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DBursey · Jul 12, 2002, 07:35 AM

My DV/SE's hard drive has failed. I've been advised by a friend to replace it with a 5600 RPM drive (aside: perhaps an 80 Gb Maxtor), as a 7200 RPM drive will generate excess heat which may pose a problem for the fanless iMac. Is this really the case? Has anyone installed a 7200 RPM HD in a fanless iMac? Comments please.

brandnewfatboy · Jul 12, 2002, 08:12 AM

a friend of mine has put an 80Gb 7200 into his iMac

not sure of the iMac nomeclature: his is a grape 400Mhz, slot-loading cd and firewire. sounds a similar kind of generation to yours.

the 7200 drive works fine - handles DV a treat. no problems with the iMac and heat in general

the only concern is if you put a cd in the drive; when you eject it after a few minutes, it comes out roasting hot. a tad worrying, but not crucial

will check more details with him if you do want to go for the 7200 plan

cheers
G
----------------------
Euston Road weather: mediocre at best
Now playing: Ramble on/Page and Plant, live 1998

jedi · Jul 12, 2002, 08:32 AM

Hi ,
iMac`s will "spin" all HD at 5400 rpm`s !
I had to replace mine last year with a "Maxtor 15Gig 7200" it runs 5400 because of the machine architecture.
Heat and size should not be an issue.
Best of luck , any good drive will work . IDE , ATA just check jumber setting with old drive ,but as refference only . [ie: if your iMac came with a Maxtor and you replace with Maxtor jumber settings should be the same---if your iMac came with "Quatum" and you change to Maxtor refer to instructions that came with drive]
jedi

"Wiating for "MacWorld" ??????????

DBursey · Jul 12, 2002, 08:55 AM

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

BNFB, I'd appreciate any futher info on your friend's experience.

Jedi - So you say the iMac will spin the 7200 drive up to only 5400 RPM? Is this a limitation of the iMac's HD controller? Interesting. Is there a means of verifying the actual working RPM once the drive is installed?

More detail - my iMac is a DV/SE 400MHz, slot loading fanless model.

scottiB · Jul 12, 2002, 12:28 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />
iMac`s will "spin" all HD at 5400 rpm`s !
I had to replace mine last year with a "Maxtor 15Gig 7200" it runs 5400 because of the machine architecture.
<hr /></blockquote>Sorry, that's incorrect.

A 7200 RPM drive will spin at 7200; there's nothing in the architecture that will downshift the speed (unless it's a laptop running on battery).

DBursey, I purchased a similar machine (Indigo iMac DV 400) on 9/1/00 and plopped a 7200 rpm IBM 45 GB drive in the same day. I've been using it ever since with no problems whatsoever. The drive is quieter than the stock (quantum, I believe). You'll notice a large improvement in boot times (if you reboot a lot), copying and reading files, and in using virtual memory in 9 or X. To me, a 7200 drive and maxing the RAM are the best improvements (and only, I suppose) for these Macs.

Everybody has his/her preferences (and problems) with various brands (IBM, Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate) , I prefer IBM drives, but recently installed a couple Seagate Barracudas into a friends G4 and was suprised how quiet they were, so that may be a valid choice. I have a couple Maxtor FireWire drives and they've worked quite well, too.

Regarding drive spec nomenclature, while the iMac has an ATA/IDE 66 interface, an ATA 100 or 133 will work fine (the numbers correspond to the theoretical maximum throughput in MB/sec which are never approached in real use). The size limit for the iMac is 137 GB drive, though (an ATA-133 would be needed for larger). You just need a "bare" drive, no "retail kits" where mounting brackets are included (these are for PC towers) and extra cost.

There was a "how-to" on this at imac2day.com, but that domain is gone. Perhaps vmarks can post the link to this since the site was once part of the macnn omniverse.
--------

OT: How're the natives in Ontario feeling about the Leafs off-season (or lack or) action? Perhaps time to be a Wings fan? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

DBursey · Jul 12, 2002, 12:52 PM

Thanks Scott. I think I'm going to give the Maxtor 80Gb 7200 rpm drive a shot. I'll keep an eye on the cpu temperature for the first few days.

As for life in Leafland; this summer has certainly been downer, what with Toronto's inability to attract any big-name free agents and in loosing Cujo to your Red Wings. The week of his announcement had a real funeral-like atmosphere. Of course, like the Dominator before him, Cujo spurned a richer contract offer in order to have a serious shot at the cup. With him between the pipes, I look to the Wings to repeat this coming season.

Maple Leafs management have taken quite a bit of heat for their failure to lure any big names such as Guerin, Holik or Kasperitus to town following the usual ten percent increase in ticket prices. Having been stymied in their attempts to improve the team via the free agency market, management now claims to be determined to acquire a blue-chip center and/or defenceman through the trade route. Time will tell, and in the meantime rabid fans continue to organize a mass-lynching.

Perhaps it IS time to be a Wings fan. The Wings are followed with interest here in Southern Ontario, perhaps more so following the gold medal performances of Shanahan and Stevie Y in Salt Lake last winter.

surfacto · Jul 12, 2002, 12:59 PM

Warning! I would advise against using a 7200 rpm Maxtor drive internally!

I put one in my fanless iMac about 6mo ago and had a major problems. It would not spin up again after sleep. I had to shut down the computer, wait about 10-15 min for it to cool, and then reboot. This was extremely annoying! I ended up buying an external box for the maxtor drive and re-inserting the old 5400 rmp seagate drive that came with the iMac. Now the external Maxtor and the internal Seagate drive work fine. No overheat, no reboot.

My suggestion: get an external firewire 7200 drive or replace with a 5400 internal. Good luck!

CreepDogg · Jul 12, 2002, 01:26 PM

FWIW, I put a 7200rpm 60GB IBM drive in my DV SE 400 about a year ago. Based on processor temps, it actually seems to run a bit cooler than the stock drive. I've had no heat problems, and the drive is obviously faster and more responsive.

Overall, I've heard that there is some risk in instaling 7200rpm drives in the fanless iMacs, but based on responses I've seen in the past, the risk is pretty low, and you'd probably hear many more success stories than problems. I would say just try to get a drive known for good quality and running reasonably cool. I've heard this about the IBM deskstar drives, but I'm sure there are others that are just as good or better. Good luck!

CreepDogg · Jul 12, 2002, 01:28 PM

By the way, I feel for you Leafs fans. We Blackhawks fans have suffered mightily over the past few years. Management seems to want to get rid of anyone and everyone who ever made a contribution to a winning team...

[ 07-12-2002, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: CreepDogg ]

bartman00 · Jul 12, 2002, 01:53 PM

First that comment about spinning a 7200rpm drive at a diffrent rate is just crazy.. where in the name of god did you pull that info out of.. btw.. your wrong

2nd.. I'd hightly sugest replaceing it with a Seagate Baracuda 4.. these things are silent, fast and run cool..

Good luck

Thumannator · Jul 12, 2002, 02:44 PM

I would also recommend the Seagate Barracuda 4. You cannot hear them hardly at all.

CIA · Jul 12, 2002, 05:12 PM

In real world use, how much of a difference is there between 5400 RPM drives and 7200?

[ 07-12-2002, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: CIA ]

vmarks · Jul 12, 2002, 05:31 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by jedi:
Hi ,
iMac`s will "spin" all HD at 5400 rpm`s !
<hr /></blockquote>
Not so- I don't know what is the case in your particular iMac, but even the earliest iMacs will use a 7200rpm drive at 7200rpm- The hardware which controls the speed of the drive is on the hard drive itself, and not controlled by the iMac. The iMacs only ability to control the hard drive rpm is the power management settings which direct the drive to spin completely down, or be spun up and ready for use.
<blockquote>quote:<hr />

Heat and size should not be an issue.

<hr /></blockquote>
Heat and size are absolutely issues to be concerned about.

Go with the 5400rpm drive, it will create less heat. Size, physically is 3.5inch. In terms of storage size, early iMacs needed to have the system on an 8gb or smaller partition at the front of the drive. Newer iMacs like the one in question have no such limitation.

PSST · Jul 12, 2002, 08:21 PM

I have a 40GB IBM deskstar running at 7200RPM. I still want a 40 GB hard drive no matter what. The real issue is having a Hard drive with fast seek times and RPM. At 5400 RPM those drives are way too slow, especially if you go up in size from 13 GB to 60 GB. I don't want to take 3 to 6 HOURS to run Norton on my hard drive if I need to, with disk doctor and speed disk. It's just way too impractical.

I have had this 7200 RPM drive since April and I haven't noticed any problems with heat.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DEFINATELY GIVE A DEFINITE ANSWER ONCE AND FOR ALL ABOUT THE ISSUE WITH HEAT USING A 7200 RPM HARD DRIVE ON AN IMAC. Especially an IMAC DVSE or the DV line?

Please??? People keep asking, and some have good experiences, but other say don't do it. I'm concerned, and if there is an issue, then there needs to be a firm definate answer.

Wouldn't you agree?

Thanks for everthing as always.
-Sabastian

P.S. Gauge Pro says on my machine it's 138 degrees F. Is this OK?

chatam · Jul 13, 2002, 08:03 AM

PSST is absolutely right on this issue.

I did myself a lot of reading before deciding to upgrade my Maxtor 13 Gb 5400 RPM internal HD to a Maxtor 80 Gb 7200 RPM.

I discovered a huge amount of hearsays, metropolitan legends, guru statements and such, but no final answer or guidance.

In the end, I decided to go ahead and so I did about two months ago. I did not notice any practical speed increase in starting up or running programs, I did notice a slight heat increase on the CD's being ejected, but their temperature was quite high also with the original 5400 RPM HD.

So far, not a single itch, I keep my fingers duly crossed.

Chatam
----
iMac DVSE december 1999 - ext. Yamaha CD burner - 2 ext. FireWire drives (80+80 Gb)

chatam · Jul 13, 2002, 08:14 AM

Brief additional note:

HD speed being spinned down from 7200 to 5400 RPM by virtue of computer software is one of the best I've heard; almost at the same level as gyroscopes sticking to their rotational plane only if the latter be at 90 or 180 degrees angle.

Forums are there also for fun.

Chatam <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Jellytussle · Jul 13, 2002, 09:23 AM

Well, Im sitting at my 400DV iMac, with a Seagate Barracuda 7200 drive in, that it's had for about 18 months, with no problem. We routinely fit 7200's (mostly Seagate, some IBM) into slot and tray imacs at work (probably 100+ by now) with no increased rate of return. As a point of interest, Seagate list the Barracuda IV 60GB as having a seek consumption of around 13W, with idle at 8W. I compared this to a 10GB 5400rpm Western Digital drive, similar to Apples OEM fitted drives, which listed a seek of 14W, and idle of 5W. This would seem to be an insignificant difference. As a plus, the new Barracudas are unbelievably quite - you really won't know it's running.

chatam · Jul 13, 2002, 01:21 PM

Good news indeed.
18 months and over 100 installed HD's amount to a reliable record basis.
My sleep shall be smoother tonight.

vmarks · Jul 13, 2002, 02:24 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by chatam:
PSST is absolutely right on this issue.

I did myself a lot of reading before deciding to upgrade my Maxtor 13 Gb 5400 RPM internal HD to a Maxtor 80 Gb 7200 RPM.

I discovered a huge amount of hearsays, metropolitan legends, guru statements and such, but no final answer or guidance.
<hr /></blockquote>Here's the problem.

Apple ships the machines with a 5400rpm drive.

Do they do this for
(1) Heat reasons
(2) financial savings

or both?

It's obviously safest to stick with the decision that Apple made, to install a 5400rpm drive.

If you want to take the risk that a 7200rpm drive won't compromise the system, or be compromised by the additional heat, then that's a risk you take. Many take this risk with good results. Whether or not you'll make the same decision is up to you.

excessive heat prematurely wears out components. Pulling a hot CD out of the slot loading drive (as one user mentioned above) should be a good indication that things are operating hotter than they ought to be.

Sure, there are a lot of satisfied 7200rpm users, but you should know what the risks are, however slight, before making that decision.

Nicko · Jul 13, 2002, 04:55 PM

hi

I put a 40gig western digital 7200rpm drive in my imac rev a (with a fan) about a year ago and it runs great. The temp can get high though, yesterday it was around 25 degrees here and the internal temp of my imac peaked at 67C for a few hours....normal temp is around 35-40C It works fine no worries and it will even keep your coffee warm if you can balence it right <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Ofcourse I might worry if you have a fanless imac....

DBursey · Jul 13, 2002, 06:35 PM

As I write this on his iMac, my brother in law and I finishing the installation of an 80 Gb 7200RPM Maxtor drive in my DV/SE. It took perhaps ten minutes to disassemble, swap drives, and reassemble the iMac - unless of course one does the unthinkable and drop a screw into the machine.

I'm concerned enough about the heat to keep an eye on things for awhile. Perhaps I'll mount the iMac on one of those 'riser' things to help improve air flow underneath the chassis. Maybe even a strategically placed desk fan will provide extra thermal dispersal insurance.

Thankfully, I've kept all my software and data backed up regularly. This was my salvation when the 13 Gb drive died, and it'll keep me safe in the unhappy event that my iMac meets with some further calamity.

Thanks for all the replies. Now to boot up my new drive!

nevets · Jul 14, 2002, 01:45 PM

Hey All,

I've decided to add a new hdd to my Imac DV+ (slot loading - 450 mhz ). The 20 gig is on its way out and I figured now would be a good time to back up and replace the drive before it totally fails. In any event, there was a mention of a webpage that details on how to open up the mac and do the hdd swap. If any one has that url, please post it here. Thanks.

Maritje · Jul 14, 2002, 02:43 PM

Here ya go!

<a href="http://www.macworld.com/2001/10/howto/imac.html" target="_blank">http://www.macworld.com/2001/10/howto/imac.html</a>

X_RuLeZ · Jul 15, 2002, 03:42 AM

The extra heat output from a 7200RPM drive would not be worth worrying about, I can reach into my computer now and touch the hard drive and it is not that hot. If your computer did overheat it would first of all just freeze, it should not cause any permenant damage. If that was to happen you could then remove it again, it's not as if your computer would blow up. If you do decide to go ahead I would recommend the Seagate Barracuda IV as well; they are very quiet.

brandnewfatboy · Jul 15, 2002, 11:22 AM

Yo DB

Fingers crossed with the new drive. hope all holds together and the imac doesn't melt

I did check again with my accomplice who's done the same install - he's found no problems with the drive at all. other than the hot CD issue i noted earlier. (no melting at all!)

together with an extra half a gig of ram, his imac has really perked up: never going to be a powerhouse number cruncher, but extends its lifespan for a minimal outlay.

bought a 120Gb 7200 external fw drive on friday. (as i run a Pismo, external was the only way to go). first impressions are that it is a bit noisy but quick. mind you, as its only job is to hold 100Gb of mp3s and be a jukebox, 7200 is probably overkill.

are 7200s always a bit noisy?

hang loose
G
------------------
Euston Road weather: stunningly tropical. worthy of Barbados. why isn't London weather always like this?
Now playing: Acknowledgement/John Coltrane

DBursey · Jul 15, 2002, 12:07 PM

Hi G,

Since installing the 80Gb 7200RPM Maxtor, I've noticed no significant increase in heat output. <a href="http://www.newertech.com/software/gauges/" target="_blank">Gauge Pro</a> shows an average of 35C (approximately 105F), which is just a tad higher than that of my old configuration.

What I have noticed is a substantial drop in HD noise. This Maxtor drive is *incredibly* quiet! What's interesting is that my brother in law has a slightly older Maxtor 60Gb 7200RPM drive that generates enough noise to wake the dead pixel!

I have no hesitation in recommending this type of upgrade to iMac DV owners. The 80Gb 7200RPM Maxtor drive is fast, quiet and a huge boost in storage capacity from the old 13 Gb 5400 RPM drive that came with the iMac.

seanyepez · Jul 15, 2002, 01:44 PM

I highly recommend you go with a slower drive.

Hard drives get extremely hot. I had a 80-gigabyte IBM DeskStar 120GXP in Peru over the summer, and I decided to remove the FireWire enclosure's fan. At first, the drive was fine. A few days later, the drive literally melted.

I can only imagine that the iMac casing, packed with other heat-generating components, would be worse for drives. My IBM drive used AFC media (pixie dust). I'm not sure whether that was the cause for the drive's faliure, but I'd stay away from AFC drives and keep with 5,400 RPM drives which you are sure you can rely on. If there's one useful thing I've learned from overclocking my PC's to hell, it's that instability doesn't pay for the slight performance increase you get by running something out of its recommended specifications.

PatriCanuck · Jul 16, 2002, 11:38 AM

I'll just mention one factor. replacing the original 5400 with a faster drive will not mean better dv editing times, rendering, etc. so if that's the *prime* reason, don't bother. 5400 rpm is more than enough for DV editing, either FCP, iMovie, Cinestream, etc.

the higher speed of a 7200 rpm drive only becomes a factor if you are using an external FireWire drive, especially without the preferred 911 bridge.

I can't speak for gaming, faster boot times, etc. I *do* know that Apple officially did not recommend 7200 drives because of some instances of heat problems. what also factors in is your elevation. air is thinner, etc.

so if you are only doing this because you are hoping for some huge increase in speed for DV editing, it ain't gonna happen.

howdy from Vancouver, btw. :{)

jedi · Jul 16, 2002, 08:15 PM

Hi DBursey,
It would apear that the information I gave you about your HD was in error, Sorry ! I was going on the information I received when I had "Comp-USA" replace my HD last year. So far I have not had any problems, BUT there does seem to be a "roll-of -the-dice" scenario when it comes to 7200 RPM / HD`s . The following is from "Maxtor-tech support" :

Valued Maxtor Customer,
A 7200 RPM drive will have the potential to perform better than a 5400 RPM drive.
Though, as you mentioned, a imac doesn't have much room for extra fans, and 7200 RPM drives produce lots of extra heat, which can potentially lead to system heat problems. So, if added performance of a 7200 RPM drive is worth the extra risk of heat related failures is your decision, but a 7200RPM will most likely perform better.
Thank You
Maxtor Technical Assistance
1-800-2-MAXTOR
[email protected]
�Customer 07/13/2002 06:18 PM
Hi, Last year, Comp-USA replaced the HD in my iMac with a "Maxtor 15 Gig - ATA 100-7200 RPM " . My question is that when I bought the HD and had it installed I was told that the hard drive "would only opererate at ATA 66 level with a rotation speed of 5400 rpm" . I asked "why not 7200" and the reply was "your iMac doesn`t support ATA100 , just ATA66 so the hard drive will only perform at a speed of 5400, like the original" . Is that statement correct or not. I have been reading about heat related issues reguarding replacement HD`s in "iMac`s"
Thank you for your help and please respond soon , thanks!!

Once again sorry , but I`m in the same "boat" . Thanks to "Comp-USA"

jedi <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

vsurfer · Jul 16, 2002, 10:18 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by DBursey:
My DV/SE's hard drive has failed. I've been advised by a friend to replace it with a 5600 RPM drive (aside: perhaps an 80 Gb Maxtor), as a 7200 RPM drive will generate excess heat which may pose a problem for the fanless iMac. Is this really the case? Has anyone installed a 7200 RPM HD in a fanless iMac? Comments please.<hr /></blockquote>DB, I have a 40 gig 7200 WesternDigital in my fanless iMacDV 400. I often leave the beast running 24/7 crunching SETI units.

Temp was a tad higher for the first few days but then it seemed to run cooler after that. I was keeping track with Gauge Pro at the time, as a precaution. Have been very happy with performance of the replacement drive.

The WD 7200 has lasted longer than the original OEM-POS ...there was an interesting thread going on about defective HD's in Y2K imacs there for a while. Serial numbers the whole 9 yards.

Nebrie · Jul 17, 2002, 05:57 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by CIA:
In real world use, how much of a difference is there between 5400 RPM drives and 7200?<hr /></blockquote>In real world use, there is a very noticible difference in everything that requires the hard drive.

brandnewfatboy · Jul 17, 2002, 07:11 AM

Yo DB

have you tried putting CDs into the iMac to see if they get hot? not your favourite CDs i would hazard

not that this is a very scientific or sensible test, I'm just wondering whether all 7200s produce a lot of heat and have the same impact. if not, certain drive models may be preferable to others.

hang loose
G
-----------------
Euston Road weather: still Barbados-like
Now playing: My funny valentine/Chet Baker

scottiB · Jul 17, 2002, 07:52 AM

To add to my above post: Yes, my CDs are pretty hot coming out of the drive, but I've not noticed and sort of problem. Truly, I don't used the drive that often; I use a FW 12x10x32 CD-RW drive to read in disks primarily.

DBursey · Jul 17, 2002, 08:53 AM

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. Some of my observations following a week of fairly heavy usage of the new Maxtor 7200RPM 80Gb drive:

Following several hours of heavy usage in writing many gigabytes of data to the Maxtor, Gauge Pro reports my CPU temperature as peaking at 102�F (39�C). This is in line with my temperature readings as observed prior to installing the new drive.</li>
The Maxtor is much quieter than the stock Quantum 13Gb 5400RPM drive it replaced in the iMac. Once the drive has spun up to speed the sound is very hard to notice. Read/write is much quieter also.</li>
Disk access times are noticably slightly faster.</li>
Boot time is marginally faster.</li>
Restart takes slightly longer (perhaps an extra 8 to 10 seconds) due to the extra time it takes for the disk to completely spin down (from its faster speed) then spin back up to full speed. The disk is still winding down to a stop after the iMac's restart chime has sounded.</li>

One item of note: The <a href="http://www.apple.com/imac/g3/specs.html" target="_blank">iMac technical page</a> specifies an operating temperature of 50� to 95�F (10� to 35�C). I believe that this refers to the ambient temperature of the iMac's external environment, as opposed to the actual internal operating temperature of the iMac itself. Prior to switching to the 7200RPM, Gauge Pro revealed my iMac's CPU temperature as routinely in the range of 25� to 40�C (77�F - 104�F).
Can anyone comment on the issue of operating vs. ambient temperatures and my aforementioned assumption concerning the specified operating temperature?
Edit: BNFB, CDs ejected from the iMac have always been hot to the touch; however this is not an issue for me as I use my Yamaha external CD/RW drive as my primary CD drive, as it's much faster than the iMac's built-in drive.

[ 07-17-2002, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: DBursey ]

CaseCom · Jul 18, 2002, 12:02 AM

DBursey: I agree with your interpretation of "operating temperature." I also have always read it as ambient temperature. Wouldn't make sense any other way.

By the way, for the past two years I have had a 30GB 7200 rpm Maxtor in my fanless grape iMac DV with no ill effects.

Fallout · Jul 23, 2002, 02:31 AM

I've had a 40GB 7200 RPM Maxtor in my iMac DV 400 for a bit over a year. I haven't noticed any difference at all.

G5 user · Dec 15, 2003, 04:04 PM

I have an iMac G3 400MHz DV machine which i have put two 512Mb PC100 modules in and have put in a Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm harddrive.

It runs perfectly with no problems, especially no heat problems. I am currently running Mac OS X Panther 10.3 and i would seriously recommend making the upgrade the performance increase is amazing and the whole machine runs alot quiter than before.

P.S. I dont know what that bloke was on about when he said the hardrive only runs at 5400rpm, thats rubbish if it is a 7200rpm harddrive it will run at 7200rpm.

Best of luck.

Mr.Clicky · Dec 16, 2003, 04:29 AM

Plonked a 60GB 7200 Hitachi (IBM) into a DV400 with no heat problems but muchos big performance increase. Do it now!

Originally posted by DBursey:
My DV/SE's hard drive has failed. I've been advised by a friend to replace it with a 5600 RPM drive (aside: perhaps an 80 Gb Maxtor), as a 7200 RPM drive will generate excess heat which may pose a problem for the fanless iMac. Is this really the case? Has anyone installed a 7200 RPM HD in a fanless iMac? Comments please.

mousehouse · Dec 17, 2003, 04:25 PM

i think you should always remain cautious with the 7200rpm drives in the iMac. the fact is that they _do_ produce more heat than 5400rpm drives...

but,

modern 7200rpm drives create a lot _less_ heat than the first few generations of these drives. if you go the 7200 rpm road, get a new (high density) 7200 rpm drive that's known for low heat (storagereview.com).

second, the modern 5400rpm drives are a helluvalot faster than previous 7200rpm drive generations. the "bit" density has gone up miles and these new, lownoise, lowheat 5400 drives will knock out that old 20G 7200rpm drive you still have in your old [insert machine]

always check storagereview!

tooki · Dec 25, 2003, 01:51 PM

Modern 7200RPM drives don't produce any more heat than the 5400RPM drives from the era of said iMacs.

I'd put in a modern 7200RPM drive without hesitation.

tooki