Hi folks,
The time may be coming (judging by some of the noises emanating from the box) when I have to replace the hard drive in my eMac. The current drive is 160Gb; obviously I do not want to replace it with a smaller one!
Has anyone out there tackled this job themselves, and how easy/difficult did it turn out to be?
Are there any good instructions posted anywhere online that I can use as a guide?
Are there brands of HD that Appletalk users prefer, and brands that ought to be avoided?
And finally - is this a job best handed over to a shop, rather than someting I can easily tackle myself?
I'd be very grateful for any tips and pointers. Of course, the HD may go on for yonks yet, making a painful noise but operating normally (all tests - via TechTool Pro - have so far reported nothing untoward happening), but I'm a pessimist. I'm assuming that it's likely to give up the ghost sooner, rather than later.
Thanks!

I like western digital personally (gotta be the WB series tho...)

As long as you're handy you could do it yourself. Just be mindful of the powerbutton wires, tricky little space to get your fingers into and you don't want to break 'em. It has some fairly medium to advance sections during the procedure though and you should get yourself one of those free manuals online to give you a step by step hand. Watch out for that anode cap. Will turn your hair grey if you touch it. Not just on your head. OK?

Thanks HDriveKilla - point taken!

One of the manuals I have found seems to suggest I need an ESD wrist strap and mat. Yes?

From what I've heard, so long as you discharge yourself on the computer's frame somewhere then static shouldn't be an issue, so long as you're not shuffling round on carpet or something...

re static charge. Don't even consider doing it on any carpetted surface (I do it on tiles) and discharge yourself on the chasis and you should be ok.
This site has the apple service manuals for nearly every mac made and they are very good, step by step instructions, including pictures.
http://www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

For most macs a small flat head screwdriver and a no2 phillips head are all you need. I have just had a look at the side of my emac and you will also need a set of allen keys. if you need torque screwdrivers jaycar has an excellent set (that where i got mine), but bunnings probably do as well.

I haven't done an emac, but its about a 30 minute job on an imac to disassemble and reassemble.

sao

Here some instructions for dismantling an eMac. (and installing an optical drive)

http://www.wilko.com/emac/

General eMac upgrades.

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eMac/eMac-upgrade.html

Sorry nothing specific about replacing a hard drive.

Not really, as suggested, as long as you take precautions.
I hope you've done disassembly work before. One thing that got me the first time round was trying to pull off the logic board without bending it too hard. Can be very tight. Remember, every bend you make, stresses the little golden highways. Take it easy. Follow the guide and memorise where all the screws came from. Don't touch the CRT at all. Put the thermal pads from the old HD onto the new one. Look twice before doing anything. I take no responsibility for your actions if you go ahead and screw your machine up.

Thanks one and all. A venture not to be entered into lightly, obviously, but if I do, I can't say I wasn't adequately warned. It's not like reassembling a kid's toy and discovering half a dozen screws and a small unidentified electronic component left over at the end. But don't worry, HDriveKilla - or anyone else who was kind enough to repond - I won't hold you responsible. For anything.

If you go for it, Granny, find other things to do...
It's like removing the dashboard of an old car... sometimes it has to be done, but if you're going to do it, you want to do it once, so everything that you can think of should be done all in the one hit.
Speaking as someone who's removed his car's dash, 3 times.

Have you explored the extneral hard drive route? If you're going to pay for a big hard drive, you mose well pay an extra $60 and get an external USB and Firewire HDD enclosure

its certainly a job that can be done by anyone with some technical experiance.
but as others have said there isnt alot of room to work and you have to be careful of the crt

its just a slow process if you havent done it before but worth trying yourself before you consider paying someone else to do it

dashboard once, gearbox three times in the one weekend, hard drives, no probs

sao

It is tricky getting it out but can be done, i would do the optical drive while you are there and maybe the battery seeing as it is one big job

With things like this, i like to have my digital camera there and take photos of each disassembly stage, then you can either do a contact sheet or even looking at the LCD might be enough. I once fed the pics to my portable T.V on the bench so I could scrutinize the process. Might seem OTT but when things get tricky it can really save your a$$.

just a thought...

cheers...