iMac 333 HD Replacement

M

macavenger

Registered
It would appear that the hard drive on my brother's iMac 333 MHZ is dying. At any rate he frequently gets the blinking question mark icon on startup (although not always) and the hard drive does not show up in the installer or disk utility when booted from the install CD (although again, not always). Also he is apparently having relatively frequent crashes. So I have two questions, not having the ability at the moment to actually access the computer myself:

1)Would you guys agree with my assessment, based primarily on the failure of the disk to appear in the installer and disk utility programs, that the hard drive is going bad?

2) If so, could you recommend a relatively cheap (but not so much so that it will be poor quality) hard drive replacement? We are not looking for anything especially large, probably a 20GB or smaller device would be plenty, and still be a significant upgrade over the current (and yes, I am aware of the 8GB limit for the system partition). My knowledge of the necessary specs on such a device are somewhat limited at the moment. If you do not agree with my initial assessment, what might he be able to do to resolve the problem?

Thanks for any input you might see fit to give!
 
If the disk utilities says it's bad, it probably is.
I'll really recommend getting a 40 or 60 GB drive, you'll get much more for your money. Just go and pick up one at a local PC reseller :)
 
Well, the disk utilities don't actually say it's bad, but I suspect this is primarily due to the fact that the disk utilities don't even SHOW the disk, making it rather difficult to scan ;) Or so I gather from his description. So will just any standard size ATA hard drive work? Or is there something specific I need to look for? Thanks!
 
Originally posted by macavenger
Well, the disk utilities don't actually say it's bad, but I suspect this is primarily due to the fact that the disk utilities don't even SHOW the disk, making it rather difficult to scan ;) Or so I gather from his description. So will just any standard size ATA hard drive work? Or is there something specific I need to look for? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yep, just a plain, normal 3,5" ATA drive. But be sure to get a 7200 rpm drive, they perform way better than 5400 rpm drives. Some people say it's getting too hot for 7200 rpm drives in iMacs, but I've had a 100 GB 7200 rpm drive running in a 333 MHz iMac overclocked to 400 MHz, so I don't believe them :p

It will be a bit challenging to replace the HD, though. It's located under the CD-ROM drive, so first follow the manuals instructions on how to open the machine. When you've got the motherboard/CD/HD assembly out, push the CD-ROM drive towards the motherboard to release it from the lock. Now you'll see the HD. Unscrew it from the sides through the ventilation holes, disconnect the cables and lift it up. Eventually use a screwdriver to help it up. Put in the new drive and reverse the disassembly. It's really tricky to get the HD screws back in place, so be patient.
And, be careful through the whole process. Be sure to don't carry electrostatical charges. Don't walk on carpets or wear wool socks while working on a computer. And be sure to touch a grounding source (like a water pipe, etc) now and then to discharge any eventual statical charges.

Good luck :)
 
If you can boot from the OS CD and Drive Setup sees the drive, format the drive and reinstall the system and see if it works normally. Could just be a software or system problem rather than the hard drive dying.


If the machine is running OS X, boot into Single user mode and run "fsck first.

For finding good prices on hard drives, take a look at http://www.dealmac.com. They search for the lowest prices on Mac stuff.
 
Since an ATA IDE Hard Drive isn't mac specific..you might also want to try www.pricewatch.com I just got a IBM Deskstar 120gb 7200rpm Hard drive with a cooling kit that sits on top of it for 145 shipped..don't know of a much better deal...Josh
 
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