Introduction
Use this guide to replace or upgrade your hard drive.
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Before beginning any work on your iMac: Unplug the computer and press and hold the power button for ten seconds to discharge the power supply's capacitors.
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Starting on the left of the display, near the power button, insert the iMac Opening Tool into the gap between the glass panel and the rear enclosure.
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Use the tool like a pizza cutter—roll it along through the gap, and it will cut the foam adhesive through the center.
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Run the tool up along the left side of the display.
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Continue running the tool up around the top left corner.
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Cut the adhesive along the top left of the display.
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Continue along the top of the display.
In this step can I cut along the display without make any damage to the front camera?
Hi! Actually - there is no need to cut the tape around the camera area - there is no tape to cut at all! And so, the way go is easy - just pass 10 mm to the left and to the right from camera and start cutting!
P.S. Just did the whole procedure to replace a RAM and to add SSD on PSIe an hour ago! Seems to be different reading the instructions... you know - 2/10 and so on. But it's really not that hard, trust me. I'll give it 5/10.
P.P.S. By the way there is one trick to pass the difficult steps. Any action which requires pulling smth (motherboard, speaker, power supply unit) from the narrow crack (or should i say - slit?) at the bottom of your Imac is really not so easy.
And the trick is to first remove a thin metal stripe with some kind of insulation on it which held by 5 small (very small!!) screws at the bottom of your Imac. After you done it - it's easy to pull everything! Pay attention to the fact that one of this 5 screws at the center are more shortly than others.
If you're changing cracked EMC 2638 display to new assembly, there's two more steps:
Step 24: Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the metal retaining bracket on the display data cable.
Carefully pull the display data cable from its socket on the display assembly.
Step 25: Use the tip of a spudger to unplug bracket of the thermal sensor small cable near display data cable.
Carefully remove scotch tape covering thermal sensor. Using iSesamo or flat tip of the spudger carefully peel the thermal sensor away.
omg - forgot to switch the termal sensor from the old display...
now fan runs like crazy...
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Push the tool around the top right corner of the display.
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Wheel the tool down along the right side of the display.
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Finish pushing the opening tool to the bottom of the right side of the display.
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Starting from the top right corner of the iMac, wedge a plastic card between the display and frame.
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Gently twist the plastic card sideways to create a gap between the display and frame.
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Move slowly and be careful not to stress the display glass too much—you only need to make a gap of about 1/4".
This part must be done very carefully or you can damage the flat cable from display, despite it was under a iron cover.
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Slide the card toward the center of the display to cut any of the remaining adhesive along the top right corner of the iMac.
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Wedge the plastic card into the top right corner once again, and leave it there to prevent the adhesive from resticking.
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Insert a second plastic card into the gap between the display and frame near the top left corner of the iMac.
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Gently twist the card upward, slightly increasing the space between the display and frame.
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Slide the plastic card toward the center, again stopping just before the iSight camera.
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Wedge the plastic card back into the top left corner.
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With both plastic cards inserted as shown near the corners, gently twist the cards sideways to increase the gap between display and case.
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Begin to lift the top of the display up from the frame.
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While holding the display up with one hand, use the other hand to unplug the display power cable.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the metal retaining bracket on the display data cable.
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Carefully pull the display data cable from its socket on the logic board.
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Lift the display up to a near-vertical position.
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Lift the display up from the frame and remove it from the iMac.
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It may be necessary to slowly lift from one side, to peel against the remaining adhesive.
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Remove the following screws securing the hard drive bracket to the rear enclosure:
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Two 21 mm T10 Torx screws from the left-hand hard drive bracket.
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One 9mm T10 Torx screw.
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One 27 mm T10 Torx screw.
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Remove the left and right hard drive brackets from the iMac.
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Lift the hard drive from the edge nearest the logic board and pull it slightly out of its recess.
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Use a spudger to disconnect the single SATA power and data combo cable by gently prying its large plastic connector away from the hard drive.
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Remove the hard drive assembly from the iMac.
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Peel the rubber hard drive bumpers up off the top and bottom edges of the hard drive.
Hi, is it important to use a HDD as replacement/upgrade from the same manufacturer like it is on older iMacs with 3,5" HDD? I'm thinking of the thermal sensor (which isn't there in this case) and the hispeed fans issue. Any hints appreciated :)
there is a cable adapter you can buy with an inline thermal sensor on it to attach to the outside of the drive
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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One Comment
Super awesome instructions, As always easy to follow, swapped out he drive pretty quick. makes me miss the magnets for sure.