2009 iMac i7 hd upgrades

nynemusic said:

http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/upgrade-hard-drive-in-late-2009-imac.htm

The above linked article states that the iMac 2009 drive can only be replaced with a drive by the same manufacturer!!!!

How should i proceed ??

Faisal

Click to expand...

You can get software that fools the fans into cooling, this however will overwork the fans. However I'd recommend contacting a vendor that specializes in Macs such as OWC (http://www.macsales.com) and see what they recommend.

nynemusic said:

http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/upgrade-hard-drive-in-late-2009-imac.htm

The above linked article states that the iMac 2009 drive can only be replaced with a drive by the same manufacturer!!!!

How should i proceed ??

Faisal

Click to expand...

You can just short out the temp sensor and fans will work OK. Alternately you can buy the temp sensor that is used on the DVD drive and put that in place of the sensor wire that connects to the hard drive. Third option is fan control software. Lots of ways to handle it. You do not need to use the original drive model.

Also, if you are planning on putting a HDD in the DVD drive slot it will have to be a 2.5" form factor and you will need to buy an adapter sled. Available on eBay.

nynemusic said:

Want to replace the hard drive of my 2009 imac i7 with WD Caviar black. Will also drop in a WD Caviar in place of my broken optical drive.

Are there any special preparations, mods, firmware updates, warnings i should know about. I myself will not be opeing the iMac, but the trained staff here in my country cannot entirely be trusted with know how.

I plan to sell this machine in a few months so not going with SSD right now, nor do i have the time to wait for a OWC data doubler kit to arrive to me as i am in the middle of work.

Anyone care to share their experience ?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I have a Caviar Black 1TB in my '09 27" i5 and have had it in there for about 3 years with an Intel 80GB SSD. No problems other than having to run fan control software, currently looking into some sort of thermal sensor to splice in so I do not need 3rd party software at all.

I have used smcfancontrol in the past and while it will lower the fans back to a lower/whisper quiet speed it would keep the fans at low speed even during intensive processing and gaming. The iMac would get VERY hot.

I know use iStat Menu and it is "better" . Now I have different settings like Default which keeps the fans very quite, you can then set different fan speed settings and name them like Gaming and set the fans to spin at a higher speed to keep things cooler.

The problem I have is that even though this is better, it is not automatic. I have to remember to set the fans to a higher speed before doing heavy processing or games or else the iMac just becomes an oven, more so than before I changed the HDD out.

This wasn't such a big deal in the beginning but I'm growing tired of having to change that setting after 3 years. The next iMac will be ordered exactly how I want it and I won't be so quick to open it up.

nynemusic said:

hmmm......does seem like it could get annoying!!
Ia there any way to find out what manufacturers drive i already have installed in my iMac without opening the machine. am contemplating replacing with the exact same model and would need to buy one so the replacement could happen at the time the imac gets opened. dont wanna open it again and again!!

Click to expand...

Hold the option key and click the apple - system info and then serial ata. If you see something like this ST31000528AS it's a seagate. WD for the other.

I'd rather replace the optical drive with a 128GB SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD (as both ports on that iMac are SATA-II and it costs as much as a 1TB WD Black) using the OWC DataDoubler.

Then set it up as a Fusion Drive along with the WD Black you intend to put in the 3.5" spot.

i have a samsung ssd 840 500gb inside, this rocks and if needed connect a extern hdd for storage.