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How do I prove my iMac HDD is about to die to a Genius?

GimmeSlack12

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 29, 2005
5,406
14
San Francisco
So my new iMac's HDD is getting temperamental and 2 or 3 times now my I will get beachballed as my HDD begins clicking (a double click every 5 seconds consistently). A restart usually fixes this, but I know that this HDD will die a premature death. The only thing is that it doesn't always happen. Do you think I'll need to prove this to a Genius or they'll take my word for it? I've run diagnostics on the drive and it comes back OK! But I've heard this click noise before and don't trust Disk Utilities prognosis. I've backed up important stuff and am prepared for the drive to kick the bucket, even though I don't expect that to happen necessarily tomorrow but better to be prepared.

I only ask you guys, cause dragging a 24" iMac downtown is not my favorite thing to do.
 
Well, Genius's usually are pretty straight forward. there job is to keep the customer happy as cheaply as possible. i don't think you could convince them to replace it unless it is diagnostically failing. I would try booting off the disk and Repairing it. Usually dyeing drives will refuse to repiar due to damage to the directory. If it fails during a Repair, then you can use that to get a new drive. Also, use Disk Warrior. That can fix a dying drive.
 
you could bring it to them and see if they could run diagnostics on it overnight to see if the issue replicates?
 
bring it to them, open a guest account for them to play around in while you watch and wait till...it happens.

What hard drive do you have, most imacs use the Western Digital Drives, I'm the only person I know of who has a Seagate, and mine gets hot, and is somewhat noisy, i just wanna bring it in just in case, I ask everybody, they all say WD, I even check the HD's in the imacs in the stores, and more than one store too!!
 
Forgot I even started this thread.... anyway

Don't know what HDD it is, all I know is the problem is quite random so the idea of taking 'er in and waiting for it to happen could take a while. At this point I'm also considering opening it up and installing a 7200 500gigger but realize this will still cost me (aside from possibly voiding my warranty). I'll keep things backed up and when the problem becomes more persistent I'll send it in. I have gradient issues (very slight) on the iMac too and figure I could get both handled at the same time. That'd be cool. Thanks for the input guys.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
Forgot I even started this thread.... anyway

Don't know what HDD it is, all I know is the problem is quite random so the idea of taking 'er in and waiting for it to happen could take a while. At this point I'm also considering opening it up and installing a 7200 500gigger but realize this will still cost me (aside from possibly voiding my warranty). I'll keep things backed up and when the problem becomes more persistent I'll send it in. I have gradient issues (very slight) on the iMac too and figure I could get both handled at the same time. That'd be cool. Thanks for the input guys.
Click to expand...

Wow.

Just go to system profiler, then to Serial ATA, then whats the model name?
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
"Wow" what?
It's been a few days with no replies. Anyway, is there a difference regarding the HDD? I'll look tonight.
Click to expand...

Oh, that explains it

Yes, there are different HD's in the world with pros and cons, Seagate's are extremely fast, the WD's apple equips in their imacs are not as fast unless you got a 750GB, just check.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
Hitachi HDT725032VLA360
What do I win?
Click to expand...

Western Digital's are what apple usually puts in, basically all. Seagates are second more common, and are the fastest, and pricey. And I think the Hitachi drive is just a filler :p. But the hitachi drive's apple includes are as fast as the Seagate's, but cheaper, seagate's are just more expensive cuz of the name i guess. western digital has the slowest drive and cheapest, but it also depends on the size. So now, you have a fast drive, but is it a little loud? (hum, not tuck or anything, the hum of it) and how big?
 
bluedoggiant said:
Western Digital's are what apple usually puts in, basically all. Seagates are second more common, and are the fastest, and pricey. And I think the Hitachi drive is just a filler :p. But the hitachi drive's apple includes are as fast as the Seagate's, but cheaper, seagate's are just more expensive cuz of the name i guess. western digital has the slowest drive and cheapest, but it also depends on the size. So now, you have a fast drive, but is it a little loud? (hum, not tuck or anything, the hum of it) and how big?
Click to expand...

Its a 320gigger and loud? Not loud either, but that is a very subjective comment.
 
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