Swapping over SATA drive - once done just connect external back up HD ?

[vn3801]

Hi all,

I have a Late 2009 27" iMac which I have discovered has a SATA HD Seagate dated 11/2012 which was running silently. Either the GPU or Screen died (according to Apple Care phone support) giving yellow vertical lines.

I replaced it with a Mid 2010 11.3 27" Imac and the Samsung SATA HD in it is grumbling away and has become a distraction. From what I've read its fairly normal for them.

I wish to take the newer HD from the older machine and install it into the newer machine.

1) will this HD work in this situation? will it need formatting? (I suspect not! as it came for another iMac)

2) Once physically install is done and I correct to complete installation by holding Command R during start up and installing my external Back Up HD via USB to re-insall OS and all contained within ?

Any advice appreciate to help this novice achieve and improvement to this out of date beast!!!!

 

[Fishrrman]

I wouldn't do it.
Put up with the noise.

Take the old drive and put it into an external USB3 enclosure, and connect it that way.

Trying to do a drive swap may create more problems for you than it solves...

 

[vn3801]

Ok I have swapped them over before reading the above post.

All is well except the Thermal Sensor Cable Connector input between the two HD's is different. Samsung boxed 4 pin and the now installed Seagate inline 4 pins.

When turned on the HD fan was running flat out and is now controlled via "Macs Fan Control". I took note of max rpm with Safari on and played a full screen video for 20 mins and noted the max fan speeds for future reference (HD only 1500) in room temp of 22Deg C.

I read that a LCD screen temp sensor can be salvaged from 2009 machine and plugged in to the board's female slot and the other secured (glue or tape) to the HD. I will do this shortly and post results.

-- I note I read that the Seagate's inline 4 pins is nothing to do with temp and is something to do with adjusting read speed and not to plug in a temp cable there however the machine I took it from did actually have it connected to the board's temp female slot) and allowed auto fan control---refer last post https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3860372?answerId=18092149022#18092149022

 

[hobowankenobi]

Macs Fan Control works great, and even lets you set fan speeds the way you like...or leave it on auto and use the default settings. The hardware fix is nice, but I prefer seeing (and adjusting) fans with the software. Apple's default settings seem to prioritize low speed/low noise over cooling.

Also nice if you run bootcamp, as you can tweak the fans while booted to Win. Very useful.

BTW...I would have bought a new SSD. Next time.

 

[vn3801]

Went ahead and used the old machines Thermal Sensor Cable with the inline 4 pin type and plugged into Seagate HD and board and it is working, phew!!!

interesting to note from the above post re Apple's default settings for fab speed

 

[hobowankenobi]

Went ahead and used the old machines Thermal Sensor Cable with the inline 4 pin type and plugged into Seagate HD and board and it is working, phew!!!

interesting to note from the above post re Apple's default settings for fab speed

Nice to have the hardware fix.

Once in a great while the Macs Fan Control does not load or start, and fans can kick up to full speed. Very rare, but an annoyance, especially for the non-tech users that have long forgotten about the fan control software.

You can still use the software without changing anything to monitor all hardware temps, which is pretty nice for the curious, or for folks that are pushing machines hard (gaming, CAD, 3D anything...etc.)

I like to have fans ramp up sooner and run at a medium speed for example, rather than the default that seems to ramp up late (machine is hot), go to full speed (loud), and finally cool the machine down, ramp back down....and start the whole cycle over again.

Even worse on the bootcamp side: I do some gaming in Win 7, and the iMac gets hot, and fans do nothing...sit on idle speed. With MFC, I keep the temps (and fan speeds) moderate. Would be afraid of long-term heat damage without it.