Latest chapter in the saga:
Tech reports that, following installation of new Seagate drive, fans run at higher speed such that the iMac is intolerably noisy. This is likely due to the proprietary firmware in the Apple-commissioned hard drives. (The tech could try out any number of third-party hard drives to see if he could find one that would work properly, but he'd have to charge for the time and effort, with no guarantee that there would be a successful outcome.)
So now the only option is to go to Apple and acquire their officially sanctioned drive (500 GB, SATA, 3.5", 7200 rpm). The major downsides are the cost (3x what the other drive runs), a lousy 90-day warranty (instead of 3 years), and currently a lack of a hard drive in the Apple system (meaning at least a couple weeks' delay in getting my iMac back).
Are we having fun yet?!
Apple's chutzpah is much as it's always been, now coming up on the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Mac. But what can you do when PCs suck? This is the first major hardware problem I've had with a Mac over 3 decades. So, I guess I've just got to keep a stiff upper lip and bite the bullet.
