Chosen Solution
A friend asked me to try and salvage his 20" Intel iMac after the Apple repair shop declared that Apple no longer had a replacement hard drive to fit it and then proceeded to keep the temp sensor and cable as well as the mounting rails for the drive. Is it possible to source replacement parts and a suitable mechanical hard drive or perhaps even put in an SSD? The object is to get it running as a gift for his children. So, it just needs to be no worse that it was before the hard drive was removed. However; more space and faster access is always welcome, as long as the cost is reasonable. That said, due to difficulties in sourcing parts (eg. sensor and rails) it may be better to go with a modest sized SSD. I presume and SSD can be purchased with a compatible connector/sensor and associated mounting hardware. Any advice on what option to choose would be appreciated and especially on what parts to buy and from where. Note: I do have an old white 24" Intel-based iMac that I could cannibalize, if it has compatible parts.
Before we try replacing the HD lets see what the system is doing now. When you plug it in and start it do you hear a Bong as well as see an image on the screen? You should see a folder icon with a blinking question mark. If you do they we’re better than 1/2 way there! If not, this may not be a repairable system as there is something more going on here. Update (01/17/2016) Here’s the parts list you’ll need to start with: Clip, Hard Drive 922-8517Pins, Hard Drive 922-7001Cable, HD SATA 922-8195Clip, Temp Sensor 922-8183Cable, HD Sensor 922-8196 The next issue is the replacement drive. I would recommend getting a SSHD hybrid drive Seagate 3.5" Desktop SSHD I would stick with the 1 TB drive as I doubt you’ll need more than that. Just keep in mind the systems SATA port is only SATA II (3.0 Gb’s). You’ll need to make sure what ever drive you do use is able to run at this SATA speed. If we look at the Seagate spec sheet: Seagate Desktop SSHD spec sheet. We can see this series of drives are able to support all three SATA specs SATA I (1.5 Gb/s), SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) & SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) - SATA Transfer Rates Supported (Gb/s).
It should boot to a screen with a question mark with the hard drive out. If not you have other issues. I probably have the brackets and sensor in stock. A Seagate 3.5" SSHD should work for you and give you a speed bump. Do you have an original system installation disk or a 10.6 retail disk or another Mac that you can use for Target Mode to format and install or clone a system?
