21.5" Mid-2011 iMac HDD type?

[whodareswins]

As I am seriously considering installing an SSD in my iMac soon, I'm thinking it would be a good time to upgrade the HDD inside of it too. It currently has a 500GB one but I want to increase this to 1TB.

My question is, what size HDD is inside of it? I'm assuming it's a 3.5" regular type? Also, as I find my current HDD quite noisy, can anyone recommend a reliable and quiet HDD?

Any help would be greatly appreciated .

[flatfoot]

It's a 3.5" drive.

No idea about quiet drives ATM.

[masterofstr3]

If you are looking for something without a noise then ofcourse go for the ssd, but you still have a very limited storage space for a maximum price. So i think you need to cosider a fusion instead or just stick with a normal 5600rmp harddisk, they are a little slower than the 7200 but make less noise.

Its all up to you

[rpg51]

I added and SSD to my 2011 iMac and it is terrific. I use the HDD for storage of data that gets little use and for the odd DVD copy I have. The iMac is transformed by adding an SSD. Highly recommended. Well worth the $ if you have it to spare. I would do it again in a heart beat. Doubt I will ever own a computer with an HDD for the boot disk again. One thought though - you might consider an external thunderbolt SSD. Just a thought.

[whodareswins]

Originally Posted by rpg51

I added and SSD to my 2011 iMac and it is terrific. I use the HDD for storage of data that gets little use and for the odd DVD copy I have. The iMac is transformed by adding an SSD. Highly recommended. Well worth the $ if you have it to spare. I would do it again in a heart beat. Doubt I will ever own a computer with an HDD for the boot disk again. One thought though - you might consider an external thunderbolt SSD. Just a thought.

Thanks guys!

RPG51 -

I do have a question or two about the whole SSD upgrade. I am going to do it of course! But once I have installed the hardware and put the iMac back together, how do I select the SSD as the boot drive when I fresh install OSX?

[rpg51]

System preferences > System > Startup Disc

The SSD will show there and you just select it and you are good to go.

[whodareswins]

Originally Posted by rpg51

System preferences > System > Startup Disc

The SSD will show there and you just select it and you are good to go.

Ah that easy .

So as I understand its a case of installing the SSD and reassembling > Installing OSX Mountain Lion > Select SSD as startup disc > Then use migration assistant to import my setting etc?

[rpg51]

Yes. Or you could get the current disc up to date and then clone it to the SSD. Might be a good time for you to do a clean install however.

[richb330]

You want to do a clean install once you've go the ssd installed. get hold of the correct cable & tools and use the ifixit teardown instructions. I did this myself a couple of months ago. I installed a 128GB agility3 SSD and a Barracuda 2TB 7200rpm HDD in my 2011 21.5" i5.

The 2TB drive replaced the stock 500GB and i mounted the SSD under the superdrive with a bit of velcro. It's been in since March and no problems.

For the reinstallation, once you've removed the boot drive (500gb) and installed the new ssd and new hard drive, hold down option key when booting and will automatically boot into the net restore mode. This allows you to connect to the App store and download the OS. It's over 4gbs in total so I hope you've got a good internet connection!

I documented my experience, including the OS reinstallation on my web site.

www.osxstuff.co.uk

take a look, and i hope you find it useful.

[whodareswins]

Originally Posted by richb330

You want to do a clean install once you've go the ssd installed. get hold of the correct cable & tools and use the ifixit teardown instructions. I did this myself a couple of months ago. I installed a 128GB agility3 SSD and a Barracuda 2TB 7200rpm HDD in my 2011 21.5" i5.

The 2TB drive replaced the stock 500GB and i mounted the SSD under the superdrive with a bit of velcro. It's been in since March and no problems.

For the reinstallation, once you've removed the boot drive (500gb) and installed the new ssd and new hard drive, hold down option key when booting and will automatically boot into the net restore mode. This allows you to connect to the App store and download the OS. It's over 4gbs in total so I hope you've got a good internet connection!

I documented my experience, including the OS reinstallation on my web site.

www.osxstuff.co.uk

take a look, and i hope you find it useful.

I copied the downloaded file of Mountain Lion to a DVD as a backup. How would I install this on the SSD when I come to do clean install (seeing as there will be a HDD & SSD)?