[mattmarshall]

hey all..

my parents' 10 gig drive on their summer 2000 imac is full.....any tips on how to install a new one? if possible, i'd like to do it myself, and save money.

thanks

- matt

[dws]

It's actually pretty easy...

First, get a hard drive that you know will work in that iMac (other options are possible, but this is the easiest route).

Once you have the machine open (face down), remove the metal mesh (6 screws, if I remember correctly). Unplug the hard drive and CDROM cables. The hard drive is encased, along with the CDROM drive, in a heavy metal bracket; which is easily removed (though one of the 4 screws is darned difficult to reach!). Take out the CDROM drive (and set aside). Take out and replace the hard drive. Put the CDROM back into the bracket. Screw the bracket back on. Plug the hard drive and CDROM cables back in. Replace the mesh. Replace the back.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't do this yourself.

ps
I did this one time with a cat in attendance; who thought that all the screws (so carefully) lined up on the floor were a great toy. You might want to not have a cat present! Some of the screws are pretty hard to find after having been batted around!!!

[macaddict0001]

just get a piece of tape to lay the screw's on.

[andersbk]

or you could buy an external harddrive

[Jens Peter]

I've been thinking about replacing my 40Gigs disc (iMac G3/600) with a new and a faster disc. Then I would use my original 40Gb disc in an external enclosure.
I haven't made the replacement yet, because I don't know if it will be worth the operation, and I could save a lot of work by just putting a new disc into the external enclosure.

But thats just my thoughts.

Jens Peter

[andersbk]

Yes, an external enclosure is a very good and less expencive option.

Your parents probably don't need that much harddrivesapce, so putting your 40gig in an external case for your parents, and getting a new and bigger disk for yourself sounds like a good idea

[storer]

summer 200? i didn't know there were iMacs back then!

[Parky]

An external drive is the best option really.

Not only is it easier, it also provides a backup solution.

No need to reinstall all your software / OS, etc.

Ian

[andersbk]

But Jens Petter, what's the largest HD you can fit in your G3 iMac?

is it a 3.5" or 2.5" disk in there?

Because if you can only fit an 80gig 2.5" disc in there, then it may be smarter to buy a 160gig external disc or something, because a 160gig Lacie external disc is the same price as a 80gig 2.5" disc.

Also the external disc is faster, 80gig 2.5" discs are stuck at 5400RPM

[andersbk]

summer 200? i didn't know there were iMacs back then!

first iMac came out in 1998

[storer]

Originally posted by andersbk:
first iMac came out in 1998

i know, but in the subjec title, it says 200

[andersbk]

yeah, i realized.. sorry dude

[storer]

Originally posted by andersbk:
yeah, i realized.. sorry dude

i'll get over it, lol. Sorry to orignal poster for getting off track.

[Krusty]

I'd recommend the following:
Put the drive inside your mac and use the old one as an external.

You can use any standard ATA 66/ 100/133 3.5 inch (full size, for desktops) drive. DO NOT get a drive larger than 120gb .. old iMacs do not support sizes over 137gb and you could have serious problems if you try to write beyond that limit. DO NOT get one of the newer serial ATA drives (like found in Apple's G5s) they are not pin compatible with ATA.

I recommend going ahead and putting it internal because:
The original drive is old now and is much more likely to fail in the next year or two than a new drive would.
Firewire ports on older iMacs have been known to be a bit wonky sometimes .. if they go, then your larger newer drive will be "stranded" -- forcing you to put it internal anyway if you wanted to use it.
A new, single platter 7200rpm drive will run cooler and quieter than the old 5400rpm drive you have now.
You will notice a nice speed bump as the newer, faster internal drive will be on the ATA bus rather than on the firewire bus. I can get 60mb + file transfers on occasion which compares the 50mb (theoretical) and ~35mb actual limit of a firewire drive.
If you ever move the computer or take it with you somewhere temporarily, its nice to have all your files in one spot.

Here's what I did when I bought an 80gb 7200rpm Seagate to replace the stock 20gig drive in my iMac DV 450:
Bought a firewire case.
Put the new drive in the case.
Used Carbon Copy cloner to make an exact copy of my internal to the external
Verified that I could boot from it, etc and that everything worked normally.
THEN, traded out the drives. Since the new drive was an exact copy of the old, it booted up immediately and everything was exactly as it was before (just faster and with more room).
Put the older, smaller drive in the external and used it for backups rather than vice versa. I actually made two partitions on my new drive: One 20gig and one about 55gig. so that my old internal would be big enough to back up my entire system/apps/User stuff. The 55gig portion was used for large media files etc.

Best of luck, there are a couple of step-by-step guides (with images) that will show you how to do this.

[AliP]

Like Jens i have a G3 600 iMac that i want to replace the HD prior to passing it to my sister as ive ordered a G5 iMac. I've been looking around and found and found a Barracuda 7200.7 40GB UDMA100 for £35. Will this fit in the G3, does it come with instructions or is there somewhere i can get detailed (with pictures) instructions and has anyone else fitted one of these in a G3.
Thanks in advance.
KRO
Ali P

[Krusty]

Originally posted by AliP:
Like Jens i have a G3 600 iMac that i want to replace the HD prior to passing it to my sister as ive ordered a G5 iMac. I've been looking around and found and found a Barracuda 7200.7 40GB UDMA100 for £35. Will this fit in the G3, does it come with instructions or is there somewhere i can get detailed (with pictures) instructions and has anyone else fitted one of these in a G3.
Thanks in advance.
KRO
Ali P

Yes, that will work just fine ... I have the 7200.7 80gb version in my G3 450. Instructions can be found a couple of places including Here

[Jens Peter]

Originally posted by Krusty:
I'd recommend the following:
Put the drive inside your mac and use the old one as an external.
...

Thanks forr the replys...

I think that's going to be my solution too. Then I can install Panther on the new disc
Still runing Jaguar...

just got to find a good disc and firewire enclosure then.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by storer:
i know, but in the subjec title, it says 200

That's for you Aussies.
Are you not 1800 years behind

-t