Comments on: Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac

By: Randy Elliott

Randy Elliott — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:56:29 +0000

Hi Jason
I am looking at replacing my 160 gb HD with a new seagate 1 TB. The HD I’m replacing is a 1.5 gigabit link speed with a 6 gigabit speed model Is there any compatibility issues or am I good to go?

Randy

By: MySchizoBuddy

MySchizoBuddy — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:54:38 +0000

Is it SATA 3 or 6 interface.

By: Dude

Dude — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:51:20 +0000

Many thanks for the guide, Jason. My trusty early iMac 2006 (nearly six years young) is now happily running a 128GB SSD thanks to your instructions. It’s like it has a new lease of life.

By: cybirr

cybirr — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:08:41 +0000

Entering the Mac World via a friends “early 2006″ iMac. I’d like to upgrade the hard drive and this seems like a good guide. There is nothing of mine on the current hard drive. I bought a copy of OS X Snow Leopard. Assuming a successful disk swap would I simply do an new install with the Snow Leopard disk?

Wish me luck on my switch to Apple.

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:09:25 +0000

Mysla,

For the most efficient switch, format the external/blank/target drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with Disk Utility, then clone the hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, then just pop the new/cloned drive into the iMac and boot up. It should start right up. Cloning copies everything – every file, every setting, every app – exactly as it was on your original drive, so will it be on the new/cloned drive.

By: mysla

mysla — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:12:53 +0000

Hi Jason

Your instruction gave me high hope to fix my imac by myself!
My question for now is after you change the hard drive,
do you need to install os x before cloning the old drive to a new one?
I am not familiar with cloning the hard drive. What does it do?
Does it clone everything including 3rd party softwares and os x?

Best

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:01:39 +0000

Hi James – not a daft Q at all. So long as the 1TB drive is SATA like the iMac, you can put the drive in your iMac and let the OS X install DVD format it for you. At first it’ll probably say that the drive isn’t recognized, etc., but if you open Disk Utility from the install process, you can select that 1TB drive, format it as Mac OS Extended (journaled) and GUID, and then continue installing OS X. You can also format it externally and then put it in. Whatever you prefer.

Good luck! BTW, you may want to make sure your 2007 iMac can handle 1TB. Some maxed out at 500GB or 750GB. Ye olde tech back then.

By: James

James — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:28:38 +0000

Might be a daft question. But I want to put a 1TB drive that I have taken out of a NAS into my iMac 20″ (~2007). Question – the drive currently has a bunch of data on it windows format, do I have to format it first? OR can I just bung it in and the iMac will allow me to format it then?

FYI – don’t need the data that’s currently on the 1TB. Also want to clean install, not clone the current data on the mac drive.

By: Zoe Bogard

Zoe Bogard — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:19:15 +0000

Very neat blog post. Want more.

By: KMChan

KMChan — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:18:53 +0000

Hi Jason,
iMAC 4.1 early 2006 model. Everytime I start my iMac, I get a blank screen with Folder with a question mark in it. I changed the HD to 500GB 3.5″ SATA 7200RPM HDD and DDR2 800Mhz SODIMM 1GB RAM.

Result after changing:
Unable to install MAC Os X Tiger using installation disk. The installer is unable to detect the new HD on the “Select a Destination”. When I got into Disk Utility trying to format, I faced the same issue of not able to detect the new HD.
I then ran the AHT, and error 4SNS/1/40000001:VDOR was detected.
I seek your assistance to help me solve my iMAC problem.

By: Colette Cooper

Colette Cooper — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:07:34 +0000

My intel iMac 17″ with 160 GB HD, which I bought 7 years ago, died, and I was told it’s a vintage model and cannot be fixed so I bought a new iMac. I took the 160GB hard drive out of my old Mac and want to see if I can transfer my photos and music and some other documents and possibly use it as an external drive as a back up. I am in the medical field and know nothing about computers. How do i do this?

By: Edgar Castro

Edgar Castro — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:44:02 +0000

Dear Mr. Tomczak:

My IMAC Intel 17″ model A1208failed. The display went dark, the system seems to be booting ok. I ordered an inverter board, but would like to order the backlight. I haven’t be able to find a supplier or part number. Do you know of supplier for these lamps? I’m assuming that one of these parts is the problem. Thank you for your great pictures and comments!!

Sincerely,

Edgar

By: Angelo

Angelo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:45:57 +0000

Hello, I have a Intel iMac 17″ with 160GB HD, and I’m looking to take out the old and insert a new 1TB. What do I do first, take out the old and insert the new blank HD, or clone HD before removing? If I clone before removing do I just use a migration cable plugged into the USB? Thanks

By: kellee

kellee — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:19:20 +0000

Hey there I am new to MAC I just picked up a iMAC from my sister she took it to the mac store and they said the hard drive was bad so she opted to buy a new laptop she gave this one to me my question is this I see apple uses sata hard drives I just happen to have a Western Digital 2 tb sata drive I pulled from my old PC is this compatible with MAC or is there hardware propriety hardware meaning does MAC use some special hardware?I would appreciate it if someone could reply to this

By: jonathansf

jonathansf — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:48:47 +0000

Hey jason
I have an imac model A1173
Intel core 2duo
512 mb ram
150 or 160 gb hard drive (i dont remember)
It was working fine but one day it dint work anymore i turn it on and all i get its a blank screen with a ? Simbol in a folder.
now i want to know what it i. Is it the hard drive? Is it the proscesor?
Or i just need to change the hard drive.
Please response asap and thanks so much…

By: Jj

Jj — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:18:25 +0000

Thanks for you help. I am confused: If I search serial number using last 3 digits of the 11 digit serial number, the google search results say this machine is a:

iMac “Core 2 Duo” 2.0 17-Inch
2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo (T7200)
Intro Date:September 6, 2006
Disc Date: August 7, 2007
Order No: MA590LL
Model No: A1208 (EMC 2114)
Subfamily:Late 2006
Model ID: iMac5,1
Std. RAM: 1 GB Std.
VRAM:128 MB
Std. HD: 160 GB (7200 RPM)
Std. Optical: 8X DL “SuperDrive”

The new drive I bought is a Western Digital 1TB WD10EARS. It is interesting that my friend’s new MacMini system is able to format the drive to GUID extended jounaling and it passes verification. When I run DiskUtil install via my OS 10.4 cmd-C on iMac, I get a Disk IO error message. Also, the DiskUtil thinks it sees 7.3TB. Should I buy a different model internal drive? Any recommendations would be appreciated..

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:52:57 +0000

Hi JJ,

You mentioned a G5 Intel Core Duo. Unfortunately, there’s no such computer. G5 used PowerPC chips and the newer iMacs use Intel chips. If you have a G5 iMac, depending on the year, you may be limited to 750GB or even 500GB internal hard drive. I recently repaired a G5 iMac that was limited to 500GB due to the tech available when the logicboard was built. I would suggest you try putting a 500GB drive in your iMac and try installing OS X from the install DVD, not from another iMac, especially an Intel-based iMac. They’re just too different to swap drives between the two. I hope that helps! =)

By: Jj

Jj — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:12:31 +0000

Unable to install a new 1TB Western Digital internal hard drive. Diagnostic show I/O Error 5 in a iMac G5 intel core duo. The original 160GB drive is not functional. I had the new 1TB drive formatted using another Mac as GUID Extended Journaling. Still get I/O Error 5. However, diskutil from Unix command does permits mount without error. Any help with this problem would be appreciated.

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:34:01 +0000

Geekmom – I think you need to Google “Hackintosh” asap. For you, it would be the best of both worlds – your own hardware that you can replace/upgrade without breaking the bank, and the stability/awesomeness of the OS X operating system.

By: geekmom

geekmom — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:44:18 +0000

it’s for these reasons that i stopped buying macs i love the mac OS, but the insanity of the hardware angers me. three machines have had video card failures. i cannot replace a machine that costs as much as a used car and getting inside the machine with a headache is a nightmare. i wish apple had done more with chrp back in the 90s and put away the elegant machines.