Do I even have a hard drive??

[westikle]

Is there a way to tell if an iMac (mid 2011) has a hard drive without taking it apart? I bought some iMacs at a local community college auction. While I know they rip the HDDs out of PCs, I wouldn't think they would take the time and effort to take the hard drive out of an iMac and then piece the whole thing back together. I've made an El Capitan installer out of a flash drive, but when I'm prompted to choose the install disk, the only one available is the flash drive. I'm hoping the original hard drive has just been wiped and now can't be seen. Is there any way to find out?

Side note, I'm using a regular keyboard so I can't use any key commands when I boot that involve the command key.

Thanks
Wes

 

[CoastalOR]

Run Disk Utility to see the internal disk and format the internal drive for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before selecting the OS Install with the installer. If Disk Utility can not see the internal disk then that will be a problem that will require using an external disk until a internal disk can be replaced/installed.

 

[westikle]

While I can't do that at the moment (at work) i'll just ask, do I have the option to go to utilities? I forgot to mention when I boot without the installer I get the folder with a question mark.

 

[BrettApple]

Yup. Use disk utility from the utilities menu once the installer is booted up.

Also, you can use boot keys from a generic PC keyboard. Option is Alt and the Command key is the Windows logo, or the "super" key.

 

[westikle]

thanks, i'll give it a try when I get home and report back

 

[westikle]

Thanks guys, they all have 1TB drives! Was expecting 500GB.

 

[maflynn]

The system information app will also tell you.
Apple Menu->About this Mac->System Report

 

[Serban]

nice, good for you man

 

[Sirmausalot]

Is there a way to tell if an iMac (mid 2011) has a hard drive without taking it apart? I bought some iMacs at a local community college auction. While I know they rip the HDDs out of PCs, I wouldn't think they would take the time and effort to take the hard drive out of an iMac and then piece the whole thing back together. I've made an El Capitan installer out of a flash drive, but when I'm prompted to choose the install disk, the only one available is the flash drive. I'm hoping the original hard drive has just been wiped and now can't be seen. Is there any way to find out?

Side note, I'm using a regular keyboard so I can't use any key commands when I boot that involve the command key.

Thanks
Wes

But what you really, really want to do is take those HDD out and put in an SSD. But since that's unlikely, you may want to run from an external SSD for max performance.