iMac 27" - Starting to slow down, 4 years old - don't know what to

[swissdude]

If I want to buy the Mac HDD - what should I ask/look for in the shops?

To install it myself

Thanks

[temple_treefrog]

Hey Neo, well looks like my HDD is shot! ;p

I just turned on my iMac this morning, and it's doing same thing again - once loaded up and on the desktop screen, when I try to click something or do something it's not responding and like everything is frozen again.

It took so long so then I just powered it off and powered it on again, and now again I've got the flashing folder icon when starting up.

So I guess it's really the HDD is gone.

So have to buy a good external one and run it off there

What's better 800 Firewire or is USB 3.0 also a possibility?

Thanks

Hi there,

I recent had a very similar issue. My iMac 27" Late 2009 was running very slow, to the point that it was very difficult to do the simplest task such as browse the internet or use iTunes.

After many hours of browsing various threads on the issue, I learned that the Seagate hard drives used by Apple at the time are known to be low quality.

I replaced the hard drive in my iMac with an SSD and it has been 100x faster than before.

[swissdude]

Nice, which one did you replace it with specifically KIZZA? And was yours a 27" or 24"? Mine is 24 and sounds like it might be same as yours

Did you replace it yourself or you got a pro to replace it?

Thanks

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

There are fairly good guides on the net about how to dismantle an iMac and upgrade the hard drive but I'm thinking from your struggles to install Lion, that it might not be your idea of a good time.. so best stick to an external :)

[swissdude]

Ok

I have a question about external's - when you take an external, and install say Lion on it - then tell Startup to boot from there.

When you install things in the future, and usually you drag the app to the applications folder to install, does it go to the external or to the internal? How does it know where to go and that it goes in the right place? Thanks

[Elliott]

Ok

I have a question about external's - when you take an external, and install say Lion on it - then tell Startup to boot from there.

When you install things in the future, and usually you drag the app to the applications folder to install, does it go to the external or to the internal? How does it know where to go and that it goes in the right place? Thanks

The path "/" is always mapped to your current boot drive, so "/Applications" will always be your current boot drive's Applications folder.

[Gocom]

When you install things in the future, and usually you drag the app to the applications folder to install, does it go to the external or to the internal?

When you copy a file to a certain directory it goes to that certain directory. So, yes. When you drag an .app package to Application directory it goes to that directory. And since when that directory and OS is on the external drive, it goes to your external drive.

How does it know where to go and that it goes in the right place?

Where else would it go? Your files are where they are. When volume A is used to host OS, that is where the OS is.

[temple_treefrog]

Nice, which one did you replace it with specifically KIZZA? And was yours a 27" or 24"? Mine is 24 and sounds like it might be same as yours

Did you replace it yourself or you got a pro to replace it?

Thanks

There are fairly good guides on the net about how to dismantle an iMac and upgrade the hard drive but I'm thinking from your struggles to install Lion, that it might not be your idea of a good time.. so best stick to an external :)

Hi Guys,

Don't be scared to open your Mac.

If you have have ever installed a hard drive into a PC, you should be fine with doing this inside an iMac.

I decided to replace the hard drive myself because my iMac is outside of warranty and an "Authorised Repair" centre would cost too much (I was quoted $300 AUD for a 1TB hard drive... $300!!! and it would have taken 3 days) so instead I bought a 120GB SSD for $150, $8 for Torx screw drivers and did it myself in less than an hour. The guides on iFixIt like this one are very detailed and often are more detailed than you need.

Before you replace the hard drive yourself, keep in mind:

• You will need a set of Torx screwdrivers
  
• The temperature sensor cable is not ISO standard so replacing the sensor cable is difficult. After careful research I decided to ignore the temp sensor cable and installed an app to manage the fan manually.
  

When you do replace the hard drive yourself:

• Suction cups are not essential, just unscrew the memory module bay then use your fingers to gently remove the display cover.
  
• When lifting the LCD out of the unibody, do it very carefully as there are three delicate ribbons (not cables) that connect the display (i.e. V-sync, display port and power).
  
• I did it myself although having a second person to the LCD would make the job MUCH easier.
  

Swissdude, I have a 27" iMac although the insides should be relatively similar to a 24" and there are plenty of guides including video manuals to do it yourself.

I don't believe an external drive is the solution here. It would work, but I personally would prefer a more permanent and internal solution.

KCD

[Guest]

I'd also suggest an internal upgrade to an SSD. If you've never used one before, the speed increase will be somewhat insane. It's probably the biggest upgrade your iMac could have really, aside from more RAM which wouldn't be even close to such a performance increase. Firewire 800/USB 2.0 will not be as fast as even a standard internal hard drive, although I'm sure it's good for a temporary fix.

To be honest, any 2.5" should fit and work, so just look into what is popular at the moment within your price range. Even if you can only afford 60gb-120gb, you already have an external drive and you can just format that and use it for storage :)

Just don't totally cheap out on an SSD, some of the bargain bin ones might fail on you. I've been using a OCZ Vertex 2e on my main PC for over a year and I'm still totally happy with the performance. It's probably cheaper to get the vertex 3 at the moment even.

[swissdude]

Can someone link me online to a good SDD I should look to buy? I have no idea what one to buy - thanks