27" - 21.5" iMac SSD UPGRADE TUTORIAL [Archive]

View Full Version : 27" - 21.5" iMac SSD UPGRADE TUTORIAL

All Taken

Jan 1, 2010, 08:46 AM

This Process is the same for both the 27" and 21.5 iMac.

I have been wanting to upgrade my iMac 21.5" to a SSD drive in the optical bay for a while. Apple finally got my replacement iMac to me yesterday and I got to work...

The Slimline SATA Connection used for the SuperDrive is Sata II not Sata I. (It's the same speed as the Hard Drive SATA connection)
My OCZ Agility 128GB SSD has no problem utilising sleep connected via the SuperDrive SATA.

If anyone wishes to use a DualBoot setup then I have experienced the following:

If you try and use a USB Thumb Drive to install Windows 7 then you will need to download and install rEFIt: www.refit.sourceforge.net/

If you try and install Windows 7 with the SSD situated in the optical bay rEFIt will refuse to load the installer.

To overcome this issue format the original HDD in the iMac as free space using the DVD that came with your iMac purchase - Place the SSD in place of the hard drive and install OS X and Windows 7 as you normally would. Then proceed to follow the guide.

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED TO YOUR MACHINE AS A RESULT OF FOLLOWING THIS GUIDE.

The following tools will be required:

T10 Torx Screwdriver or an Allen Key if you don't have a Torx.

2 Suction cups

T0 Posidrive Screwdriver (Eyeglasses Size)

The following Parts will be required:

A SSD drive - pick a flavour. I recommend from experience the OCZ Agility 128GB or the Intel X-25m G2.

An optical bay for that precious SSD Drive (We are not doing this in a tape and cable tie manner)

This is the optical bay I used and it is a winner, has a slimline sata to standard sata built in so no need for adapters - Great price and 2 day shipping to the UK - http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_27&products_id=260

Now for the dissasembly:

Step 1

Unplug all cables and press the power button on the iMac for 30 seconds.

With the iMac still upright place a suction cup in each upper corner.

Gently pull one corner until it is clear from the magnets that hold it in place.

Proceed to pull the other corner until it is also free. With the Glass at a 45 degree angle pull upwards so the tabs at the bottom of the glass slide away from the bottom chin.

Place the Glass flat on a towel or similar to prevent the spread of dust.

Step 2

You will now have complete access to the Screen and iSight. Lay the iMac on it's back so you have easy access to the internals.

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Notice that Screws are present on all 3 sides of the Display, we will only be unscrewing 8 Screws in total - 4 from the left of the display, 4 from the right.

This can be a little awkward, best practice is to take your time and if a screw does drop inside the iMac don't worry as you can reclaim it once the display is removed.

Once unscrewed the display will simply lift from the top edge (iSight side) about 30 degrees.

Look under the Display to notice a black flat cable attached to the board. This is the backlight sync cable and simply pulls horizontally away from the board.

The next cable is the LED Backlight cable and is unplugged by pressing down on the connector and pushing, again horizontally from the board.

You can now raise the Display slightly.

The next cable is the Temperature sensor. This consists of 2 thin wires joined to a connector. The connector pulls horizontally away from the board.

The last cable is the Displayport and it's a rather wide, delicate and flat black cable. Either side of the connector is a notch which when squeezed unhooks.

The screen is now free of cables and will lift higher. Once clear pull towards you so the bottom slides out of the iMacs chin and the screen is ready to be placed downwards onto a towel or similar.

Step 3:

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The superdrive is attached via 4 screws. Firstly peel away the black soft foam Square which covers a Temp Sensor. Stick the Square somewhere safe and gently lift the sensor away from the superdrive and stick to the inside somewhere for now.

Proceed to unscrew all 4 screws and gently lift the back of the drive to pull the slimline sata connector out of the drive.

Once the superdrive is clear you will notice that it is attached on both sides via a total of 4 screws. Proceed to unscrew them and also peel away the aluminium tape slightly from the drive.

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The superdrive is now free. Place your assembled optical bay caddy in place of the drive and re-stick the aluminium tape by pressing down firmly.

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Follow the above in reverse remembering to re-stick the sensor on the SSD with the foam black square.

Step 4:

Take the Display and place it back into the chin of the iMac. Re-attach the cables in reverse order (Backlight Sync cable, Led Backlight Cable, Temperature Cable and lastly the DisplayPort Cable)

REMEMBER THE DISPLAYPORT CABLE IS DELICATE BE PATIENT AND GENTLE

Once all connected place the screen flat and proceed to replace the 8 screws.

Using Canned Air or simply the Apple iMac Cleaning Cloth wipe or blast the screen with compressed air.

Using the suction cups pick up the Glass and wipe/blast with air.

Position the bottom tabs into the chin of the iMac and move the Glass toward the iMac until magnetism takes over and "Sucks" it back into place.

Congratulations you have successfully replaced the SuperDrive with a SSD.

Proceed to install Snow Leopard via USB DVD Drive or via USB Drive.

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If the Original Hard drive in the iMac is replaced then you will notice the fans get up to a high RPM very quickly and will stay at this level. This is due to a Tempreture Sensing cable attached to the original drive, at present most people simply short the cable with a peice of wire. I personally wanted to find away around this....

The Seagate Drives that come with some iMacs are standard Barracuda Drives, i.e the connection at the bottom of the Drive for the Temperature Sensor will be on the same Model range (500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB) The only difference is the apple firmware and the sticker on the drive. For some reason Apple has added a Q to the drive model under System Profile (About this Mac, more info). The sticker on the drive does not have the Q and uses a standard Barracuda model number.

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This means that the Drive can be swapped for a larger drive without shorting the temperature sensor.

hogo

Jan 1, 2010, 04:15 PM

how different would you expect this to be in the 27" model? I wanna do the same thing.

All Taken

Jan 1, 2010, 04:23 PM

how different would you expect this to be in the 27" model? I wanna do the same thing.

It's the same process. The 27" iMac also uses the 12.7mm Superdrive so the caddy I linked to above will suit your needs.

Whiteyez

Jan 1, 2010, 04:52 PM

This is great, thanks dude! :) Any way to use the superdrive as external?

All Taken

Jan 1, 2010, 04:54 PM

This is great, thanks dude! :)

You're very welcome. These forums have helped me on many occasions. I noticed a guide is not available for this and figured it was time to give something back.

All Taken

Jan 1, 2010, 05:10 PM

This is great, thanks dude! :) Any way to use the superdrive as external?

Various solutions exist - admittedly it is easier to get the parts in the US - here is a site that may be of interest:

http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/

You need an enclosure that will fit a 12.7mm superdrive.

Personally I have packaged my SuperDrive away for safe keeping (Might need it for a warranty repair). I much prefer the idea of external blu ray or a higher spec external dvd drive than Apple's own superdrive offering.

GaresTaylan

Jan 1, 2010, 05:40 PM

Nice tutorial. I would love to do this, but don't have the courage to right now. Maybe some day. :D

All Taken

Jan 1, 2010, 05:47 PM

Nice tutorial. I would love to do this, but don't have the courage to right now. Maybe some day. :D

Thanks, if you decide you are going to dive in then let me know if you require anymore assistance.

negatv1

Jan 3, 2010, 11:43 AM

All Taken

Jan 3, 2010, 11:45 AM

Looks awesome, and exactly what I want to do to my 27.

Question for you - I can't tell from the product link if the drive bay adapter has a slimline sata connector like the original superdrive. I assume so, as you mention no other adapters. Are you using the same slimline connectors pulled off the apple shipped superdrive? Thanks,

The caddy linked above does have a slimline sata to sata built in. It will accept the Slimline Sata connection inside the iMac and convert it to a Standard Sata connection. I'll amend the tutorial accordingly.

Thanks

negatv1

Jan 11, 2010, 11:00 PM

Thanks. I ordered the same drive caddy kit, and installed a Corsair 128GB unit in place of my superdrive this evening. Works great.

djcorrosive

Jan 11, 2010, 11:19 PM

I'd love to put a SSD in my iMac, but would be to scared so to speak!
I can build pc's no probs but this is a whole other level. Main concerns miss placing a connected and frying something and getting dust behind the screen!

Bryan Bowler

Jan 11, 2010, 11:28 PM

Excellent thread.

Thank you!
Bryan

hogo

Jan 12, 2010, 03:23 AM

All Taken

Jan 12, 2010, 04:58 AM

I've got a 250 gb ocz vertex me SSD in my optibay! Problem: shipped with firmware 1.10. Having a hard time flashing to 1.3 then to 1.41. Maybe it's because of external firewire dvd drive? OP: what firmware did your agility ship with? Any tips on flashing??

Hi Hogo,

The best option would be to replace the iMac Hard Drive with the SSD and leave the SuperDrive in place. Perform the firmware upgrades to enable Garbage Collection and then place the SSD in the Opitbay as normal.

May I ask what happens when you try and flash the drive using and an external DVD drive? Does the iMac give you the option to boot into the Flasher tool by holding down the Option (alt) key?

If you are able to enter the flasher tool and can't flash the drive it could be that you are not using the correct image. Is it an EX drive? If so please go to system profiler and check the name of the drive for a hyphen. (see below)

ISO's that covers both 1.4 and 1.41 FW with drives named OCZ VERTEX-EX

ISO's that covers both 1.4 and 1.41 FW with drives named OCZ-VERTEX-EX

All Taken

Jan 12, 2010, 05:04 AM

If anyone finds the info in this thread help full then please use the rate button.

hogo

Jan 12, 2010, 04:33 PM

Hi Hogo,

The best option would be to replace the iMac Hard Drive with the SSD and leave the SuperDrive in place. Perform the firmware upgrades to enable Garbage Collection and then place the SSD in the Opitbay as normal.

May I ask what happens when you try and flash the drive using and an external DVD drive? Does the iMac give you the option to boot into the Flasher tool by holding down the Option (alt) key?

If you are able to enter the flasher tool and can't flash the drive it could be that you are not using the correct image. Is it an EX drive? If so please go to system profiler and check the name of the drive for a hyphen. (see below)

ISO's that covers both 1.4 and 1.41 FW with drives named OCZ VERTEX-EX

ISO's that covers both 1.4 and 1.41 FW with drives named OCZ-VERTEX-EX
I can choose the freeDos CD to boot, but the iMac won't actually boot off of it. It is a known issue at ocz forums.(now i know) I see your solution and will probably try it. Have you had any fan problems on your optibay? Mine is running at 2600+ rpms while everything else is normal. I wonder if I need to change the location of the sensor. I just stuck it to the top of the optibay adapter. My adapter (from ifixit) does not have an open top like yours. Any ideas?

All Taken

Jan 12, 2010, 04:54 PM

I can choose the freeDos CD to boot, but the iMac won't actually boot off of it. It is a known issue at ocz forums.(now i know) I see your solution and will probably try it. Have you had any fan problems on your optibay? Mine is running at 2400+ rpms while everything else is normal. I wonder if I need to change the location of the sensor. I just stuck it to the top of the optibay adapter. My adapter (from ifixit) does not have an open top like yours. Any ideas?

My sensor appears to be in an optimal position - The temperature readings under OS X are 30-32 degrees. Try relocating the sensor to the Hard Disk Drive instead and see if that gives you some better results.

hogo

Jan 12, 2010, 07:23 PM

So I took my machine apart twice! Once for the flash, once for the sensor. All is now well!! I'm on 1.41 GC firmware, and i moved the sensor directly on the SSD, which was accessible once i removed the top of the mounting caddy. Thanks again for the tip.

All Taken

Jan 12, 2010, 07:24 PM

Bjoern42

Feb 2, 2010, 05:31 AM

All Taken

Feb 2, 2010, 05:43 AM

Thanks for the excellent tutorial, this is exactly what I want to do.

I just have one stupid question. You say that Windows 7 won't install with the SSD in the optical bay. Is that also the case if you install MacOS first and then use Bootcamp to install Windows7?

If it is, then the only solution is to take the poor iMac apart twice, once to replace the harddrive and once to move the harddrive?

Thanks,
Bjoern

Hi Bjoern,

In my experience the SSD in the optical bay had no trouble with a OS X installation however Windows was not able to install - I did try both the disk utility (format as FAT and Free space) and bootcamp method but to no avail. Unfortunately it does look like you have to disassemble twice, You might try installing OSX and Windows onto the SSD as an external drive and then putting the drive in the iMac?

If you find a more suitable method or discover the cause of this problem then please update me and I will in turn include it in the guide.

Kind Regards

Bjoern42

Feb 2, 2010, 06:12 AM

Hi Bjoern,

In my experience the SSD in the optical bay had no trouble with a OS X installation however Windows was not able to install - I did try both the disk utility (format as FAT and Free space) and bootcamp method but to no avail. Unfortunately it does look like you have to disassemble twice, You might try installing OSX and Windows onto the SSD as an external drive and then putting the drive in the iMac?

If you find a more suitable method or discover the cause of this problem then please update me and I will in turn include it in the guide.

Kind Regards

Thanks a lot for that. As far as I can see from googling a bit, Bootcamp does not support installing W7 on an external drive, so it would be a hassle at best to make it work.

I think I'll do it your way when I get my iMac in 3 weeks time and grow the testies needed for the operation :)

Finally, can you just confirm that installing both OSX and W7 on the SSD in place of the HDD and then moving it to the optical location is handled fine by the iMac? I.e. it locates the boot partitions just fine even though the hardware has been moved?

Thanks,
Bjoern

All Taken

Feb 2, 2010, 07:28 AM

I can confirm that the iMac will find the boot partitions without problem. Just ensure that the iMac hard drive is clear of any OS and you won't have a problem. The whole procedure is fairly easy, just take your time and I wish you the best of luck - please update this thread with how you got on and any tips/advice you want to share.

Many Thanks

Bjoern42

Feb 2, 2010, 01:14 PM

Thank you very much. Like I said, it's another three weeks before it arrives, but I'll return then with my experiences if I work up the courage :)

Bjoern

Uncle Pinny

Feb 7, 2010, 09:38 AM

Great guide. Thanks for the posting.

Quick question for someone who might know. I'm planning to replace my Superdrive with an SSD like in this guide. The idea is I'd like to install the drive then clone over the contents of the stock 1TB drive that I'm currently using.

Does anyone know if this is at all possible or are there issues when cloning from a normal system drive to a SSD. Should everything just clone then I simply select the SSD as boot drive?

Any advice welcome. THANKS

p.s. does the Superdrive look easy enough to open up? I'm hoping to retrieve my SD card that my girlfriend inserted into it the other day....

All Taken

Feb 7, 2010, 11:35 AM

Hi,

My advice would be to use a program such as SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to clone the drive. The other option would be to create a time machine backup (if you have a spare hard drive) and then restore from that backup. If cloned simply do as you said and mark the drive as the startup disk via system preferences.

The Super Drive is fairly easy to open and reassemble. You may however find that when removed from the iMac the SD card will become easier to augment out of the drive (tweezers or gentle shaking).

Regards

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 03:25 PM

hi
First post, I have read many. But I had to post today, thanks for the tutorial, I upgraded my 21.5 with samsung 256 ssd and upgraded the hd from 500 to a wd caviar black 1tb. Everything works so far. fist time I put everything back, I had no picture. I had to go back in and reseat the display port cable. now everything works. Wow was I scared I thought I screwed something up.

one question I'am getting the loud fans. Did you come up with any way to shut them down with out shorting the wires. I really don't want to go back in if I don't have to.

I used the optical bay from (newmodeus 44.74 + overnight 19.65 total 64.40)

Xbench on samsung 256 came out to 197.17 is that good?

Never did this before, thanks for writing the tutorial.
If I put back the 500 gig hd will the fans go back to normal.
thanks mickey

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 04:14 PM

hi
I put back org. 500 gb hd, the fan noise went away. Need to find out how to stop the fans from running with new hd.

also took some pictures. how do I insert pictures.

thanks mickey

All Taken

Feb 9, 2010, 04:37 PM

The best solution for you would be to use a program called SMC Fan Control. It enables you to manually control fan speed.

The other option you have is to use a piece of wire to short the Temp sensor connector. Place tape over the wire and do this at your own risk (nobody has reported a problem with this method but I personally prefer the method mentioned above)

The Score you have indicated seems typical of a indilex controlled SSD and I'm sure you are seeing the speed gains.

Enjoy

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 06:22 PM

hi
thanks again for all your help couldn't do it without you.

Did you try the smc fan controler, did it work and how low can you get the fans. Do you still hear them.
need to know before I put the 1tb back in.

The imac is super fast with the samsung ssd.
thanks mickey

All Taken

Feb 9, 2010, 06:31 PM

I couldn't say as I have never used the SMC method. Why not try the software with the stock hard drive? You can then decide if it is suitable for the 1TB Disk.

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 10:24 PM

here are some picture
samsung 256 ssd optibay and 1 TB wd black

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0123.jpg
http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0112.jpghi
http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0110.jpg
http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0113.jpg

bombwithrobots

Feb 9, 2010, 10:29 PM

This would void the warranty no doubt?

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 10:54 PM

hi
thats why I will keep my imac drive in a safe place.

First I bought mac air dvd drive at best buy and didn't work with Imac in usb slot, no power.

Bought external LG drive and it loaded adobe CS2 in almost half the time, the stock imac drive did. amazing !!!!!

I would of love to put the macair drive under the imac looks great. If anybody knows if it can be done please let me know.

thanks

tchockey

Feb 9, 2010, 11:07 PM

hi
here is xbench score with with samsung 256 with 24,000 songs in itunes about 120 gb of music.

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0124.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac203/puck6801/DSC_0125.jpg

All Taken

Feb 10, 2010, 02:07 AM

Looks great! Here is a link to the SuperDrive mod: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/macbook-air-superdrive-for-all/

The SuperDrive is not drawing more power than a standard USB port so it will work with any powered USB port, the problem appears to be communication with the IDE to USB bridge (a handshake if you will). The solution is to buy a IDE to USB bridge and seems fairly straight forward.

Best of luck and thanks for the pics.

tchockey

Feb 10, 2010, 09:03 AM

thanks
ordered the part !!!!!!!! overnight, I will have it on thursday. Let you know if it works.
thanks

hogo

Feb 10, 2010, 09:30 AM

How has your optical fan been acting? Still good? I relocated my sensor to the drive directly but it still runs hotter than all of the other components. Any alternate places you can think of? Thanks!!

All Taken

Feb 10, 2010, 09:33 AM

I can't think of any reasons as to why it would run at a higher fan speed, perhaps place the sensor on the metal of the optical caddy instead of the drive itself.

tchockey

Feb 10, 2010, 09:37 AM

Hi
I put mine right were it was on the optibay and it works fine.

If I short the cable to put back the 1tb, can I screw anything up. Thats the black and white wire on the 3rd connector.
thanks

All Taken

Feb 10, 2010, 09:40 AM

Everybody who has shorted the cable has not had a problem, just be sure to cover it with tape - the connector you're referring to is it the sensor that is plugged into the stock drive? If so that's the correct cable.

tchockey

Feb 10, 2010, 09:47 AM

hi
does the fans still work and will it get real hot if the fans don't work
thanks

All Taken

Feb 10, 2010, 09:49 AM

The fans still work, it will not overheat - the best way to check your fan speed and temperature is to use the iStatpro widget.

tchockey

Feb 10, 2010, 09:57 AM

ok
here it goes, going back in.
let you know what happens.
many thanks

tchockey

Feb 10, 2010, 03:47 PM

not good !!!! open one too many times !!!!!

put in 1tb, everything was working great no fan noise.

then display shut off. I thought I didn't seat the back wire enough. while I was checking.

I notice the 2nd wire (backlight wire with the connector was fried, I must have
caught the wire on the screw or something and pinched it and the wires were expose and shorted out.
I don't know if I fired the backlight board or something else.

do you know of any test I can do to figure whats wrong.

Imac still boots up fine.

do you know where I can get apple parts.

thanks mickey

All Taken

Feb 10, 2010, 07:28 PM

That's a tough one.

Sorry to read you have shorted the iMac. I think your best option is to put it all back together as stock and take it to a local authorised service centre. I'm not advising you lie but it may become the case that you don't mention anything other than "It stopped working properly".

See what happens and if you have to foot a bill then so be it. Please let me know what you decide and the outcome.

tchockey

Feb 11, 2010, 06:16 AM

hi
sold imac on ebay in 5 mins, put needs repair.

bought imac 24" latest 3.06ghz 4gb and 1tb 512 video.

I'am hoping the optibay is the same as the 21 and 27.

do you know if they are the same

thanks

All Taken

Feb 11, 2010, 06:18 AM

tchockey

Feb 12, 2010, 06:40 PM

hi
have a question, I cancelled my 24" and ordered 27" i7 quad core I will have it on sat overnight from macmall. you think ssd will make it silly fast.

I also picked up another mac air cd drive and got the part. it works.
now, I can hookup to any usb port and power up. hook it up to 17 macbook pro and it reads and plays disc.

let me know about ssd in quad core.

I dont need to change out reg hd, its 1tb.
I should have more room to work with in 27 inch.
thanks mickey

All Taken

Feb 12, 2010, 07:09 PM

The hard drive is one of the major bottlenecks in any system and will be especially true in an i7 based iMac, I would advise running the iMac for one week before performing any work as you need time to establish if your unit suffers yellow tint issue etc.

dadaclonefly

Mar 18, 2010, 03:47 PM

Thanks for posting this guide, very useful! I just got a refurbished i5 and was thinking about popping an SSD into it once I've used it for a bit to make sure it's in good shape. I had a few questions for anyone who's done this installation.

How difficult is it? The only experience I have opening up computers is replacing the ram on my macbook, which is not at all on the same level as this. That said, I know how to be cautious and how to follow directions, and it seems like this operation can be done by someone without prior experience. How high is the risk of permanently screwing something up?

Would this SSD drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139137) work in the 27"? It's not one of the recommend OCZ or Intel drives, but it's much cheaper for the space you get (budget is important to me), and seems to have pretty good reviews on Newegg. Are there any technical reasons it wouldn't work?

Has anyone found an external usb enclosure for the superdrive once it's removed? I pretty much never use an optical drive, but it would be handy to have just in case, and also nice to have something to keep it protected with in case it needs to go back in. Would this adapter (http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=8577) work (though it has no actual enclosure for protection)?

As for a boot camp windows install, I was thinking I would just put the SSD in the optical bay, then clone OS X with Carbon Copy and clone the Boot Camp partition with Winclone. Any reason that wouldn't work? I think i'd rather not have to go into the machine twice.

Thanks in advance to anyone who feels like answering any of these questions.

All Taken

Mar 18, 2010, 03:52 PM

The hardware tutorial is suitable for those confident disassembling and reassembling electronics competently, if in doubt then ask a friend or someone with relevant skill.

That SSD is fine, MCE do an Optibay for the superdrive. (See my tutorial for links)

The cloning idea sounds good, let me know how you get on so I can update my tutorial accordingly.

tchockey

Mar 18, 2010, 04:08 PM

All Taken

Mar 18, 2010, 04:14 PM

hey all taken
update

Got an i5 and put in optibay intel ssd x25 160 gb and use 1tb as storage. also my mac air cd drive works great and looks great with i5 after mod, goes right into usb port now.

for my home theater I put 160ssd in mac mini (little super mini).

what do you think about raid with another 160ssd in i5, will it make a big difference. is it worth the trouble.

thanks for all your help, learned a lot from you.
mickey

Hi Mickey,

Thanks for the update it sounds great, happy?

I think 2 SSD's will give stellar performance in a raid configuration, practical uses for the SSD raid are beyond me but i'm sure there are some. Let us know if you decide to try.

dadaclonefly

Mar 18, 2010, 04:23 PM

Thanks for the quick response. I noticed MCE have an external usb enclosure that they include when you order an optibay from them, but I was planning on ordering the same one used in the guide (from newmodeus.com), and MCE doesn't seem to sell their enclosure separately. Anybody know of anywhere else that they are available?

tchockey

Mar 18, 2010, 04:31 PM

Happy Happy Happy !!!!!!

I was thinking of selling i5 and throw everything in refurb i7 ( i7 cheap now), but ( I have one that I know works, no issues) just going to keep it.
mickey

yargok

Mar 19, 2010, 08:02 PM

You need an enclosure that will fit a 12.7mm superdrive.

Are you sure that the internal drive is 12.7mm?

On a side note, how are you overcoming performance degradation of the SSD on your mac? I purchased a X25-M G2 160, which I know is different from what you have, but I'm still curious what can be done.

All Taken

Mar 20, 2010, 03:36 AM

Are you sure that the internal drive is 12.7mm?

On a side note, how are you overcoming performance degradation of the SSD on your mac? I purchased a X25-M G2 160, which I know is different from what you have, but I'm still curious what can be done.

Of course I'm sure lol, I use the same 160GB G2 intel SSD in my Macbook Pro so I know what performance issues can arise.

The Macbook Pro for instance uses the slimmer drive, however, both sizes can be used in the iMac - the 12.7mm drive is the default.

If by performance degradation you are referring to read speed then that does not become an issue. Write speed however does degrade over time and will still be higher than a 10K traditional platter.

I feel the need to note that anyone performing this modification will be installing an internal hard disk for storage or an external solution. I use my SSD for booting the OS (Win 7 & OS X) and some of my main apps.

All of my other apps and media go on the traditional hard disk. If you manage to buy a SSD that fits your storage needs entirely then I would say degradation in the write performance will become an issue, since myself and others don't fill the SSD and use the traditional hard disk for storage of media and non essential apps this is not an issue.

Hope that helps.

tchockey

Mar 20, 2010, 11:36 AM

hi all

I opened my big mouth !!!!! everthing was great !!
until last night, I was just surfing on my ssd and it started beach balling everything and then. went into disc U. and tried to clean and repair. it would not let me, So I boot from org. hd no problem and go into disc U. ssd not even there anymore.
So i took it out and put it in my blackX to see if I can boot, no luck. it looks dead.

It was working great then all of a sudden, started dying. no way to bring ssd hd back to life is there. I also tried to put it in my macbook pro and would not boot.
any thoughts.

I bought ssd on ebay and with a great seller and he said he would give me full refund, pretty great. just a pain !!!!!
just want to know any quick fix.

mickey

newuser2310

Mar 20, 2010, 12:49 PM

All Taken

Mar 20, 2010, 12:50 PM

All Taken

Mar 20, 2010, 12:52 PM

one question:

Currently my regular hd uses 140-150gb of virtual memory(according to activity monitor). If my SSD has only 160gb and was used for system and apps(which uses say 40gb), where would the other VM come from? Would the size reduce and the system rely more on the physical RAM?

I would put you less commonly used apps and media on the default hard drive. Use and external dvd drive for optical storage.

ehlive

Mar 23, 2010, 03:47 PM

Hey, thank you so much for this walk through, i am going to attempt it today.

One question, I have already installed my intel SSD in my macbook, if I take it out and put it in the iMac will I be able to boot from it or will this cause me issues? Thanks

(also, I plan on leaving the stock 2TB in its bay, without formatting it, will this cause problems as it already has snow leopard on it?)

mystikjoe

Mar 23, 2010, 07:38 PM

ehlive

Mar 23, 2010, 08:32 PM

you need to reformat the drive it won't work without it. been there done that and it doesn't work.

Thanks mystikjoe, just to clarify I need to format the 2TB drive that is already in the iMac? Thanks

yargok

Apr 7, 2010, 10:15 AM

So I installed my 160 gig X25-M G2 drive into my 27" i7 iMac (8gig). It feels so much faster now. That's hard to believe considering how fast the stock i7 is with the 2TB drive. I used this guide (thanks) to do the install, as well as the guide from

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Optical-Drive-Replacement/1637/1

So i'm happy to say that it wasn't too hard to put everything in. I had a hard time with the screws that secure the modus enclosure to the black tray that is in the iMac. A little perseverance got me there.

Here is how I have my iMac setup:

SSD: 160gb Snow Leopard Partition
2TB internal:
160 gig Snow Leopard Partition (will be mirror of SSD)
30 gig Bootcamp (windows 7)
Remainder- Data partition with my user folder as well as other files.

I have the win7 partition so that I can trim the drive if it gets slow. I'd boot it up in windows, reformat the ssd as ntfs, then trim, then copy my snow leopard partition back onto the ssd. We'll see if I need to do this, but I'm ready.

Thanks for the help!

Msbeezy

Apr 16, 2010, 08:43 PM

All Taken

Apr 17, 2010, 02:07 AM

30GB for the barebones windows 7 install should be fine, just put any programs and data on the 2TB.

Heilage

Apr 17, 2010, 02:56 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the Original Hard drive in the iMac is replaced then you will notice the fans get up to a high RPM very quickly and will stay at this level. This is due to a Tempreture Sensing cable attached to the original drive, at present most people simply short the cable with a peice of wire. I personally wanted to find away around this....

The Seagate Drives that come with some iMacs are standard Barracuda Drives, i.e the connection at the bottom of the Drive for the Temperature Sensor will be on the same Model range (500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB) The only difference is the apple firmware and the sticker on the drive. For some reason Apple has added a Q to the drive model under System Profile (About this Mac, more info). The sticker on the drive does not have the Q and uses a standard Barracuda model number.

209308

This means that the Drive can be swapped for a larger drive without shorting the temperature sensor.

I'm sorry to have to correct you here, but there is a definite problem with non-Apple drives in the new iMacs. Even when replacing it with a new drive of the same sort, the issue with high RPM on the fans persist. We tested with putting a WD Green 2TB drive in a 27-inch, the drive originally had a WD 1TB Black. The jumper pins look exactly the same, but does not offer the same function in the third-party drive (not Apple branded). I believe the temperature sensor HAS to be shorted if you want to use a third party drive.

dekka007

Apr 18, 2010, 07:47 AM

Has anyone done the EFI firmware update released this week on a i5 iMac with a SSD in the optical bay?

I heard that it can screw up the iMac after the update??? Not booting etc.

yargok

Apr 22, 2010, 02:37 PM

Has anyone done the EFI firmware update released this week on a i5 iMac with a SSD in the optical bay?

I heard that it can screw up the iMac after the update??? Not booting etc.

I have an Intel SSD in the optical bay and ran the EFI firmware. No problems at all. Where did you read that there would be problems?

henri77

Apr 22, 2010, 03:51 PM

Worthy of a Nobel prize actually.

To provide a solution sorely needed for the IMac.
I was an electronic tech decades ago but the images I'd seen looked pretty intimidating for disassembly of the IMac.... glad someone had the courage to do and share this.

As costly as Mac repairs can be, voiding the warrantee is a risk I'd attempt with extreme caution.
Though I've owned a dozen macs, I've only taken a unit in once or twice in 10 years, so perhaps, once one is sure a unit is burned in, such a modification isn't TOO hazardous, if done properly.

I called the local Apple dealership and asked about having a 2nd drive installed in a MBP .... service said it's doable, yet no one there has ever done it.

Koekies125

Jun 7, 2010, 01:28 PM

Howdy all,

I'm rather new to the whole Apple world, I just bought an iMac 21". But as I am a Windows guy, I'm wanting to dualboot it with OS/x but the primary OS should be Win7. Why? Because I just love the Apple hardware and they way it also performs running Win7.

So now my question, is it possible to install a SSD in the place of the Superdrive and have that drive boot Win7? And install OS/x on the internal 500GB drive?

Forgive me if I should place this question elsewhere.

Cheers and thanks,

Hans

appleuser1991

Sep 13, 2010, 09:01 AM

I wanna get Otibay to my iMac 27 but i wounder i have a SSD but i wanna reset my 1tb in the imac with one 1,5 TB or "tb how i do that? Can i go to a Apple Support Center and pay them to do that? :)

shanmugam

Nov 3, 2010, 12:50 PM

thanks for the thread!

digitalhen

Nov 9, 2010, 02:09 AM

just ordered the caddy, and i'm going to give it a go.

need to decide on my SSD now :)

digitalhen

Nov 11, 2010, 01:26 AM

just ordered the caddy, and i'm going to give it a go.

need to decide on my SSD now :)

oh. the company took my credit details and my order, then tell me later that they can't ship to Hong Kong. disappointing.

martap

Nov 13, 2010, 07:25 AM

martap

Nov 18, 2010, 06:35 PM

Will this work as well? I also want an external case to place the optical drive in and this is a package deal. I don't live in the US so I'd hate to have to pay extra shipping costs to get the external case from a different supplier.

OptiBay Harddrive for Mac Mini (http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=OBSXGB-MINIS)

I called them and they said it should work just fine... I'll be getting it tomorrow and will do the install over the weekend. Will report back after that...

digitalhen

Nov 19, 2010, 07:49 PM

By the way, I bought my caddy here:-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280589730200

When you order it, tell them which computer you'll be installing it in. So far, happily installed a couple of Vertex 2's, one in my MBP and one in the MacMini.

I have a third, waiting for a decent deal on an SSD for my iMac.

martap

Nov 20, 2010, 07:48 PM

I called them and they said it should work just fine... I'll be getting it tomorrow and will do the install over the weekend. Will report back after that...

WORKED!!

However, wasn't smooth... had to cut about 2 millimeters of the optibay as the holes for the screws wouldn't line up... so much for standards... forgot to take a picture, sorry 'bout that...

iMac is bleeding fast.. Why didn't I do this much sooner. I got the Vertex 2 240Gb SSD btw...

panzer06

Nov 21, 2010, 08:12 AM

@ OP,

How different do you suppose this procedure is in the newest iMac 27, which is capable of having a 2.5" and 3.5" drive installed internally w/o sacrificing the optical drive. Do you know if they come with the mounting hardware even if it isn't ordered from the factory?

Cheers,

rv4

Dec 2, 2010, 09:00 AM

hi

thanks for all the informations !!!

I have a question, I have a optibay comming from my macbookpro that i'd use to replace the superdrive.
But now I put back in place my superdrive so I wonder If I can use it for the Imac ? The difference with this one you recommend is the size.
Mine is a 9.5cm and not a 12.7

And correct me if I make a mistake but apparently it's the same connection.

Is it possible to use it or I need to buy a new and correct one ?

thanks a lot

RealEvil

Dec 5, 2010, 10:07 AM

Sadly this does seem to be the case - at least with my Seagate 1TB -> Seagate 2TB upgrade... :-( The fans go crazy.

I'm sorry to have to correct you here, but there is a definite problem with non-Apple drives in the new iMacs. Even when replacing it with a new drive of the same sort, the issue with high RPM on the fans persist. We tested with putting a WD Green 2TB drive in a 27-inch, the drive originally had a WD 1TB Black. The jumper pins look exactly the same, but does not offer the same function in the third-party drive (not Apple branded). I believe the temperature sensor HAS to be shorted if you want to use a third party drive.

Paik4Life

Dec 7, 2010, 12:13 AM

WORKED!!

However, wasn't smooth... had to cut about 2 millimeters of the optibay as the holes for the screws wouldn't line up... so much for standards... forgot to take a picture, sorry 'bout that...

iMac is bleeding fast.. Why didn't I do this much sooner. I got the Vertex 2 240Gb SSD btw...

martap, could you tell me which OptiBay you bought? I'm assuming you bought the one for the early 2009 - mid 2010.

I've already upgraded my internal to an SSD in my 27" iMac, but now I'm considering putting the original 1TB back in and putting the SSD into the optical drive as many have done so far. I would like to use the OptiBay but only heard that the Mac Mini one worked, so I'm glad that you actually did it. I want the external drive so that I can use it for my iMac but also to see if I can use it as an external SuperDrive for my Macbook Air.

Anyway, if you could let me know which model, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

~Paik

zoumtag

Dec 27, 2010, 10:10 AM

I have done the 'ssd into optical bay drive' upgrade and I'm positive the hardware part went fine and smooth thanks to this great thread and advice )

I have some problems with the software part, boot and mac osx install procedure.

In my iMac, I currently have my old HDD with its original untouched macosx (which i'd like not to erase untill i get a working system on the SSD). I also have the newly installed SSD in the optibay and an external USB LG blu-ray burner.

I am a recent transfuge from windows systems so I'm not very familiar with mac boot procedures like EFI etc...

What I tried to do is the following:
- boot from old HDD
- format the new SSD using disk utilites
- insert macosx dvd in my external bluray and install from clicking the 'install macosx' icon chosing the ssd drive as target for install
- this results in files being copied for 10 minutes or so and then the iMac reboots and it looks like it reboots from the old HDD. All that I can see on the SSD afterwards is a /Mac OS X Install Data/ folder containing a bunch of .pkg files. But it stops there... It never actually boots from the SSD drive...

Additionnal info:
If I reboot holding the option key, the only boot choice I have is my old HDD 'Macintosh HD'
If I reboot holding the C key with the macOSX install disk in my external USB Bluray, nothing happens, it takes a long while to finally boot from the old HDD

(Does that mean EFI does not recognize my bluray USB drive? Shouldn't it be visible when booting with the option key? The Bluray works fine within macOS though.)

I read here and there that I should erase(format) the original HDD OS in order to boot on the SSD, can anyone confirm me that? Would simply unplugging its SATA cable work too? I'd rather keep this old OS as a backup plan until the SSD boots. Could the OS on the original drive mess up with the bluray disc detection on 'option_key_boot' too?

What should I do, can anyone advice me?
Unplug oldHDD Sata? reboot with C and hope the install disc boots from bluray and installs fine on the SSD? Then what will happen if I plug the old HDD back, then I will be able to choose which disk to boot from (oldHDD or newSSD)?

cliveports

Jan 14, 2011, 08:42 AM

How about using SuperDuper to copy the existing system from your HDD? I assume you formatted the SSD for GUID? Once you've copied the system over then try setting the SSD as the boot disk from System Utilities?

zoumtag

Jan 29, 2011, 08:22 PM

I made it using "Carbon copy cloner", a similar disk backup solution software.
Thanks again for the advice )

ImAlwaysRight

Feb 7, 2011, 06:32 PM

Thanks for this thread. I was going to wait to put an SSD in my iMac 27-inch but decided to take the plunge now since I want to reinstall the OS anyway.

I purchased a 160GB OCZ Agility 2 SSD and this caddy: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140487385132

Went with this caddy because it is a USA seller and didn't want to wait 3-4 weeks to get the caddy.

skiltrip

Feb 8, 2011, 07:27 AM

Once you add the SSD, is there a way to make that the system/boot drive?

zoumtag

Feb 8, 2011, 10:03 AM

@skiltrip: from my limited experience, yes you can chose on which drive the OS will boot from the menu >> system preferences >> startup >> there you will see a list of drives which you can boot from. (It actually requires macosx installed on your ssd to see it on that list)

To install macosx on the ssd, you have to either clone a previous installation from your old system HD to your ssd drive. Or install a fresh copy from discs (i think this requires unpluging or erasing your old system to work)

Hope that helps, I might be wrong, definitely not an expert )

ImAlwaysRight

Feb 13, 2011, 04:20 PM

Got the 160GB Agility 2 installed this afternoon in the optical bay. Wasn't planning on doing this for about 2 weeks, but the SSD optical caddy arrived, my Sunday afternoon freed up, and I figured out I had all the tools I would need. I plan to reinstall Mac OS 10.6 and my apps from scratch on the SSD, use it as my boot drive, and put my data and such on the iMac 2TB internal drive or FW800 externals.

I didn't time it, but from disconnecting my iMac to hooking it back up, I'd guess it took about 1.5 hours. I've taken apart iMacs, iBooks, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros before, but never an Aluminum iMac.

I printed out the OP's instructions, as well as the iFixIt iMac Intel 27" Optical Drive Replacement (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Optical-Drive-Replacement/1637/1) guide. Here are things I learned that I haven't read elsewhere:

 Any suction cup will work to remove the glass. And you do not need 2 but only one. I took a cheap plastic suction cup off the kitchen window where my wife had a pretty thing hanging. I imagine a dollar store or walmart would carry these for cheap. Part of the reason I decided to do this project this afternoon was that I was testing the suction cup and stuck it to the iMac and the corner of the glass cover popped right off.

 Even though I was in a brightly lit room, it was dark under the LCD to see to remove the cables. Being my first time in an AL iMac, I wore a headlamp to help me see the cable connections better.

 I have had a hum on my iMac since day one due to the hard drive resonating. To fix this, I have had a padded mailer under the base to reduce the hum. While putting in the SSD, I noticed the two screws at the top of the HDD were not completely tight. I tightened the screws, and there is a large decrease in the hum. It is slightly present, but not nearly as loud as it used to be. I've even removed the padded mailer and now just have the iMac sitting directly on the wooden desk.

 The SSD caddy I bought on ebay linked above was from seller novapcs. The title of the auction is "2nd HDD caddy Apple OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement SATA." (this is for future readers when the auction link expires) I paid $16.99 shipped from New York; it got here in about 6 days. UPDATE: Now the seller has jacked the price to $99.99, so unless he comes back down in price, shop around and you can still find the exact same caddy for under $20. It does not have brackets for the iMac, but you simply remove the SuperDrive and you can reuse the existing iMac plastic mounting bracket to secure the caddy with your SSD to the iMac. I DID have to drill 4 holes in the plastic sides of the caddy to attach the iMac SuperDrive bracket. I did this by fitting the caddy in the bracket and then just holding it in place and drilling through the four side screw holes (gently and very shallow, although you can go a cm or so without hitting anything, so there really isn't any danger to your SSD).

Hope this helps. Good luck to others putting in the SSD. I can't wait to get the OS installed later this week.

forcabarca

Mar 29, 2011, 03:25 PM

Hey guys,

I am getting ready for the upgrade, ssd instead of optical drive....

However 1 thing really bothers me..

Is it possible to install win7 in SSD in optical bay? By erasing and reformating HDD? By using carbon copier, superduper or the like?

Or is it really necessary to first replace original HDD, install both operating systems and then transfer to optical bay?

Also, can you correct me if I'm wrong, to replace the HDD, nothing is needed, both HDD and SSD are the same siz

Thanks!

malhotra

Jul 25, 2011, 03:38 AM

Hello,

Im going to use these instructions and swap my SuperDrive for an SSD today. I'd like to ask if your recommendation on what drive to use have changed. Its been 18 months and I wonder if there is more suitable SSD:s available. Capacity is not an issue, 128GB is fine, durability and performance are those that matters.

About that optical bay. Is there a way to order suitable part for my iMac? (late 2009 i7) One where i don't need to drill any holes. This operation is already scary enough, without any drilling involved! Im in Finland, so ordering from UK is not a problem, US might be a little problematic.

Thank you very much for this topic!

-Joni

mpts

Aug 8, 2011, 06:16 PM

Hi there,
thanks a lot for the tutorial. I am just about to order everything I need to do the update.

Will this caddy work as well?
http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/12-7-mm-SATA-Optical-Bay-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/IF107-081

mpts

Aug 10, 2011, 05:57 AM

Hey guys,

can anyone suggest working caddies for the current iMac, which I can easily order maybe in Germany or the UK?

Cheers!

Cole JM

Sep 3, 2011, 10:10 PM

ilpap

Sep 5, 2011, 11:34 AM

so i have changed the superdrive with an ssd and now the superdrive fan runs at about 3000.

u say to tape the cable. i dont understand, what part of the cable?

UPDATE: everything is fine here but just sticking the cable on the base of the ssd instead of the ssd itself

UPDATE2: its seems that everything is not fine. now the fan speed rises a lot slower. after almost 2 hours its about 2100rpms and rising... :(

jackzig

Sep 13, 2011, 11:48 AM

I have a 2008 24" iMac 2.8GHz, model 8,1,1. I would like to know if I could replace my little used Optical drive with a SSD. I have read the instructions for the 2010 models, and it sounds awesome.

I havebreplaced my stock HD with a 2TB, and have upped the RAM to 6GB. The SSD upgrade would be great.

Has anyone tried this?

BulletToothTony

Sep 13, 2011, 02:22 PM

wondering if THIS CADDY (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Newest-9-5mm-Serial-ATA-Optical-Bay-Hard-Drive-caddy-/280714999644?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D2%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D2757238523353425546#ht_402 2wt_1165) would work, i'm finding $99 is hard to swallow for something that can be bought for under $20 at few places.

I read that it has to be 12.5mm? this one is 9.5mm if anything is smaller and it should work right..

I have a late 2009 27" imac btw

da-junglist

Sep 15, 2011, 05:59 AM

I have a 2011 imac 27"" and have bought a sata cable out from the spare sata 1 port under the motherboard and out through the RAM space underneath the mac. It is very tight and i had to reseat the RAm the first time i restarted. It gave me the 3 deadly chimes...

Worth the couple of hours work, as now i can plug whichever drive i like into the 6Gb sata port easily. It is just stuck to the back of the imac-ghetto stylee.

I would not like to open that beast up and go through that rigmarole again.

In case you are interested how.
http://www.btobey.com/learn/imac-ssd-install.php
http://amzn.com/B0056OB8GK

Mac7

Sep 17, 2011, 01:46 PM

Is it possible to keep both ssd and hdd without losing the SuperDrive?

BulletToothTony

Sep 17, 2011, 02:15 PM

Is it possible to keep both ssd and hdd without losing the SuperDrive?

it depends on which model you get.. 2010 and up yes since they have an additional Sata connector, 2009 no cause there's only two SATAs

Mac7

Sep 17, 2011, 04:52 PM

it depends on which model you get.. 2010 and up yes since they have an additional Sata connector, 2009 no cause there's only two SATAs

I am on a late 2009 imac, So if I replace the hard drive with a ssd, is there any issues I need to be aware of.

BulletToothTony

Sep 17, 2011, 07:05 PM

I am on a late 2009 imac, So if I replace the hard drive with a ssd, is there any issues I need to be aware of.

I believe you may have issues with the temp sensor which will run at full speed (i think) if this happens just download SMC Fan Control and set the speed at around 1,000 RPM which is the default speed and should keep your SSD plenty cool.

What are you planning on doing if you go over your SSD space? External HDD? FW or what?

Mac7

Sep 17, 2011, 10:11 PM

I believe you may have issues with the temp sensor which will run at full speed (i think) if this happens just download SMC Fan Control and set the speed at around 1,000 RPM which is the default speed and should keep your SSD plenty cool.

What are you planning on doing if you go over your SSD space? External HDD? FW or what?

I was planning to use the original 500gb hdd asan external to store files

If I use bootcamp, will windows 7 boot from a external USB drive?

iLG

Sep 30, 2011, 03:50 PM

elsewhere:

 Any suction cup will work to remove the glass. And you do not need 2 but only one. I took a cheap plastic suction cup off the kitchen window where my wife had a pretty thing hanging. I imagine a dollar store or walmart would carry these for cheap. Part of the reason I decided to do this project this afternoon was that I was testing the suction cup and stuck it to the iMac and the corner of the glass cover popped right off.

you dont need to use any suction cups. I can remove the screen in seconds with my fingernails.

Oh and when will people realise that the screen is not glass. Glass is not flexible like the screen is.

econoar

Oct 31, 2011, 01:15 PM

Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?

Riverrun

Nov 3, 2011, 11:23 PM

Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?

Good question; I'm wondering the same. I'm about to modify the Optical Bay of a late 2009 22" iMac.

The OP has stated this in his original post:

The Slimline SATA Connection used for the SuperDrive is Sata II not Sata I. (It's the same speed as the Hard Drive SATA connection)
My OCZ Agility 128GB SSD has no problem utilising sleep connected via the SuperDrive SATA.

My caddy is ordered and on it's way and I'm looking at this ssd drive:

OCZ Technology 120GB Vertex Plus Series SATA 3Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive

as opposed to much faster Vertex SATA 6Gb.

As far as I can see, there isn't much point in buying the 6Gb version as my iMac will not support it, :eek: this is but my opinion based upon the little that I have been able to piece together about the matter and I may be wrong.

Is there any point in my buying a faster SSD if the Link Speed of my disk is just 3Gb?
Can some more knowledgable person clarify this issue for me and the other forum readers who are interested in carrying out this modification?

jasonforisrael

Nov 22, 2011, 01:05 AM

Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?

everything i've seen online has said that SATA III (6gb/s) will work fine on SATA II ports. it'll just be limited to the 3gb/s rather than working at full speed.

dave197

Apr 12, 2012, 06:21 AM

Just done this today on my late 09 21.5

crucial m4 and 8 gig ram, should keep it going for another year

thanks for the guide OP

All Taken

Apr 12, 2012, 06:46 AM

Just done this today on my late 09 21.5

crucial m4 and 8 gig ram, should keep it going for another year

thanks for the guide OP

May it last another 3 years :)

Azzin

Apr 12, 2012, 05:02 PM

I really (really!) want to fit an SSD to my mid 2011 i5 iMac, but I just can't find the courage! :D

Does anyone know of any UK (preferably London) based Apple approved repairers that offer fitting?

Cheers.

A massive thanks to the OP for this thread. :)

Azzin

Apr 15, 2012, 10:50 AM

All Taken

Apr 16, 2012, 03:19 PM

*Bump* :)

Any Apple approved repair centre will do the work.

Offspring992

Apr 19, 2012, 07:07 PM

Just done this today on my late 09 21.5

crucial m4 and 8 gig ram, should keep it going for another year

thanks for the guide OP

I'm going to be doing on my late 09 21.5" iMac as well. Same SSD and everything. I assume you also have Crucial's RAM? I picked up an 8 gig kit which will give me a total of 12 when it's all said and done. Anything I need to watch out for besides the fans/temp sensor cable? I ended up picking one of these to attach to the SSD: http://www.applecomponents.com/items/922-9214_cable-optical-temp-sensor/0000004352?pn=1&s=9214&per_page=30

jvpython

Apr 20, 2012, 03:53 AM

Hello,
Great tutorial! There is one thing I was wondering though. Is there enough room and spare connections in the iMac to install an SSD and still keep the optical drive?

Cyril

All Taken

Apr 22, 2012, 06:16 AM

Hello,
Great tutorial! There is one thing I was wondering though. Is there enough room and spare connections in the iMac to install an SSD and still keep the optical drive?

Cyril

Which iMac do you have?

jvpython

Apr 24, 2012, 04:01 PM

Which iMac do you have?

21.5" iMac. I was thinking that it could be possible considering Apple gives you the BTO option for 2 drives?

All Taken

Apr 25, 2012, 07:49 AM

21.5" iMac. I was thinking that it could be possible considering Apple gives you the BTO option for 2 drives?

If it has the option th configure your model machine with both a hard drive and SSD then yes, you can install a third party SSD as the SATA port is available. Retaining both the optical drive and hard drive.