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iMac AL 24" Hard Drive Swap - Pics/Procedure inside

Are the Seagate 7200.11 1TB drives ok to use in the iMac's? Somebody made reference that there could be a problem - I'm considering this drive but want to make sure it is ok before I install one.

Thanks!
 
randyharris said:
Are the Samsung 7200.11 1TB drives ok to use in the iMac's?
Click to expand...

The 7200.11 drives are Seagate, not Samsung.

Somebody made reference that there could be a problem - I'm considering
this drive but want to make sure it is ok before I install one.
Click to expand...

The key phrase is "could be" -- there's an ancient/outdated/G5-era note
on Seagate's web site (see link below) recommending 7200.10-family
drives rather than the ES-family drives for G5 Macs. All those products
are now obsolete -- replaced by 7200.11, ES.2, and Intel iMacs. It might
be worth a call to Seagate tech support to see whether the new drives
are shipped with "Spread Spectrum Clocking" (SSC) enabled by default.

- If they're not SSC-enabled, there's no problem.

- If SSC is enabled, Apple tech support should be able to tell you whether
Intel Macs care. (But realistically, it would be a waste of time to ask.)

- Either way, there's an "SSC-Toggle" utility on Seagate's web site that
allows you to turn it off (second link below).

My best guess is that (as before) SSC will be disabled on 7200.11 drives
and enabled on ES.2 (because it's only there to reduce EMI in multi-disk
NAS/RAID/server arrays).

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/before_you_buy/buying_a_drive_for_a_macintosh/ (Outdated?)

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/other_downloads/SSC_Toggle_Utility

...the web knows all!

LK
 
Alright! I'm going for it as well, only hope that my hands are as steady as Tom's. 🙂 I decided to go for the Samsung F1 750GB drive. I really wanted and could use the space (and speed) of the new F1 3 platter 1TB drive, but it is almost twice the price of the 750GB. I can't come to grips with the price difference, so will pare down enough to live with a 750GB primary drive (SuperDuper clone'd on an external 750GB FW800 drive.)

Fingers crossed, I'll post my report after completion.
 
randyharris said:
Alright! I'm going for it as well, only hope that my hands are as steady as Tom's. 🙂 I decided to go for the Samsung F1 750GB drive. I really wanted and could use the space (and speed) of the new F1 3 platter 1TB drive, but it is almost twice the price of the 750GB. I can't come to grips with the price difference, so will pare down enough to live with a 750GB primary drive (SuperDuper clone'd on an external 750GB FW800 drive.)

Fingers crossed, I'll post my report after completion.
Click to expand...

Good luck my friend, I only got as far as taking the glass off😛.
 
Success! Thanks so much for the info Tom it really helped a ton.

When I was using my canned air I tilted it too much and made a liquid spray mess on the LCD but just used a cleaning cloth for LCD's to clean it up. The new drive is up and running great, I used SuperDuper! to clone my original to an external and then to the new drive.

Oh, I didn't fully remove the LCD, I disconnected the first 2 connections, and then propped up the LCD resting it on my head while I worked on the hard drive. I found this far easier than messing with the third connection.

The new Samsung F1 750GB is faster than my stock WD too.
WD 320GB XBench Score 72.91
Samsung 750GB XBench Score 93.54

🙂
 
randyharris said:
Success! Thanks so much for the info Tom it really helped a ton.

When I was using my canned air I tilted it too much and made a liquid spray mess on the LCD but just used a cleaning cloth for LCD's to clean it up. The new drive is up and running great, I used SuperDuper! to clone my original to an external and then to the new drive.

Oh, I didn't fully remove the LCD, I disconnected the first 2 connections, and then propped up the LCD resting it on my head while I worked on the hard drive. I found this far easier than messing with the third connection.

The new Samsung F1 750GB is faster than my stock WD too.
WD 320GB XBench Score 72.91
Samsung 750GB XBench Score 93.54

🙂
Click to expand...

Congrats! Glad the little how-to came in handy. Yeah, that 3rd plug for the LCD is a pita. Mostly getting it lined up to plug it back in. The stiff neck was probably a good trade off!

Nice improvement on speed too! 😀 I have read those new F1's have a really tight ariel density... I believe the 1TB version is using only 3 platters! 😱
 
Tom Sawyer said:
I have read those new F1's have a really tight ariel density... I believe the 1TB version is using only 3 platters! 😱
Click to expand...

That's right, and the F1 1TB drive is blazing fast too! I wanted to go that route, but the extra expense of the 1TB internal and a matching 1TB external to clone it with proved too expensive for me.
 
Mikebuzzsaw said:
Anyone have trouble with apple warranty after installing HDD? I'm tempted to install a new hdd.
Click to expand...

I've read/heard of no problems. As one member mentioned, it's probably not a bad idea to keep the stock drive in the case of a need for warranty service.
 
Mikebuzzsaw said:
I just am gonna get a Drobo. Seems like more benefits vs installing a 1TB internal.
Click to expand...

But the Drobo is $500 before adding any storage (another $200 for the LAN option) and slow if you look at reviews with benchmarks.

I can tell you that it was simple to replace the internal drive on my 24" iMac. If you've ever built a pc or replaced a motherboard, both of those tasks are far more involved and complicated than the iMac harddrive. You just need to work carefully, it's not difficult at all.
 
randyharris said:
That's right, and the F1 1TB drive is blazing fast too! I wanted to go that route, but the extra expense of the 1TB internal and a matching 1TB external to clone it with proved too expensive for me.
Click to expand...

I have had the Hitachi 1TB drive in my white iMac replaced (it generated far too much heat) with a Samsung F1 1TB drive today:it's indeed fast,cool and quiet for the moment. I have read quiet a lot of negative userreviews about this drive on Newegg though. I have bought 3 of these and used them for about 2 months in a Mediacenter (which generates quiet a lot of stress on the disk if used as PVR drive) to stresstest them before I went ahead with the change (APR hourfees are quite steep).
 
proc said:
I have had the Hitachi 1TB drive in my white iMac replaced (it generated fat too much heat) with a Samsung F1 1TB drive today:it's indeed fast,cool and quiet for the moment. I have read quiet a lot of negative userreviews about this drive on Newegg though. I have bought 3 of these and used them for about 2 months in a Mediacenter (which generates quiet a lot of stress on the disk if used as PVR drive) to stresstest them before I went ahead with the change (APR hourfees are quite steep).
Click to expand...

The bad reviews on NewEgg are regarding Vista driver issues with this particular drive, this is not an issue for the Mac camp.

fwiw - I sold the iMac that I originally had put the Samsung 750GB drive into, bought the latest 2.8ghz iMac and I stuck a 750GB F1 Samsung into it - both iMac's ran great with the Samsung F1 drives.
 
I've built PCs and tinkered with Mac Pros before, but this scares the hell out of me.. haha

Maybe it's getting dust between the LCD and glass, or maybe I'm worried about the LCD. This upgrade looks like a must once/if I upgrade to an iMac - specifically upgrading to the VelociRaptor HD.
 
idyll said:
I've built PCs and tinkered with Mac Pros before, but this scares the hell out of me.. haha

Maybe it's getting dust between the LCD and glass, or maybe I'm worried about the LCD. This upgrade looks like a must once/if I upgrade to an iMac - specifically upgrading to the VelociRaptor HD.
Click to expand...

It really wasn't difficult for me at all, fwiw.

Also, the VelociRaptor is loud as hell, and check out some of the latest reviews, the Samsung F1 1TB performs very well and is very quiet - check out some benchmarks.
 
randyharris said:
It really wasn't difficult for me at all, fwiw.

Also, the VelociRaptor is loud as hell, and check out some of the latest reviews, the Samsung F1 1TB performs very well and is very quiet - check out some benchmarks.
Click to expand...

Interesting, didn't know the VR was so loud. I enjoy the silence of my iMac so that would be a problem. Plus, TRUST ME, you do not want a loud drive in these iMac enclosures... the sound reverberates pretty badly, the back acts like a speaker baffle! 😱
 
randyharris said:
fwiw - it's loud because it spins at 10k RPM.
Click to expand...

Might want to get your info straight before passing along comments like that. Read the thread Superman07 linked to and you will see an iMac user with the Velociraptor installed and his report is that it's very quiet.
 
randyharris said:
fwiw - it's loud because it spins at 10k RPM.
Click to expand...

So, I've had server drives that spin at 15k rpm and they really aren't that loud.


Also, this mod doesn't look that bad, I've done much more scary/dangerous things with my pc lol.


And, isn't Tom Sawyer (the name) the person who made Roller Coaster Tycoon?
Edit: nvm its Chris Sawyer lol.
 
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