Anyone looking to buy a new iMac, read this first

Jon55

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Taken from MacRumors (full article here):

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.


This shit is just getting out of hand. :mad: I figured anyone looking to buy a new iMac would want to know this first. I love Apple and their products, and sometimes they make dick moves, but this crap is just irritating. Fuck all if I'm ever paying the Apple tax on hard drives or RAM.

EDIT: Several members on the MacRumors forum have found the opposite to be true of what OWC had been reporting. While MacRumors itself has always been a very reliable source of information, this is one case where their source could potentially be wrong. So while the possibility is still there, take this report with a grain of salt.
 
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That's true, but it was never considered a user serviceable part in the first place.
 
That's pretty damn lame. Swapping out the hard disk on an iMac is not trivial, but not all that difficult, either. This effectively makes it impossible (or rather possible but not advisable).

That being said, it isn't difficult to control the fan speed on an iMac with free software. From my perspective, though, that's still unacceptable.
 
Swapping a hard drive in a modern iMac is a pain. At some point I'd like to see a SSD slot a la the RAM module slots; unscrew a small panel, plug it in, replace panel...like, not expecting.
 
that's how it has always been
In the past, I would have advised anyone with a decent level of technical proficiency (and the time and patience) to do it themselves. Now I don't believe I would.

What confuses me is why this was necessary. The older iMacs already had temperature sensors affixed to both the hard drive and optical drives. What was wrong with that system?
 
In the past, I would have advised anyone with a decent level of technical proficiency (and the time and patience) to do it themselves. Now I don't believe I would.

What confuses me is why this was necessary. The older iMacs already had temperature sensors affixed to both the hard drive and optical drives. What was wrong with that system?


It wasn't proprietary :rolleyes:

Mark my words, if Apple figures out a way to get a proprietary RAM interface, so you can only buy it from them, at their ridiculous markups, they'll jump on it.

(standard disclaimer: I'm not anti-Apple, I love my MBA, I've liked the iMacs for awhile, etc. It's just that actions like this, which are purely anti-consumer, really piss me off)
 
It wasn't proprietary :rolleyes:

Mark my words, if Apple figures out a way to get a proprietary RAM interface, so you can only buy it from them, at their ridiculous markups, they'll jump on it.

(standard disclaimer: I'm not anti-Apple, I love my MBA, I've liked the iMacs for awhile, etc. It's just that actions like this, which are purely anti-consumer, really piss me off)

I'm gonna have to agree with you here, they'll do damn near anything to make it an absolute pain in the ass unless you do it Apple's way (For the small fee of your soul). I love my new iMac and this kinda rained on my parade.
 
Mark my words, if Apple figures out a way to get a proprietary RAM interface, so you can only buy it from them, at their ridiculous markups, they'll jump on it.
They could have "figured that out" years ago. I don't think Apple wanting it to be proprietary is the sole reason for this change.
 
Yeah, that PITA harddrive/RAM upgrade in a MBP is such a proprietary interface. . .wait, what do you mean it's not? What do you mean the MBP actually came with instructions on how to swap them?

These just came out, I'm willing to bet that the enthusiast community as a work around within 3 weeks/month.

I agree it seems to be a pretty stupid change, however, there is probably a good reason besides "LOL, Stupid Users, let's screw'em over".
 
Yeah, that PITA harddrive/RAM upgrade in a MBP is such a proprietary interface. . .wait, what do you mean it's not? What do you mean the MBP actually came with instructions on how to swap them?

These just came out, I'm willing to bet that the enthusiast community as a work around within 3 weeks/month.

Like I said already, there shouldn't be a need for a work-around in the first place.

The MacBook Pros (especially my generation before the unibody model came out) were a pain in the ass to swap the HDD, but it was easily doable (the hardest part was removing all the screws). With the unibody models, it's much easier to swap out the HDD. And on both models it's very easy to swap out the RAM.

The iMac's RAM has always been easy to swap out. The HDD so far has been too, just with a little work. The current iMac, if you had read my post, has a special SATA connector that Apple built themselves and the HDD comes with a special firmware preinstalled that allows the cable to be used in the first place. So unless Apple comes out with some software or firmware that allows anyone to install it on their new HDD/SSD, you're shit outta luck. They're forcing you to pay for their overpriced drive upgrades and/or repairs.
 
This is dumb. Will be interesting to see if Apple changes it. I don't think I'd ever change a HDD on an iMac (too scared to take out the screen), but I did a HDD swap on my MBP, and something tells me this will trickle down the line.
 
G4 processor? Apple tried proprietary, and gave up.

I do agree this is purely anti-consumer. I have a 2010 iMac, so I guess its a little better, but still a big pain to try to add/replace anything on it.

For the targeted market I believe this shouldnt be a problem. I have faith everyone on this forum can and will want work arounds. But 99% of apple owners don't need to, and arent part of this forum...hehe
 
Like I said already, there shouldn't be a need for a work-around in the first place.

The MacBook Pros (especially my generation before the unibody model came out) were a pain in the ass to swap the HDD, but it was easily doable (the hardest part was removing all the screws). With the unibody models, it's much easier to swap out the HDD. And on both models it's very easy to swap out the RAM.

The iMac's RAM has always been easy to swap out. The HDD so far has been too, just with a little work. The current iMac, if you had read my post, has a special SATA connector that Apple built themselves and the HDD comes with a special firmware preinstalled that allows the cable to be used in the first place. So unless Apple comes out with some software or firmware that allows anyone to install it on their new HDD/SSD, you're shit outta luck. They're forcing you to pay for their overpriced drive upgrades and/or repairs.
What are you talking about? You are blowing this way out of proportion.

You can easily change the hard drives without any kind of workaround. The only thing that changes is the fans will run at full speed...so any "workaround" would be controlling the fans via software...
 
You can already control the fans with smcfancontrol. This really isn't that big of a deal to the less than 1% of iMac owners who will put an aftermarket hdd in their machine.
 
What are you talking about? You are blowing this way out of proportion.

No, I just enjoy Apple products but don't drink the kool-aid.

You can easily change the hard drives without any kind of workaround. The only thing that changes is the fans will run at full speed...so any "workaround" would be controlling the fans via software...

Which, again, you shouldn't have to do in the first place. Replace the HDD, sure, and now your iMac's fans will be running full speed all the time (and those suckers can get loud). I guess that's acceptable to you?

It's also bullshit because this firmware built into the HDD crap was never the case with all prior iMacs.


You can already control the fans with smcfancontrol. This really isn't that big of a deal to the less than 1% of iMac owners who will put an aftermarket hdd in their machine.

1%? You have a source for that claim I'm assuming?
 
No, it's common sense. You seriously are blowing this out of proportion. Apple must have a reason, they aren't going to increase production costs to stop someone from taking the screen and glass off to replace a hdd. Those type of people will use a workaround or smcfancontrol, and they know this so it's pointless to waste the time and money.

Seriously, how much of the iMac user base do you think is pulling the glass off the front of their 1200 to 3000 dollar machine?
 
Actually, I went and read through the MR thread. Apparently the OWC report is wrong, you can upgrade the drives without issue.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12525120#post12525120
Here are a few people that have done it.

All that over nothing. Wow.

Thank you for the heads up, and that's good news if true (it's one guys report after all), but it wasn't "all over nothing." I guess I'm just not as big of an Apple apologist as some others in this sub-forum.
 
I'm not an Apple apologist, I just like to have all the info before getting upset over something - especially when it is reported by a company that has a positive financial interest in something like this being true.
 
I'm not an Apple apologist, I just like to have all the info before getting upset over something - especially when it is reported by a company that has a positive financial interest in something like this being true.

As do I, but you can't say this is outside the realm of something Apple would do. Either way, we shall see what happens.
 
I read the thread as well. Jon55, instead of implying that those who do their homework are "apologists" I think you should read the thread as well. I totally understand reading a headline and getting all worked up about it, but in this case the conspiracy was cancelled and it's time to move on! :)
 
I read the thread as well. Jon55, instead of implying that those who do their homework are "apologists" I think you should read the thread as well. I totally understand reading a headline and getting all worked up about it, but in this case the conspiracy was cancelled and it's time to move on! :)

No, there are reports it might have been cancelled. No confirmation yet. And I did do my homework, and I never called anyone who did their homework apologists, just those who are implying things like "well they probably had a good reason." Perhaps you should re-read the thread yourself.
 
No, there are reports it might have been cancelled. No confirmation yet. And I did do my homework, and I never called anyone who did their homework apologists, just those who are implying things like "well they probably had a good reason." Perhaps you should re-read the thread yourself.

No need to re-read, everyone understands everyone.

Some People = this is a really poor choice by Apple and is an anti-consumer move

Other People = don't care and will just adjust fan with SMC
 
It's not an anti-consumer move, as evidenced by the facts that:
1. it costs more money to add parts to a device after manufacturing it
2. it costs more money to add more manufacturing steps to a product before delivery
3. apple maintains its top-down filtering pricing for it's end-users with strict controls over manufacturing and repair processes
and
4. apple doesn't prevent anyone from adding an external hard drive
or
5. replacing the internal hard drive if one is sufficiently motivated to do so

the rest of the arguments against apple in this thread are bs and it doesn't make me an apologist to recognize objective facts about the situation
 
I suspect this implementation is due in part of the new Thunderbolt port, which is more than capable of handing several external HDDs at full speed.
 
Yes, you can replace the drive. You can also add a secondary ssd on you own. There is a spare port for it. And a write up on Mac rumors from a couple of guys who did it.

I also read, and I can dig up the link later, that this isn't a proprietary thing and that these newer hard drives apple is using will be coming to market.

Either way I didn't buy an iMac with the intention of opening it up to replace the drive. Have a bunch of custom built pc's I can swap drives in if I get the itch.
 
too funny, thought we moved away from proprietary crap years ago, now it looks like they are grasping for silly solutions to make a bit of extra cash
 
too funny, thought we moved away from proprietary crap years ago, now it looks like they are grasping for silly solutions to make a bit of extra cash

This is why these type of threads suck ass.
 
I'm ok with the 2TB drive I am putting in there when I BTO mine. So I am not concerned about replacing anything. I will do my own RAM upgrade, but that's it.
 
I for one miss the days of proprietary Macintosh hardware, and for one simple reason; it was all better technology than was available on the PC side. m68k vs first gens of x86, PPC vs later x86, NuBus over ISA, SCSI over IDE, ADB over PS2... Sure, it cost a lot, but Apple wasn't playing games - they were pushing the desktop hardware envelop harder than anybody else was during the first several Macintosh generations.

The problem now is that Apple is filling Macs with technologies that are almost entirely 'off the shelf', so the proprietary game is harder to play - and, more importantly, makes less sense because the level to which Apple can differentiate their hardware into 'better' configurations is so small that it generally wont justify the cost increase in the eyes of any end user.

So if Apple's gonna go down this road again, they need to do it in a much bigger way for it to be anything more than an inconvenience or obstruction.
 
Because some of us like to let everyone else know about said proprietary crap that is failed to be mentioned by Apple themselves?

If that's what you cared about then you would have gone back and edited in the latest information to the first post.
It is the solution provided by Apple on the models coming with an SSD: short-circuit pins 2 and 7 on the power supply cable.
Here is also an explanation of the reasons that pushed Apple to introduce that system in the 2009 iMac. As we sais earlier, the iMac checks very often the temperature of the hard drive. If it was doing so with the SMART system, it would shrink the disk bandwidth and would freeze the disk for a very short time at every check.
Therefore Apple decided to do it with an Out of Bandwidth system, outside of the data channels of the disks. At first the company used connectors added to most hard drives and used for programming and testing the disk. That solution had one drawback as each manufacturer had its own connector. The 2011 model uses a new system. All the information now goes through pin 11 of the power supply connector, which is normally used to light-up a LED during disk activity. In prodder to change the use of that pin, a specific firmware was needed, which explains the reason that only disks sold by Apple in the iMac don't have any problem.
It was quite a radical choice; far from established standards, but in the end, it will not cause any big problem in the replacement of hard drives in these computers.
 
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Or the fact that it's NOT TRUE

And at the time, as far as we knew, it WAS true. I posted what I saw a report on from a very reputable source. So forgive me for wanting to informing people of potentially important information. Next time I'll ask if I can borrow your time machine.


If that's what you cared about then you would have gone back and edited in the latest information to the first post.

You pointed out that a few forum members have found the opposite to be true than what was reported in the OWC report on the second page of this thread. Instead of telling me I was "blowing it out of proportion" over several posts, you could have simply done that in the first case. And you still haven't provided me with a source for your "This really isn't that big of a deal to the less than 1% of iMac owners who will put an aftermarket hdd in their machine" statement.

I figured I didn't need to update my original post because, mistakenly, it was already pointed out and I assumed you would get over it, anyone else reading it would have found out by reading the rest of the thread, and the thread would die. But clearly you haven't gotten over it, so I've updated it. Hell, the original MacRumors article wasn't even updated. I guess, according to you, MacRumors doesn't care either?
 
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