What hard drive do I need!!

[Turbodan]

Hi guys got a imac 21.5 500gb what hard drive do I need gonna change it my self but don't wanna order the wrong 1 .....

 

[jav6454]

For starters are you sure you wanna DIY that? You basically have to take off the screen and LCD panel. You comfortable doing that?

 

[talmy]

Unless you can give a reason, you probably don't *need* another hard drive. It's risky to upgrade the 21.5" iMac and will likely void your warranty. Best way to upgrade disk capacity is with an external USB3 or Thunderbolt connected drive.

 

[Turbodan]

Unless you can give a reason, you probably don't *need* another hard drive. It's risky to upgrade the 21.5" iMac and will likely void your warranty. Best way to upgrade disk capacity is with an external USB3 or Thunderbolt connected drive.

Fixing electronics I'm ok ish with and the hard drive is shot if I bought a external hd will the mac run faster ?? As I'm getting this message

 

[Turbodan]

Fixing electronics I'm ok ish with and the hard drive is shot if I bought a external hd will the mac run faster ?? As I'm getting this message

Sorry he imac is just over 2 years old so no warranty

 

[jav6454]

Then by all means go for it. I believe Apple uses laptop grade hard drives for all iMacs. Any of those will do. Also, Might wanna consider an SSD?

 

[Turbodan]

Then by all means go for it. I believe Apple uses laptop grade hard drives for all iMacs. Any of those will do. Also, Might wanna consider an SSD?

Ssd?? What's this and what make hard drive will I require like 4 like cheers

 

[jav6454]

If you don't know what a SSD is, then you shouldn't really be DIY a HDD change on an iMac.

 

[talmy]

Then by all means go for it. I believe Apple uses laptop grade hard drives for all iMacs. Any of those will do. Also, Might wanna consider an SSD?

Only the 2012 21.5" iMac uses laptop drives. The OP's iMac would use a conventional 3.5" desktop drive. However there can be problems with the temperature sensors on some of the drives. I'd recommend that the OP go to macsales.com (Other World Computing) to see if there are issues for his model (it might be the problems occur only with the 27" model.) They also have installation videos.

 

[26139]

Take it in

Take it in to an authorized repair shops. $50-100 labor, plus the cost of the SSD or HD is a decent price to pay for a fairly complicated procedure that requires special tools.

 

[FreemanW]

I'm down with 26139 on this.

You pay a professional shop for their knowledgeable labor, expertise, and their warranty on the work. In your case, unless you are hundreds of miles from the nearest AASP--and even then, this is a slam-dunk no-brainer.

They (the AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider)) will know if replacing your primary with a SSD (Solid State Drive) is possible/advisable.

 

[26139]

yep

I'm down with 26139 on this.

You pay a professional shop for their knowledgeable labor, expertise, and their warranty on the work. In your case, unless you are hundreds of miles from the nearest AASP--and even then, this is a slam-dunk no-brainer.

They (the AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider)) will know if replacing your primary with a SSD (Solid State Drive) is possible/advisable.

I worked for Apple Retail for three years (2004-07). Though the specialists didn't receive special training like the Geniuses did, we learned plenty from watching them.

Any repair that involves screw removal (laptops and earlier iMacs) or screws and popping clips (Minis with an optical drive) were easily done by anyone.

But even the Geniuses hated any kind of screen removal and tended to let only those super comfortable with the process do it. And these guys were specifically trained AND possessed all the proper tools.