Third Party Hard Drive -- Good Idea?

My iMac hard drive failed. The computer is still under warranty but where I live it will take a month to replace the hard drive. I would find it difficult to go this long without my computer. The service person I spoke with said the only other solution would be to buy my own hard drive and have it installed. Would this be too great a risk of really screwing up my computer?

Apple does not make their own hard drives but purchases them from the various manufacturers such as Western Digital, Seagate and others. You can use any drive you wish as long as it is a compatible type. Even when Apple replaces a drive under warranty they don't always use the same brand as the one that came with it originally. Just make sure you buy it from a reputable source and that the specs match what you have now.

Similar Messages

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    I'll start off by saying that I bought my MBP (Mid 2009, 13 inch) used two years ago, and the seller never thought to mention that he had installed a third party hard drive not long before selling it to me... First problem.
    Anyway, the hard drive crashed. I'm installing a new hard drive, but I'm worried about getting back to having Mountain Lion. I'm confused by the process - Some say I can start by ordering a retail copy of Snow Leopard on Amazon, some say I need the OS disc that originally came with the computer (which obviously I don't have), and some make it seem as if there's a special version of Snow Leopard I need to order from the Apple store?
    Help.

    There is no special version of Snow Leopard (other than what ships with a Mac of that vintage). There is a regular retail version. It is a good idea to have a copy.
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
    After you install the new hard drive boot the computer from the OS disk, and install OS 10.6.
    If you want a more recent OS, sign in to the App Store - use the same ID and password you have used here.
    There you can download Yosemite, it's free.
    I assume your MBP meets the requirements for Yosemite. If it does not, or if you want an earlier OS than 10.10, you should be able to find it at the App store.

  • Third-party hard drive replacement

    I want to upgrade the hard drive in my ca. March 2006 MacBook Pro (2.0 GHz) with something bigger than the original 100 GB Seagate that came in it. I have looked online at the various places that offer directions for doing this yourself and, frankly, don't feel comfortable trying this myself. Because I live in a rural area, I am not close to any Apple Authorized Repair Centers, and so I would like to send it off to have the hard drive replaced. I had good luck in the past with iResQ (they fixed a dead Titanium PowerBook that I used before I got this MBP) and I have seen a few other places online.
    I would appreciate hearing from anyone with first-hand experience with any of these third-party places doing hard drive replacement. Any and all comments (or suggestions - except telling me that I can do it myself) will be appreciated.
    Thanks in advance.

    Quite true--I should have phrased that more along the lines that you risk voiding your warranty if a non- Apple authorized person does the repair. I believe that if an Apple authorized repair person inflicts damage while in the computer, Apple will still honor the warranty because the damage was done by someone that they authorized to do the work. If someone unauthorized does the work, there is always the possibility that some future problem may be blamed on the unauthorized work and won't be covered. And if the unauthorized person causes actual damage, you're on your own, for that damage anyway. Applecare should still cover something totally unrelated.
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  • Itunes and all my movies have disappeared,i can no longer add to library from my external hdd which ive always used and can only add from the laptops own hard drive,any ideas what the issue could be?

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  • NI UMI-7772 and third party Stepper Drives

    Dear all
    Now we want to control a stepper motor with voltage ratings up to 110 V and 0.5 A at 110 V 
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    please advice , what is the suitable third-party stepper drive that can fullfill the above ratings and compatible with the UMI-7772 ??
    i have found only one link for a company called ParkerMotion (check this link : http://www.parkermotion.com/literature/pdf/aries.pdf ) but I'm not sure if it is compatible with the UMI-7772 or not
    waiting your replies and thanks in advance
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    Certified LabVIEW Associated Developer
    InnoVision Systems Founder, RF Test Development Engineer
    www.ivsystems-eg.com

    Almost any standard stepper or servo drive would be compatable with a UMI.  The Parker Aries you have a link to is a servo drive, not a stepper drive.  You motor ratings are unusual for a stepper motor.  What is the brand and model?  I have had good luck with Applied Motion stepper products.  www.applied-motion.com

  • SATA Hard Drive to IDE Hard Drive adapter ????

    Good afternnon.
    Has anybody had experience with this eBay contraption?
    SATA to IDE Adapter (“Convert SATA Hard Drive to IDE Hard Drive”)
    Connect a SATA hard drive to you IDE motherboard with this SATA to IDE Adapter! Turn your SATA hard drive into IDE interface hard drive. It features the JMicro JM20330 chipset and supports 3.5-inch SATA hard drives. It's compliant with SATA specification and supports up to 2TB hard drives!
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    Not that exact one, but others much like that have worked fine.
    And here it looks like the identical one & specifies OSX also...
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  • Can I add a third internal hard drive?

    I have a G4 Quicksilver with the original 80 G drive, and a second internal hard drive of 100 G that I added to the Drive Position 3 slot several years ago.
    I would like to add a third internal hard drive (video files, backup, and all that) using Drive Position 2. I have looked all over the web without a clear answer. Is it possible to add another ATA internal drive, or must I settle for an external drive via Firewire 800?

    Well, I can explain what each option will do for you, but it all depends on what you need and what you are willing to spend.
    The quickest and easiest option is to use the ATA-3 bus. If you are streaming video directly to the drive and need something fast, then I wouldn't recommend this. But if you are using it as storage for video files, then this would be fine. Basically the ATA-3 bus is not high performance and will show through to be a little slower, but for storage this isn't really an issue. It depends on what you are using it for...
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  • I have a 3rd party hard drive with movies on it ,it is connected to my airport extreme. The AE is connected to my tv via ethernet cable. Can I stream my movies to the Tv ?

    I have a 3rd party hard drive with movies on it ,it is connected to my airport extreme. The AE is connected to my tv via ethernet cable. Can I stream my movies to the Tv ?

    Not without a player..
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    There are no smarts in this setup.. not even DLNA. So the TV would have to be an extremely smart one to read raw files on a network drive.. none do that I know of.
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  • Where to add Third Party JDBC Driver in SQL Developer 4.1 EA2

    In SQL Developer 4.0.3 under Tools - Preferences - Database there was an option to add a  Third Party JDBC Driver so we could use the same tool for a PostgresSQL database.  I cannot find in in SQL Developer 4.1.0.18

    I think it happened because I imported settings and connections from a previous installation. 
    I removed the C:\Users\username\appdata\SQL Developer\system4.1.0.18.37\ folder.
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    Thanks! 

  • Third Party DVD Drive to Install Tiger

    Can a third party DVD drive be used to install Tiger? I have an iBook G3 with a CD ROM drive I would like to install Tiger on.

    I can't tell you, as my D2 DVD burnt out quicker than a candle burning at both ends, but of these...
    http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10014
    It'd have to be the one with Firewire at least... just don't know what's happened to LaCie in the last couple of years.
    I'd ask OWC about these...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRBFWU2D115/
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRFWU2D115/
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/EZ%20Quest/K18560/

  • Using Third Party Libraries in J2ME IDEs

    How easy is it to use functions from a third party library in J2ME IDEs? Is it usually just a matter of including the library or is more configuration involved?
    Thanks for your time.

    I had this problem a year ago. I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed yet. Here is what I had to do to create an external library DC for my third-party apis.
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  • 875 hard drives to ide 3

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  • Selling my old mac book pro. I need to delete everything on the hard drive. any ideas ?I do not have the boot disks.

    selling my old mac book pro. I need to delete everything on the hard drive. any ideas ?I do not have the boot disks.

    If the Mac came w/system DVDs, you will need to obtain them prior to selling. 
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  • Usb hard drive good/bad idea?

    greetings,
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  • Third-party optical drives

    I had a Mad Dog CD/DVD burner sitting around, so I decided to throw it into the second bay. It worked at first, but it quickly stopped responding, and any program that tries to access the optical drives freezes up. Is the Mac Pro just not compatible with third-party drives?
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    When you say programs freeze when they try to access the drives do you mean both drives? And do you mean even to use them to read? If it's both drives that does sound like a problem with how the drives are jumpered, although cable select should work. Maybe the problem is with the Mad Dog drive not liking to be set that way.
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