replacement HDD for 2012 iMac 21.5 inch

[Sponge Bob]

Hello,
I'm having trouble finding a replacement 1 or 2 TB internal HDD. Even Apple don't sell them, nor Currys.
Anyone bought one ?
I know they must be available somewhere as I've seen people on YouTube changing them

Also need the double-sided sticky tape to replace the screen,

thanks

 

[harryb2448]

Bob you can buy a hard drive anywhere. WD, Seagate etc are leading brands. There are no such animals as 'Apple' drives. It just depends on the formatting the drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and setting Partition Map to GUID when the drive is installed. if you check out eBay you will find ample sellers of double sided tapes. I trust you are pretty experienced in taking apart computers etc as iMacs can be the very devil. You can get the procedure on ifixit.com.

One thing the standard 1TB hard drive is only a 5400rpm drive which is pretty slow and was a backwards step from the previous model which used a 7200rpm 3 1/2" drive. Larger sizes is SSDs are not cheap alas.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Double-Side...-21-5-A1418-2012-2013-2014-2015-/322144386982


https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Hard+Drive+Replacement/16729

 

[chscag]

In addition to Harry's advice, make sure you understand about the temperature sensor requirement for any hard drive replacement for your iMac. Without doing the replacement temperature sensor, the fan in your iMac will run at full RPM. Check with Mac Sales (www.mac.sales) for a temperature sensor cable for your iMac.

 

[Sponge Bob]

Thanks for your rely. I will check out the links you posted.

 

[Sponge Bob]

This is news to me, but I will check it out, thanks.

 

[Sponge Bob]

Hello again, I'm thinking of replacing the original HDD with the Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD. Would I still need to worry about the in-line thermal sensor ?

 

[harryb2448]

Hold on a sec you Texan bronco!

I would never disagree with all of chscag's knowledge but we are dealing here with a 21.5" 2012 model which came with the 2.5" laptop drives, why they be so s-l-o-w. Only the 27" came with the 3.5" drive. and heat sensor only applies to this 2012 model. Bob in my humble opinion, just whack the Samsung straight in, you brave lad using a Samsung anything.

Removing the screen is a very delicate job mate and many screens are shattered at this stage. Again here is the ifixit tear down on doing the job. Note the 2.5" hard drive only has two SATA cable.es, the power cable and the data cable. Good luck.


https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Hard+Drive+Replacement/16729

 

[harryb2448]

Bob I have researched this further with OWC and can advise just go ahead, no heat sensor. This reply came back from OWC Rebecca concerning the 2012 21.5" iMac:-



Dear Harry,


Thank you for contacting OWC customer support. Imacs since late-2009 have had proprietary thermal sensors in the HDD bays. The factory cabling only works with the factory drive so you must modify the cabling if you change out the drive. However this issue ONLY exists in 3.5" bays (not 2.5"). This means the HDD bay of your iMac, which is 2.5", does not have such an issue. For the HDD bay you do not need the OWC thermal sensor cable which is why our HDD upgrade kits for your model do not include a thermal sensor. If you have any questions feel free to contact me again. Thank you and have a great day!



Sincerely,

Rebecca R
Customer Experience Representative

Macsales.

 

[chscag]

If you decide to repair it yourself (thanks to Harry for finding out about the hard drive) be sure to follow the instructions at ifixit. Your 2012 model has the newer thin body with the display pressed on and sealed. That seal has to be broken and you need to very carefully remove everything in the proper order. The instructions at ifixit says it's a difficult job. Might be best to let Apple do it for you.

 

[Sponge Bob]

If you decide to repair it yourself (thanks to Harry for finding out about the hard drive) be sure to follow the instructions at ifixit. Your 2012 model has the newer thin body with the display pressed on and sealed. That seal has to be broken and you need to very carefully remove everything in the proper order. The instructions at ifixit says it's a difficult job. Might be best to let Apple do it for you.

Thanks mate. I have replaced the HDD with a 1TB HDD. A straight swap. I am struggling to get the OS reloaded using the Internet recovery metho. I power up with the Cmd+option+R and I get the spinning globe.It can see my internet but nothing happens.After about 10 minutes I get error .2002f. I have researched this and I think it's due to something in my router.

Anyone know about this. I might have to try and boot from a USB stick, but then need to find someone with another Mac.

 

[harryb2448]

Bob do you have an Apple ID, not your user password, which is essential to download from the App Store?

For Recovery try Command + R and see how you go to access Utilities, which gives you the option of formatting the drive Mac OS Extended (Journalled). Had you completed this formatting step on the new drive as they usually come formatted for Windows? Then back to the Utilities window and proceed with reinstall via Recovery. It is a slow old process, best left running overnight:-


https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201314

 

[Sponge Bob]

Bob do you have an Apple ID, not your user password, which is essential to download from the App Store?

For Recovery try Command + R and see how you go to access Utilities, which gives you the option of formatting the drive Mac OS Extended (Journalled). Had you completed this formatting step on the new drive as they usually come formatted for Windows? Then back to the Utilities window and proceed with reinstall via Recovery. It is a slow old process, best left running overnight:-


https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201314

Thanks Harry,

unfortunately starting with Cmd+r and cmd+option+r does the same thing. Just goes straight to the spinning globe problem. I'm not sure if I've understood you properly. I'm not getting a chance to see the Utilities screen.

 

[ferrarr]

Apple requires WPA2 security protocol for your Wi-Fi router. If your router is set up using WEP, you will need to use an ethernet cable to get the Internet Recovery to work.

 

[Sponge Bob]

Apple requires WPA2 security protocol for your Wi-Fi router. If your router is set up using WEP, you will need to use an ethernet cable to get the Internet Recovery to work.

Thanks ferrarr, router language is like Martian to me. I don't understand the 1st thing about it ! My bad. I can confirm that I had the ethernet cable attached. This is the way I always connect to the internet with the imac.

 

[Sponge Bob]

Apple requires WPA2 security protocol for your Wi-Fi router. If your router is set up using WEP, you will need to use an ethernet cable to get the Internet Recovery to work.

update, I believe the ethernet cable is ignored during internet recovery. So I have to fix the router problem. I have altered the router setup, on the WLAN page 'security' I changed 'WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK' to 'WPA2-PSK'. I am testing this but at the moment, I can't even get into internet recovery mode as the iMac can't pair with my keyboard. So I just get the Apple logo and the 'no-go' symbol.

Can someone at least tell me how to pair my keyboard in this situation ? I am on the verge of returning to ta pencil and paper system. cheers

 

[chscag]

Can someone at least tell me how to pair my keyboard in this situation ? I am on the verge of returning to ta pencil and paper system. cheers

In situations like yours... always have a USB wired keyboard handy. Doesn't matter even if it's an old Windows keyboard, it will work but with some key confusion. As to getting your wireless keyboard to pair, keep trying and reboot several times to see if your keyboard shows up.

 

[Sponge Bob]

In situations like yours... always have a USB wired keyboard handy. Doesn't matter even if it's an old Windows keyboard, it will work but with some key confusion. As to getting your wireless keyboard to pair, keep trying and reboot several times to see if your keyboard shows up.

I think I dumped my old stuff after I got the shiny new iMac ! I was sure I wouldn't ever need it again

 

[ferrarr]

One thing I have noticed with the Apple bluetooth keyboards is if you press and hold the keys too early, that is when the key presses are not recognized by the Mac. I usually wait until the "gong" sound has started, and then attempt to press and hold the key combination.

 

[Sponge Bob]

One thing I have noticed with the Apple bluetooth keyboards is if you press and hold the keys too early, that is when the key presses are not recognized by the Mac. I usually wait until the "gong" sound has started, and then attempt to press and hold the key combination.

Yes the bluetooth keyboard is temperamental specially when trying to synch with the mac doing a cmd+option+r and powering on.