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Level 1

30 points

Hard disk replacement program

I just received an email from Apple saying that my iMac hard disk needs to be replaced urgently. I made an appointment with the Genius on coming Sat. I have some questions about the replacement and seeking the advice with other people who has got similar experience.

1. Does Apple replace my old hard disk with a brand new hard disk only? If so, it gives me very painful exercise to re-install all the softwares.

2. Can they clone my old hard disk with the new hard disk to save my lots of hassle?

3. In my hard disk, I have a partition for BootCamp with Windows 7 OS. Do I need to re-install it completely as I believe Apple will not touch other OS?

On one hand, I am very impressive with Apple reliable and responsible service and on the other hand it will interrupt my usage of iMac for sometime. I am seeking the advice from other experience hands.

Thanks,

Ray

iPad 2, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Oct 22, 2012 10:49 PM

23 replies

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Oct 26, 2012 10:40 PM in response to Ray Li1

I agree that Apple is moving away from Firewire; however, my iMac has a FW800 port; so does my 2012 MBP, my external DVD burner, and all three of my external drives, so...... Firewire will be used here for some time to come. (Apple is also pushing the cloud thing and not including DVD drives any longer - that does not mean that I will give up burning my movies to DVDs and am ignoring the cloud).

As for your iMac, you'd have to check; my older one had both FW 400 and FW 800 ports; my current iMac only has FW800. They do make adapters or FW800 > FW400 cables. My external hard drives are quads: FW400, FW800, USB, and eSata. I will continue to use them until they bite the dust - then I will maybe consider Thunderbolt (if the price has become reasonable).

Your Mac can be booted up with a properly formatted and with an appropriate version of Mac OS installed external disk (= bootable clone). Not sure what you mean with "without any setting">

Ray Li1 Author

Level 1

30 points

Oct 26, 2012 10:53 PM in response to babowa

I cannot find where to buy OWC drive but found the following in Apple store and here locally.

G-Technology 3TB G-DRIVE High-Performance Hard Drive

Is it a good alternative?

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Oct 26, 2012 11:01 PM in response to Ray Li1

Here is the link to the OWC external drives - you can do the comparison yourself:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

I see they now offer it with USB 3. Mine is the 1 TB in the middle. I've heard G drives are good, but have no personal experience with them.

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 26, 2012 11:26 PM in response to Ray Li1

Can my iMac be booted up with external hard disk without any setting?

Requires that it be formatted with Mac OS X Extended and have the GUID partition scheme. FAT-32 and other PC-based schemes won't work. As for iOS devices, none here, so I can't advise. Good luck.

Ray Li1 Author

Level 1

30 points

Oct 27, 2012 1:48 AM in response to baltwo

Thanks!

Ray Li1 Author

Level 1

30 points

Oct 27, 2012 1:48 AM in response to babowa

Thanks!

Chamar

Level 4

2,169 points

Oct 27, 2012 5:43 AM in response to Ray Li1

After receiving the email from Apple about failing Seagate drives I had mine replaced yesterday. As I have up-to-date Time Machine backups I formatted my drive before taking it to the Apple store for replacement. I would not consider taking a machine to Apple with an HDD that contains personal and financial data.

Simply booted from my SL DVD and restored everything on to my replacement HDD.

Ray Li1 Author

Level 1

30 points

Nov 2, 2012 11:37 PM in response to Chamar

Hi Chamar,

Could you please share your way to back up the HDD before sending the computer to Apple and restore everything thereafter. Currently I am struggling to find out the disks that came with the computer and the way to restore to my current status. Your advice is highly appreciated. Thanks!

Hard disk replacement program