On the Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program...

Milton Allemand wrote:

I've used the thing daily for almost three years now and I haven't had any issues with it. If I had a bum hard drive, shouldn't it have gone out by now?

There isn't any reason for that. All hard drives fail, but you don't know when, but it's more dangerous when you may have a defective hard disk, so it may not advise. One day your Mac works properly, and the next day you see a flashing question mark on the display showing that your hard disk has stopped working.

Milton Allemand wrote:

I'm worried that in the process of them opening the computer to replace the hard drive, something may go awry, such as dust behind the glass, a damaged LCD, or something else internally I wouldn't know about. Since I haven't had any issues, should I just forgo the replacement and use the computer until it's natural end-of-life? What are you thoughts on this?

You should take your computer in because of security. That hard disk may fail without advising and at any moment, so I recommend you to make a backup of your data and take the computer to an Apple Store or reseller before the Seagate replacement program expires.

Apart from that, if your computer gets damaged during the repair, you should know that Apple offers a 90-day warranty after each repair, so if something happens, you will get your Mac repaired for free.

Milton Allemand wrote:

Secondly, if I do decide to bring the computer in, I assume I'll receive it with a completely blank hard drive. I have a time machine backup going, and I'll likely make a complete disk image on a separate external HDD I have as a second backup, so that's not a problem. However, since the hard drive will be blank, there won't be a recovery partition. Should I dig out my iMac's restore DVD (If I can find it) or should I make a Lion Restore DVD before I bring the computer in for service and reinstall from that? (Then restore from Time Machine)

Thanks for any tips you can pass along.

In my case, the hard disk came with the OS X version I had before taking the Mac, in my case, OS X Mountain Lion. Some users receive the hard disk blank and other with OS X installed.

Instead of making a Time Machine backup, I recommend you to make a clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, so the restore process will be much easier than with a Time Machine backup. With a clone, you don't need any DVD to restore OS X.

If you are skeptical about what Apple may do with the actual hard disk (note that Apple won't give the actual hard disk to you), you can erase the hard disk with a security option before taking your computer in, with Disk Utility

You can boot into Recovery from a local Time Machine backup (not a network backup.)

Milton Allemand wrote:

…if I do decide to bring the computer in, I assume I'll receive it with a completely blank hard drive. I have a time machine backup going, and I'll likely make a complete disk image on a separate external HDD I have as a second backup, so that's not a problem. However, since the hard drive will be blank, there won't be a recovery partition. Should I dig out my iMac's restore DVD (If I can find it) or should I make a Lion Restore DVD before I bring the computer in for service and reinstall from that? (Then restore from Time Machine)

I strongly recommend making a bootable clone, using Carbon Copy Cloner, which also can clone the Recovery HD, onto an ext FWHD and ensure that it boots and acts like the original. Then, when you're ready to take it in, boot with that, launch Disk Utility, select the iinteral HD, erase & reformat it, using the zero out data security option. Then, when you get it back, boot with the ext FWHD, and restore the clone and the Recovery HD. IMO, unless you've restored from the TM backup and ensured that it works, you're placing all your eggs in the proverbial one basket. Finally, if you have the AppleCare Protection Plan, you might be eligible for onsite repair. That's how I did mine last year.

You can use the Disk Utility's Restore feature, choosing the OS X volume as the source and the external drive as the destination. See > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU7.html

Milton Allemand wrote:

Unfortunately both Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper both cost money. Is there a free option to make a backup to an external hard drive?

And both have a 30 day free trial, I doubt that making a clone will take longer than that.

Use CCC instead of SD, that way the Recovery Partition will also be cloned to the external drive.

I had two iMacs repaired under this program. Both were done within four days of receiving notification. I booked an appointment, took the iMacs to my local Apple store where the technician took them out of the original packaging (there is no room in the workshop to store boxes) and we jointly inspected them for superficial damage and signed a form to say there was none.

I was notified the next day they were ready for collection. Again the iMacs were jointly inspected for superficial damage and we agreed there was none.

Obviously you need to take full backups and wipe the hard drives before going to the store, otherwise it is a painless process.

I Am in the same predicament as you.

Today is April 2. The replacement program ends on April 12.

My iMac is up for the drive replacement, but I am not sure what to do.

I bought this iMac a year, ago. I reformatted the HD and did a clean instal of OS X Snow Leopard.

This iMac has had the same HD in it for three years with no issues.

This iMac runs very well!

I am afraid if I have this replacement drive installed that something is going to get damaged during disassembly, replacement and reassembly of my iMac that will make it defective, damaged, unstable or unusable.

I Do not have the funds right now to fix anything in this iMac if it gets damaged during this replacement process.

Very apprehensive about this.

You get a 90 day warranty after the repair. What's the problem?

Hard drives fail. TechTool Pro showed one of my drives was healthy and the other was showing errors, though not causing problems. I had no hesitation getting both replaced.

Repalcing a hard drive is a simple matter for a trained technician and will not cause problems or damage. If you wish to ignore this program and have problems after it has expired that is your choice.

Not a simply matter.

There have have been many reports, here in these forums, of drive replacements causing other issues beside problems with the drive, itself.

Most common is forgetting to hook up the HD temp sensor.

Another is Wifi issues after the HD replacement.

Problems with the LCD screen or GPU after the HD replacement.

If the replacement is done by an Apple store technician you have recourse for all the problems you mention, you have a 90 day warranty.

I have two local Apple stores and the technician always sets up the system on the Genius Bar and demonstrates it works to my satisfaction before I leave the store.

There may be some who've had problems, but I bet the great majority haven't. I posted my experience in the thread you started a few days ago. My guess is I'm in the majority in the possible thousands (who knows how many) - no problems at all. And as Chamar says the repair itself is guaranteed for 90 days.

Get off that fence and do it 😀.

FWIW, I had mine replaced onsite a year ago before the replacement program was announced. It was a learning experience on how these machines are put together. During the disassembly, replacement, and reassembly, the 3rd-party tech explained what he was doing and the precautions he was taking to do the job. The entire process took one and a half hours, including restoring a CCC clone. Well worth it, IMO, especially since there was no lugging the machine to the store and back and no one to six day delays. However, to each their own. 😉

A personal experience for what it's worth:

My hard drive was failing. I brought the computer and my EHD to an Apple repair facility. I paid an additional amount (probably about $100US) and they restored the computer to the way it was when I left it off. They were able to extract everything from the old HD and didn't even have to use the EHD. The only thing I had to do was download my printer driver.

For me it was worth the extra cost.