75% failure rate on 24" iMac hard drives?

I support a large number of Macs and back in Sept/Oct 2009 we purchased nearly forty 24" 3.06 GHz iMacs. Since April 2011, nearly half of them had their identical-model 1TB Seagate hard drives fail. All of them had identical symptoms leading up to the failures. After giving the local Apple Service Provider over $240 each to do on-site replacements for the first 6, I took matters into my own hands and did the remaining replacements myself. I have another one that I'll be replacing tomorrow. I've got the tools and a stack of new drives ready for battle.

I was in touch with one of Apple's Senior Technical Advisors and had a service call open back in the fall of 2011. I still have all of the failed Seagate drives. For whatever reason my boss didn't want to be bothered with this once I started doing the repairs myself and Apple didn't see it urgent to pursue this any further.

Now, if only there was a way I could replace drives in the newer model iMacs...

Please add me to this list. I have loved my iMac 2008 24" model, 4GB RAM, WD 320GB hdd... I went to turn it on, and there was nothing on the screen but a file folder with a flashing question mark. I just swapped out the hard drive since my applecare plan was expired. I am formating right now, hoping to revive the old beast.... Had no issues before, but after reading this i have to think that it is either a cooling issue, or a WD hard drive issue.

I love Mac OS so i hope i can get that back up and running, so i don't have to use my laptop all of the time.

My son convinced me, after many years of suffering the indignities of Microsoft, that Apple computers were the way to go. So we purchased a shiney new, top of the range iMac 27" in November 2010.

This machine has been plagued with countless problems and has been a horror from day one. Foolishly, I struggled on with thismachine only to suffer the ultimate indignity of total hard disk failure.

This left me with a £1600 paperweight. Apple computers could not be less helpful. The machine should just be replaced – it is obviously a dud. No chance with Apple computers – happy to replace the hard disk of a machine that is only 18 months old at a further, extortionate, £250+VAT cost to me.

This is outrageous.

Article here - http://www.thematerconsultancy.com/apple-computers-customer-care-a-lesson/

Yes! i have a 24" 2007 imac and i'm now experiencing my second hard drive failure. ***? i 've been a power user in gaming for 20 years all with pc's. some not so hot, down to the 386's running day and night for 10 years(yes 10 years). i've had a couple of bad sectors but that's it. Now 2 drive failures with Apple. jusr aint't right. $350 to have the new one installed with os upgrade to 320. what a joke! Can anyone recommend a good drive that will last i can do myself?

Install an OWC SSD http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDEX6G120/ or whatever size you want. You must use this as well http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/. Runs super cool. Look for video tutorials not that hard to do. You got approx 20 screws to take care of, you'll need a star shaped set it screwdrivers and a marker (for your model there are 4 of the 6 or 7 cables to be marked before disconnecting as those 4 are identical). You won't regret it and the machine will run very fast. Buy a firewire enclosure put a gig or two drive in it and hook it up for external storage. Move your iohoto library or whatever takes the most space to it and you will be a very happy person. That's what i did and posponed the expenditure for, oh... I don't know three four years.

Yonko, does this mean that you can run a SATA 3 drive (in your link), on your 2008 model which is SATA 2 with no problem?

I have read that the SATA III bandwidth is too much for the SATA II connection. Even if you could keep it linked the negotiated speed wouldn't exceed SATA II.

Yes, it does, I have a MBP late 2008 model 5,1 and an iMac from 2008. I bought a 6G for my MBP due to the way I bought it (never visited the actual product page, simply clicked on add to cart from their list of drives) I failed to read this:

2008/2009 MacBook/MacBook Pro 13", 15", and 17" models. (Model IDs: MacBookPro5,1; 5,2; 5,3; 5,4; 5,5 and MacBook5,1)

While a 6G SSD does function, it will only do so at SATA Revision 1.0 (1.5Gb/s) speeds rather that the SATA Revision 2.0 (3.0Gb/s) speed the machine can deliver. Should owners of these machines desire another SSD option, the Mercury Electra 3G SSD does run at the full SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) specification.

Once it arrived I installed it in my MBP but noticed it negotiated speed was 1.5Gbit/s, whereas the link speed it is supposed to run at was 3.0Gbit/s.

I thought it was defective so I swapped it with he one in my iMac (a 120GB 3G SSD) and the iMac used the 6G at its full speed, 3G. My thought was that I'd get the 6G, so down the road I'd simply buy a new MBP and dump the 6G in it. The way things are moving I won't be buying an MBP or iMac in the foreseeable future (everything is running very fast on both machines) and by that time Apple would've moved to SSDs completely.

So, yes, you can use either a 3G or a 6G, so long as it is not one of the models listed above. I'd go with a 6G to saturate the interface, it's only $6-$7 more.

If anyone lives in Atlanta and the surrounding area PM me and I'll let you know if I can do it for you.

Other than that, let me know what your model is and I'll find some installation videos for you. To figure out the model, if you got Leopard or Snow Leopard press Space plus Command and type System Profiler; under Lion or Moutain Lion do the same but type System Information; and look under Hardware Category, Model Identifier. If it is one of the ones listed above buy the 3G version.

Yes, SATA I is 1.5Gbit/s, II is 3Gbit/s and III is 6Gbit/s. However they are backwards compatible. You'd rather have a 6Gbit/s drive saturating the 3Gbit/s interface than a 3Gbit/s one.

Thanks! Much appreciate the info!

Thanks RRFS and Yonko for the info. I have a 2008 iMac, a 20" model *phew* so this hard drive has been OK, but as HDDs don't last forever I was just contemplating its eventual replacement, and am glad the SATA 3 SSD is backwards compatible with my 3G link speed. Sounds good. 🙂

I manage about 70+ mac minis which we bought around 2007. Right about 2010 when applecare started running out the minis started dying one after another. Of the 70 I had, I lost 11 of them due to bad hard drives, bad ram, bad motherboard ect. The components in these mini's seem to be low grade laptop parts. That may explain why applecare only lasts 3 years now from the 5 years in the past.

Especially after the fiasco that is Mountain Lion Server and Profile Manager, I'm going to recommend everyone steer clear of apple products.

I am with you. I used to be an avid Apple fan and evangelist. After Apple treated me so shoddily after my hard drive died a few moths after the Apple care expired I realized that Apple was just like every other company! I am moving away from buying Apple products in the future.

Just an update of my April 2012 post (HD failure of 2008 24"iMac.

Bang on cue, just over 3 years my 2nd iMac HD failed (2008 21").

I have now repaired and upgraded both so now expect another 3 years of use at a much lower cost thannew machines

Summary of actions;

Relaced both HD with 2TB Seagate Barracudas (7200) having performed quite some research first. Cost of each EUR 105 (delivered) purchased in France.

Upgraded the memory from 1 to 4GB on 21" & from 2 to 6GB on the 24" (!x2gb + 1x4gb). Purchased from Mr Memory in UK - cheapest that I could find in Europe, good service, company uses iMac so understands what can & cannot be done - all their 2008 iMac have been upgraded to 6mB. Cheapest option is 2 x 2mB as this pack is the most frequently sold, the 1x4mb is twice the price /mB due to lower demand.

I discussed the HD failure rate with this company and we came to the conclusion that the most likely cause of the hogher HD failure rate is the combination of heat (the HD is mounted directly in the hot air stream leaving the processor) and the vertical mounting. We also considered that by installing the maximum memory possible that there should be a lowere load on the processor and therefore less heat for a greater %age og time.

After studying to "How to do it sites" followed the instructions. Can now change an iMac HD in about 20mins. Most difficult process was remounting the heat sensor due to extra stiffening ribs on the Seagate drive not leaving much room to glue the sensor back on.

Both machines are running quieter & cooler than before.

Both keyboards had also partially failed in the period prior to HD failure but replacement of the extended French keyboard required an operating system upgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.6.3. For this upgrade I was able, by contacting Apple Support to purchase a CD with a family licence for EUR25.For anybody still running 10.5.8 or lower I would strongly recommend getting the upgrade whilst it is still possible. There is an increasing amount of software that will not function on 10.5.8 (VirtualBox being one).

The total cost of the repairs was less than it would have cost me to pay for Apple Care so I consider that finacially I have come out on top as the money that I spent has given me a very usefull upgrade.

However, I still am of the view that Apple products remain overpriced and that it is a pity the Apple don't licence 1 or 2 other manufacturers to use OS10. The competition would help everybody and at the same time retain the use of OS10. Their current approach is based on extreme arrogance, how the might fall! (Apple needs to take stock of iPhone versus Galaxy - the writing is on the wall).

Hope this post has been of some interest and use, I'm off to eat one of my favorite fruits, my post name.

2008 24" 3.06Ghz user here. ATI Radeon 2600, 250GB stock WD drive, 4GB RAM. The 3 year care plan ran out, so obviously hard drive failure (or something worse) was inevitable. Had an issue this past weekend where, while working with Handbrake on a family vacation DVD rip, the iMac went to sleep as per usual but upon being woken up froze at the black login screen. It shut itself off, then upon rebooting entered into flashing folder mode. Not too frazzled, I did the usual routine of shut off, cool down, reset SMC, PRAM, reseat memory, et cetera. Nothing. Finally, mercifully, it booted normally after several tense hours. Thing is, it booted right to the post-sleep login screen, with Handbrake loaded and everything. Bizarre. Ran fine, though. Backed up, shut off, went about y merry way.

Next day, it slowed down immensely, and while on Safari it beachballed and froze. Had to hard restart, and wouldn't you know it... Flashing folder. This time, days later, it's still dead as can be. Ordered a WD Black 500GB drive from Newegg (don't trust flakey nature of terabyte platters), should arrive today, going to swap it out and hope that it's not a logic board issue.

Honestly, I had a G4 tower that ran, all original parts, for a solid decade with heavy usage before its drive clonked. Can't fathom getting another obnoxiously complex to disassemble iMac, especially given the shoddy workmanship and parts selection that Apple is plagued with these days. At most I'd get a Mini so my money wouldn't feel so heavily wasted when the next issue arises. Most likely I'd just build a hackintosh and say to **** with Apple, they only care about the mobile market anyways, and most definitely don't care about admitting what types of widespread flaws exist in their machines, so why should I care about lining their pockets? I don't buy computers to let Tim Cook purchase more luxury cars or vacation retreats, I buy them for myself with the piece of mind that my large investment will net me many years worth of use. If the $65 hard drive that I purchased this week has a 5 year manufacturer guarantee without additional cost, why the **** wouldn't my $2200 iMac? Ridiculous.