[no use for a nick]

...the only thing I can find in 5400rpm speeds are 40GB and smaller. I know that anything above 5400rpm isn't "recommended" in the iMac because of heat issues so my question is two-fold:

1. Is the heat really an issue?

2. What speed are the 60GB drives in the current Special Edition iMacs? If they're 5400rpm, where the heck is Apple getting them?

nick

[macohlic7]

The heat in from an iMac HD is an issue, because the ventilation system isn't designed to take 7200 rpm drives.
There is a maxtor 5400 rpm drive available for $134.00 from Other World Computing. Go to macsales.com, enter the sight, click on the hard drives tab and select 3.5" IDE/ATA drives from the list of options. Scroll to Maxtor 5400 rpm IDE, and click on 61.4 Maxtor diamondmax 80 series. There are also 80 and 100 GB options.
I don't know what speed the drives are in later macs, or where Apple gets them, but if you want to know bad you can check the apple knowledge base for more info.

[doppler]

Nick,

I've got an iMac DV SE 400 into which I have installed a 75 gig IBM Deskstar 7200 rpm drive that has been running flawlessly for 9+ months now. The computer boots much faster than the old 13 gig 5400. I upgraded because I needed more storage for DV editing which is very HD intensive. CDs that are ejected do come out warm (the optical drive rests right on top of the HDD), but they did that before, so I am not worried about excess heat. There is a piece of freeware from Newertech (now out of business) called "Gauge Pro" that tells the temp of the processor. Aparently each processor has a temp sensor to shut itself down if things really heat up. I checked the readings before and after the conversion with no noticable change. Granted this is the processor temp not HD temp so the results are probably worth a grain of salt.

I also purchased an external hd case which I put the old 13 gig into that runs on firewire like a charm. I purchased it from http://www.fwdepot.com. If anyone does buy one of these cases make sure that it had an "oxford 911" bridge board. They are simply the fastest ata to firewire converter out there. . I have thought about switching the drives back to 13 internal and 75 external and if I do I will take temp measurements of the two drives in the external case to see if there is a real temp difference.

Hope this long winded explaination helps.

Jonathan Doppler

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: doppler ]

[doppler]

Just a few more things:

1. Great step by step instructions to replace a HDD or optical drive in a slot load iMac here: http://www.imac2day.com/installhd.shtml

2. The imac takes a 3.5 inch ATA drive. Any type of ATA drive will work (ie: ATA 33, 66, or 100).

3. The drive has to be set to "master." This is usually the default setting for a new HD but a used one may have had this setting changed.

This may be a little elementary but I was wondering about these things when I performed the change over, so there may be others out there with the same questions.

Jonathan

[doppler]

Just a few more things:

1. Great step by step instructions to replace a HDD or optical drive in a slot load iMac here: http://www.imac2day.com/installhd.shtml

2. The imac takes a 3.5 inch ATA drive. Any type of ATA drive will work (ie: ATA 33, 66, or 100).

3. The drive has to be set to "master." This is usually the default setting for a new HD but a used one may have had this setting changed.

This may be a little elementary but I was wondering about these things when I performed the change over, so there may be others out there with the same questions.

Jonathan