How much to replace hard drive iMac 500GB

That's a little more helpful. They may do it, however most Apple Stores only will replace with the original size HD. Prices will vary from store to store based on labor rates so it's in your best interest to call or book a Genius visit and ask in person. If you want to save time put the computer in the car and if you get the answer you want then you can bring it in, that beats lugging the thing into the store for nothing if they won't do the work. When you visit tell them you currently have a 500GB HD and want to upgrade to 1TB and see if they'll do it. It's their call, if they won't then you will need to have an AASP do the work. The good news is they tend to be more flexible.

There simply too many variables such as where is the repair being done which includes the vendor (Apple Store, AASP, some unauthorized computer repair place etc..) and where they are physically located. I've seen rates from $150 to $600 USD. I'd suggest using Apple Authorized Service Provider Locator to find different vendors in your area and asking. Yup I know you didn't want a "ring and ask" answer but no one can give you an accurate number.

Now if your question was more specific like "My 2008 24" iMac needs to have the HD replaced. I'd like to upgrade from 320GB to 500GB. I live in New Orleans and I'd prefer that the Apple Store did it. Can anyone give me a ballpark number for the cost of replacement?" Then you are more likely to get better answers.

I have a loosely related question... getting ready to dive into my Intel 20" iMac (c.late2007) to upgrade the little 250gb HD to a 1TB... I've seen the video's and have been inside other machine (so not worried about the physical side of it)...

My question is the best way to MOVE the DATA from the existing internal drive to the new one...

By now, 80% of the stuff on the internal NEEDS to be there (Final Cut, iMovie etc all MUST HAVE their files on the boot drive).. So I'd want those to remain along with 4 years of application installs...

Anyway... I have my eye on an EXTERNAL drive where I would end up swapping them and put the guts of the external in my iMac and the old iMac drive in the external case. Can I MIGRATE from the old apple drive AFTER I've put it into the external CASE?

I am mostly doing this to upgrade OsX 10.5 to 10.6 (and eventually Lion, when it's ready)... So starting with a clean drive and installing Snow Leopard THEN migrating sounds better to me...

But I am looking for some seasoned advice as this is my main WORK computer and can't afford to mess it up.... (also can't afford a new iMac, which is what I really need to do!)..

Thanks in advance,

Duane

The best way to move data from the old drive to the new one extremely simple.

1. Put the new drive in an enclosure.

2. Using Disk Utility format the Drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and select Options and ensure it's set to GUID.

3. Using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner backup the old drive to the new drive.

4. Swap drives.

Your second option is install the new drive then watch Clean Install Of Snow Leopard video for all the instructions you need.

$64k question is ....

Is the MY BOOK 2TB drive for Mac a SATA drive that will work INSIDE my iMac? I have looked at several websites, including western digital... and I can't find the answer to that question..

I have to guess yes, but just wondering if anyone knows for sure... Best Buy is selling the MyBook for $69... so seems hard to go wrong here...

Duane

Personally I'd stay away from that drive. I would STRONGLY recommend you use any of the 3.5" SATA drives from OWC at macsales.com. OWC specializes in Macs and all the products are tested to work. If you are still unsure they have excellent support and their prices are very competitive. Rather than risking it will work deal with a reliable vendor that knows Macs. It may cost a couple of bucks more but you know it will work and they stand behind what they sell.

Just curious... but you'd stay away because it's Western Digital? Do they have a bad rep?

And what is competitive about about OWC (who I've bought quite a few things from in the past)...

Their 2TB drive is selling for $189...

They have the same Western Digital Drive without the case for $179.99

Their internal HD's are OK, the external HD's don't work very well with Macs.

If you don't want to buy from OWC I have no affiliation and could care less. I'm just a satisfied customer, if you can find the same drive they sell for less then by all means buy it from where it's less money.

Duane Valencia wrote:

Just curious... but you'd stay away because it's Western Digital? Do they have a bad rep?

And what is competitive about about OWC (who I've bought quite a few things from in the past)...

Their 2TB drive is selling for $189...

They have the same Western Digital Drive without the case for $179.99

The drive itself removed from the enclosure should be OK. It's the controller/chipset in the WD enclosures that causes all the problems.

That's $325 US, what a burn.

But it is a iMac and you can no longer do those yourself, Apple has seen to that with a proprietary software installed on the hard drive.

However, one could Carbon Copy Clone their existing configuration onto a larger powered external 1TB Firewire 800 drive (formatted HFS+ journaled in Disk Utility) (for about $125) and set the external drive as the default boot drive in System Preferences.

Hey, it's a iMac, it's not going anywhere, weren't using that Firewire port anyway right? 😀

ds store wrote: But it is a iMac and you can no longer do those yourself, Apple has seen to that with a proprietary software installed on the hard drive.

That would be only for the latest models.