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SSD in iMac 7.1 24" 2.4Ghz Model?

K

kaipu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2007
14
0
India
I'm thinking of installing an SSD :cool: in my iMac 7.1 24" 2.4Ghz Model.
I want to install the new Corsair Force 80GB in it :rolleyes:

It would be great if anybody can answer a couple of questions:

1. I want to know if it'll support TRIM :confused:
2. What are the things That I should keep in mind while going through the process?

Thanks
Poras

PS: Just checked the S.M.A.R.T. status in system profiler and it says failing :eek:
 
biggd

biggd

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2008
345
0
Calgary
kaipu said:
I'm thinking of installing an SSD :cool: in my iMac 7.1 24" 2.4Ghz Model.
I want to install the new Corsair Force 80GB in it :rolleyes:

It would be great if anybody can answer a couple of questions:

1. I want to know if it'll support TRIM :confused:
2. What are the things That I should keep in mind while going through the process?

Thanks
Poras

PS: Just checked the S.M.A.R.T. status in system profiler and it says failing :eek:
Click to expand...

Hey, I really wanna do the same. Plz PM me the results!
 
K

kaipu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2007
14
0
India
rgarjr said:
OS X does not currently support TRIM.
Click to expand...

Update: The drive just died :(

Its OK if the OS X does not support TRIM at this time, maybe they'll add the support in OS X Lion.

What I'm really concerned about is that if the hardware of this system will support the SSD :confused:
and if there are any problems that I'm going to face while going through the process.

Thanks
Poras

PS: Anyway, I'm going to buy the SSD and will replace it today itself :cool:
Will keep you guys posted :)
 
Last edited:
A

ag-

macrumors newbie
Dec 8, 2010
2
0
I think my iMac is even older than yours (late 2006 24 inch 2.16ghz C2D) and I just got an SSD installed 3 days ago.
I used an OWC 60 gb SSD which from the reviews I read seems to suffer from less speed deterioration over time and still uses Sandforce controllers. Like the poster above says, OS does not currently support TRIM, but hopefully with this drive it won't be an issue.
Its definitely a huge difference in speed, although I think its not as fast as it would be in a newer iMac due to it being SATA 1 and not 2.
The only thing you need other than the SSD is the 2.5 to 3.5 inch drive bay adapter
 
K

kaipu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2007
14
0
India
I finally did it!!!
Installed the Corsair F60 GB SSD in my 7.1 2.4Ghz iMac.
It took me about 3-4 hours (I was being too careful) but i have to say that installing an SSD is totally worth it.

After installing most of the apps that I normally work with I still have 40GB space free... Yay… :D :apple:

Applications are opening up in just one bounce... :cool:

If anyone else want to do the same here are the things you should keep in mind.

* I had to use about 4 different sizes of Torx Screwdrivers and 1 very small Allen key to remove all the screws.

* If you want to install the SSD you should get yourself a bracket, just to hold the SSD in place. A metal bracket will do. Corsair F60 SSD comes with one so I was good to go.

* iFixit has a good teardown guide and you'll get some videos on youtube too, they are a good place to start but you should not depend on them and see for yourself how it is assembled and how a cable can be detached and placed back. There are slight differences in every model of iMac.

* Even the smallest of Suction cups will do, even if you have only one, I used the one which came with my Spyder3Pro monitor calibrator. I placed it on the right upper corner and pulled the glass gently, held it in position, removed the suction cup and placed it on the bottom left corner, pulled it and I had the whole glass in my hands. It was really easy.

* Remove the cover of RAM slots which is screwed at the bottom of the iMac.

* Remove all the screws. Remember their positions, it'll help to lay them on the table as you removed them.

* A temperature sensor is attached to the HDD, be careful while detaching it and note down how its attached.

* While detaching the LCD from the main frame there was a cable, looked like graphics card cable, which was a bit difficult to detach as its socket was very tight, but I successfully detached it by seeing carefully that it can be detached and then pulling it hard enough.

* The HDD was had four screws, 2 of them were removable. Look for the ones which are easily removable and unscrew them first.

* Put the SSD in place and you are ready to assemble the iMac and go.

* I turned the iMac on and checked that its working before putting any screws back.

Hope it helps… :cool:

Thanks
Poras
 
J

jkane08

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2008
69
0
Philadelphia
Kaipu, just wondering if you've run into any trouble since you've done the mod?
I have the same iMac, 7,1 2.4ghz from 2007, and my hdd is making noise lately, signs of failure, and am considering a switch to a small ssd.
 
biggd

biggd

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2008
345
0
Calgary
jkane08 said:
Kaipu, just wondering if you've run into any trouble since you've done the mod?
I have the same iMac, 7,1 2.4ghz from 2007, and my hdd is making noise lately, signs of failure, and am considering a switch to a small ssd.
Click to expand...

Me too!
 
D

dh2005

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2010
907
0
kaipu said:
PS: Just checked the S.M.A.R.T. status in system profiler and it says failing :eek:
Click to expand...

...

kaipu said:
Update: The drive just died :(
Click to expand...


Great. Thanks, SMART. You giant sack of crap...

... in my experience, SMART's about as useful as a blind, deaf and dumb lookout during a bank robbery. It can't tell you anything until a drive's got it's arse hanging out. By that time, any vaguely savvy computer-user will have noticed that there's something wrong already.

I've returned six failing hard drives for RMA in the past two years. SMART gave every single one of them a pass - including a drive that couldn't write 8GB of data in five hours. The day I come across a drive that fails a SMART test, I'll fill my pants - because I'll know there must be something spectacularly wrong with it.
 
J

jamesdmc

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2007
258
1
Cittagazze
jkane08 said:
Kaipu, just wondering if you've run into any trouble since you've done the mod?
I have the same iMac, 7,1 2.4ghz from 2007, and my hdd is making noise lately, signs of failure, and am considering a switch to a small ssd.
Click to expand...

biggd said:
Me too!
Click to expand...

Go for it. I just installed a 3.5" OCZ 120GB SSD in my 2007 7,1 iMac last weekend. In fact, I installed two hard drives in it: the 3.5" SSD in the hard drive bay (boot drive) and a 2.5" 750GB Western Digital Caviar Black in the optical bay (data drive). It's given new life to that computer. Getting the iMac open is not that big a deal if you are prepared (suction cups, torx T6 and T8, work space, patience). See this guide. It's what I used while I was disassembling my iMac and it walked me through it pretty well. The only things is that the guide says you need a T4 torx. You don't. Just a T8 (mostly) and a T6. If I had to get it open again, I could probably do it in less than 15 minutes.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
biggd

biggd

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2008
345
0
Calgary
jamesdmc said:
Go for it. I just installed a 3.5" OCZ 120GB SSD in my 2007 7,1 iMac last weekend. In fact, I installed two hard drives in it: the 3.5" SSD in the hard drive bay (boot drive) and a 2.5" 750GB Western Digital Caviar Black in the optical bay (data drive). It's given new life to that computer. Getting the iMac open is not that big a deal if you are prepared (suction cups, torx T6 and T8, work space, patience). See this guide. It's what I used while I was disassembling my iMac and it walked me through it pretty well. The only things is that the guide says you need a T4 torx. You don't. Just a T8 (mostly) and a T6. If I had to get it open again, I could probably do it in less than 15 minutes.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Click to expand...

Pretty balls-ie to lose the disk drive. Is ur hdd a pata connection?
How much extra life will u get out of ur iMac now? 4 years?
I only have leopard, will the SSD work with that?
 
J

jamesdmc

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2007
258
1
Cittagazze
biggd said:
Pretty balls-ie to lose the disk drive.
Click to expand...
I almost never used it. Besides, the external Firewire drive I bought is plenty fast enough for the infrequent times I'll need it.

biggd said:
Is ur hdd a pata connection?
Click to expand...
No, it's SATA. But the drive caddy is SATA-to-PATA. The connection with the hdd is sata, the connection with the internal iMac cable is PATA.

biggd said:
How much extra life will u get out of ur iMac now? 4 years?
Click to expand...
That's exactly the idea. The iMac was so sluggish that it was either spend $1400+ on a refurb 27", or ~$600 on the parts for the upgrade. For what we use our iMac, I think I made the right choice. This thing files now.

biggd said:
I only have leopard, will the SSD work with that?
Click to expand...
There's no reason it shouldn't. I was running Leopard on the iMac before the upgrade. But after the new drives were in and before I even finished putting it all back together, I connected my FW optical drive to it, put in a brand new Snow Leopard installation disk and installed a fresh copy on the SSD. Upgrading to Snow Leopard was one of the goals of this project. My other macs are still running Leopard.

If you want a full list of the parts I used, see this thread, posts #280 and 282.


James
 
biggd

biggd

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2008
345
0
Calgary
Super awesome, I've screen capped ur stuff and will review it in the summer. Thank you very much!
 
EasyRider

EasyRider

macrumors regular
Mar 28, 2008
119
0
Ok instead of selling my 24" 7,1 model I decided to give ssd a try (replace current drive with SSD drive) :) What do you guys recommend in the under $350 range?

Since it only connects via SATA 1, I shouldn't break the bank on a ssd drive?
 
A

Albänska

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2012
1
0
EasyRider said:
Ok instead of selling my 24" 7,1 model I decided to give ssd a try (replace current drive with SSD drive) :) What do you guys recommend in the under $350 range?

Since it only connects via SATA 1, I shouldn't break the bank on a ssd drive?
Click to expand...

I would also like to know a smart choice of ssd to get a lot of bang for the buck. I figure I need at the very least 64 Gb. I also have a 7,1 model but the 20" version.

Since I never use my superdrive I would have no problem getting rid of it but I would like to know if it makes performance worse to use that place instead of the native place for the hdd.

I recall that when I bought the computer 4 Gb (2x2) was the maximum amount of ram. Is this still true? I have googled for 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and the biggest modules I have found is 2 Gb but is it possible to use another type if I want to expand the ram?
 
O

o2sys

macrumors member
Dec 2, 2011
52
0
NYC
Albänska said:
I would also like to know a smart choice of ssd to get a lot of bang for the buck. I figure I need at the very least 64 Gb. I also have a 7,1 model but the 20" version.

Since I never use my superdrive I would have no problem getting rid of it but I would like to know if it makes performance worse to use that place instead of the native place for the hdd.

I recall that when I bought the computer 4 Gb (2x2) was the maximum amount of ram. Is this still true? I have googled for 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and the biggest modules I have found is 2 Gb but is it possible to use another type if I want to expand the ram?
Click to expand...

owc (macsales.com) sell a 6GB RAM setup, uses s 4GB with 2GB, its the max this system will take.
 
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