PC Sata disk in a MAC

PeterTheEighth

Hi there,

I have a MAC that I'm fixing for a friend. His hard drive is shot and he doesnt want to buy a new one as they are pretty expensive. I have a few PC hard drives which are SATA also. They have the same SATA power and SATA data cable, but there's a thermal sensor that plugs in to the MAC hard drive. Is there any way that I can disable this or override it?

thanks,

Alanstrainor

SATA drives are cheap as chips, like really really cheap. You should be able to pick one up for ~20 quid.

As for this thermal sensor, can you remove it? Or just not plug it in at all when attaching it to the PC? But really I'd source a new HDD disk. Depending on size (3.5", or 2.5") you should be able to pick up a decent capacity disk for peanuts.

beauf

Welcome to Apple

http://blog.macsales.com/27918-owc-in-line-digital-thermal-sensor-solves-imac-hard-drive-compatibility-issue

unkel

Apple will change the hard drive. For just €300...

Last tine I came across this situation for someone with very little money, I managed to install OS X on an external hard drive he had lying around

PeterTheEighth

beauf wrote: »

Welcome to Apple. http://blog.macsales.com/27918-owc-in-line-digital-thermal-sensor-solves-imac-hard-drive-compatibility-issue

Thanks for that, that's kind of what I was expecting from Apple.

Last tine I came across this situation for someone with very little money, I managed to install OS X on an external hard drive he had lying around

^ yeah it's something like this that I was thinking of doing, cos my friend is not gonna spend 300 on a five year old mac (21.5 inch, mid 2010 model). But this is where my problem is, when I put in a PC SATA drive I have nowhere to plug the thermal sensor. That little system that beauf suggested above is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

Once I have a hard drive that will work in it, I then just need to put an operating system on it. I was thinking Windows 10. :cool:

ED E

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

^ yeah it's something like this that I was thinking of doing, cos my friend is not gonna spend 300 on a five year old mac (21.5 inch, mid 2010 model). But this is where my problem is, when I put in a PC SATA drive I have nowhere to plug the thermal sensor. That little system that beauf suggested above is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

That's not what Unkel is suggesting, he's suggesting a USB/Thunderbolt drive thus no sensor. If you want to be clean route a cable from rear IO through the PCI slots and store the disk internally.

mp22

This page might be worth a read http://blog.macsales.com/27918-owc-in-line-digital-thermal-sensor-solves-imac-hard-drive-compatibility-issue

unkel

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

five year old mac (21.5 inch, mid 2010 model)

He might be lucky. It's a known problem that iMacs of that generation overheat leading to hard drive failure and at some point Apple finally admitted to it, and indeed, did a free recall (free replacement of the hard disk)

Google it and check the serial number. The guy I was dealing with somehow had a serial number that did not qualify for the free recall (as if his iMac did not overheat because of bad construction by Apple :rolleyes:)

ZENER

The sensor is built in to the hard disk. If you leave the plug disconnected the fans will run at full speed all the time. OWC do a sensor kit that should work.

Ken

PeterTheEighth

Let me check out that recall. I was certainly shocked as to how hot it was when I opened it initially, but I assumed it was just cos there was a lot of dust in the fans. Fingers crossed.

gerryR

You should be able to use any SATA disk, as Zener mentioned an non-apple disk won't have the sensor and the fans on the mac will run full speed. You can install this fan control software to reduce to a less noisy speed. http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control.

Done this lots of times.
Rgds

gctest50

Maybe put an SSD in it ? faster to start, battery might last longer

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/lineup

PeterTheEighth

Looks like I'm not on the recall list with this one.

https://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/

unkel

That's unfortunate

Dunno why Apple excluded some serial numbers. They all overheat. And they know it.

PeterTheEighth

Only getting back to this now. Seems that the recall was only for a particular batch of Seagate HDs. Mine is a Western digital WD1001FALS-40Y6A0.

Where can I get a price for a new genuine replacement hard drive, including Apple's sensor interface. Apparently if you use a regular SATA Drive and just connect the SATA Data and power cables (and not the thermal sensor), then the fans stay on ALL the time.


...

beauf

Wasn't that the point of the OWC cable.

Eliminates excessive fan noise and maintains correct system fan control when upgrading the storage of a 2009 or newer iMac
Engineered to work natively with Apple Diagnostics
Fixes thermal compatibility issues with third party hard drives
Engineered in-house and backed by OWC’s award-winning customer support
OWC Install Videos guide you every step of the way

PeterTheEighth

beauf wrote: »

Wasn't that the point of the OWC cable.

yeah it is, just toying around with different ideas, cos I dont think the guy is gonna pay much.

He also doesnt have the reinstall CD / DVD. The tech specs tell me that it came with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Can I download this from somewhere or pay Apple for a new OS CD / DVD?

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP588?locale=en_US

Kimbot

Why not try CEX - https://ie.webuy.com/search/index.php?stext=*&section=&catid=886

I bought a 1GB drive last year and it turned out to be a mac HDD.

PeterTheEighth

I freed up a regular SATA drive and threw it in to the imac, and it boots, no sensor error, fans not noticeably loud. It's even trying to boot Windows 7.

Windows 7 is going "wtf like?" :(

Alun

Just found this thread, I'm a bit confused .. don't all SATA drives have internal temperature sensors readable via S.M.A.R.T. ? Why would you need a separate temperature sensor with yet another connector? Typical Apple.

beauf

Alun wrote: »

Just found this thread, I'm a bit confused .. don't all SATA drives have internal temperature sensors readable via S.M.A.R.T. ? Why would you need a separate temperature sensor with yet another connector? Typical Apple.

It ties into all the information about the machine. So to control the temp of the whole machine. More critical where space is tight with minimal airflow.

I presume.

PeterTheEighth

After about one hour of it sitting on the Windows Startup Repair screen, the fans have suddenly kicked in and are going full whack. LCD panel temperature is reading 34 degrees celcius.

RoyalMarine

Download this.

http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

Set the fans to a reasonable level.
Problem solved.

It's what I do anytime I change a HDD in a Mac when the customer doesn't want to pay for Apple certified HD.

PeterTheEighth

I have Windows 8 up and running, most of the hardware is running, except the audio (which I'm working on, seems to be a common issue). But Windows 8 looks beautiful on it.

Just one note, every time I hear that Mac starting sound, I think of Enya. Listen to the start of Anywhere Is.

PeterTheEighth

Okay, I got the audio working as well. In case it helps anybody else. I downloaded these drivers,

http://www.stuffedcow.net/files/CS4207_WinVista_Win7_32-64-bit_6-6001-1-30.zip.

then right clicked on the audio device under Control Panel | System | Device Manager. Then I pointed to the folder where I extracted the downloaded files and it accepted the drivers. My audio device was renamed Cirrus Logic C2406A, and my glorious audio is now working. :pac: