Here is the situation. I have an early 2008 iMac. When upgrading to Mavericks I think my HDD failed during the reboot. It froze during the shut down and I had to hold down the power button to turn it of. When I turned it back on I got the blinking ? folder icon. I restarted with option held down an it booted into recovery. Disk utility didn't see the HDD and only saw my time machine drive and lie 1.6 GB of my HDD. I needed to leave so I shut it down and when I returned I turned it on and 10.8.5 booted up like normal. I tried to install Mavericks again and this time it got all the way through the restart and it started to install. Then a screen came up that said my HDD was damaged and needed to be erased and restored. I went into disk utility and it saw my HDD but I couldn't figure out how to erase it (I've never done it before and I wanted to make sure I did it right. I shut it down and figured I would look up how to do it and then do it right. When I came back and turned it on disk utility couldn't see the HDD anymore. It only saw my external time machine backup. I tried resetting several times in various configurations. I only could ever boot into recovery when my external was hooked up. I called Apple and was directed to try a few more things. Ultimately they said that I need to replace my HDD. It seemed strange that this all coincided with upgrading to Mavericks and I initially thought that it caused my problems. Now I think it just exposed a problem that was right around the corner (though I'm open to suggestions if someone thinks my current setup can be saved).
I am now looking for a new HDD. If I'm going to do this I figure I might as well upgrade. I'm considering a few options.
Option 1. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD.
Option 2. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a smaller capacity SSD
Option 3. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity SSHD.
Option 4. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD and my optical drive with a small SSD and attempt to create a fusion drive. (I would like to know if this is possible and fairly easy. Has anyone done this on an early ;08 iMac?)
The options are listed in opposite order of my desire (meaning I would prefer option 4). I have read a few things regarding option 2 that say this will cause my fan to run constantly. I don't want that. Will option 3 allow for normal fan operation? What unforeseen issues will come up? What options am I not considering? I figure I can do any of these options for about $200 or so. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I am now looking for a new HDD. If I'm going to do this I figure I might as well upgrade. I'm considering a few options.
Option 1. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD.
Option 2. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a smaller capacity SSD
Option 3. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity SSHD.
Option 4. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD and my optical drive with a small SSD and attempt to create a fusion drive. (I would like to know if this is possible and fairly easy. Has anyone done this on an early ;08 iMac?)
The options are listed in opposite order of my desire (meaning I would prefer option 4). I have read a few things regarding option 2 that say this will cause my fan to run constantly. I don't want that. Will option 3 allow for normal fan operation? What unforeseen issues will come up? What options am I not considering? I figure I can do any of these options for about $200 or so. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.