iMac 1 TB Harddrive replacement program questions

[sap12690]

My iMac is now elgible but I have several questions,

1. How long does it usually take them to do the replacement?

2. When it comes to everything that I already in my hard drive do they transfer all my stuff to the new hard drive? I don't want to loose all my photos, music, movies, files etc.

3. If I ask them and pay for it, will they install a 2 TB hard drive instead of a 1 TB harddrive like I initially had?

Any help with these questions would be appreciated, THANKS

 

[stridemat]

My iMac is now elgible but I have several questions,

1. How long does it usually take them to do the replacement?it depends on how busy they are. I would normally expect it to be done the same day if it's an Apple store. May be a bit longer if its an official reseller.

2. When it comes to everything that I already in my hard drive do they transfer all my stuff to the new hard drive? I don't want to loose all my photos, music, movies, files etc. I doubt they will, better to be safe than sorry. Best to make a backup before taking it in. If they do restore everything, then bonus!

3. If I ask them and pay for it, will they install a 2 TB hard drive instead of a 1 TB harddrive like I initially had? not sure, but you don't loose anything for asking.

Any help with these questions would be appreciated, THANKS

See responses above.

 

[skyenet]

My 2009 iMac comes under the replacement programme so phoned Apple store today. The guy I spoke to reckoned it could be a few days before it would be ready for collection. He said to make a Genius appointment and that I would be told at that time how long it would take. He of course recommended me to take a backup of my hard drive. I backup using Carbon Cloner but will also do a Time Capsule backup.

I have been meaning to take my, out of Warranty, iMac in to see if they would replace my screen as it has grey smudges which is a pretty common problem. Never got around to it as I have not really wanted to do without my iMac, nor have a wasted journey. With a bit of luck I might get the screen replaced at the same time as the Hard drive. No harm in asking

On holiday this week so will take it in the following week. A backup will be handy for installing all my stuff on a new 2012 iMac

 

[heimbachae]

I'm gonna take mine in the week between Christmas and New Years, but I'm definitely hesitant. my computer works flawlessly, why mess with it?

 

[cyclotron451]

I'm gonna take mine in the week between Christmas and New Years, but I'm definitely hesitant. my computer works flawlessly, why mess with it?

I had a colleague at work visit me with a White Macbook with a Seagate HDD that has just failed. I found that it's a known fault (except neither him nor I knew about it!) The drive is ticking - no boot and he's lost around a month's music creations since he last backed-up. His Macbook worked perfectly up to the minute that the Seagate read head crashed into his Seagate magnetic platter surface! The data recovery companies say that they have had such enormous Macbook Seagate failure numbers that they can no longer recover any data on these drives.

Provided you back-up every hour, then replacing your disk at Xmas might be fine. All hard-disks eventually fail - we just don't know when that will be. However as soon as there's a recall , that means a disc crash might be sooner than you would wish! At least you know about this recall, so you can choose the best timing for your projects, my colleague wasn't so lucky - other than Apple gave him a new HDD - but he's lost data.

 

[jjhoekstra]

I had a colleague at work visit me with a White Macbook with a Seagate HDD that has just failed. I found that it's a known fault (except neither him nor I knew about it!) The drive is ticking - no boot and he's lost around a month's music creations since he last backed-up. His Macbook worked perfectly up to the minute that the Seagate read head crashed into his Seagate magnetic platter surface! The data recovery companies say that they have had such enormous Macbook Seagate failure numbers that they can no longer recover any data on these drives.

Provided you back-up every hour, then replacing your disk at Xmas might be fine. All hard-disks eventually fail - we just don't know when that will be. However as soon as there's a recall , that means a disc crash might be sooner than you would wish! At least you know about this recall, so you can choose the best timing for your projects, my colleague wasn't so lucky - other than Apple gave him a new HDD - but he's lost data.

So let me see if I understood you correctly: the data-recovery companies don't work on the failed Seagate-drives anymore because there is too many of them? That must be the first business-sector in history which is unhappy with more work!

 

[heimbachae]

I have time machine and my original boot discs. I was backing up constantly but now maybe once a week or two, so data loss isn't a huge concern of mine.

now having apple take my nice drive off in a back room and do god knows what does worry me slightly. can we get the drives back once they are replaced or should we just wipe them before they go in?

 

[cyclotron451]

So let me see if I understood you correctly: the data-recovery companies don't work on the failed Seagate-drives anymore because there is too many of them? That must be the first business-sector in history which is unhappy with more work!

It's an even more complicated story! The British Hard Disc recovery company RETRODATA started repairing the Seagates in the Macbook in 2007, when they were overwhelmed by failures they allegedly 'phoned Apple and said "what's going on - don't you think you'd better mention this to your customers?" Now the situation is that there are no more spare parts worldwide and in most Macbook Seagate 2.5″ drives with Firmware revisions 7.01 and 3.CAE, the failure is a Bernoulli failure: The delicate read/write heads have dug holes into the delicate high speed data platter! It doesn't affect Seagate drives with a different firmware, but having met my first tick/tick/tick Macbook drive this week, I would strongly suggest following any replacement program as soon as is convenient.

I had already upgraded my personal white Macbook to a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB hybrid/SSD due to running out of space om the original - so I never faced this issue and my hybrid disc is so far fine.

 

[cyclotron451]

...now having apple take my nice drive off in a back room and do god knows what does worry me slightly. can we get the drives back once they are replaced or should we just wipe them before they go in?

On my Macbook Pro that melted last week (GPU failure), I'm multiply erasing the hard disc before returning the system. I think Apple will be too busy to bother checking everyone's personal data - but they might outsource the repair to a different company who might have a different (evil) point of view. Even a valid e-mail address can be worth $€£ on the black-market, HDD = a whole bunch of personal data, card numbers, friends, enemies, likes/dislikes - YES it's time to break-out the national security level data-shredders. OR something like the Disk Utility built-in Erase/Security Options/DOE 3-pass secure erase, that writes random data twice over your HDD then writes a final pattern on the last erase process. You certainly need a back-up or preferably 2 before shredding your data. Interestingly Disk Utility now mentions that on certain types of media ( I think they mean SSD) can't be guaranteed to be overwritten

 

[gigas65]

Bootcamp partition backup?

Can you please, advise a free and safe way to backup my bootcamp partition with windows7??
Thanks

 

[theSeb]

Can you please, advise a free and safe way to backup my bootcamp partition with windows7??
Thanks

Use Winclone.

 

[philipma1957]

I have time machine and my original boot discs. I was backing up constantly but now maybe once a week or two, so data loss isn't a huge concern of mine.

now having apple take my nice drive off in a back room and do god knows what does worry me slightly. can we get the drives back once they are replaced or should we just wipe them before they go in?

clone your internal with superduper or carbon copy cloner. then boot with the clone run the imac for an hour or so.

then use the external booter to run utility secure erase 7 pass zero over write. after 2 passes of zeroes you can stop the program.

 

[kylera]

My iMac is now elgible but I have several questions,

1. How long does it usually take them to do the replacement?

2. When it comes to everything that I already in my hard drive do they transfer all my stuff to the new hard drive? I don't want to loose all my photos, music, movies, files etc.

3. If I ask them and pay for it, will they install a 2 TB hard drive instead of a 1 TB harddrive like I initially had?

Any help with these questions would be appreciated, THANKS

1. I don't know how Apple handles repairs where you live, but here in Korea, I called Apple up and they sent a service guy maybe a couple of days later (this is a 2011 model and I had this done in the spring this year so my memory is a bit iffy). What I do remember was that the guy came on a Thursday, packed up my iMac and personally dropped it off the very next day, literally 24 hours later. He came at 5PM on both days, and that was that. A quick check on System Information showed that the drive was a WD.

2. You have to handle your own backups. I had Time Machine do a backup on an old external before the service guy came.

3. Can't comment since I didn't try that. But a call won't hurt.

 

[jsf721]

What is the replacement program? I have a 1TB hd as well

 

[ckoerner]

What is the replacement program? I have a 1TB hd as well

Certain iMacs with 1TB Seagate hard drives are subject to a replacement program via Apple. More information here: http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

 

[Whackintosh]

Now that I've got my new 2012 iMac set up, I'm going to bring my old 2009 machine in for the Seagate replacement. If I completely erase the contents of my drive, they'll have no way to verify my serial number, right? So, I presume I shouldn't fully erase my drive. Is there a way to securely erase everything except for the basic "about this Mac" information?

 

[Brian Y]

They will be able to fit a 2tb HDD, but you'll have to pay full price for it - the only part covered is the 1tb HDD.

 

[macthefork]

Now that I've got my new 2012 iMac set up, I'm going to bring my old 2009 machine in for the Seagate replacement. If I completely erase the contents of my drive, they'll have no way to verify my serial number, right? So, I presume I shouldn't fully erase my drive. Is there a way to securely erase everything except for the basic "about this Mac" information?

"About This Mac" information pertaining to your hardware doesn't come from the drive. So, you can secure erase your drive and they will still be able to see your S/N. The drive information is not held in the read/write area, so even the drive model and S/N will not be deleted either.

It's best to secure delete before bringing in.

 

[laryenhilllvr]

On my Macbook Pro that melted last week (GPU failure), I'm multiply erasing the hard disc before returning the system. I think Apple will be too busy to bother checking everyone's personal data - but they might outsource the repair to a different company who might have a different (evil) point of view. Even a valid e-mail address can be worth $€£ on the black-market, HDD = a whole bunch of personal data, card numbers, friends, enemies, likes/dislikes - YES it's time to break-out the national security level data-shredders. OR something like the Disk Utility built-in Erase/Security Options/DOE 3-pass secure erase, that writes random data twice over your HDD then writes a final pattern on the last erase process. You certainly need a back-up or preferably 2 before shredding your data. Interestingly Disk Utility now mentions that on certain types of media ( I think they mean SSD) can't be guaranteed to be overwritten

i'm worried about the same thing. in a few weeks i'll be sending both of my mbps in because they crashed. neither will go past the loading screen and i'm very worried about them (or someone else) taking my info. then comes the data recovery issue, i'm not so sure i want to take it to the geek squad (or if they are even good enough to restore my data). i'm also wondering how to get the data off and onto my imac, if at all possible. i do have a time machine back up, but idk if i can even import certain files onto the imac with a different os.

 

[cyclotron451]

i'm very worried about them (or someone else) taking my info. then comes the data recovery issue,.

This can probably be solved with a Firewire cable or Thunderbolt cable for the newer MBPs.

use target mode apple knowledge base and you can usually siphon OFF the data for a good backup. Then think about using Disk Utility to erase teh HDD in the MBP.

I have managed to get my MBP back to life after similar crashes with single user mode then fsck

My recent MBP motherboard replacement took 3-months of other people holding onto my MBP, repairing it, then deliberately un-repairing it before finally repairing it again! I'm rather glad that i at least made a stab at overwriting everything, after I'd made the backup, before it went on repair-holiday.

 

[thedeske]

Considered doing this months ago, but didn't (busy)
The 1tb drive in my 2009 showed signs a week ago, so I took it to a local certified shop and got it back in 2 business days. For me, it was much less painful than the Apple Store in the city. Just called and took it in right away. No waiting around.
They took numbers off the base and asked for a 50.00 bench fee. The fee was refunded once Apple approved the work. Part was shipped overnight.
Love supporting a local small shop.

http://onyxconsulting.com/ gave me outstanding service

 

[SuperShredder]

The turn around times are different for each store. Depends on how many repairs they have. They will likely need at least overnight to do it, do not expect to have it done on the spot. Be prepared to be without your Mac for a few days.

They will not transfer your data. So do what you were planning to do and back it up before you go.

An Apple retail store will only provide like for like replacement parts. So even if you want to pay for it, they will not be able to upgrade it. If you bring it to a local shop and is an Apple Authorized Service Provider, they may be able to do that for you. But they will have an entirely different process than Apple. At Apple the drives have to go back to them and then back to Seagate so Apple can get credit from Seagate.

It helps to check this website with your serial number. Apple sent the email for replacement HDDs to everyone that could be effected. However, not everyone who received the email has the qualifying HDD. Someone already posted it, just enter your serial number and it will say if you are eligible or not. Might save you a trip

http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

 

[heimbachae]

took mine in Friday afternoon, was complete by Saturday night. they were closed yesterday (obviously) so I'm gonna go pick it up today. Annapolis, MD store.

 

[Santabean2000]

My iMac is now elgible but I have several questions,

1. How long does it usually take them to do the replacement?
mine was completed in 2 working days.
2. When it comes to everything that I already in my hard drive do they transfer all my stuff to the new hard drive? I don't want to loose all my photos, music, movies, files etc.
They take the drive away; take responsibility for your own data. And IMO never hand over a drive with all your stuff on it. I made a clone, booted from that and zeroed out my internal.
3. If I ask them and pay for it, will they install a 2 TB hard drive instead of a 1 TB harddrive like I initially had?
had to 'fight' for it. In the end I had to supply my own 2TB drive, which they then installed. They also gave me the replacement 1TB drive (and temp sensor I think) to take away. Worked out perfect for me.I
Any help with these questions would be appreciated, THANKS

Def worthwhile. Think it's extended the life of my machine by 3-4 years.

 

[questioner76]

For those who replaced their drive, anyone notice a performance increase? Just curious. My machine seems to be dragging with slow disk access. Wondering if I should just go ahead and get it replaced.