iMac HDD died, then Resurrected!

My Problem

The 1TB hard drive in my 2011 iMac started failing. Luckily I had everything backed up on externals. I was super excited to see that iFixit had a dual hard drive kit, so I ordered that plus a 500GB SSD for my boot drive and a 3TB HDD for bulk storage.

My Fix

The repair went amazingly well. A co-worker helped me with the repair which was VERY important when we were taking the screen off. We took our time and were very gentle with all the connections, so nothing was damaged. It was a great opportunity to clean out all the dust with canned air too.

The instructions were very clear and well defined, with excellent pictures. Using iFixit's Magnetic Project Mat and Pro Tech Toolkit made everything much easier and faster. It took us 3 hours total to tear it apart, install the dual HD kit + the 2 HDs and put it back together. We all held our breath when we plugged the power back into it and pushed the ON button... success! High fives for everyone.

Before we got started I was nervous about repairing my own computer. Now that I (with help) have repaired my own computer I am much more confident that I can repair other devices using the guides on this website.

My Advice

I simply wish I had believed earlier that electronics repair isn't magical or out of reach as long as I have the right tools and an excellent guide to follow. By doing in-house repair we saved a lot of money (was even thinking of just buying a new computer initially), plus my computer is way faster and cooler than it was before.

Advice? JUST DO IT.