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Have you ever upgraded the hard drive in your Windows PC?  It’s usually not a big deal, right?  You open the side of the case, undo the data and power cables from the drive, and remove some screws.  Moments later, you’re installing the replacement.

Mac’s have not always been the most friendly machines to perform such upgrades on.  Powerbooks were notorious for the thousand plus screws necessary to make any sort of upgrade.  There have been some exceptions where Apple made hard drive installs not so bad, such as some older iMacs and the latest generation of Macbooks.

I recently decided to upgrade the hard drive in my Aluminum 24″ iMac.  I assumed it would be relatively straightforward, much like the ram install was.  I was wrong.  I had to remove the glass, remove the aluminum top, remove the LCD screen, and work  underneath it to reach the hard drive.  Good times.

In the end, the upgrade went fairly smooth.  I did run into a couple problem areas, that I made some notes on.

I followed the instructions made available at Amfiteatar.

Some things to be aware of:

• The magnetic pads around the aluminum rim that hold the glass in place are a bit poorly designed.  I had one fall off because it’s sticky adhesive was no longer useful.  I had to improvise.
• Be very careful handling and storing the glass top.  Nobody wants to break it, but equally important is not getting ANY lint or smudges behind the glass.  If you do, you end up noticing after the reassemble, and you’ll have to remove the glass again.
• Be equally aware of how you handle the LCD screen.  Similar to the glass, it easily attracts dust and finger smudges.

Follow those instructions, and you’ll have a faster and bigger hard drive in no time.