iMac memory

[pm-r]

I had a 2011 21.5" iMac that needed a new hard drive under warranty. Apple replaced the drive for free and you could not even tell that the screen had been removed and put back on.

I guess you were lucky that your hard drive went kaput while it was on warranty, I was not so lucky with my 2007 24" iMac and did the hard drive replacement myself, (WD Black 7200 1GB), several years ago now, and a very good, clean display.

Luckily, my mid-2011 27" also escaped the later iMac's sticky tape sealing method so the glass removal process will be fairly familiar to me for when I replaceI its hard drive and probably add a second drive in behind the optical drive which one can do with this mid-2011 model.

A bit more extra work but it might be worth it, but I'm not sure if both drives will be SSDs or not. Anyway, it will be a relief not to have to deal with stupid tape Apple started using with the later iMac models.



- Patrick
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[hoody]

usagora, thanks for the warning. I'll leave it lying down with clamps and strong tape around the edges. If that happened to mine it would be the end altogether, I really can't afford that sort of money. Also before I refit the screen I'll give the surfaces a good clean with alcohol... might even have some myself for a bit of courage. ;D

 

[hoody]

Slydude, time to start saving up again, either that or hit zip pay.

 

[hoody]

1. There are some basic directions on the Carbon Copy Cloner site here. Personally, I think the best way to test whether the clone finished properly is to try booting from the clone. Hold down the Option key while the Mac is booting. You should be presented with a screen showing any drives your Mac can boot from. Select your external drive and hit enter to try and boot from it.

2. If you are sure the clone is working there is less need for making an OS installer. I personally like to keep one on hand for emergencies and situations where I might want a completely clean install.

3. I think the directions linked to above will get you started. If not post back and I'll try to answer any questions.

BTW I noticed that you partitioned the backup drive with a thought toward putting the Time Machine backup and bootable CCC clone on the same drive. I used to do something similar a few years ago and stopped doing so: Someone pointed out to me that if the Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner backups were on the same drive a drive failure could ruin both backups.

I did that and it worked but the only drive that came up was the mac HD. The WD drive has been working through the usb and I'm now doing a new back up to that. I don't think I could have done anything wrong because that's so simple. I even watched a video of someone doing it and it was exactly the same. I'll try again when it's finished and get back.

 

[hoody]

Right, I've about had enough of this! I've been at it since my last post, 9.35am Ozzie time it's now 3.10pm and I've got nowhere. I thought that I might have done something wrong with CCC so I did it again. I also went to the app store and got the Mojave OS downloaded, but it went where, I don't know. It certainly didn't go to the usb3 drive that I'd formatted correctly.
But back to the original problem. I've re done the CCC on to the WD backup and according to 'info' it's there, 2.45Gb it says but when I restart holing down the option key, the only choice I get is to boot with the mac hard drive... no sign of any other. I've now got both the new SSD and the 16Gb of ram, but I'm not game to remove the old drive in case I don't get to put the backup on. I have my haircut number 1 but I'm still about to start pulling it out. Please give me some more ideas if you can.

 

[hoody]

Here I am again, 7.35 Ozzie time. I should have realised when I saw 2.45Gb on the backup drive that something was wrong. I knocked off the partitions and left it as one 4Tb drive, re formatted it to Mac OS Extended (journalled) set CCC going again and three hours later, it had loaded 240 something Gb's on. That's more like it I thought... oh no, not that simple. I shut it down and when I started it up again I held down the option key and it started on the original drive. I eventually realised that it's now looking for a wireless keyboard again I've turned off bluetooth and plugged in a usb mouse, no good. I'll leave it now until tomorrow as it usually sorts itself out for some reason overnight.

 

[usagora]

@usagora:

Just read through your thread again and wonder, did you ever contact OWC about the screen falling off after applying their supplied adhesive strips? And if so, what was their response?

No. I didn't want replacements (wouldn't trust them). I'm pretty sure the weight of that screen was slowly pulling up the adhesive because it hadn't had time to set. I'll contact them now though since I'm thinking about it again and suggest they modify their instructions to allow the adhesive to set before using the computer.

EDIT: Just sent an email to OWC support - will let you know what they say

 

[Slydude]

Here I am again, 7.35 Ozzie time. I should have realised when I saw 2.45Gb on the backup drive that something was wrong. I knocked off the partitions and left it as one 4Tb drive, re formatted it to Mac OS Extended (journalled) set CCC going again and three hours later, it had loaded 240 something Gb's on. That's more like it I thought... oh no, not that simple. I shut it down and when I started it up again I held down the option key and it started on the original drive. I eventually realised that it's now looking for a wireless keyboard again I've turned off bluetooth and plugged in a usb mouse, no good. I'll leave it now until tomorrow as it usually sorts itself out for some reason overnight.

Sorry to hear that you are having issues. I've had similar ones once in a while, though not very often, when booting from a clone.

Here are a couple of things that might be worth checking out / thinking about:
1. The timing on when to hold down the Option key can be a bit twitchy. If you hold the Option key down while the chime is happening that seems to not work reliably.

2. Some wireless keyboards seem to not work reliably to get to the boot loading screen. In that case, using a wired USB keyboard seems to work. If you don't have one try plugging the USB keyboard into its charging cable and plugging that into a USB port (assuming that's what it uses to charge). This works with the Apple wireless keyboard, and perhaps others, though it may be best to turn Bluetooth off on the keyboard (if possible).

3. It's possible that clone did not finish properly for one reason or another. I'll have to do some checking to see what might cause the clone to take up more space than the original. Perhaps it is due to the SafetyNet feature.

I assume that when you created the partition on the backup drive it was formatted as HFS+ extended with the GUID partition type.

 

[hoody]

1. I've been holding the option key down as soon as I press the power button, but it only comes up with an icon of the mac hard drive, no backup drive.

2. I don't have a wireless keyboard. I use an apple usb one.

3. I formatted it 'Mac OS extended (journaled). I didn't actually get a choice with the partition type, but when I checked it it was GUID.

This was last night here and I haven't looked at it yet, but I will shortly and hopefully the wired keyboard will now work. I don't have a clue why this happens, but it often does after being left overnight. I'll definitely be back, hopefully to say it's all worked out.
Ps: I've tried turning off the wireless keyboard, even turning off BT altogether. The wireless keyboard doesn't even appear in the system Pref's.

 

[hoody]

As I thought the wired keyboard is now working again but I'm still only getting the mac icon... no external drive which I've renamed disc 1.
Here's a screen shot of the Disk Utility. I can't see anything wrong, but then, that's me.

And the info for the mac HD.

Info for the WD external.

Anything wrong?

 

[chscag]

Pete:

Make sure... from the Finder, Preferences, that you have placed a check in the box that says "External Disks".

Otherwise, I see no reason why your external 4TB drive isn't showing up on your desktop. You have tried another USB cable, right?

Also, you displayed the info from your Macintosh HD and everything there looks okay.

 

[hoody]

I went to pref's > startup disc and checked that the the WD drive was there. I restarted with that drive selected and it just sat doing nothing for 6min's. All I had was an icon like a lightning bolt going round the screen screen saver style. I have changed the cable for a known good one but no difference. If I start with option key pressed it still goes to the mac hard drive and no sign of the WD. Since this morning I've removed the partitions on the WD > reformatted it (I never see a choice for GUID) to Mac OS (journaled), copied on to the WD with CCC... no good. Done it all over again (still no choice for GUID) this time partitioning the drive with 2x2TB partitions and once again copied the drive with CCC.

 

[hoody]

I hope you're all OK over there with the weather and power cuts etc. As for me, I'm still getting nowhere although I've found out that it could be a problem with missing software, either from the computer or the drive. I've tried swapping to other usb sockets with no luck, so here's yet another screen shot, this time of system info:

Anything wrong there?

 

[chscag]

Pete:

I don't see an operating system on that WD Passport drive. Apparently, it does have an EFI boot partition and a Recovery partition but no macOS. There is no way you can boot with that drive, but regardless it should show up on your desktop.

If you have selected to show external drives on your desktop (see my reply #51) it should appear.

 

[hoody]

While you were sleeping I tried disc repair for the third time. After this I shut it down and restarted with the option key held down and there it was. I booted it up from it to make sure. I've fitted the the new SSD and 16GB of ram, glued the screen back on and nothing, zilch, not a bloody thing. I followed the guide from MacSales.com to the letter, but it's as dead as a dodo. Any ideas on that? To say I'm a bit miffed would be a proper understatement.

 

[rachalmers]

While you were sleeping I tried disc repair for the third time. After this I shut it down and restarted with the option key held down and there it was. I booted it up from it to make sure. I've fitted the the new SSD and 16GB of ram, glued the screen back on and nothing, zilch, not a bloody thing. I followed the guide from MacSales.com to the letter, but it's as dead as a dodo. Any ideas on that? To say I'm a bit miffed would be a proper understatement.

Sounds a bit like...
.
RAM not bedded in seats properly.
Screen not connected properly or
A cable left off somewhere.

Am I right in thinking you booted from the SSD when it was external,


Sent from my iPhone using Mac-Forums

 

[hoody]

Thanks for the reply. I don't mind taking it apart again, but wish I'd tested it before I glued it back together, so now I have to get more strips. It think it must be something like the ram not in properly because it's totally dead. I had the external drive connected and no light came up on that either. I'll probably open it up again tomorrow and try to find the problem. I booted from the external drive but that's not an SSD.

 

[hoody]

I've removed the drive and also found that I didn't put the tiny plug in to the power board properly, started up perfectly after that. I've bought a SSD to USB3 cable and have it plugged in to a USB port and the computer is much faster, but I want to clear something up. First, how do I get the computer to see the new drive if I fit it? For some reason it's not recognised if I physically fit it.
Second, I'll put a screen shot up because I checked in 'disc utility' where it says it's not an SSD. I'm pretty sure that Macfixit here in Oz wouldn't catch me but I'd like someone to look at the screenshot and tell me what they think.
As I was saying before, is everyone OK after the storms etc?

 

[MacInWin]

That is looking at the partition, not the drive. BTW, that does NOT say it's not an SSD anywhere, it just says the media is "Generic," which is exactly what I get when I look at the Apple SSD in my MBP that way.

You can see more about the physical drive with About This Mac, System Report, Storage and select each drive in turn.

 

[hoody]

Thanks Jake.
It's there all right. I checked as you said and it's now in the computer and it's flying. What I did was went to CCC and did a clone. When it was finished it asked me if I wanted to make (can't remember the term) it able to be seen by the computer. I did this and it just works brilliantly. In fact, it's better than new, it's flying. Thanks for all the help and advice I've had, not only for this giant leap for Peter kind, but other things too.