How to replace internal Hard Drive on iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz

Question

Level 1

6 points

How to replace internal Hard Drive on iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz

Hello everyone,

The internal hard drive of my iMac has died (apparently), and is no longer detectable by Disk Utility. It occasionally makes a "click/tick" sound so I know it's still spinning inside. I currently am booted up from an external firewire drive with Tiger (10.4.11) installed.

I have been attempting to locate a service manual that shows how to open the case to my 17" iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz model. I have found a service manual from the previous generation iMac G5 NON-iSight models, but the bottom access panel and screw locations differ from my iMac.

I have purchased an internal 500GB Seagate 7200.12 replacement drive.

Does anyone know where I can find a manual with pictures showing how to disassemble this particular iMac so I can install the new hard drive?

iMac G5 w/ iSight - 17" 1.9GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 250GB HD, 2.5GB RAM

Posted on Mar 15, 2009 8:30 AM

Reply

Answer 1

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Mar 15, 2009 8:44 AM in response to Bluestreak

Ticking is a death rattle for drives and below are some helpful sites with pix.

http://www.kodawarisan.com/imacintel/imacintel01.html
http://xlr8yourmac.com/systems/imacisight_internals/imac_g5_isightinside.html
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=iVgL9u7ySUk
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=fI_QmBueWg4&feature=related

The reason Apple don't publish pix of the insides of the iSight is that they say that there are no user serviceable parts.

Reply

Answer 2

Bluestreak Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 15, 2009 9:36 AM in response to MGW

Hello Miriam,

Thanks for the helpful links!

The YouTube videos were incredibly useful, I'm still debating whether to do it myself, or take it to the Apple Store or MacAuthority to have the hard drive replaced.

I've replaced parts in my previous Macs, but never had one so (seemingly) difficult to take apart as this one.

Thanks again for the quick response, hopefully my Mac will once again be a happy Mac very soon!

Bluestreak

Reply

Answer 3

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Mar 15, 2009 9:44 AM in response to Bluestreak

You're welcome, and if you have the slightest hesitation about doing this, don't! There's just too much you can mess up, the cables are delicate and it's not worth the hassle!

But do post back with the ultimate outcome.

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 18, 2009 11:03 PM in response to Bluestreak

Hello this site is very thorough (but in french...)

CraigOry, this site (unfortunately in french) is very thorough about the procedures:
http://macboostfr.free.fr/?p=196

Good luck

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 10, 2009 8:18 AM in response to tintinlad

Hi there,
Here is an excellent step by step guidline to replace the internal hard Drive in an IMAC G5 1.9GHZ and later. This one is the later model, but it's almost identical in the way it comes apart. I was hesitant to do it myself, but it turned out great. The guy is very helpful too.
Hope this helps anyone else looking to do this themselves. In my case, i had nothing to lose since I had replaced the IMAC with a newer one. I simply wanted to use it as another networked computer.
Thanks,
Dirk

http://jasontomczak.com/2007/11/23/4/comment-page-2/#comment-604

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 1, 2009 7:35 AM in response to tintinlad

My ex roommate had the ISight version and wanted to swap out the 160GB to Hitachi 1TB.

I used Google language to convert to English lol
I followed the instructions to the tee and the 1TB booted up no problem.
There is a few things I should mention which should help;

Use an old credit card, its sturdier then a giftcard
When unscrew the LCD, slowly lift to the right hand side and asked someone to hold it for you
One more thing; I ran into a problem installing leopard and it came up with a "Yellow exclamation".
To get around this is to install the original disc (Tiger)then leopard

Hope this helps

Reply