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I just found out my iMac is part of a recall program to replace faulty 1T Seagate drives. It goes back three years. Details are here http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

With DP 8 arriving on Thursday, I was thinking about whether to do a new clean install, and now the decision has been made for me by Apple.

bayswater wrote:
With DP 8 arriving on Thursday, I was thinking about whether to do a new clean install, and now the decision has been made for me by Apple.

Either that or restore from Time Machine - can't be easier.

Thanks for the heads up. Mine has a WD drive that has been flawless as does my wife's. The Seagate drives I bought at the same time were recently exchanged under warranty.

I wonder if the crappy Seagate drives that were shipped in Time Capsules are also being recalled?

mikehalloran wrote: Either that or restore from Time Machine - can't be easier.

I have TM backups of two partitions, SL and ML, but they said they will only be putting one OS on the new drive. I expect the usual fussing around with authorizations in any case.

mikehalloran wrote: I wonder if the crappy Seagate drives that were shipped in Time Capsules are also being recalled?

I'll ask when I go back to pick it up in two days.

> have TM backups of two partitions, SL and ML, but they said they will only be putting one OS on the new drive. I expect the usual fussing around with authorizations in any case.<

Yes. You will need to partition the new drive first but you can do that with the SL disks. After you restore the SL partition from TM, you can restore the Leo partition directly from your iTunes account. You can also make a boot DVD from a Leo download now and use it to restore from Time Machine later (it's easy if you know how.

Expect to have to re-authorize everything except those files on your iLok - those will be fine.

Right. I have all the install disks, USB drives, backup, etc. Hope I don't need to reauth everything. It's a real PITA. Maybe time to let go a load of things I haven't used for a while.

Got it back this morning. They put another Seagate in it !!!! A discontinued model. Well, it's a lot quieter than the original.

Now I'm restoring everything to the new drive. Lesson #1: if you have ML recovery disk, test it when you create it. I just tried to start from mine (for the first time) and it failed.

This might be a good time to consider whether you still need the SL partition at all. When I switched to Mac I added a Vista (!!!!!!!) partition and, even with access through Fusion, I rarely used it so it was gone pretty quickly. Also, I have done the last 3 OSX updates on day one and the only loss that I can think of was a version of Photoshop Elements that didn't make it to Lion. Of course, if I made a living with this Mac I'd be a little more cautious.

Also, FWIW, I have replaced my 24" iMac's drive twice--WD drives don't seem to be as reliable as they used to be--my first one lasted past 3 years but the second caviar black didn't last six months. I installed a caviar green this time thinking the reduced heat might help it live longer--also the black was pretty noisy. Oh well, replacing the drive isn't as bad as you would think-- the second time around took around 15 minutes.

Replacing the hard drive is not the difficult step. It's reauthorizing plugins and apps using a dozen different schemes that takes the time. Some require contact with technical support, and the last reply (from Cakewalk) arrived yesterday, eight days after the request.

Although I made ML install disks that work great, I don't bother with them. Reinstalling through the App store is only a touch slower for me.

I can feel your pain, bayswater. I have spent considerable time over the past month setting up my new Mac. Making the PPC to Intel transition has involved countless updates, some free, some costly, tons of data transfers, and more than a few late nights after the day's work has been done. I'm getting very close to pulling the trigger and switching the studio to the new machine. Hopefully, your transition is soon be complete.

Thanks again for posting the DP- DP8 null test results.