Mid 2010 27" IMac

[swanysto]

So I got a 27" IMac used back in 2012(I wanted to move on from the many wires of a PC). I bought a year of Applecare for it. I took it into a Genius Bar and they wiped it clean and I started from new. Since then, it has really only been used for pictures(Lightroom) and my wife's online classes that she teaches. So it has a bunch of word and excel documents.

Well lately we have been having issues that I haven't really seen on a PC, and I am not really that great with iOS to begin with. Basically when we start up the computer from a cold boot, everything will come up fine, but after about 5 minutes of pretty much doing anything from email to web browsing, we will get the pinwheel of agitation. It will literally spin for as long as you let it. So we hold down the power button and restart the computer. At this time, it will start up fine again, but there will be nothing on the desktop, and most of the stuff in my folders where I keep pictures and stuff will be gone as well. Heck, I am even lucky if the folders themselves are there.

So if you restart by using the software method, the computer will restart, and the desktop background will pop up, but then there wont be a dock or top bar or anything for that fact. I am able to open the search bar, and I can open up apps and such from there, but obviously can't live like this.

So back to square one. Turn the whole thing off for a while. I don't know if it is a hardware issue, or a software issue. I don't have the CD's that came with the computer, so I can't just reformat(at least to my knowledge). I tried downloading a copy of OSX and burning it, but it needs specific disks. And I really don't want to fork over $170 just so I can bring it to apple and they can reformat it for me. Do I have any other options?

 

[daveybrat]

This isn't a software issue. It's the hard drive that's failing. It has bad sectors on it and causing the massive slowdown and the 'pinwheel of death' symptoms that a Mac will exhibit.

I've seen it many times on IMac's and Macbook's that i work on. I always pull the hard drive out and test it on my tech station. Unlike a PC running Windows, Mac's are much more resilient to hardware failures and instead of getting blue screen crashes and other symptoms that a PC would get, you usually get severe slowdown and a constant spinning pinwheel. Trust me, you need to have the drive tested properly first.

 

[TheStu]

Daveybrat is probably right regarding the hard drive failure. You can try and replace it yourself, see here.

As for reformatting... what OS is currently running on the system? If it's not the latest, you can download the latest from the Mac App Store, and follow instructions online to create a bootable USB drive. Also, if it's a 2010, then Internet Recovery may be supported. Turn it off, then back on again, and hold cmd+R after you press the power button.

 

[swanysto]

I had a feeling it was a hard drive going bad. This thing has been so slow for about a year now. I did watch some videos on changing the hard drive, but I don't know if I want to attempt that(I have big clumsy hands that rip wires out of connectors). Right now I have a 1gb external that holds my time machine backups. I was reading that it might be possible run OSX off of an external drive. Would it be possible for me to buy a faster external drive and somehow recover from my time machine onto the faster drive and run my computer from that? Taking it to apple is out of the question, I might as well buy a new computer from what they charge to install one of their slow drives.

I think I am on sierra, or whatever is after El Capitan.

 

[TheStu]

You could contact Apple and see if they'll install a drive that you provide. That iMac has USB2 and Firewire, if you're going to do an external drive you'd want an SSD, and you'd want to connect it over Firewire.

 

[swanysto]

After looking at the tutorial you linked, and the couple I watched on youtube, it looks like there is a heat sensor attached to the hard drive. Is that heat sensor required for the iMac to work? If I were to give it a shot and go for a replacement, could I put an SSD in that spot, and just leave the sensor off? I saw some videos of them adding an SSD behind the logic board, but I am definitely not messing with that.

 

[Tyranicus]

If you leave the sensor off, the fans in the iMac will continuously run at the highest setting.

 

[Eug]

Backup all your important data.

The drive replacement is very difficult according to reports and yes, the sensor will be a problem. There are apps to control fan speed but they would have to be manually controlled. Not recommended.

What I did, not for a failing drive, but to speed up the computer, was to boot off a FireWire SSD. USB 2 is not fast. (I tried it.) Here is the description of my journey:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/gonna-try-running-a-firewire-800-ssd-as-my-imac-boot-drive.2442921/

To do this you need AC power for the FireWire drive. Don't try to run the FireWire SSD off FireWire power. I learned this the hard way, as discussed in the thread.

 

[swanysto]

Backup all your important data.

The drive replacement is very difficult according to reports and yes, the sensor will be a problem. There are apps to control fan speed but they would have to be manually controlled. Not recommended.

What I did, not for a failing drive, but to speed up the computer, was to boot off a FireWire SSD. USB 2 is not fast. (I tried it.) Here is the description of my journey:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/gonna-try-running-a-firewire-800-ssd-as-my-imac-boot-drive.2442921/

To do this you need AC power for the FireWire drive. Don't try to run the FireWire SSD off FireWire power. I learned this the hard way, as discussed in the thread.

That was a good read. I think I am just going to bite the bullet and replace the factory drive with a WD Black hard drive(fastest platter drive I am aware of). It is the least expensive option, and I am all for frugality.

 

[Eug]

That was a good read. I think I am just going to bite the bullet and replace the factory drive with a WD Black hard drive(fastest platter drive I am aware of). It is the least expensive option, and I am all for frugality.

Note that you'll probably want to buy the kit to disassemble the computer as it involves removing the screen and various things like that.

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Mid-2010-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF174-004-1

Above is the dual hard drive kit. I don't know if there is just a hard drive replacement kit. I've done these types of disassembly before, but the iMac just seemed way too finicky and complicated, so I personally would factor the cost of a technician into it, which makes it more expensive.

And even if you do decide to do the replacement yourself, personally I think the WD Black is not a great idea for an iMac, because they are reportedly much louder than the other models. But if you're going to have it open anyway, it would be a shame not to put an SSD in there. Or in the very least, a hybrid drive.

 

[nerp]

I'd bite the bullet and buy an SSD and the thermal sensor kit through ifixit. And the suction cups.

I have a mid-2010 27" iMac and it is slow as well. It also runs hot in general. We're keeping it alive as a glorified YouTube machine for my kids and if the HD fails, I think it will just end up being a 2K monitor for a windows machine until the display dies. I did a lot of the same research when I decided I'd look into putting in an SSD. It was then that I saw the magnitude of the job. It's doable but is a lengthy project and you need to have all the tools, plans to keep track of every last screw, plus the additional costs of getting the parts to deal with the annoying fan issue if you go to an SSD. My problem is that the machine is now old enough that it's almost not worth the money to me. I'm also feeling like my luck will be that the screen finally dies right after I upgrade it. Or it won't turn on and I have to go through the whole damn process again.

It was a dazzling machine when I first got it but it has aged.

 

[swanysto]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am not too worried about the sound of the black drive. I have one in my work computer, and it isn't too bad. I think I am going to wait on the SSD or hybrid, cause I don't know if I want to spend the money on a computer that probably won't take advantage of the added speed. I am going to give it a try tonight. I have the suction cups and the torx stuff, so I just need to stop and microcenter and get the HD on my way home.

Edit: And if it works, I will at least know that I can add or put another drive in at anytime.

 

[Eug]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am not too worried about the sound of the black drive. I have one in my work computer, and it isn't too bad. I think I am going to wait on the SSD or hybrid, cause I don't know if I want to spend the money on a computer that probably won't take advantage of the added speed. I am going to give it a try tonight. I have the suction cups and the torx stuff, so I just need to stop and microcenter and get the HD on my way home.

Edit: And if it works, I will at least know that I can add or put another drive in at anytime.

The iMac 2010 most definitely can take advantage of the the added speed from SSD. The SSD will make it feel like a brand new machine.

 

[nerp]

The iMac 2010 most definitely can take advantage of the the added speed from SSD. The SSD will make it feel like a brand new machine.

This is true. It made my now-retired MBP much more usable. Well, usable since it had become unusable with the original slow HDD.

 

[swanysto]

Ok, the process was completed. To be honest it was quite easy. I was surprised to see the drive that was in there was a WD Black drive with 32mb cache. What I meant by the added speed thing, was that the computer is used for browsing and office documents. My wife won't really won't care. However, now that I know how easy the process is to do, I will add an SSD drive when I get some extra money.

If you guys want to save some money from ordering a kit to take the computer apart, just go to home depot and get the precision screw driver kit that includes the T8 and T10 bits. I got it for $5.67, and you can get a suction cup from the bath section for $3. Those are the only two things you need unless you need an adapter of some kind.

 

[Eug]

It has a WD black in there. Hehe. I'm surprised. How finicky was the heat sensor placement?

SSD does still make a big difference for office apps and browsing though.

 

[swanysto]

It has a WD black in there. Hehe. I'm surprised. How finicky was the heat sensor placement?

SSD does still make a big difference for office apps and browsing though.

Heat sensor placement was easy. It was on the pins closest to power and sata connectors. I was really surprised it was a WD black drive as well. I will most likely put an SSD in there, but I just didn't want to fork out the money right now. I think I will watch a few videos on removing the CD Drive before I add the SSD though, cause it would be a good spot for it.

 

[Eug]

Heat sensor placement was easy. It was on the pins closest to power and sata connectors. I was really surprised it was a WD black drive as well. I will most likely put an SSD in there, but I just didn't want to fork out the money right now. I think I will watch a few videos on removing the CD Drive before I add the SSD though, cause it would be a good spot for it.

You can buy an drive tray for an SSD that fits in the optical drive bay.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Personally I probably would just go for a cheap SSD internally (240/256's are dirt cheap now) and use an external drive (whether direct attached, or a network drive) for storage of bigger things. That internal CD/DVD drive can be useful from time to time.