deciding their purchase. even if they lack technical knowledge, they more than likely will ask the opinion of those who know a lot about apple products.

on the other hand, since you brought up apple's biggest customer, i also happen to know who they are: corporate clients like my company. i was part of the team that started the mac pilot program at my firm (>60k employees) and now 2/3 of our employees are using macbook pro 15 inch matte screen
 
I would never purchase an imac myself, but this direction really concerns me. Overall a lame move that really sucks ass.
 
Interesting. I read an article on another site that said there were replacement drives from WD and seagate that were compatible with the proprietary thermal cable on the late '09 iMacs. Supposedly the drives were tested and got around the dreadful "fan whoosh". I wonder if this is the same for the new iMacs?
 
This article got a negative rep from me for the following reasons.

1. The article was just direct posted from OWC with no checks from Mac-Rumours to ensure the article's accuracy. If Mac-Rumours did this they'd find this article is total BS.

2. The ifixit people would have noticed this in their imac tear down. But they reported no such a thing.

3. Many people have replaced hard drives in their new imacs with no issues so far. I can search for links of this if need be.

4. The extra wires used here are probably extra grounding wires. I'm not so sure. But any old hard drive will fit in there.

This topic needs to be locked. And the article needs to be removed from the front page of Mac-Rumours. Why? Cause most of the information in the article has been proven to be incorrect.

And I am sure mac-Rumours do not want their front page with false information based articles on it.

*********************

So you can be 100% certain for the time being Apple is NOT restricting hard drive replacements on the new iMacs.
 
Phew, I was just about to order one when I read this article.

Think ill hold off till its either confirmed or denied.
 
Dazed for your piece of mind you can wait. But there is no real need to though. As this is a non issue just made up by OWC.

But I am emailing Apple direct about this. So hopefully they can release an official statement putting this BS to bed. So everyone will know the truth then.
 
the8thark said:
This article got a negative rep from me for the following reasons.

1. The article was just direct posted from OWC with no checks from Mac-Rumours to ensure the article's accuracy. If Mac-Rumours did this they'd find this article is total BS.

2. The ifixit people would have noticed this in their imac tear down. But they reported no such a thing.

3. Many people have replaced hard drives in their new imacs with no issues so far. I can search for links of this if need be.

4. The extra wires used here are probably extra grounding wires. I'm not so sure. But any old hard drive will fit in there.

This topic needs to be locked. And the article needs to be removed from the front page of Mac-Rumours. Why? Cause most of the information in the article has been proven to be incorrect.

And I am sure mac-Rumours do not want their front page with false information based articles on it.

*********************

So you can be 100% certain for the time being Apple is NOT restricting hard drive replacements on the new iMacs.
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This seems like a situation where the information is still pretty blurry. On one side, you have OWC who claim that third party drives won't work (and they are known to sometimes spread BS, however the motivation for this one doesn't make any sense). On the other side, you have a few posters here who claim to have done it (not really having provided any evidence to what they did) without issue. Right now, we don't know what the real case is.

I think it's a possibility that some drives work, most don't, depending on model and firmware. So we have the same situation as we did with the 2009 and 2010 models, which still is a mighty crappy situation (eff you, Apple) however not as bad as OWC makes it seem. Of course, there is no way to find any documentation of which hard drives work and which do not.

I still maintain that the original decision to move to an internal temperature sensor is a really douchy one, and I notice that I resent Apple more and more each day.
 
7 pin SATA connection is a standard, it's also not power. Has anyone considered if Apple have just implemented the standard 7 pin SATA connections and that these will be also introduced on PC's in the future. I personally do not think that Apple would want to manage hard disk firmware for that many variations of hard disks. They may want to control things but I do not believe they would want to control it to that level. They have introduced new technology before other vendors in this model and I think that's all it is. lets just wait and see.
 
ouimetnick said:
Pretty weak. BTW, if your drive fails, and you don't want to pay Apple, can you use a FireWire, or USB hard drive with OSX on it? I have OSX on a drive, and use it for testing.
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I've used OSX on a late 2006 iMac for months from an external Firewire drive, then from an external USB drive, so yes.

When Thunderbolt becomes mainstream, it'll be easy to just use an external hard drive / SSD and have even faster speeds then SATA III@6gb/s.

Still, this is as lame as Apple can get.
 
I seriously hope this is a fake report. If this is true, i´m pretty sure we can stick our global TRIM support in Lion where the sun doesn't shine too.

I was up to purchase a new iMac for our house, seems like I have to reconsider. :( Stop the crap, Apple.
 
Heilage said:
This seems like a situation where the information is still pretty blurry. On one side, you have OWC who claim that third party drives won't work (and they are known to sometimes spread BS, however the motivation for this one doesn't make any sense). On the other side, you have a few posters here who claim to have done it (not really having provided any evidence to what they did) without issue. Right now, we don't know what the real case is.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to google it for you but there are screenshots with fan speeds, everyone posting their success (plenty on links on this thread alone) ran the AHT which passed successfully. The OWC article is based on incomplete testing and the title is creating mass panic.

Heilage said:
I think it's a possibility that some drives work, most don't, depending on model and firmware. So we have the same situation as we did with the 2009 and 2010 models, which still is a mighty crappy situation (eff you, Apple) however not as bad as OWC makes it seem. Of course, there is no way to find any documentation of which hard drives work and which do not.
Click to expand...


The models which have successfully updated are posted and documented. As a matter of fact, there are more success stories than failures. Yes, some drives may not work or not be compatible but it doesn't mean Apple has restricted the upgradability of the new iMacs when in fact, they made it easier.

Heilage said:
I still maintain that the original decision to move to an internal temperature sensor is a really douchy one, and I notice that I resent Apple more and more each day.
Click to expand...

There is no temperature sensor on the 2011 iMacs nor the iMacs pull their temperature from the power connector (contrary to OWC statement) which make things easier to upgrade.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
What have you been smoking and where can I get some? ;)

Seriously, if you think it's more expensive to go Hackintosh, I have to wonder what exactly you're comparing. It's not a tit-for-tat kind of proposition, for example. Most people don't need a Mac Pro's protected memory, for example. You can get a machine that is FASTER at MOST tasks than a quad-core Mac Pro and runs circles around it for gaming for less than half the price easy. If you need an 'exact' duplicate, you're missing the point. Apple doesn't make the machines some of us want at all. I don't want an iMac. I want a powerful desktop for a reasonable price. Putting mostly notebook parts inside a monitor (so that when the monitor fails or vice-versa, you're without both while it gets fixed) is not my idea of a desktop. Your mileage may vary.
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At least you seem to agree that an replica pc based on the same components would be at least the same price if not more expensive. Once you add the $1000+ 2560x1400 screen into the mix (never mind thunderbolt and other perks), it is really hard to find a "competitive" hackintosh. Sure some people may not need this kind of resolution, but for those who do, the iMac is the better and cheaper option and this is what my initial comment was about.
 
OWC spreading FUD? I sure do hope so. I want to be able to extend the lifetime of my purchased product beyond the lifespan Apple allows it to have. I wouldn't open up an iMac myself, but there is simply no reason for not being able to have your drive changed by a Third Party vendor.
 
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maxinc said:
I'm not going to google it for you but there are screenshots with fan speeds, everyone posting their success (plenty on links on this thread alone) ran the AHT which passed successfully. The OWC article is based on incomplete testing and the title is creating mass panic.

The models which have successfully updated are posted and documented. As a matter of fact, there are more success stories than failures. Yes, some drives may not work or not be compatible but it doesn't mean Apple has restricted the upgradability of the new iMacs when in fact, they made it easier.

There is no temperature sensor on the 2011 iMacs nor the iMacs pull their temperature from the power connector (contrary to OWC statement) which make things easier to upgrade.
Click to expand...

I looked at the schematics for the logic board for the new iMac, and it seems that the sensor input is indeed gone, thus moved to the power cable. However, I still doubt that this will make upgrading "easier", since it probably won't work with all drives, and thus is still a douchy move on Apple's part.
 
Heilage said:
I looked at the schematics for the logic board for the new iMac, and it seems that the sensor input is indeed gone, thus moved to the power cable. However, I still doubt that this will make upgrading "easier", since it probably won't work with all drives, and thus is still a douchy move on Apple's part.
Click to expand...

Other than the fake OWC report, what makes you think the sensor was moved to the power cable? I replaced the 7 wire power cable with a standard 4 wire cable and the temperature reading are the same. There are no specification for the SATA3 power connector for such non-sesnse. Drive temperature can be read from SMART and I'm guessing this is what Apple is doing with the new iMacs.

Since there have been problems with some drives reporting inaccurate temperature data via SMART, I am not expecting all drives to be officially supported, especially since accurate temperature reading are essential to the iMacs when the HDD is hidden between hot components.

My guess on why they used 7 wires instead of the normal 5 is because the wires they used are very thin and would make sense to double the 12V and maybe the 5V just as the power connector has 3 pins allocated to each wire.
 
This news worries me big time. Not so much for the current imacs but more for future products. Its is not a good direction for apple.
 
I love this thread :D

The number of posters who think wanting to be able to replace a HDD easily on your own somehow = l33t modder :eek:

The concern for us " normal " users is, when the stock HDD fails , which it will , how do I replace it myself down the line , outside of apple care , when apple has moved on and no longer has parts or anything (so in 3years time)
 
Nightarchaon said:
I love this thread :D


The concern for us " normal " users is, when the stock HDD fails , which it will , how do I replace it myself down the line , outside of apple care , when apple has moved on and no longer has parts or anything (so in 3years time)
Click to expand...

Straight to the point. The iMac isn't the most inexpensive computer on the market, so I want to make sure I can max out my purchase, not wanting to be restricted by Apple. If this is true and they don´t offer hard drives for the computer after several years, they´d force users to upgrade to the new model, which is just plain silly.
 
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