# iMac hard drive dilemma



## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

So my 2006 iMac likely has an original hard drive. I know these 3.5" drives tend to last forever but I do have it backed up on two other hard drives through CCC and Time Machine just in case, as well as Carbonite in case my house catches on fire and I lose my iMac AND my external hard drives. I'd also like extra capacity, I'm down to 30GB remaining of 250GB.

I wonder if I should upgrade the internal hard drive or just attach an external. If I want to upgrade the internal, now's the time to do it since SATA3 drives are not compatible with my iMac and SATA2 while getting rare are still available at decent prices. What would you do?

*Upgrade Internal Drive*

Advantages:

Take out the uncertainty of the existing hard drive's longevity.
It's not yet another hard drive attached to the computer.
Carbonite will fully backup everything.

Disadvantages:

It's a bit of work myself or costs about $130 to have a tech do it for me.

*Buy external drive*

Advantages:

Less work.
Drive can be used for backup duty if I get a new iMac.

Disadvantages:

Carbonite will not backup anything that's on the external drive, this feature is available only on PCs. However since the only thing that'll go on the external drive are iTunes media and I have iTunes Match, the only thing that won't be backed up are movies and protected files from other accounts. I'll still have to figure a way to securely back these up offsite. 
It's yet another connected peripheral.

Either way, I will upgrade to a larger backup drive down the road when 500GB is no longer enough.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

If you were in Toronto, I'd say just buy another 2006 iMac for not much more than the cost of a new hard drive and paying someone to install it. It instantly doubles your hard drive space, and you could mirror it as another failsafe in addition to the ones you currently have. : )


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## ChilBear (Mar 20, 2005)

I like the external because you can re-purpose it in the now and future. I have a similar white 24 version that we are running out it's life and use the external for "storage" and have lessened the wear and tear on the internal, also a 250 as yours. Remembering that you can now have a USB (and Firewire) as external boot disk makes this a better solution IMO.

We are not putting anything into the old gal and planning on the next iteration right now.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I went the internal route on our iMac and may soon pull that drive and go bigger again. It really isn't that hard if you follow the instructions on ifixit etc.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

^^^ Yea. My thinking is that the internal drive will eventually need to be replaced, plus I get the advantage of being able to back up movies through Carbonite. This is important to me.


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## JAMG (Apr 1, 2003)

I voted external as the delay in getting the internal replaced is too great. That said, if you are having an aging iMac serviced, have a new drive swapped in. I lost the original drive in my iMac and it was a pain for a day or two.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

If your model iMac doesn't have a particularly onerous procedure for the internal upgrade, I'd slap the biggest internal HD you can find in there. Externals are fine - but they mean another peripheral taking up another port (on the iMac or a hub) with another cable, not to mention another external power brick taking up a power plug (unless you're going USB-powered 2.5" external).


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## WestWeb (Jul 11, 2009)

Another option you might want to consider for upgrading your internal HD is your older iMacs performance would benefit quite a bit from upgrading to an internal SSD. Presuming you have some dough laying around for the extra cost.

Those things fly!


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## Mike457 (May 23, 2011)

I'd opt for an external. While I prefer not having a lot of external devices attached to my iMac, if you go 1TB internal and hire someone to do it for you, you're paying ca. $250 on a six year old machine, money that would mark a sizable step towards a refurbished iMac. At the same time, you're probably not really improving the resale value of your current machine.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I wouldn't pay someone else to install it...if you can't do it yourself (you can) then go external and put that money towards a new machine


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## Rugby (Nov 4, 2007)

*Carbonite*

These online backups make me wonder what happens if they go bankrupt, out of business, etc. I imagine your online backup files go with them--guess that's why it's good to have other options. I have Time Machine, a Super Duper backup that I keep in a fireproof, waterproof small portable safe (about 30 dlrs)--likely not CHILDPROOF though!!


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## tdu (Sep 15, 2008)

Andrew Pratt said:


> I wouldn't pay someone else to install it...if you can't do it yourself (you can) then go external and put that money towards a new machine


How hard is it to install a drive on an iMac? I'd have to guess it's a better option than spending $250 to have one installed (number quoted from other posts).


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## Mopar (Nov 14, 2011)

For the age of the machine I would not replace the internal drive unless it was to fail, because if you have luck like me you will replace the internal drive then the darn machine would die for some other reason.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

> How hard is it to install a drive on an iMac?


Watch the video's on iFixit and see for yourself if that is something you'd be comfortable doing. It really isn't difficult if you take your time and follow the steps on the fix it sites. I've upgraded the hard drive in every mac I've owned including Mini's, laptops and iMac's.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Mopar said:


> For the age of the machine I would not replace the internal drive unless it was to fail, because if you have luck like me you will replace the internal drive then the darn machine would die for some other reason.


Haha I'm also scared of this.

I've taken apart my Dell Vostro V13 so many times though that working on my iMac doesn't phase me.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

Rugby said:


> These online backups make me wonder what happens if they go bankrupt, out of business, etc. I imagine your online backup files go with them--guess that's why it's good to have other options. I have Time Machine, a Super Duper backup that I keep in a fireproof, waterproof small portable safe (about 30 dlrs)--likely not CHILDPROOF though!!


The 'fireproof' $30 safe may well be fireproof (in the sense that fire will not burn through the metal) but it is most definitely not heat proof. Any CD media or hard drives in the safe will be melted. Just saying...

A better cheap fire solution would be to seal the backups in waterproof container(s) and put the container in the freezer.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Carbonite is definitely not my only backup method. It'd be a pain restoring from an online backup.

If the chances of my house burning down is 0.1% and the chances of Carbonite going out of business is 1%, the chance of my house burning down at the same time that Carbonite goes out of business is 0.001%. 

Maybe an alternative is storing a second external drive off site, like at a relative's house or at the office. My office's three bosses each have a weekly backup drive, at any one time two are at two of their houses and one is on site. 

Too bad iDisk is being cancelled.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

> If the chances of my house burning down is 0.1% and the chances of Carbonite going out of business is 1%, the chance of my house burning down at the same time that Carbonite goes out of business is 0.001%.


haha. good thinking. not likely to happen, but what a story it would make!


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

CanadaRAM said:


> The 'fireproof' $30 safe may well be fireproof (in the sense that fire will not burn through the metal) but it is most definitely not heat proof. Any CD media or hard drives in the safe will be melted. Just saying...
> 
> A better cheap fire solution would be to seal the backups in waterproof container(s) and put the container in the freezer.


+1!!!!!

I think I've posted the same thing many times over the years and it still works. And good for other valuable stuff as well.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

> hard drives in the safe will be melted. J


not hard drives - the heads may have some issues but the platters will survive with data intact and in most cases just a new logic board they will continue to function,
They are completely sealed from the environment and a house fire gets no where near melting point of aluminum.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

MacDoc said:


> not hard drives - the heads may have some issues but the platters will survive with data intact and in most cases just a new logic board they will continue to function,
> They are completely sealed from the environment and a house fire gets no where near melting point of aluminum.


Oh yes, just pickup a new good working *compatible* replacement logic board and any other heat stressed melted parts from your local good HD dealer - yeah right, I forgot!!


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I've performed the operation on a 2006 iMac using the iFixIt instructions. Its a LENGTHY process. Set aside several hours. It's also really messy with a lot of the aluminum shielding stuck down with glue. Thankfully I purchased some aluminum tape prior to starting out, because it tears EASILY. There are several screws that are a bear to remove without losing them inside the casing--even harder to put back.

If you're not absolutely comfortable with this sort of thing, I would recommend an external drive. Don't throw money at this old unit.


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## Rugby (Nov 4, 2007)

dona83 said:


> Carbonite is definitely not my only backup method. It'd be a pain restoring from an online backup.
> 
> If the chances of my house burning down is 0.1% and the chances of Carbonite going out of business is 1%, the chance of my house burning down at the same time that Carbonite goes out of business is 0.001%.
> 
> ...


All good ideas, when we go away for extended periods we store the Super Duper backup HD at a neighbours home, otherwise will take our chances with the 30 dollar 'safe'! But the freezer idea sounds like a good one also, I assume you would have to warm it up in a very slow manner to avoid any condensation problems. Better go now and update my backup!! Cheers./Bill


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Rugby said:


> All good ideas, when we go away for extended periods we store the Super Duper backup HD at a neighbours home, otherwise will take our chances with the 30 dollar 'safe'! But the freezer idea sounds like a good one also, I assume you would have to warm it up in a very slow manner to avoid any condensation problems. Better go now and update my backup!! Cheers./Bill


I'll admit that I got the original "freezer" safe keeping idea from a local fire dept volunteer I worked with years ago who also helped with some serious fire investigations, and they always found the freezer contents always survived intact, even if the freezer fell though the burnt out first/second floor into the basement or crawl space.

One can add any expensive jewellery but they should be packaged in at least single *air-tight* containers or double zip-lock airtight bags.

For any potential burglar that might know of the freezer protection "secret", just slightly camouflage the valuable freezer content container and label it with a big felt pen labeled - 'Liver/Tripe/Onions' and I'll guarantee its safety!!  Unless of course the burglar is an old English or Scots type burglar!! 

PS: It only takes a half hour or so to thaw, and leave any HD in the airtight container until it reaches room temperature, and you're good to go and use it.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Macfury said:


> I've performed the operation on a 2006 iMac using the iFixIt instructions. Its a LENGTHY process. Set aside several hours. It's also really messy with a lot of the aluminum shielding stuck down with glue. Thankfully I purchased some aluminum tape prior to starting out, because it tears EASILY. There are several screws that are a bear to remove without losing them inside the casing--even harder to put back.
> 
> If you're not absolutely comfortable with this sort of thing, I would recommend an external drive. Don't throw money at this old unit.


Ah so this is one proper application for aluminum tape. It boils my blood when I see it used to tape ductwork. I will no longer demand it be banished, thanks for the heads up. 

It might be an old unit but it's a joy to use. I don't know what my timeline is for purchasing a new iMac, it could be 3 months or it could be a year or two.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

I agree on the external for your situation. It's more an investment in your personal amount of storage than an upgrade to your iMac and can be used on any Mac in the future since you plan to buy another eventually. 

I would normally always lean toward an internal upgrade as it will improve performance more and use the original as a spare or even throw it in an enclosure.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Yea. External hard drives are cheap and painless. Who knows, the existing internal hard drive may outlast the logic board. At the same time, SATA3 drives are not compatible and SATA2 will become more rare and more expensive with time. I will eventually buy a 2TB external drive anyway to hook up to my Airport Extreme for Time Machine and CCC backups.

On the freezer note, I heard that if a drive is on a fritz, freezing it in an airtight bag and container, then bringing it back up to minimum operating temperature usually helps it run just enough that you can evacuate any data that may not be backed up onto a backup disk. 

I'm still on the fence and sadly no closer to making a decision. Just when I think I have, I throw myself back to the middle.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

dona83 said:


> SATA3 drives are not compatible


Many SATA 3 drives work on SATA 1. Some have jumpers and some just work. 

In my main G4 tower I boot from a SATA 3 WD Black 1TB on a SATA 1 PCI controller. It has a 2 pin jumper on it to run at SATA 2 speed and I needed to use this to get it to be recognized.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

zen.state said:


> Many SATA 3 drives work on SATA 1. Some have jumpers and some just work.
> 
> In my main G4 tower I boot from a SATA 3 WD Black 1TB on a SATA 1 PCI controller. It has a 2 pin jumper on it to run at SATA 2 speed and I needed to use this to get it to be recognized.


Funny that you mention this as it doesn't seem that long ago that I got thoroughly bashed by two "knowledgable" members saying I didn't have a clue and what the h*ll was I talking about when I mentioned the need to use such jumpers on *some* drives.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Thanks. Seems this thread at Apple Discussions (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2802995?start=0&tstart=0) confirmed the same thing, the guy didn't even need to shunt the jumper (pins 5+6). I'm likely to go with the same Caviar Blue 1TB drive, I don't want anything noisy. Only $97.99 at NCIX.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Personally I'd pay the slightly higher cost for the *Black* "enterprise" drive models: faster, more cache, more reliable, 5 year vs 2 year warranty, run cool and quiet.

I have several all in daily use.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I don't know about more reliable, the Blacks seem to have a similar failure rate according to reviews.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

dona83 said:


> Thanks. Seems this thread at Apple Discussions (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2802995?start=0&tstart=0) confirmed the same thing, the guy didn't even need to shunt the jumper (pins 5+6). I'm likely to go with the same Caviar Blue 1TB drive, I don't want anything noisy. Only $97.99 at NCIX.


I second PM-R's recommendation on the Caviar Blacks. I have several - and they've been rock solid. And if you look at the reviews at newegg.ca (there are THOUSANDS of them for the 1 TB Caviar Black) you'll see most people are pretty happy. Not so much with the Caviar Blues...in fact, I wouldn't touch one with a 10-foot pole.

Caviar Blue: Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Caviar Black: Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

BTW - as the drive sizes increase beyond 1TB, they seem to get somewhat more unreliable. For that reason, I've stuck to 1TB drives, which has worked fine for me so far.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

I am not a fan of the Blue either. I use the Black to boot from and a combo of WD Green and Hitachi drives for mass storage. The only drive I have above 1TB is my 2TB Green and it's a very solid performer. I use it to hold a big chunk of my video collection.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Thanks, I suppose I'll spend the extra $25. lol.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Hm, I'm still not convinced the Black is better than the Blue. Blue runs cooler, runs quieter, and has about the same return rate according to the review below. I do know that people with a bad opinion are more likely to post a review than those with a good opinion. If the original hard drive can manage to last six years, how is it I'm fretting over which is more likely to last two? Maybe because it's not as simple as popping open a few screws on a PC case.

Roundup: twelve 1 TB hard drives! (page 1: The test) - BeHardware



> Of course it's impossible for us to give our own data on reliability. We do however have access to the stats of a large French etailer. The Hitachi 7K1000.C is the least reliable according to its figures, with a returns rate of 4.89% on drives sold in the first half of the year. It is closely followed by the Barracuda LP with 2.63% and the WD10EADS with 2.43%. Next comes the Seagate 7200.12 at 1.82% returns, and the *WD1001FALS and WD1002FAEX (Caviar Black) which are both at 1.09%*. The SpinPoint F3 has a returns rate of 0.93%. Next come the Western drives with 0.86% for the WD10EARS and *0.83% for the WD10EALS*. Surprise! In the short term at least, a 7200 rpm drive has the lowest returns rate. Note that we don’t have enough data about the WD10EAVS and EcoGreen F3, as they didn’t sell well enough over the period analysed.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

dona83 said:


> Hm, I'm still not convinced the Black is better than the Blue. Blue runs cooler, runs quieter, and has about the same return rate according to the review below. I do know that people with a bad opinion are more likely to post a review than those with a good opinion. If the original hard drive can manage to last six years, how is it I'm fretting over which is more likely to last two? Maybe because it's not as simple as popping open a few screws on a PC case.
> 
> Roundup: twelve 1 TB hard drives! (page 1: The test) - BeHardware


The reason everyone has different experiences with the same drives is because they are all different people with different levels of ability and different computing habits. Any drive can be unreliable in the wrong hands.

A WD Black *IS* a better drive because it has higher quality and better performing parts but it wouldn't really be worth the extra money to use it in an external enclosure unless it's FW800 or eSATA. The best WD drive for external enclosures is without a doubt the Green unless you plan to boot from it. 

The truth about the 3 different WD drives is that the Black and Green have more advanced parts and tech. The Blacks inner parts are very performance optimized and the Greens are very energy efficient optimized. The Blue have nothing but run of the mill generic HD parts. 

In response to that site you quoted saying the Hitachi 7K1000.C was the most unreliable.. I have owned and used 2 of them for over 2 years now and have never had an issue. I also have a 7K1000.B from Jan 2009 that still runs like a champ.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

i've used Green's and Blacks as well as Samsungs and hitachi's and they've all been solid. Almost all those drives have a sub 2 % return which is pretty good if you stop and think about it.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Yea, I decided to pay the extra $27 to get the Caviar Black drive. I got an enclosure as well to clone the iMac hard drive onto this one, and I'll get a Caviar Green drive to use in this enclosure when I need the extra backup capacity.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

dona83 said:


> Yea, I decided to pay the extra $27 to get the Caviar Black drive. I got an enclosure as well to clone the iMac hard drive onto this one, and I'll get a Caviar Green drive to use in this enclosure when I need the extra backup capacity.


I'm sorry if my suggestion to go with the *Black* cost you a bit more, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it and find the small extra expense was well worth it.

PS: when you get the *Black* drive, do register it and also make sure you're getting the *full* 5 year warranty from your date of purchase that they show on your registration. 

It's not always correct but usually easily updated, and a dated sales slip of the model and serial number may be required to get the full warranty date set properly.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Yea, what I did was compared reviews at about the two to three year mark and saw that the Blues were more likely to fail by that time. I don't ever want to take apart this machine again lol. (Three days later, cooling fan dies)

The drive is pretty loud though, I hope it's a bit more quiet once inside the iMac. The Black was observed to have 3 extra dB over the Blue according to that test I posted above.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

I have the WD Black 1TB 7200PRM drive in my mid-2007 24" iMac and it's virtually silent, at least to my old ears, and the same Black drive for a backup that's used in a NewerTech FW 800/ 400/USB dock, which does make some slight vibration sound when it's spun up, but it's just on a hard desktop without anything to dampen the slight vibration "noise".


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

Even if you could hear a Black running it won't be for long as it does everything faster combined with a massive 64MB buffer. I personally love computer sounds as it's all part of the experience.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

It's probably just the metal hard drive enclosure's inability to attenuate sound. I did a Carbon Copy Clone onto it and then turned it off since so I don't have to hear the noise of it randomly spinning up or even spin at idle. I'll turn it on again when I have to do a final CCC before the operation. 

The existing internal hard drive is a bit audible when reading/writing and that's as loud as I would want it to get.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

So the operation was successful, although it took several times as long as the video that showed how to replace the hard drive in 20 minutes. There was a pleasant surprise, the new Caviar Black hard drive is more quiet than the Caviar SE hard drive it replaces. I cannot notice any performance increase going from 8MB cache to 64MB cache. It did take a bit longer for the Apple logo to appear at start up so I was a bit concerned at first, but all was well once the logo appeared.

The EMF shield at the bottom was easy enough to deal with but I had to pierce the EMF shield all along the side of the screen. I may purchase some EMF shield tape and redo it, the aluminum foil tape might have some shielding capability but I'd rather have it fully sealed especially since my son uses the computer quite a bit.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Yup, and I suggest one would have to be some fast Mac Tech that does the replacement often and even then, 20 minutes is pushing things IMHO. And especially for the white pre-Al iMacs which I gather your iMac is.

And I did say the WD Black drive were quiet, (and cool running). 

It may take a while to see any increase in performance and also depending on how you use your iMac with the extra cache, and for more details, just Google on 'hard drive 8MB cache to 64MB cache difference' etc. and maybe read the Paperdoc similar comments as such at:
Justifying 32 vs 64mb cache - Hard-Disks - Storage

Anyway, congrats on the surgery and I'm sure you'll appreciate paying the small price premium. And don't forget to register it and double check the warranty they show for the drive you just purchased.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

If you keep getting a long delay before it boots make sure that you go into pref's and set your boot disk to be the new drive.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I did register my drive thanks, although I hope I paid extra for the long term reliability and not the warranty. The external drive sensor says 37C, I don't know if there was anything more to it than detaching it from the old drive and mounting it at roughly the same location on the new drive. I'll have to check if the temperature monitor I use can read the internal SMART temp. 

Thanks Andrew Pratt, I'll check that when I get home, seems like a minor detail. At least the cloning process is painless. I have a 500GB 7200 RPM hard drive I want to put into my Dell Vostro notebook but I can't for the life of me figure out how to clone the drive and make it bootable. I won't bother, AutoCAD is on Mac now so I'm going to save up for a MacBook Air or Pro for my next work system.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

There are similar tools for cloning a PC...Norton Ghost was the gold standard a few years ago but we use Acronis True Image at work these days. I'm sure there are freeware options as well.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

dona83 said:


> I did register my drive thanks, although I hope I paid extra for the long term reliability and not the warranty. The external drive sensor says 37C, I don't know if there was anything more to it than detaching it from the old drive and mounting it at roughly the same location on the new drive. I'll have to check if the temperature monitor I use can read the internal SMART temp.
> ... ...


WD shows the best suggested location for the temp sensor on their drives:
Where to connect an external temperature sensor to a Serial ATA or EIDE hard drive


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

AP, the freeware options I tried failed and going with Norton/Arconis involves me putting money into this pile of turd, thanks but no thanks I'm getting a MacBook of some type for my next work machine.

pm-r, might be ideal but I figured Apple mounted the temperature sensor where they did for a reason, maybe there is inadequate clearance where WD recommends it.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Haha, they dropped the price of the Caviar Black 1TB by another $15 this week. Haha.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

dona83 said:


> Haha, they dropped the price of the Caviar Black 1TB by another $15 this week. Haha.


Before drives went up in price I bought my 1 TB Black for 78 at NCIX. Since the market shortage I have never seen them lower than 110 on sale and 140 regular.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Likely a sign that supply is catching up. I am still crying that I didn't wait a week, lol. 

I'm going to wait for the Caviar Green 2TB to drop quite a bit before I pick one up for backup purposes. It got to $109 last week, but I'm in no rush yet.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

dona83 said:


> Likely a sign that supply is catching up. I am still crying that I didn't wait a week, lol.
> 
> I'm going to wait for the Caviar Green 2TB to drop quite a bit before I pick one up for backup purposes. It got to $109 last week, but I'm in no rush yet.


You will be waiting a long time. I paid 109 for that drive almost 2 years ago. If you see it that low grab it.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

The green drives are often used in the WD elements USB cases which are super easy to open and often on sale or the same price as the raw drives. I have one as my TM backup drive.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Oddly, the Elements external drives have a 1 year warranty, whereas the Caviar Green bare drives have two. I already have an external case ready to go anyway.

NCIX has the Caviar Green 3TB for $159.99, but as I said I can wait for supply to fully catch up, although I can't ever expect myself to win at this game, the price always tends to drop or the model gets upgraded a week later. lol.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

I am just saying I don't think you will find the price of those 2Tb drives any lower than $110. I paid the same price for one before all s*** happened in Japan and other countries. So to me the supply has caught up.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

K then I'm waiting for my monies to be replenished. lol. Well I can but I get paranoid when my cash reserve gets low for no good reason. That and I like earning my monthly PC points.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

dona83 said:


> K then I'm waiting for my monies to be replenished. lol. *Well I can but I get paranoid when my cash reserve gets low for no good reason. *That and I like earning my monthly PC points.


:lmao: ah don't we all


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

dona83 said:


> Likely a sign that supply is catching up.


Not till the regular price drops. It's still almost double (140 vs. 78) what I paid a little over a year ago maybe 2-3 months before the shortage happened.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Please stop calling it a "shortage." Perhaps for a few minutes that was true.

Now, it's just "high prices."


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

HowEver said:


> Please stop calling it a "shortage." Perhaps for a few minutes that was true.
> 
> Now, it's just "high prices."


It is a shortage when we can't get drives from the manufacturer -- for whatever reason. Some models are coming through, some models like the Caviar Black are backordered for weeks at a time.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Clean up in aisle 2. 

Please stop the flaming. 

Yes, there is still a shortage of drives. 

Now back to our regular scheduled thread. Don't start up again.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

However it was a shortage and yes drives commanded a premium. No conspiracy.
Apple's 2 tb CTOs were often 6 weeks in coming

The issue at the moment is rapidly changing warranties  - not in a good direction. Prices on most models are down near October levels but individual models are problematic.


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## (( p g )) (Aug 17, 2002)

MacDoc said:


> The issue at the moment is rapidly changing warranties


What's happening there, Macdoc? Are they all cutting them back? Seems like a pretty foolish thing given how much people rely on digital storage these days.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Seems to be the case and just a few sample pages:

DailyTech - Seagate Joins Western Digital in HDD Warranty Massacre, Doubles Down with 1-Year Warranties

Hard drive manufacturers slash warranty periods - Computerworld

Seagate, WD Cutting Back on Hard Drive Warranties


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

The WD Caviar/Scorpio Black and the Velociraptor retain the 5 year warrantee.


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