I got an I mac in September of 2011. Today my I mac die telling me that I had and hard drive damaged after trying to install the last suggested version of apple ....not even sure which one ...Sierra , el capitaine , what ever, ....I AM FURIOUS AND SAD AND FURIOUS AGAIN ALL MY WORK AND PROGRAM WERE IN THAT COMPUETER >>>FAMILLY PHOTOS >>>>SCHOOL WORK >>>ALL KING OF DESIGN >>I KNOW I KNOW ...I have a time Machine and apparently thing are safe in there ...BUT COME ON WHY MY COMPUETER CRASH IS BEHIND MY UNDERSTANDING ....+ I DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY RIGHT NOW TO BUY AN OTHER COMPUETER AND GIVE MORE MONEY TO APPLE CEO!!!!!!!!! **** ! Excuse my language this is wrong to put people in such a bind ...I was working on a big project using photoshop(an older version that I purchased at the time they let you purchase photoshop....) my son think that my hard drive was damaged way back and when i brought it to apple (under warranty ) they failed to fixe it....WRONG WRONG WRONG...so if their is some one out there that thing that COMPUETER should pass the seven year itch ...lets Apple corporation know that they should not make machine just for people that can change COMPUETER like they change their ****ing underware..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Owner of I mac 2011 would you like to take the step to start a class action suit against Apple?
- Thread starter Dede527
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Seven years old. Good luck with that one. I think most older computers fail when the hard drive "SPINS" in. Backups should be on another hard drive in order to recover precious data if the worst comes to happen. Apple like most if not all other manufacturers give you a one year warranty. Nothing is forever, especially in the tech world.
Strangely, I think I may have an iMac of the same vintage. Mine mostly just sits in sleep mode until I crank it up on Saturday to update financial data as over 95% of my computer time is done on my MBA or my MS Surface Pro 4.
Just checked the prices of 2011 iMacs on eBay and the range looks like $200-$300. I'm guessing that they're doing that well because of the great 21.5" screen.
I doubt there are many Microsoft computers 7 years old that are still churning along...
Strangely, I think I may have an iMac of the same vintage. Mine mostly just sits in sleep mode until I crank it up on Saturday to update financial data as over 95% of my computer time is done on my MBA or my MS Surface Pro 4.
Just checked the prices of 2011 iMacs on eBay and the range looks like $200-$300. I'm guessing that they're doing that well because of the great 21.5" screen.
I doubt there are many Microsoft computers 7 years old that are still churning along...
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I reckon there are. In fact I'm sure there are 10s of millions of 7 year old Microsoft computers churning along around but I do reckon owners of 7 year old Macs are more likely to have full backups of their entire HDD by using Time Machine and in the event of what happened to the OP usually will not break out in a rage when their spinning HDD dies.
The point is that this happened when I wanted to install the latest version of macOS High sierra ...So this must be more than a coincidence .... I think I could have had an other year or so with that machine... and I am not a high tech expert....so Please, if one make those machine for your average shmock...You realize that your average shmock can not afford a COMPUETER every 5 years ...or at last do like they do for car have a leasing system that allow you to upgrade at little cost your COMPUETER without losing all your work and most of all give you a warning ...HEY YOU MACHINE IS ABOUT TO DIE YOU HAVE 6 MONTH left out of that puppy...actually a dog life a bit longer...So now what do I do ?
Soooo... replace the HD and restore from your Time Machine backup like the rest of us do when we have problems
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am just wondering if there is people out there that have had a similar experience trying to install sierra or other iOS version...it seem that it is may be a marketing technic that is forcing owner of older device that are still alive and almost well to purchase more crap from apple....I am not use to window system any more but I am very disappointed with apple right now ....and frustrated....I have an old apple desk top that still is fontioning ...not in tip top shape but ok....so Why are older product better than most recent one ? that is my question ....
It sucks when a HD craps out on you, and prolly most of us around here have had it happen at one time or another, usually at the worst time possible and without any warning
So unfortunately you aren't likely to get too much sympathy for a 7 year old HD going down
I'd say 7 years of good use for a spinner is pretty good actually, and not a sign of Apple trying to force you to buy a new computer, especially since you can easily replace the HD
So unfortunately you aren't likely to get too much sympathy for a 7 year old HD going down
I'd say 7 years of good use for a spinner is pretty good actually, and not a sign of Apple trying to force you to buy a new computer, especially since you can easily replace the HD
Considering the Hard Drive is not made by Apple but rather Seagate or Western Digital, a lawsuit against Apple would go nowhere fast.
I couldn't imagine using the same computer for 7 years.....
And because something broke on an old machine, your reaction is to SUE them? Jeez, man. Your expectations are in la-la land.
And because something broke on an old machine, your reaction is to SUE them? Jeez, man. Your expectations are in la-la land.
So first of all I hope you change your underwear more than once every seven years!!!
second of all, you have a hard time understanding why a 7 year old hard drive failed?!
Would you be surprised if your car tires failed after 100,000 Miles? Hard drives wear out. Common knowledge. I consider 3 years to be good and usually replace them before they fail. Like tires.
So consider yourself lucky. Replace it and restore from your backup.
7 years is a good run on a hard drive where most usually have a 1 year consumer guarantee or 3 years for a business. You did well to have Time Machine configured so now you can restore to another drive. Buy and external USB drive if you don't want to install one internally.
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iMac 2011s are awesome machines but a spinner in one this long is probably pretty rare. You can easily replace the spinner with a nice SSD and it is like a new computer. As I said, 2011 iMacs were Apple at the pinnacle of that type of computer.
Once you've calmed down you hopefully will realise it would perhaps be the perfect time to upgrade to a new(er) Mac (get SSD to prevent this from happening again) and restore from your Time Machine. 
Since 2011 I've had 3 cars and only two Macs. Not bad 
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There are several options regardless...
Since 2011 I've had 3 cars and only two Macs. Not bad . [doublepost=1518921283][/doublepost]
Realistically how much to upgrade the HDD to SDD? Unless you are wanting to attempt this yourself which is pretty intense when one considers themselves an "average shmock". I didn't attempt it and I'm in IT. I had to pay quite a bit in 2014 to upgrade to SSD. I wonder if it's even worth it or just put the Mac on Ebay for spares and get newer Mac with native SSD? If his Time Machine backup is 1TB in size this could be at least $500, no?
There are several options regardless...
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Hi, I also noted above my comment to the poster that you can get an external drive if s/he didn't fancy the upgrade themselves. It's actually pretty trivial. Remove glass, remove a dozen screws holding LCD, lift LCD and remove three cables and the hard disk is right there.
Why would he even think this? That doesn't even make sense. If your hard drive was somehow damaged, it would likely fail almost immediately. These things can last a long time, but none last forever. For less that $100, you could install a new HD and triple your storage space, and honestly installing one isn't all that tough.
As others have said, hopefully you have been backing up your iMac routinely. If you haven't that's on you.
Please take a moment to cool down before posting.
If it is only a failed update your data is NOT gone. Recover the data to another computer using target disk mode and then do a fresh install. If this is the first time you have had to do something like this consider yourself lucky.
If it is only a failed update your data is NOT gone. Recover the data to another computer using target disk mode and then do a fresh install. If this is the first time you have had to do something like this consider yourself lucky.
I have a Sony Laptop that has Windows 10 on it and it is "Churming along" still....2005 model.
I do not use it often, because I prefer Apple of course, but nevertheless it still has no issues.
Can't blame Apple after seven years. If it is just a hard drive issue, replace it your self. A seven year computer now is still user able concerning replacing hard drives and RAM.
I have a macbook 2010 and is STILL running like a champ!
Exactly, and I'm still using a 2011 iMac like the OP, a PC from 2011, a 2013 MBP Retina, and a custom build PC with last years hardware. No huge improvements in performance on computer in the last 8 years (except GPUs).
Since the introduction of Intel, Macs can boot from an external USB drive and even some G5's could do this. To remove screen from a 2011 model, one needs the magnet set as the screen is held in magnetically.
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I replaced a drive in my fathers iMac when it broke... easy... and it got him another 4 years until Sierra wasn’t supported so bought him a 27” 2017 5k iMac for christmas...
my laptop windows average 3 year i changed.. 3 years should backup everything.. i mean not the icloud thing. I would said own mistake.
If you where working on a big project in PS.....why would you decide to upgrade your os (to whichever version..... you don’t know!) Surely you know what you have clicked?
People here are very very helpful, but they need to know the relevant info.
No need to ‘bad mouth’ the manufacturer, as others have said, if it was a couple of years old you would be miffed.
People here are very very helpful, but they need to know the relevant info.
No need to ‘bad mouth’ the manufacturer, as others have said, if it was a couple of years old you would be miffed.
I have High Sierra running fine on an iMac 2010, (on a spinning drive but fully backed up), and an old Unibody MacBook from 2008 / 2009. When a hard drive dies, it just happens, it's an age thing. Some hard drives go on for ever, some not so long. There's no real way of telling until they start to fail.
All you can do is shrug and replace; recover files from your backup drive. You do have a backup drive, don't you?
After all this time there can be no blame attached to the manufacture of any computer if the hard drive dies
Cheers
Hugh