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iMac 1TB Replacement Program

I just got an email from Apple stating my iMac qualifies for the iMac 1TB Seagate HD Relacement Program. Oh boy, aren't I lucky 😟 I have Time Machine and a CCC bootable clone backup. Is it as simple as cloning back my System onto the new hard drive. The Apple email says I need to start from scratch with the Install DVD that came with the computer. What's the best proceedure.

iMac (21.5-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), IOS6, Apple TV2, Airport

Posted on Oct 19, 2012 6:15 PM

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Posted on Oct 19, 2012 6:40 PM

Mine failed just 3 months ago, but it's unclear if my replacement is affected in the recall. I've now called Apple Support twice and have gotten two different answers. On the first call, the technician said if the your serial number comes up eligilble and it's a SeaGate drive, you should take it in and replace it. The second technician said if it's been replaced, it should be fine. Anyone know if the replacement drives are faulty?


. . . and, FYI, when I had mine replaced, they asked which operating system I was using when it failed and they restored it at the store on the new drive. Time machine restored my computer as expected. It was quite smooth. No complaints about the replacement - though it was a pain hauling a 27" iMac back into the store without the box! ! !

110 replies

Oct 24, 2012 10:47 AM in response to babowa

Understood. But what then is the basis for your disagreement? You know one way works, but you admit that you have never tried the other.


Seriously folks, what harm will be done if you try and pull the files from the clone? If it doesn't work, boot from the clone and push. It ain't that hard. It's just a computer. Isn't that what restore is all about? You can screw up the whole thing and then recover a working system.


There really isn't anything to argue about. If you don't like Coke drink Pepsi, but how can you make comments about Coke if you have never tried it?

Oct 24, 2012 11:01 AM in response to Joe Gramm

Exactly. If you have no OS, you have nothing to boot from except the clone or the install disk. The clone will be faster. If your new drive has an OS, I think (based on real life experience) you can just restore from an external drive and pick your CCC cloned backup.


You have to remember that CCC copies files. I have a CCC clone of an old Snow Leopard. It has files on it that aren't on my machine. If I want to use them, I go to that drive and double click on them and they open in the current version of the application. I don't need to restore using CCC to open a single file. That's one of the good things about CCC. It has all your files as files, not trapped in a container.

Oct 24, 2012 11:05 AM in response to Joe Gramm

You had it right the first time. After the tech pops in the new HD, restart, holding down the OPTION key, select the clone, boot with it, run DU to erase and format the new HD, and then restore the clone. That's what I did when mine was replaced in April. Do ensure you do this before the techie leaves. Albert's issue dealing with TM made w/Lion and then mucked up with ML caused his issues. 😉

Oct 24, 2012 11:12 AM in response to baltwo

Are you saying that the CCC clone does not have files that can be pulled from the new system? You did it one way, but do you know it won't work the other? Have you tried?


This issue has nothing to do with my issues with SL, L, and ML. Can you pull or do you have to push is the issue.


Do you know that you can't pull files off of a CCC clone?

Oct 24, 2012 11:17 AM in response to Albert Kinderman

I've "screwed" it up plenty of times testing. That is not the point. I have no problem with Coke vs. Pepsi. That is not the point either. You are unnecessarily confusing the issue for the OP.


Being able to clone back the entire system is precisely what a clone is for. Why try to muck it up by using a clone as a TM facsimile? And, why bother - even if it were to work - by having to pick and choose to restore when a simple click on "clone" will present you with the exact setup you had before you had the HD replaced. It doesn't make sense and will confuse people.


For the OP: you'll be fine following baltwo's suggestions.


For baltwo: thanks for jumping in and confirming so quickly.

Oct 24, 2012 11:17 AM in response to Albert Kinderman

I'm saying that although you can restore users, settings, and apps from the clone on first boot with a clean OS on the new HD, that it's slower using the Setup Assistant, that you don't know which OS is on the HD, and that it's faster and smarter erasing, reformatting the new HD, and restoring the clone. You brought up having to use the recovery option to deal with the nonsensical inability of ML to restore the Lion TM backup.

Oct 24, 2012 11:34 AM in response to Albert Kinderman

Albert Kinderman wrote:

Of course the answer is that you can pull files. Boot into your new system and then install CCC. Are you saying that CCC can't pull the files off the CCC clone drive?

You're answer is completely wrong. CCC cannot pull files from a volume and install them onto the boot volume. It can clone a boot volume to another volume or do clone one volume to another, but no way can it pull files to the boot volume.


FWIW, I base my reply on having moderated the Bombich forums for over six years and am intimately familiar with how it works.

Oct 24, 2012 11:31 AM in response to baltwo

baltwo wrote:


You had it right the first time. After the tech pops in the new HD, restart, holding down the OPTION key, select the clone, boot with it, run DU to erase and format the new HD, and then restore the clone. That's what I did when mine was replaced in April. Do ensure you do this before the techie leaves.


Yes, Thank you. That was/is my plan of action. I'll report back on Thursday afternoon with the results.


baltwo: Albert Kinderman wasn't confusing me. Starting up by holding the Option Key and booting directly into the Clone makes the most sense to me. Especially since at this point I don't even know if the drive will have an OS pre-installed.

Oct 24, 2012 11:56 AM in response to Albert Kinderman

Albert Kinderman wrote:

Do you know that you can't pull files off of a CCC clone?

Yes, you can "pull" (copy) files off the clone to whatever drive you want. But you can't copy the OS (including all its supporting files & directories & everything else that makes it functional) from one drive to another without using special software procedures designed to keep everything properly synced & linked. That's what cloning software like CCC does.


So the fastest, simplest, most goof-proof way to restore the new drive is to clone the clone made from the old drive back to the new drive. That preserves everything: the OS, all its folders (including the hidden ones), any updates that have been installed to the OS or to apps, all the file system attributes & links, user domain stuff, preferences, etc. After this is done, the drive is in the same state as it was when you made the clone & you begin using it from that point in time, just as if you had not switched out the drive.

Oct 24, 2012 12:08 PM in response to baltwo

baltwo wrote:

You're answer is completely wrong. CCC cannot pull files from a volume and install them onto the boot volume.

My mistake. You are right with respect to system files, but it can pull other files and install them on a boot volume, or so the help says.


"Restoring non-system files

...

If you choose your startup disk as the destination volume, CCC will impose a protective filter on system files and folders. It wouldn't be a good idea to overwrite or delete system files on the OS that you're booted from, so this isn't something that CCC will allow. "


Also, the help also mentions using setup assistant and migration assistant in the case of changing the OS.


"Your new Macintosh cannot boot from the older version and build of Mac OS X that is installed on your older Mac, so simply cloning your old Mac onto your new Mac won't work. Due to this limitation, we recommend that you use the Setup Assistant application (runs on your Mac's very first boot) or the Migration Assistant application to migrate content from your old Mac to a new Macintosh. "


The origins of this "debate" were the statements that you had to boot from the cloned drive and that Setup Assistant wouldn't work. My understanding of your earlier reply is that you agree that Setup Assistant would work, but that it is not as clean nor as fast as booting from the clone. I can accept that, having no direct experience; the only reason I entered this part of the thread was the statement that you had to boot from the clone.

Oct 24, 2012 12:29 PM in response to Albert Kinderman

Thanks for the feedback. I now stand corrected, having never dealt with restoring nonsystem files onto the boot volume. Don't know when that was added, but I wasn't familiar with it, since I don't recall it ever coming up during my stint at the forums. I suppose it might be useful if I inadvertently deleted something from the source that I knew existed on the clone, ala using TM, which I have no use for.😉


The use of setup assistant is the normal way to migrate on first boot of a new machine from an older machine. That's well documented in Pondini's Setup New Mac guide, which isn't the same as restoring to the same machine with a clone made from it. Anyhow, Joe and I are on the same track and he'll let us know how it goes.

iMac 1TB Replacement Program

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