Installing OS on a new HDD for imac with no installed HDD

Hi all
I am looking to buy an iMac 27", but it doesnt come with a HDD
So I wanted to know if I buy a new HDD for it, can I install Mavericks onto it and fit it to the iMac? How would I go about doing this?
I dont have access to another mac but I do have access to a windows machine. Can I do it from there?
Any help appreciated
Thanks

Where are you buying an iMac 27-inch, Late 2009 model that has no internal hard disk drive?
Having to assume it was removed by an original owner, does the computer work? Was it tested by use of an externally enclosed HDD with a correct bootable system installed?
There are various repair and upgrade guides online, several topics among them and several are free to view or use. There likely is an iFixit guide that may cover that vintage of iMac 27-inch build year model.
Not sure which iMac 27-inch model guide applies to your computer,
some appear here http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel
While considering the hard disk drive, be sure that if there are any sensors or special cables required to be in place and attached to a new replacement, they are in place and working; some users of later models found when a hard disk drive was replaced, their fans ran at high and uncontrolled speeds due to lack of sensor input. The default situation was for the computer act as though the unit was overheated. And third party fan control software to set a fan at low slower speeds does not take into account faster speeds are needed to cool iMacs. Yours may not exhibit this issue, but I am not certain either way.
When you get it set up, with HDD and original Snow Leopard installed & updated to 10.6.8, be sure to check to see if there are any hardware or firmware updates. I see there was one listed for your model and it may already be installed...
•27-inch iMac EFI FW Update 1.0:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1031
Hopefully this helps...
Good luck & happy computing!

Similar Messages

  • Best setup for iMac with SSD & HDD? Best location of scratch & home folders

    Best setup for iMac with SSD and HDD? Best location of scratch & home folders?
    Computer:
    iMac 2.93 GHz Quad core i7, 8GB RAM, 1 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD
    There is not much info from Apple about the best way to set up an iMac with a Hard Drive and Solid state drive. I’ve looked at a few of the forum posts across the web and came up with a plan and lots of questions. (I do use photoshop frequently, but not on a professional level):
    1. I will keep OS and Applications on SSD
    2. About moving the home folder: I saw some posts about moving the whole home folder, but it makes more sense to me to only move selected fodlers withing the home folder tomake the best use of the SSD. So will keep the home folder on SSD, but move certain folders (document /music/iphoto/download) to 1 TB HDD via instructions I found on the macintoshperformanceguide website:
    cd
    sudo cp -r Documents /Volumes/Master
    sudo rm -rf Documents
    sudo ln -s /Volumes/Master/Documents Documents
    3. I would like to get 8 more RAM when I can afford it
    4. I will attach an external hard drive for most of my documents and backup storage
    5. Now here is where I’m not sure what’s best:
    a. Should I partition my internal 1 TB hard drive and use the first partition as a scratch disc for photoshop and other applications? How much should I partition? Is there any benefit to this if the rive is partitioned?
    b. Should I use an external drive as a scratch disc?
    c. Any advice on a good 1-2 TB external drive?
    d. Should I just leave things in factory settings?
    Don't assume I know the basics - I got all the above just by searching around. Any advice and commentary is appreciatedThanks.
    Message was edited by: sfandtheworld

    Thanks for the advice and the links. yes, I would like to speed up ps as much as possible.
    I wonder if putting the scratch disc on the same drive as the OS would cause them to interfere with each other? Even if they are on different partitions, they would not be able to be accessed at the same time, or could they? That's why I was wondering if I should place scratch disc on the internal HDD -- but then I don't know how much to partition for it (or to partition at all?)
    ALso, I read on a few places that too much read/write on the SSD wears it down over time? Is this more of a theoretical concerns - it does not make sense to me since it has no moving parts!
    thanks again for the advice ... I'm gonna go digest those links

  • I have new iMac with Lion installed; can I get a free upgrade for my MacBook Pro?

    Hello
    I recently bought a 27" iMac with Lion installed.  Should I be able to download the upgrade for my MacBook Pro without paying.  If so what should I do.  If I go to the App Store I'll end up paying £20.99
    Any help gratefully received
    margaret

    Margaret,
    No you will need to purchase the upgrade. However if you own other Macs you want to upgrade once you have purchased Lion then you can upgrade the additional machines. Of course the additional machines must be using the same Apple ID. As long as the additional machine's meet the minimum system requirements listed below you are all set.
    General requirements
    Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
    2GB of memory
    OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
    7GB of available space
    Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.

  • Can I install Tiger in my NEW 21.5" iMac ?

    Can I install Tiger on my NEW 21.5" iMac ?
    Machine bought new - Nov. '09.
    While I do like some of the features in Snow Leopard... almost all my existing software plus the Sims 2
    games will apparently NOT run (or run well).

    Rosetta does exactly that. It was created to run MacOS X programs that only ran on PPC macs to run on intel processors. Rosetta would translate PPC machine instructions into intel instrucions on-the fly.
    Classic Mode was a whole separate operating system. Rosetta merely translates PPC to intel so it is generally invisible to the user.
    I have used Quicken '05, iMovie HD, AppleWorks and Microsoft Office under Rosetta with no issues. Photoshop 7 was the only program I have that choked and would not run. I would guess that the Sims program would be most likely to not run. They might have an intel update available, I know that Zoo tycoon 2 had a patch to allow for intel processers, The Sims might, too.
    Some programs have "fat binaries" with both versions. If you are curious, you can see whether you are running intel or PPC-translated by using the activity monitor.
    You don't need to run Rosetta separately, if it is needed it turns itself on, so the programs install normally. In fact, some programs needed Rosetta just to run the installer, the actual software ran on the intels.
    I think I have the same machine as you, I just bought my new 21.5" iMac last month. I love it by they way, a DVD that would have taken all night to burn was done in a little over an hour!

  • Where i can buy a HDD for Imac

    where i can buy a HDD for Imac?

    Are you looking at an external hard drive or a replacement for the internal drive? Big difference.
    The only place I will buy an external drive for a Mac any more is this vendor:
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
    I had a "big-name" external that was supposed to be Mac-compatibible but gave me headaches with both Intel and PPC Macs. After fighting the issues for a couple of years, I bought the US$69 "do-it-yourself" enclosure from the link  above, stripped the bare drive out of the "name-brand" enclosure, and installed it in the Mercury enclosure.
    The old drive body has worked seamlessly and flawlessly since. The big-name enclosures seldom seem to have Mac-friendly hardware.
    The vendor I linked is US-based but ships to some overseas destinations.

  • WinXP in Bootcamp on new 21.5" iMacs won't install

    My company recently purchased a bunch of the new 21.5” iMacs with the intention to continue to rollout all apple hardware for all machines in our office. A large portion of these iMacs were to be running XP under Bootcamp. On our older iMacs, the install of XP was a no brainer...no issues at all. On these new ones, I’ve tried 5 different XP install disks and none of them will work. I can get to the point when the XP installer reboots the machine the first time, but once it starts to boot off the internal HD to continue the installation process, I get hit with the following error:
    Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
    <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
    Please re-install a copy of the above file.
    I’ve done some research and some people are saying its the way that Bootcamp under Snow Leopard partitions the drive that screws up the install, but all of the suggestions I’ve found online don’t work. I’m stuck.

    I imagine you've tried partitioning with Disk Utility?

  • How do I make a private album in new Photos for IMac?

    How do I make a private album in the new Photos for IMac? I had one in iPhoto, and now that all the photos migrated to Photos my private album is not hidden anymore. Thanks for help!

    Photos does not hide photos in albums at all.  Photos can only be hidden from Moments, Collections, Years.
    If you want private albums, move the photos in questions to a different Photos Library, that you keep hidden.

  • HT204380 Facetime Activation: Could not verify the email address. Please re-enter and try again.   Tried so many times,even changed my appe ID and purchased a new facetime for iMac running 10.8.4 Mountain Lion,yet still same outcome. Can somebody help me?

    Facetime Activation: Could not verify the email address. Please re-enter and try again.   Tried so many times,even changed my appe ID and purchased a new facetime for iMac running 10.8.4 Mountain Lion,yet still same outcome. Can somebody help me?

    I have the same problem. FaceTime works fine on my iMac but when trying to use FaceTime on my Macbook Air, I have the same issue you describe.

  • HDD for iMac 27" mid 2010 Quad-Core Intel Core i7

    I plan to buy iMac Core i7 and hesitating on upgrade the 1TB HDD to 2TB. Worry on the reliability of 2TB HDD. Would like to know what is the exact model of the 1TB and 2TB HDD for iMac Core i7.
    Any kind soul able to disclose the make and model for these two HDD?
    Thanks in advance.

    There is no exact model. Apple has supply contracts with 3-4 different HDD manufacturers and which one you get in your machine would be luck of the draw.
    But the HDD would be covered under the warranty, so as long as you keep backups, you'd only have the hassle of being without a system for a short time if it failed.

  • I just installed Firefox on a new HP 600-1120 with Windows 7 and it is only running in "safe" mode. Why? How do I get it to run in "regular" mode? How does "safe" mode differ?

    I just installed Firefox on a new HP 600-1120 with Windows 7 and it is only running in "safe" mode. Why? How do I get it to run in "regular" mode? How does "safe" mode differ?

    > So now my question is, how can i fix this problem?
    Use the Toshiba recovery disk or the Toshiba HDD recovery option.
    If you dont have the Toshiba Recovery disk try the HDD recovery:
    http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD1303440001R01.htm
    This works only if the recovery image files from Toshiba are still on the HDD:
    If you installed the system using another disk as Toshiba recovery disk, this recovery option will not work.

  • HT4718 I want to sell my iMac with clean install

    I bought my iMac with Lion installed. I purchased Mountain Lion and upgradded it to Mountain Lion. I am getting ready to sell it and want to sell it with a clean install of Mountain Lion. I have a DVD that I burnrd on another Apple PC that I used to do the install on my iMac if that helps.

    Frankly, I don't know if that would work - it'll be "sitting" at the app store for your buyer, so that should be ok; as far as I know, the app store retains the settings of your Apple ID and machine ID - but I do not know if those settings are also buried somewhere in the OS system. You can try it - maybe it'll work; if it won't, I'm sure you'll get an error message and you can try the Apple store idea. Oh, and by the way, you said that your machine came with Lion? If that is preinstalled on the machine, you are allowed to make a one time transfer of the OS, but you will need to call Apple to accomplish that - this may involve some process/setting that Apple needs to do (I don't know the exact process since I've not had to do this, but just quoting what the license agreement stipulates) - this probably also has to do with ID's.

  • HT5945 new macbook pro loaded with mavericks. installed CS3 including prompted Java update. try to open photoshop &  empty splash screen pops up-can't go further. tried newer java update-same result. re-opened 4 times-same. help!!

    new macbook pro loaded with mavericks. installed CS3 including prompted Java update. try to open photoshop &  empty splash screen pops up-can't go further. tried newer java update-same result. shut down 4 times-same. any suggestions?

    Kappy wrote:
    Has it occurred to you that CS3 isn't compatible with Mavericks? Try using CS9 or 10.
    Sorry that's untrue. I have Photoshop CS3 running on 10.9.
    CS9 or 10? Now you are just making stuff up.
    Adobe claim CS3 will work, with a minor issue…
    http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/mac-os-mavericks-compatability.html
    The Adobe updater fails to work for me.
    I was prompted to install J6RE which came from Apple, check the Apple support downloads http://support.apple.com/downloads/#java%206
    Sorry can't provide a direct link, it was just a dumb 'You need … please click install' dialog.
    I think the 10.9 java updater is installing version 7.

  • After logging in the Apps tab has removed Lightroom 5 from my Installed Apps - even though I have it installed.  The Find New Apps section prompts me to install Lightroom - but if I do that, what happens to my existing catalogues?

    After logging in,  the Apps tab has removed Lightroom 5 from my Installed Apps - even though I have it installed.  The Find New Apps section prompts me to install Lightroom - but if I do that, what happens to my existing catalogues?

    See this Apple Best Practices Guide, about half way down the page:
    Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4: Installation best practices - Apple Support
    It gives the recommend procedure.
    MtD

  • How do I set up mail for iMac with hotmail?

    How do I set up mail for iMac with hotmail?

    Open mail and follow the onscreen directions. If you are trying to set up this as a a second account, select Preferences from the Mail menu and choose the accounts tab. Click the plus button at the bottom of the screen and follow the onscreen directions.

  • I just recently installed mountain lion and an update for SMC firmware to install power nap. Everything is working except for the menu bar, the icons native to the system do not respond, and features like the clock and battery meter freeze.

    I just recently installed mountain lion and an update for SMC firmware to install power nap. Everything is working except for the menu bar, the icons native to the system do not respond, and features like the clock and battery meter freeze.
    When I mouse over the icons, the rainbow appears as if it was processing something. The problem is eliminated when I restart my computer but it comes back after a while.
    I guess I cant make a backup copy and restore the whole disk because the copy would be made with this error.
    Can anyone help me? Anyone with the same issue?

    Update: I was able to test out the HDMI adapter as well and the same issue occured.  I'm stumped.  10.8.1 maybe.

Maybe you are looking for