Apple Restricts Hard Drive Replacements On New Imacs

[ThaiLife]

Apple Restricts Hard Drive Replacements on New iMacs

As noted by Other World Computing, Apple has implemented a new temperature sensor system on its latest iMac models that significantly hampers the ability of users to replace their original hard drives in the case of failure or a desire to upgrade. Without the custom 7-pin hard drive cable and proprietary firmware included on stock hard drives in the new machines, the new iMacs' fans spin to full speed and the machines fail to pass the Apple Hardware Test.

For the main 3.5" SATA hard drive bay in the new 2011 machines, Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself from a standard 4-pin power configuration to a 7-pin configuration. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself. From our testing, we've found that removing this drive from the system, or even from that bay itself, causes the machine's hard drive fans to spin at maximum speed and replacing the drive with any non-Apple original drive will result in the iMac failing the Apple Hardware Test (AHT).

As the report notes, the change does mean that anyone seeking to replace the hard drive in a new iMac will have to go through Apple, limiting options and increasing costs.

It is not a matter of "if" but rather a matter of "when" your hard drive is going to fail. We preach this all the time in regards to having a proper backup strategy in place to prepare from when that failure happens. But it seems now, that when that happens to the main drive on your iMac, you're left with two options - buy a new drive from Apple and have them install it via one of their Authorized Service Centers, or enjoy the rather large Apple logoed paperweight on your desk. Want a 3.5" drive larger than 2TB? Too bad - Apple doesn't offer them.

Apple has not officially supported do-it-yourself hard drive replacements on the iMac for many years, but many users have still elected to take on the task themselves or have others not specifically authorized by Apple perform the swap for them.

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[Jimi007]

Interesting. Thanks for the information. Apple, over the years has made it harder to work on their machines, it seems to me. My old iPod was a little difficult to replace the battery, but once you did it, it wasn't that hard. My new iPod Touch 4th generation, forget it. I hear you have to replace the back when you open it. Laptop batteries were really easy, now it's hard. Now this... Progress?

[cdnvic]

Apple does what consumers let it away with, which these days seems like anything.

[rogerdee123]

Apple does what consumers let it away with, which these days seems like anything.

I guess it will be about 6-8 months and OWC will probably themselves be offering 3rd party drives that will work on these new iMacs.

[samuijimmy]

Yes, interesting: I just replaced on an old Imac (first generation Intel version) a couple of weeks ago, with help of neighbour who knows, about these things! upgrading to 1.5 TB... works fine....

However yesterday we tried to upgrade, the ram from 2 gb to 3. (the max on older models of Imac).... but with several combinations had no luck... (DDR2 667 ) we tried using the old Strointium Ram in combo with Kingston, then two Kingston DDR2 667 ... ended up having to leave the old ram in.... without upgrading... the shop we used was very co-operative...Computer Rescue in Chawang, Samui.... (deserve a plug! as we spent a couple of hours on this) to let us try by bringing in the Mac to the shop but and ended up with no sale!

[Lost in LOS]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

the have upgrades cheap and you can email them with any questions and they will give honest answer. I have a top of the line, 4 month old system and I brought 16 mg memory upgrade with them, gave them my model number and they sent me the right stuff. worth a try and good luck

[nikster]

Looks like this is a load of BS

E.g., it's not true. Many people have upgraded the HDD to an aftermarket HDD or a SSD with no problems whatsoever.

example here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12549810&postcount=48

here's a thread where one or two posters try to convey this, but are far outnumbered by others who are so outraged by the story they can't be bothered to read the other posts. gotta love the internet...

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=124222&page=2

[nikster]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

the have upgrades cheap and you can email them with any questions and they will give honest answer. I have a top of the line, 4 month old system and I brought 16 mg memory upgrade with them, gave them my model number and they sent me the right stuff. worth a try and good luck

MacSales.com have great service, but beware of the cheap memory from them. I had gotten 8GB RAM from OWC as soon as it got cheap - $250 at the time; it was a no-name brand but they guaranteed it for the MacBook Pro and it worked. Until OS X 10.6.5 came along - then I got random crashes, sometimes every 5 minutes, grey screen of death.

Because the memory had worked flawlessly before, I didn't suspect it for a very long time. Went back to OS X 10.6.4 with TimeMachine. Eventually a poster on Apple discussion forums told me that new OS X versions can place higher demands on memory chips. I didn't believe him - it sounded too outlandish - but he insisted and since I had kept the original memory modules around, I gave it a try - no issues!

The moral of the story is, don't buy the cheapest of the cheap memory modules. You might get lucky and they're OK, but you might also run into trouble later on.

Sending this back for an RMA was too much trouble, I just got quality memory from Hardware House in CM, 2,600 baht for 8GB. Works perfectly.