27" iMac i7 drive failed. Looking for upgrade tips

1. Yes
2. Crucial M4 512GB
3. I would just replace the failed drive with the SSD. Then, you could get a cheap Firewire drive (around 2TB or so).
4. More RAM is always a plus, but I get by on 8GB pretty easily.
5. I would wait until Mountain Lion comes out to upgrade. It will be out sometime before the end of July.
6. Don't give up on your iMac yet. I assume it is out of warranty, so you don't have to worry about voiding it when you replace the hard drive. There are many good threads about replacing the iMac's hard drive and it isn't as daunting as you would think.

You can certainly replace the failed drive with another regular HDD and add an SSD if you are technically inclined. You just have to disassemble the iMac a lot more to get to the place to install the SSD in the "factory" location.

You will be able to boot off of either. I would replace the failing HDD with the new HDD, because the other spot to mount the SSD isn't big enough for a 3.5" HDD anyway. Then, you can just select which disk you want to install OS X to and use the other disk for storage. I want to do this setup myself, but am worried about voiding my warranty.

Replace your HDD with an factory hard disk maybe the 2TB version so you don't have problems with your expensive precious computer and forced to do any kind of mods as i did.If you want a SSD i recommend a highly reliable Samsung 470 or 830 and put it in the extra bracket (not included)under the GPU heatstick.

is this a 2011 imac if it is you should buy this



http://www.ebay.com/itm/LaCie-90001...isk_Drives&hash=item3cc8e66dac#ht_1392wt_1221



drop in these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SAMSUNG...Disk_Drives&hash=item4ab90cd85e#ht_890wt_1221


and you have a 512gb ssd


if it is not a 2011 imac nevermind


here are the threads on building the lbd into a killer ssd osx drive

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1280118/


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1403856/

Dansk said:

No Thunderbolt. First or second of the core i7 series. Second iirc

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That is indeed an interesting set up though nice little job there

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Is same the bracket apple put when you preorder the machine with SSD.

I have a mid 2010 27" iMac with the 2.93GHz i7 processor. I added a 120GB OWC SSD, left the 2TB oem drive where it was, and left the optical drive as it was.

I had to purchase a SATA data cable, short SATA power Y-splitter, and the oem spacer mounting bracket from a Apple parts store online. The bracket was plastic and replaced the existing one which didn't have a platform to place the SSD on. The Y-splitter cable simply split the original hard disk power cable into 2 power cables, one to re-power the HD, and the other for the SSD.

Either disk can be your boot disk, but it makes sense to put your OS X boot and applications on the SSD. You can relocate your home directory to the hard disk where you have all the room you need for music and photo libraries. I also made a 500GB partition on the HD for a bootable Windows NTFS volume which I can dual boot to, or use as a virtual machine with VMware Fusion in OS X.

I followed instructions posted here in threads and it wasn't too difficult. Just go slow and remember where everything went when you go to put it back together again. You don't want to have any leftover parts or screws when you finally get it all closed up and ready to run again.

Good luck with your project...



-howard

Dansk said:

After doing quite a bit of reading about SSD swaps/upgrades it seems there is two methods. The y Splitter as mentioned or a complete power cable replacement. Im leaning towards this route and think these are the parts I need but in the listing it says different so im relying on you guys here to set me straight.

To be perfectly clear my machine is an Imac core i7 purchased in Aug of 2010 model A1312 EMC 2390

Question I have is this kit here the right one for my swap? Please advise thanks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/iMac-27-201...1402593?pt=Apple_Desktops&hash=item2572e508e1

Click to expand...

http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=A1312

this says you have a MC510LL/a

http://www.ebay.com/itm/iMac-27-201...1402593?pt=Apple_Desktops&hash=item2572e508e1

this says it works for a MC510LL/a my guess is you are good

Dansk said:

Originally I wanted to buy an i7 with SSD and a conventional but got stuck in a time crunch, needed the hardware fast, so I bought an off the shelf unit at a local Apple store with a single conventional 1GB drive that has just packed it in. IIRC its a Samsung HD if that matters any? I managed to get my files backed up so im not at a big loss here however I figure if Im going to open it up I might as well get the best performance out of it. I also would like to install dual drives so Im going to list some questions out and would greatly appreciate some tips on whats the most reliable and top performing hardware upgrades.

1. SSD?

2. Brand and size drive?

3. Single or dual drive? I tend to fill up 500GB of space or so every few months and do manual bu's presently but always liked the idea of an OS drive that doesnt get used for storage and supplementary dries for storage. Ran my towers this way with success but was curious if there are any downsides that have popped up since the dial drive options was added to iMacs?

4. RAM. I have 8GB now. Is it enough or do I need to step up to 16GB? Using photoshop a lot

5. Current OS Snow Leopard. Should I do the Lion upgrade while im at it? Any performance/stability benefits?

6. Go *******s, toss in the towel and use it as a display only and step up to a fresh tower?

Thanks much!

Click to expand...

Those all sound like valid things you can do. My only word of warning is in regards to taking apart the iMac yourself. I used to be an Apple Certified Machintosh Technician and have taken apart plenty of iMacs with all of the Apple provided tools. It's not an easy task.

There's a lot that can go wrong. And if it doesn't go wrong, once you go to put the display and glass back on, it's near impossible to get the dust out from between the LCD and the glass. Additionally I'd recommend wearing gloves when handling either the LCD or Glass. Doing it without will cause fingerprints that are almost impossible to get out without the proper Apple recommend tools.

Hi,

Just a couple of things to mention.

1. I've taken apart my 2007 aluminium iMac 24" several times now for HDD upgrades and never had any problems getting rid of dust. Just keep your work surface as clean as possible, wash hands with soap and water to remove finger grease before working and use an ESD strap. Be slow and deliberate with all screw removals and use your spare hand to hold the screw tip in place to avoid slips and scratched LCDs...

2. Make sure you have somewhere ready to receive the front plastic cover and then the LCD and store them both vertically to reduce the likelihood of gathering dust while you work on the chassis. The front plastic cover must come off straight forwards as it has dowels to locate it. Don't lift it very high at any one corner or side or you can damage the dowels. I usually use credit cards at each corner and a single sucker to pull each corner just a few mm before slipping a card under each corner. Once it is off all 4 corners, the magnets are far enough away to remove more easily.

3. Be very careful when removing the LCD inverter connector as, if it is anything like my 24" machine, it is very tight. I find that using a spudger to gently twist between the plug and socket just to "pop" it apart is best, then you can remove it normally. Make sure you are comfortable and at a good height with good light etc before you lift the LCD from the chassis and start on the connector. Also, I suggest making a checklist of connector removals and check them as they come off and cross them as they go back on. It is really easy to forget the LCD temp sensor or the microphone connector in particular.

4. Give the insides a good hoover (ideally in a different room to avoid dust) and especially clean out the fans. I find my wife's blusher brush very handy for this (sshhh!) as it is very soft. Be careful not to hoover up any parts such as the IR sensor black plastic shield.

5. When putting it all back together, use the connector checklist and just be careful not to trap/crush any wires. Once the chassis is all back together, put the machine upright before trying to attach the plastic screen cover. I usually use the little chamois leather screen cleaner that came with my iMac to gently brush away any dust and angle the iMac screen to make it easy to see and remaining dust. Do the same with the plastic cover keeping both upright and then just bring them together. Give the machine a test and if all is well then get a JPG of a pure white image in full screen to inspect the screen properly. If any dust particles remain then just pop off the cover and use an air duster or cloth to remove. Worst case it might take a couple of attempts to get it spot on. As someone else said, try to avoid touching the inside of the plastic cover or the LCD.

6. Final thing - I was listening to a podcast the other week (Build and Analyze on 5by5) and they were discussing SSD upgrades. They were talking about the idea of a "boot SSD" and having everything else on a conventional HDD. However, the conclusion reached was that, if budget allows, it is much better to get a bigger SSD and try to run the entire system from it with only large media files being stored on the HDD. Certainly in my case the only files that take up significant space are iTunes library (inc movies), photo library and virtual machines. Everything else could fit on a 512GB SSD.

7. Oh, one other (final) thing... I decided this time to install a 2TB WD Caviar Green drive in my iMac. I had a 7200RPM drive in it last time and it was really noisy and ran quite hot. The Green drive is virtually silent and the drive bay is a good 10C cooler too. Even better, the new drive is faster (sequential Read/Write) than the 1TB Seagate Barracuda it replaced even though it is only 5400RPM. If I were you I'd seriously think about having a larger, super-fast SSD (512 or 768GB) but then go for a 2TB or 3TB WD Caviar Green drive for mass-storage. In my opinion, the reduced noise is worth it and if everything but iTunes and other media is coming from the SSD then I doubt you will notice the speed reduction.

I hope this helps, good luck!
Craig.

Dansk said:

Craig that info ROCKS man thanks a ton!

I already bought a WD 1TB caviar black as I was frustrated at a local store when the listed 2TB in stock online and had none when I got there and didnt want to waste time so.... 1TB it is. Im going to restore my back up to it, clone this machine with another imac, then wipe it and do a fresh install on the SSD with the new Lion on the 25th. I run through a fair amount of files but I was irresponsible with this machine im now rebuilding and abused the drive and paid the price....

I already bought a 256gb Samsung SSD so thats also what im going to run but had I thought more perhaps the single SSD of a larger size was the smart way to go and forget the second internal.... I dont really "need it" I just want it for convenience between file bu's.

Anyways other than some tunes I dont need to move the home folder so I'll just stuff everything on the SSD and use the HDD for scratch. Good tips all thanks

One last thing after searching around the past hour it seems USB3 upgrade on the iMac is not doable.... at least not easily enough to be worthwhile. FW800 stills rules these old ( old? ) machines now....

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I had the exact same issue today and have the same iMac.

Did you find this kit did what you needed?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/iMac-27-201...1402593?pt=Apple_Desktops&hash=item2572e508e1

I plan to purchase the ifixit kit to help crack open my iMac.

I also plan to get the Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARX drive to replace the HDD. it appears to support the thermal sensor requirements. I had a WD drive in my iMac.

Question I have is about which SSD. Is there a special consideration for a thermal sensor with the SSD i should be aware of? If so, does the kit above have the right cabling and which drives are compatible with the iMac's senor requirement without having to install the HDfancontrol software I've read about.

I'd hate to go to all this trouble and have fans that run out of control.