Wishing you the best.
It’s frustrating and unsettling when computers have a death rattle. Especially when they are glued/taped together.
Thanks for that. I got a chuckle out of that. You are so right. I may turn the imac into a target display. Apparently this model will go into target display mode.
It’s not uncommon for components like hard drives to fail early in their (intended) lifetime.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Bathtub_curve.svg
I wouldn’t rule the drive out just because it’s relatively new.
2 Likes
Thanks for the info. I hadn’t thought about that. The first drive replaced in Oct 2017 lasted 4 years. I was hoping for a simular performance out of the replaced drive. 
Hate to say it, but that’s assuming they put a new drive in. Could have been scavenged from another dead Mac.
Apple doesn’t use “scavenged from another dead Mac” parts. Especially Hard Drives!
That is a poor way to do business…
Dave
- Apple may use parts or products that are new or equivalent to new in reliability and performance. Apple will retain the replaced part or product that is exchanged as its property, and the replacement part will become your property. Replaced parts are generally repairable and are exchanged or repaired by Apple for value. If applicable law requires Apple to return a replaced part to you, you agree to pay Apple the additional cost of the replacement item.
I’ve got sort of another issue. I’ve partitioned the new 8TB drive into a boot partition and a data partition. My current problem is that the imac doesn’t see the boot drive on startup (holding option key down when I here the chime)! 
All 3 drives, with bootable systems appear in the Startup Disk system preference. The easystore boot partition was created/restored from a bootable clone.
I’ve been searching Apple’s support area. And I am wondering if the boot partition has to be the first partition on the drive?
iMac configuration
Internal 1TB drive -
My Book Studio - 2TB external (available on boot- with option
Easystore. 8TB - (not available on option boot)
I’m trying to create a configuration that doesn’t use the internal HD until I can get it to the Apple store to make sure that there aren’t any issues with the drive.
Did you use GUID partition map?
That’s a prerequisite for creating a bootable macOS drive.
1 Like
I am aware of Apple’s Terms & Conditions that you quoted…
What I wanted to clarify was that others may take your assumption of scavenging parts from dead Macs as Gospel. Apple may use parts from another system but only after they pass QA testing or being remanufactured. This is why repairs come with a 90 day warranty of parts and labor.
There are not piles of dead Macs waiting to be scavenged in your local Apple store. Matter of fact, there isn’t a single dead Mac waiting to be scavenged either. This is the point I wanted to make.
Thanks for helping me make that point.
1 Like
I will check. I didn’t think of checking that.
Update: yes it is GUID and here are a couple of screen captures.
What I’m most concerned about is the “owners” option is listed as disabled. I checked all the other drives and they are all enabled. Any thoughts?
When “owners” is enabled then ownership of files/folders is enforced. Generally you want it enabled if you are concerned about file ownership (like if the drive is shared among different login accounts) and disabled if you don’t (makes it easier to share files on different accounts especially if you move the drive between systems.) Note that this is a separate issue from encryption – if you want file security you will still want to enable encryption on the drive.
To turn “owners” on or off, do a Get Info in Finder on the drive. At the bottom of the info there is a checkbox to ignore ownership of the volume (ie – Owners Disabled)
Your tip is helpful. But this doesn’t prevent being able to boot from the drive does it?
I believe ownership is forced on for boot drives. Otherwise there would be system integrity issues.
I would think so too. I was surprised that the option was checked in the finders get info window. I am no longer ignoring permissions on that drive. I haven’t had a chance to reboot with the option key pressed. Hopefully that is the only problem with booting from the new drive.