Whether you’ve filled your hard drive, or it’s just plain dead, swapping out the hard
drive in your iMac is not as difficult as you might imagine.
And while the lack of obvious screws might make it seem impossible to do yourself, It’s
actually not that tough.
Hi, I’m mj with iFixit, and today I’m going to show you how to replace the hard
drive in an aluminum Intel iMac.
I’m just going to give you an overview of the process, so when you’re performing your
repair, as always, make sure you follow the step-by-step instructions in the repair guide
on our site.
Also, the instructions will be different for each version of iMac, so make sure to use
the correct repair guide for your iMac by entering it’s EMC number on our site.
The EMC number is printed on the base of the iMac, but If you can’t find yours, head
to the ID your Mac page on our site.
A quick word of warning, if you have a late 2009 or later iMac.
You are going to need to buy the same brand of hard drive that you computer initially
shiped with.
Apple switched to a new kind of hard drive cable that uses the hard drives internal temperatures
sensors.
So before you go buy that new hard drive head to about this mac and then the serial ATA
section and see what kind of hard drive you currently have.
The machine I’m repairing is EMC number 2210, and I’m going to upgrade its original
250 GB hard drive for a much larger 2 terabyte hard drive.
Here’s what I’ll need for this repair: a spudger,
a set of heavy-duty suction cups, a Phillips #1 Screwdriver,
a T6 Torx Screwdriver, a T8 Torx Screwdriver
and of course, your new hard drive.
Rather than buying each driver individually, I’d opt for something like our 54 piece
bit driver kit, that way you’ve got almost all the bits you’d ever need and you shouldn’t
need to order another screwdriver again.
Also, you’ll want to have some screen cleaner and a soft cloth handy.
All of these things are available at iFixit.com.
Now that I've got all of my parts and tools laid out, I can get started.
Before I do anything at all, I’m going to lay my iMac backside-down, and make sure there’s
nothing on my work surface that will scratch the aluminum on the back.
Removing the glass is my favorite part, but before I can do that I’ve got to remove
the RAM access door.
The screw won’t come out of the door, so once it’s loosened, just lift the whole
door off.
Now, using my suction cups, I can lift the glass off the iMac.
I don’t know why I enjoy this part so much, but hopefully you do, too.
You just press them on there, flip the handles over, and once they’re both sealed, lift
the glass directly upwards.
The glass is held on by magnates, so it should come off fairly easily.
With the glass removed, we can see all of the screws holding the bezel in place.
I’ll switch to my 18 Torx bit and remove all of those screws.
Now that all of the screws are removed, I’m going to life the bezel off of the computer,
starting at the top and working my way towards the bottom.
Once the bezel is free you’ll notice that the it’s still attached to the iMac by the
microphone cable, so I’ll disconnect that so I can set the bezel aside.
The next big step is to remove the LCD, and to do that I’ll need to disconnect a couple
of cables and remove a few more screws.
Once everything is disconnected and the screws are removed, I’m going to carefully lift
the LCD from the left side, and rotate it towards the right side.
Again, it’s still attached to the iMac by its inverter cables, so I’ll have to disconnect
those first.
This is probably the trickiest part because you’ve got to support the LCD while disconnecting
the cables.
You could use something to keep it propped open, or you could ask a friend to hold the
LCD for you for a second while you disconnect those cables.
The LCD is free, so I’m going to set it aside.
Be very careful where you put your LCD.
You don’t want it getting dinged or scratched or dusty.
Before I remove the hard drive I’ll disconnect its thermal sensor.
To remove the hard drive, you’ll have to push down on its bracket pretty hard, so don’t
let that surprise you.
Once it’s free, I’m going to disconnect the SATA power cable with my spudger.
The SATA data cable you can just disconnect with your fingers.
Finally, the last thing I’ve got to do is remove everything from the old hard drive
that is going to be transferred to the new hard drive-- the EMI foam, thermal sensor
and the bracket.
Once all of those bits are removed, I’ll attach them to my new 2 TB drive and reassemble
my iMac.
I’ve got a couple of pointers on reassembly.
Don’t forget to clean the LCD and glass thoroughly before you reinstall them; you
don’t want to put all of those screws back in only to find that there are fingerprints
all over the inside of the glass panel.
Also, before you put the bezel back on, don’t forget to reconnect the microphone cable.
It’s easy to rush through the reassembly and forget that one.
And of course with any new hard drive you will need to format it before use.
We’ve got a great OS X install guide to get you up and running on our site.
Of course, you can find the parts and tools you'll need for this and many other repairs
at iFixit.com.
And if you run into problems during your repairs, there are lots of solutions in the iMac repair
guide on our site.
Thanks for watching, and happy repairing!