Replacing the iMac's hard drive

iMac disassembly photos and more photos specific to the hard drive replacement, the text explanation was also very helpful. Getting to the hard drive is not too difficult. I did not apply fresh rubber cement on the hard drive temperature sensor, hopefully it will hold with the amount of stickiness that was left.

The most difficult part is the screws on the display. The top 2 screws are too recessed and must be put back in with a magnetized Torx-8. I took my iMac down the street to a local place and they reconnected the display for $10. Another thing I noticed is that the top of the case does not fit as snug as it used to be. The bottom is held-on with screws, but the top is only connected with flimsy metal clamps, which I probably bent a little.

I replaced the included Maxtor 250GB drive with a WD 1TB high-performance drive. Overall, the replacement process was not too difficult and the 3-year-old system is performing better than before. Contrary to the reports linked-to above, only a Torx-8 screwdriver was needed.

Time Capsule

The reviews for Time Capsule have been good overall.  It appears the main issue that plagues Time Capsule is the "Apple TV" syndrome, in that the public does not really know what Time Capsule should be used for, or are attempting to use it for unsupported purposes.

What Time Capsule can do:

Apple advertises the following functionality for Time Capsule.  Asterisked features are also present in Apple's Airport Extreme Base Station.

• Automatic backup with Time Machine
• Server-grade storage
• *Easy wireless networking
• *Up to 5x the performance, 2x the range
• Wireless drive sharing
• *Print without wires
• *Strong security and access control
• *Works with iPhone, Apple TV and more

Time Capsule is therefore a NAS and wireless solution designed to work with Time Machine over the network.   Although networked Time Machine backups can also be done on a networked external drive or third-party NAS solution, Time Capsule offers an all-in-one, fast and easy wireless backup solution.

What Time Capsule can't do:

• Time Machine AND File Storage: Using Time Capsule for both Time Machine backups and file sharing is not recommended since Time Machine claims as much disk space as possible.  This has lead some folks to try and circumvent Time Machine, but have found that Time Capsule cannot be partitioned easily.  Solutions have been noted to create sparseimage files on Time Capsule to segregate your data, but it is still unclear as to whether or not the image files will get overwritten as the Time Capsule disk fills-up.  Other solutions try to limit the space used by Time Machine, but these solutions are also unclear as to the final results.
• Migrate from old Time Machine Data: OS X Migration Assistant does not see old Time Machine backups when attempting to migrate to Time Capsule.  Many folks have attempted to migrate Time Machine backups through other means, but results are questionable.  Third-party utilities, such as SuperDuper, claim to have Time Machine backup migration capabilities.
• Fast wireless backups over wireless-G.  Backups are extremely slow over wireless-G.  A good strategy for this situation involves an initial backup over the wire.

Current Issues

OS X 10.5.3 was released and added the capability to backup wirelessly using battery power.  After upgrading to 10.5.3, some users have noted issues with TM not updating Time Capsule and Time Machine also dropping the Internet connection, but TC and TM resets have fixed these issues.

Time Capsule does occasionally endure file system corruption, although some suggested fixes may help.  Hopefully 10.5.3 also prevents this from occurring, but it is hard to tell, since the fix "...includes fixes for Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule."

Mac Memory Upgrade

Macbook Memory Upgrade

Because of the new memory requirements due to recent Leopard and software upgrades, I decided to upgrade my 1.5 year-old 13.3" Macbook from 500MB to 2GB memory. So I did my research and determined that I wanted to do dual-channel for maximum performance. This is not a core 2 duo processor, so the 3gb max does not apply.

To make a long story short, I ordered the PC 5400 RAM from Newegg and then attempted to install it. The Macbook would not turn back on. The Apple memory upgrade support guide notes that a "no power" situation will result if the memory was not seated correctly. Ok, then. I decided to put the original memory back in and the Macbook would still not power-up. Not good. I decided to send the Macbook in for repair.

It appears that the motherboard shorted-out when I attempted to put the memory in, due to those stupid little memory levers not working correctly. Apparently, they are connected to the power. Out of warranty cost $285 to fix. I guess as a general rule it is best to upgrade while the machine is still under warranty.

The following comes from the Macbook Guide and is exactly what happened to me:

Note: If any of the following issues occur, see an Apple-authorized service technician to complete the memory card installation:

• lever wobbles
• lever offers no resistance
• lever is stuck
• lever does not return to starting position

iMac Memory Upgrade

I upgraded my iMac to dual channel 2gb and find that it runs much faster than the previous 1.5gb that was installed. During my research, I came across this info and highly recommend dual-channel 2gb for anyone running Parallels or other VM software.