2011 27in IMac 1TB bad sectors

[PapaGino]

Hi everyone,
So a few days ago bought a 2011 27in IMac I7 2600 off a buddy of mine that his work threw out. I installed OS Sierra and it works fine as if nothing is wrong. Disk Utility reports no issues (never trusted Disk Utility) so I downloaded DriveDX and it reported that over 90 sectors are bad. I also had 8.1 Pro installed on boot camp and downloaded HWINFO64 which reported the same issues as DriveDX. The drive is a Seagate 7200.12, I know that the 7200.11 had major firmware issues but I believe this is different then whats going on with my 7200.12. In the past at my work we had several seagate 7200.ES (enterprise storage) drives that are based on the 7200.10, and many of the 7200.ES had sector issues that rendered them useless and I was able to fix them with seatools repairing the sectors in both the windows software and bootable seatools. How ever on the iMac bootable seatools will not work since you can't move the mouse and the keyboard won't respond. I did download the seatools that runs on 8.1 and haven't had time to let it run a "long repair" yet, I'm a little nervous leaving the iMac on while I'm at work all day just to come home to a completely failed drive. I downloaded the firmware update and it gives me an error on reboot saying HDD model matched firmware not matched so I'm assuming apple uses their own special firmware much like how Dell does on their Seagate Drives. So far it seams like theres nothing I can do but replace the drive. I heard that there was a apple repair program for 1Tb disks in iMacs but that program has ended. I do plain in the future to swap the drive anyway with a 500GB 850 EVO or 1Tb Firecuda. The mac runs as if nothing is wrong on both windows and OS X, but i assume that won't last for too much longer.

Any help will be appreciated

 

[keysofanxiety]

Yep, just replace the drive. If you install an OS onto a drive with 90+ failed sectors, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[PapaGino]

Yep, just replace the drive. If you install an OS onto a drive with 90+ failed sectors, you're gonna have a bad time.

True True, I guess we know why his work threw it out then. XD

 

[PapaGino]

Just noticed that the hard drive in the iMac is the ST31000528AS with revision AP63, meaning that it has the newer version of the ST31000528AS. The ones Apple replaced where the ST31000528AS revision AP24 or AP25. I just love how the replacement suffered the same fate as the original drive (way to go Seagate). The power on hours for the replacement is only 2.59 years. I found a Dell at work the other day running Xp it reported that the 36Gb HGST Xp was running on has been powered on for 13.1 years (and counting). I told a co worker that and he told me that that machine has been running since it was put to work. Wow

 

[tubeexperience]

Stop fooling around and replace the drive.

I recommend the Crucial MX300.

 

[Richdmoore]

Get the iMac hdd sensor mod from owc before replacing the hard drive, to prevent the fans from running at full speed.

 

[PapaGino]

Get the iMac hdd sensor mod from owc before replacing the hard drive, to prevent the fans from running at full speed.

So far the fans haven't maxed out. I been monitoring the the temps a lot form Stats the only thing that concerns me so far is the AMDs temp which ill prob repaste since that runs about 10 to 20c hotter then the CPU. Is there really any benefit to the HDD sensor mod other then monitoring its temps as well.

As far as HDD upgrade I'm prob just going to slam in the 950 Evo when they make the regular 2.5in model. I only used 850 Evos in the past and they never let me down along with HGST 7k 1000 HDDs. My co worker has a 2011 17in with dual 850 1tb in a raid 0. I have an 850 Evo in my 09 17in runs great (upgrading the logic board to a 2010 soon). I never heard anything good coming from Crucial SSDs nothing but failures in my experience. The MX300 is crazy slow compared to the 850 EVO, if I'm slamming in a SSD I'm putting in a dang good one not something pathetic.

 

[Richdmoore]

So far the fans haven't maxed out. I been monitoring the the temps a lot form Stats the only thing that concerns me so far is the AMDs temp which ill prob repaste since that runs about 10 to 20c hotter then the CPU. Is there really any benefit to the HDD sensor mod other then monitoring its temps as well.

You currently have the Original OEM HDD in the computer, correct? In that case, the hard drive fan cooling system will work properly. Once you pull the failing hard drive and replace it with another HDD or SSD, you will have the runaway fan issue:

Here is an article/excerpt from the OWC blog that discusses it in more detail:

http://blog.macsales.com/23825-owc-...all-2011-imac-and-27-2012-current-imac-models

The Problem: Custom Drive Firmware
With the introduction of the 2011 iMac, Apple factory drives contained custom firmware that communicates thermal data to the System Management Controller (SMC). Standard, retail replacement drives do not contain that firmware, and Apple does not make it available to third-party manufacturers. Without proper communication, the SMC is unable to monitor hard drive temperature to regulate iMac fan speed. As a failsafe, the blower fans run at full speed and the Apple Hardware Test will report a failure. Despite various ‘hacks’ and workarounds (one that simply disables SMC monitoring, which can potentially lead to hard drive or system damage) the best solution had been to skip the upgrade and settle for Apple’s factory drive. For more information on this topic, visit the OWC Blog.

The Proven Solution: OWC Hard Drive DIY Kit w/Thermal sensor module
The OWC Hard Drive DIY Kit provides a custom engineered digital module with a thermal sensor which installs in-line between the new drive of the customer’s choice and the existing Apple factory cabling. The thermal module is programmed to communicate drive temperature data to the SMC in a similar manner as the original, factory installed drive. Now all 2011 iMac 21.5″ and 27″ owners, and all 27″ 2012 iMac owners can:

• Install any standard 3.5″ Serial ATA hard drive with capacities up to 6.0TB
• Retain proper cooling via SMC bay monitoring and fan speed management of the hard drive bay per Apple factory settings
• Pass Apple diagnostic testing

“The Hard Drive DIY Kits for 2011 and later iMac models represent OWC’s steadfast commitment to the DIY upgrader/servicer,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “Our kits represent the only complete, proven solution for obtaining higher storage/backup capacity while retaining proper system operation.”