By setting the Energy Saver prefs to not allow the computer or drives to sleep, I was able to continue using it for several more months. But in December, it finally conked out with the same symptoms and couldn't be coaxed back.
Fortunately, as a result of this episode, I had a solid back-up strategy in place - a cloned boot drive plus daily file backup. The clone was quite handy since I could boot from it on an external drive and still temporarily run my iMac more or less normally.
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Using the [guide|22|excellent guide] here, I replaced the original 160 GB Western Digital drive with a 500 GB Hitachi and it's working fine. Probably better than before - quieter and cooler.
+
Using the [guide|891|excellent guide here], I replaced the original 160 GB Western Digital drive with a 500 GB Hitachi and it's working fine. Probably better than before - quieter and cooler.
I also found a decent YouTube video showing how to replace the internal drive, which was nice to watch before doing it myself.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShY8zuT-wPg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjsIU1XEkME
By setting the Energy Saver prefs to not allow the computer or drives to sleep, I was able to continue using it for several more months. But in December, it finally conked out with the same symptoms and couldn't be coaxed back.
Fortunately, as a result of this episode, I had a solid back-up strategy in place - a cloned boot drive plus daily file backup. The clone was quite handy since I could boot from it on an external drive and still temporarily run my iMac more or less normally.
-
Using the excellent guide here, I replaced the original 160 GB Western Digital drive with a 500 GB Hitachi and it's working fine. Probably better than before - quieter and cooler.
+
Using the [guide|22|excellent guide] here, I replaced the original 160 GB Western Digital drive with a 500 GB Hitachi and it's working fine. Probably better than before - quieter and cooler.
I also found a decent YouTube video showing how to replace the internal drive, which was nice to watch before doing it myself.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShY8zuT-wPg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjsIU1XEkME
Well, the troublesome drive finally bit the dust.
By setting the Energy Saver prefs to not allow the computer or drives to sleep, I was able to continue using it for several more months. But in December, it finally conked out with the same symptoms and couldn't be coaxed back.
Fortunately, as a result of this episode, I had a solid back-up strategy in place - a cloned boot drive plus daily file backup. The clone was quite handy since I could boot from it on an external drive and still temporarily run my iMac more or less normally.
Using the excellent guide here, I replaced the original 160 GB Western Digital drive with a 500 GB Hitachi and it's working fine. Probably better than before - quieter and cooler.
I also found a decent YouTube video showing how to replace the internal drive, which was nice to watch before doing it myself.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShY8zuT-wPg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjsIU1XEkME
Thanks for all the advice. This is a great site.