[DM-MUG] Preparing for a drive upgrade

[Matt W]

On Apr 17, 2005, at 10:28 PM, Chris Tyrrell wrote:

> I see that Best Buy has an 80 GB drive for $30 (after rebates of 
> course) that would breathe some more life into my iMac DV. The plan is 
> to copy the relevant stuff from my current 10 GB (running Panther) to 
> an external 40 GB FireWire drive (former boot drive, Jaguar 
> installed), swap the internal, install Panther, and then restore the 
> aforementioned relevant stuff. But the relevant stuff is the sticky 
> point (and this is one of the times I find myself pining for the 
> simplicity of the pre-X days). It'd be nice to turn off the FireWire 
> drive, as it's quite noisy.
>
> So, assuming applications, dev tools, and such can be reinstalled, 
> I'll not bother with backing them up. Beyond that, would it be safe to 
> simply copy /Users and restore from same in one swell foop, or is 
> finer granularity necessary?
>
Generally, yes. It sounds like you're not squeamish about reinstalling 
all apps and the serials/activations that come along for the ride. 
There might be permissions issues, but you're probably all over that, 
right?

> Also, any thoughts/warnings regarding the drive replacement? I know 
> someone (Kendall?) who did the same after getting over worries that a 
> 7200 RPM drive generates more heat that the native 5400. Is that still 
> working for you Kendall?
>
>
The shipping, or OEM, drives were not 5400 RPM's but 4200's. Recent 
7200 RPM drives will probably produce similar or less heat than the 
4200's that came with the iMac. If you're not doing lots of video 
editing though, save your money and get a 5400 RPM drive or lower. My 
original 4200 RPM Maxtor failed in my iMac DV. I replaced it with a 
Western Digital 7200 RPM (one of the "JB" models with 3-yr warranty) 
and haven't looked back in 3 years.

Matthew

> Cheers,
> Chris
>
>
> "The opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily a 
> reflection of reality or consciousness."