Unable to see new HDD in disk utility (but I can see old drive when I put it back)

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I have been looking through the forum and I have come up stumped on the following problem I am having.

I have what I believe is a 2011 iMAC (EMC 2308 is printed on the bottom of the stand). I recently received the S.M.A.R.T status that drive was failing and bought the exact same drive. I followed the iFixit instruction for swapping it out (taking precautions for static) and created a SD card with the Yosemite installer. After the HD install I was able to get the SD card to load the installer and ran Disk Utility to format the new drive but it wouldn't show up in the list of drives. I thought the cable may have gone bad so I put the old drive back in and booted to the installer SD card and that drive does show up (w/ it's failing status). The only thing I can think is that the drive is bad, but that doesn't seem likely. Are there any other thoughts?
 
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Check the back of the new drive to see if there are little jumpers in and copy the setup off the original HD. See if that helps. Also make sure you insert the ide cable correctly and power cable also some people forget. Does the new hd drive sound like it spins and are there any led lights flashing on the circuit board. alternatve formatter GD Partition via Linux DVD could show if the drive working or not.
 
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There were no jumpers in the back of the drive for this particular model. It did have pins to plug in the thermal sensor. I thought I was making my life easier by buying the exact same hard drive for replacement (the upgraded 2 TB model). I double checked that the cables were seated correctly. In fact, I thought the cable might be bad and the cause of the issue and that is why I plugged the old drive back in to confirm the cables were working. In terms of sound I haven't powered it on while disassembled, but I have heard a few drive noises I think. I was thinking the same thing regarding linux and created a bootable Ubuntu, but it had a hard time displaying correctly and I ran out of time to fiddle with that, but that is a good option to consider. I am wondering if I can install a SSD in this model as a last resort work around (leaving the dead drive where it is). Thoughts?
 

chscag

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If you indeed have a 2011 iMac, the hard drive must be replaced with an exact proprietary model supplied by Apple. As far as I know and am aware, only two model hard drives were used in the 2011 iMacs and both are proprietary: Seagate and Western Digital. These drives have a special heat sensor. If you use a drive different from what Apple has supplied, it will cause the hard drive fan to run full speed and that will be very noisy.

There are work arounds including special software to overcome what I stated above. I'll leave it up to you to do the homework on this. There are lots of articles that you can find on the web and also at the Mac Sales site. Other World Computing (OWC) - Performance Upgrades For Your Mac
 
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Thanks @chscag for your reply. Since the machine doesn't boot I was having to go off of memory--it looks like it is probably this model: Apple iMac "Core 2 Duo" 3.06 21.5-Inch (Late 2009)

I have searched the internet quite extensively and I am aware of the fan issue, but in this instance I can't even get Disk Utility to recognize a disk exists. I bought the same exact model hard drive from what I took out hoping to avoid any issues. I am wondering if Apple had custom firmware on the drive that is making this new drive unrecognized. When I get home I will try to boot to linux and use their tools to see if the drive shows up there, but either way if I can't see it in disk utility I am not sure what good that will do for me.

Do you know if I can switch to a SDD in this 2009 model instead of HDD?
 

pigoo3

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Since the machine doesn't boot I was having to go off of memory--it looks like it is probably this model: Apple iMac "Core 2 Duo" 3.06 21.5-Inch (Late 2009)

I am wondering if Apple had custom firmware on the drive that is making this new drive unrecognized.

The Late 2009 iMac's have a somewhat similar issue as 2011 iMac's (you can't just pop a new HD in there without trouble). The 2011 iMac's have the custom firmware issue…Late 2009 iMac's have a temperature sensor issue.

Please give these two articles a read for more info:

How do you upgrade the hard drive in the "Late 2009," "Mid-2010," "Mid-2011" and "Late 2011" (21.5-Inch and 27-Inch) Aluminum iMac models? What type of storage do they support? Is it even possible to upgrade these models? @ EveryMac.com

iMac Hard Drive Upgradeability Expanded! | Other World Computing Blog

Long story short. OWC (macsales.com) sells a special cable that makes things much easier!:)

- Nick
 
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Thanks @pigoo3, I read both articles and my only concern is that when I plugged in the new drive it wasn't that the fan was spinning out of control (I was planning on using the HDD Fan Control app to solve for that) but hat it wasn't showing up at all. Do you know if the OWC cable will help resolve that specific issue or just the heat sensor issue?
 

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