How to change hard drive in 20" iMac G5 iSight ?

Question

I opened up the machine to replace a dead hard drive (warranty is over anyway) and discovered
there is black tape that seals the edge of the display as well as the area below it. Can I remove this
to change the drive and then put it back without detriment to the functionality of the machine?

Answer 1

Here are the experiences of someone who did what you are doing:
BulaRae posted this experience with the iSight:
Remove all 5 screws on the bottom. The two for the ram slot are captive. The other 3 are not. One is longer than the others, note which slot it came from.
There are catch levers on the top corners that need to be released by sliding something in there. That post recommended a credit card or thin plastic. I used two thin table knives with non-serrated edges.
Once the top is off you can flip it up and lay it down or undo all the tape and unplug the iSight. I left mine intact.
Then the fun part (NOT!). Using my table knife I very carefully peeled up the thick black foil tape stuff along the two edges. It's so sticky and tears easily. You need infinte patience. Once peeled up it reveals 4 torx screws holding the LCD in down on the bottom. You need a long Torx screwdriver and make sure it is magnetic—the screws are not captive and what a pain! Especially when you don't have a magnetic driver!
The you can lift up the LCD. Again I left mine connected and just propped it up by sticking a can of compressed air I had sitting nearby in as a prop (obviously away from the boards). I did have to disconnect the video though (two white connectors on the left that are easy to disconnect). I later read that other connectors were very fragile in this model and wires rip easily, so I'm glad I didn't mess with any more than I had to.
Once I got to the drive I discovered that the third connector (very small 4-pin that went off the side of the drive and over to the board in a different place than the bigger connectors) was too small for the drive that OWC sent me, so now I'm back together (but it ain't pretty in there anymore!) and calling OWC, only to have to do this again in another week or so.
Moral of the story: don't try this at home, folks, unless you have infinite patience and love to do painstaking, tedious things, and also are really good at putting things back together the way you found them!