{"id":2354,"date":"2011-05-12T13:06:23","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T17:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=2354"},"modified":"2011-05-12T13:06:23","modified_gmt":"2011-05-12T17:06:23","slug":"only-apple-can-replace-the-hard-drive-in-your-2011-imac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/05\/12\/only-apple-can-replace-the-hard-drive-in-your-2011-imac\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Only Apple can Replace the Hard Drive in your 2011 iMac"},"content":{"rendered":"

OWC<\/a>: (who makes money selling upgrades \/ replacements to these drives)<\/p>\n

For the main 3.5\u2033 SATA hard drive bay in the new 2011 [iMacs], Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself [\u2026]. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself. From our testing, we\u2019ve found that removing this drive from the system, or\u00a0even from that bay itself<\/em><\/strong>, causes the machine\u2019s hard drive fans to spin at maximum speed and replacing the drive with any non-Apple original drive will result in the iMac failing the Apple Hardware Test (AHT).<\/p>\n

In examining the 2011 27\u2033 iMac\u2019s viability for our Turnkey Upgrade Service, every workaround we\u2019ve tried thus far to allow us to upgrade the main bay factory hard drive still resulted in spinning fans and an Apple Hardware Test failure. We swapped the main drive out (in this case a Western Digital Black WD1001FALS) with the exact same model drive from our inventory which resulted in a failure. We\u2019ve installed our Mercury Pro 6G SSD in that bay, it too results in ludicrous speed engaged fans and an AHT failure. In short, the Apple-branded main hard drive\u00a0cannot be moved, removed or replaced.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, if I were to buy an iMac today with AppleCare and the drive fail within the next 3 years, I’d be covered by Apple for a replacement drive assuming I took the time to pack the iMac up and drive 3 hours to my nearest Apple Store or ship it via 2 Day Express (FedEx) to the nearest Apple Repair Center (Located in Tennessee). I had a G3 iBook that received a Logic Board and HDD replacement 12 times before Apple finally replaced the machine with an 800Mhz G4 iBook. AppleCare is absolutely worth it.<\/p>\n

One day, AppleCare will expire and my iMac will continue chugging. The speed and size of the iMac is perfect and could feasibly last 5+ years assuming I don’t get greedy and upgrade. I will upgrade in a couple of years but many users won’t. In 5 years, the iMac may not boot and a call to Apple would reveal that my hard drive has failed. They’ll quote me something between $200-$700 for a replacement with a $50 diagnostic fee if they receive the Mac and don’t have to replace the machine.<\/p>\n

I decline because everyone has told me Apple charges more than they should and realize a few people replace iMac hard drives for much less. It turns out that I have to go through Apple. Of course, this doesn’t seem like a HUGE deal. You get an Apple certified tech at Apple to replace the drive for you and you’re on your way. Heck, that’s the case if my LED stops working, iSight fails and Logic Board burns up. Even if a USB port stops working on the iMac, they’ll quote me a Logic Board replacement plus hours to complete the job. All that’s happening is Apple has made it impossible for anyone DIY person to replace their hard drive for example, upgrading a 1 terabyte drive to a 4 terabyte drive (remember, this is 5 years from now).<\/p>\n

Apple still allows users to upgrade their own RAM but who knows how long that will last. Forgive me while I sound like a tea party member here but first they take away our ability to upgrade video cards (Circa 1992) and then they don’t allow us in-place processor upgrades (2004-2006) then they take away user\u00a0replaceable\u00a0batteries, the iMac locks us into a fixed screen size, we never and will never have blu-ray (alright, that’s a fair one as iTunes has pretty much made this a moot point) and now we can’t replace our hard drives.<\/p>\n

I get it. Apple isn’t doing anything wrong but they’re annoying the shit out of me.<\/p>\n

Marco Arment:<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think this is a big deal”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fanboy<\/a>. Yes, I know that’s a derogatory word but c’mon.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OWC: (who makes money selling upgrades \/ replacements to these drives) For the main 3.5\u2033 SATA hard drive…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-linked","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-BY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":704,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2009\/12\/15\/apples-late-2009-27-core-i7-imac-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":2354,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 My Thoughts On Apple’s Late-2009 27″ Core i7 iMac [REVIEW]","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Opening: I stated on Thursday when the iMac came in that I only review new technology after I've been using it for 2-4 weeks. 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