Replacing the HD with and SSD on 27' 2012 iMac

[Salmonchaser]

Who has replaced their spinning disc with an SSD?

I have a 2012 27" machine with the std 1TB drive. I can get a Samsung 830 512GB relatively cheaply, so I was thinking of cloning the HD onto the SSD and replacing the HD with the SSD. I would put a ~150GB Windows 7 partition onto the SSD solely for the occasional game, leaving ~350GB for the OSX system and applications.

I would move the home folder onto an external Thunderbolt drive. Probably either a LaCie or WD 4TB Thunderbolt Raid drive run in JBOD mode (one 2TB drive for data, other for backup).
The leftover 1TB drive from the iMac could go into a USB3 enclosure and be used for backup of the SSD.

I'm not interested in running a fusion drive, so let's not go there.

Any thoughts?

Edit - As for removing the screen and re-adhering, I have no worries about doing this. I've read the tear-down threads carefully.

[jmpage2]

Originally Posted by Salmonchaser

Who has replaced their spinning disc with an SSD?

I have a 2012 27" machine with the std 1TB drive. I can get a Samsung 830 512GB relatively cheaply, so I was thinking of cloning the HD onto the SSD and replacing the HD with the SSD. I would put a ~150GB Windows 7 partition onto the SSD solely for the occasional game, leaving ~350GB for the OSX system and applications.

I would move the home folder onto an external Thunderbolt drive. Probably either a LaCie or WD 4TB Thunderbolt Raid drive run in JBOD mode (one 2TB drive for data, other for backup).
The leftover 1TB drive from the iMac could go into a USB3 enclosure and be used for backup of the SSD.

I'm not interested in running a fusion drive, so let's not go there.

Any thoughts?

Yes, you can do it, see the 'Rip those macs open' thread. Be aware that you risk voiding your warranty doing this as the screen has to be cut off and then re-adhered to get to the hard drive.

I'm doing this myself at some point (if my machine ever ships) and will be doing a video walk through to help others.