imac hard drive replacement woes

[nesuser2]

Ok, so my friend has an imac that is 18-24 months old and the hard drive started failing(smart failure). I did my best to recover files but it was much a lost cause, even tried DD and it got a portion before it just started bombing when you look at it. So the original 1tb seagate went bad, and it looks like it caused some screen bleeding on the upper left..not sure it was heat related but the imac was getting very warm, i'm nearly sure you could cook an egg on it...i honestly think that's possible.

So, I picked up a WD black being naive and loaded it up...fan issue that we have all come to love. I followed a handful of suggestions online and found one of the temp leads to the optical drive and gave it a shot. A few weeks later now, he says the fans won't kick on, it will start to kick on and then they stop. He claims that it's hot, but I can't say if he's just being protective of his baby.

After lots of reading, i'm quite convinced that I won't recommend anybody buy an imac if they keep up practice like this. There is no good reason to corner the market on hard drives let alone any component. And then there isn't any information from anybody that has figured it out, they're all capitalists! So be it, can't blame them too much I suppose. Anyways, I really see no way out except for using software to control the fans and write it off but that is my least favorite approach. I've read plenty, searched plenty...i don't get any solid answers but you know how that goes...if you had the solution in front of you then you would know what to search for..and you wouldn't be searching.

Maybe this is already stickied somewhere, but if somebody can post me a link and tell me to RTFM then I would gladly do so, just find me the manual. Or show me where I can take searching lessons! Thanks to all that help!

 

[robgendreau]

I have to agree. Hard drives fail. Not being able to replace them is lame.

With the new Thunderbolt iMacs at least you can hook up a drive and not lose any speed. But they're pricey.

 

[leman]

Maybe this is already stickied somewhere, but if somebody can post me a link and tell me to RTFM then I would gladly do so, just find me the manual. Or show me where I can take searching lessons! Thanks to all that help!

Well, you are supposed to let Apple repair it. The hard-drive is not user-serviceable because currently, there is no sane way to allow this in the iMac without sacrificing the compact form factor.

Just think about it: the iMac itself is hardly thicker than a 3.5" HDD. So the only place to put the drive is in the center, where the iMac its at its thickest. Now, to make it user-accessible, the HDD should be located on the back side of the iMac. This means placing the HDD behind the mainboard (which does not work due to the thickness of the machine) . They are basically left with the only option: to put the HDD between the mainboard and the display. And they are hardly 'cornering' the market, they are simply using some tech which lets them run the computer cooler without needing additional components. As the HDD is not supposed to be swapped out by the user, a perfectly valid move. Its not supposed to make your life harder, its actually supposed to make your life easier (it also means that the repairs cost more, but, well - its the same with FI cars). The only way I see that iMac can get user-serviceable HDD is either by radical redesign or dropping the optical drive.

 

[nesuser2]

Well, you are supposed to let Apple repair it. The hard-drive is not user-serviceable because currently, there is no sane way to allow this in the iMac without sacrificing the compact form factor.

Just think about it: the iMac itself is hardly thicker than a 3.5" HDD. So the only place to put the drive is in the center, where the iMac its at its thickest. Now, to make it user-accessible, the HDD should be located on the back side of the iMac. This means placing the HDD behind the mainboard (which does not work due to the thickness of the machine) . They are basically left with the only option: to put the HDD between the mainboard and the display. And they are hardly 'cornering' the market, they are simply using some tech which lets them run the computer cooler without needing additional components. As the HDD is not supposed to be swapped out by the user, a perfectly valid move. Its not supposed to make your life harder, its actually supposed to make your life easier (it also means that the repairs cost more, but, well - its the same with FI cars). The only way I see that iMac can get user-serviceable HDD is either by radical redesign or dropping the optical drive.

I think they can find a way to read the temps without coming up with a proprietary solution. I have no qualms with where the hard drive is but by making yourself the only place to get a particular item is cornering the market. Perhaps I didn't do enough digging, can I purchase a hard drive from apple to replace this or do I have to take it to apple? I was to the understanding that I would have to let them perform the repair for ballpark $400, perhaps i'm totally mistaken. That is much different than the $150 that the repair has cost so far, which includes a sensor that I am going to say is not necessary. If I have anything totally wrong here, let me know!