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2011 Thunderbolt iMac SSD Discussion Thread (Parts Identified)

If I buy the low-end 2011 21.5 inch iMac having only the 500GB HDD (and no option for an SSD upon order), will it be possible for me to install a let's say 128 GB SSD drive myself later if need arises?

According to some photos I've seen, I think there is enough space reservation next to the optical drive, but how about all the cabling and are there enough connectors on the motherboard? If not available, where can these be purchased from?

I guess at least a specifically dimensioned bracket is required, do those normally come available for order from some 3rd party reseller? If so, when to be expected?

Thanks!
 
iMac with external SSD through thunderbolt

Hey guys, can someone answer this:
I'd like to pair a new iMac with just an internal HDD with a thunderbolt external SSD (when they become available). Will it be able to replicate an iMac with dual HDD/SSD internal drives? The idea of giving Apple so much money for a SSD inside seems disgusting.
:)
 
anjoh said:
If I buy the low-end 2011 21.5 inch iMac having only the 500GB HDD (and no option for an SSD upon order), will it be possible for me to install a let's say 128 GB SSD drive myself later if need arises?

According to some photos I've seen, I think there is enough space reservation next to the optical drive, but how about all the cabling and are there enough connectors on the motherboard? If not available, where can these be purchased from?

I guess at least a specifically dimensioned bracket is required, do those normally come available for order from some 3rd party reseller? If so, when to be expected?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Anyone? Please? This will pretty much decide my first Mac purchase -- If there is no way to add an SSD later, I guess need to go for another PC. :confused:
 
anjoh said:
Anyone? Please? This will pretty much decide my first Mac purchase -- If there is no way to add an SSD later, I guess need to go for another PC. :confused:
Click to expand...

You can do it, but it requires a hack of sorts. If you order without an SSD the frame inside the machine is different. You need some way of attaching the SSD, the drive itself and data + power cables.
 
rj86 said:
You can do it, but it requires a hack of sorts. If you order without an SSD the frame inside the machine is different. You need some way of attaching the SSD, the drive itself and data + power cables.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply!

What do you mean by that the frame inside is different? Do you mean that there is something different in the internals of 2.5 ghz / 2.7 ghz 21.5'' iMacs? Or is just a missing bracket that can be bought separately from a 3rd party using its part number?
 
21.5" iMac... 3rd Party SSD added successfully!

I purchased the cables mentioned above from AppleComponents, and was likely the first as I had to request them.

They arrived this morning and everything looked great.

After running out to purchase some sheet aluminum to rig up my own bracket I set into work.

Removed the motherboard, as is detailed in iFixit's teardown.

Added the SSD power and data cables to the bundle running off of the motherboard.

With the motherboard out of the way, I set to trimming, bending and punching the sheet aluminum to make brackets for either side. They turned out alright.

Reinstalled in reverse and ran the SSD cables through the pre-existing cut out on the pressure wall.

Finished assembly as normal, then popped in the Applications DVD and set it on extended test.

No problems found!

Here are some pictures:

My brackets and SSD:
ZQ20O.jpg

S4slc.jpg


System Profiler Post Install:
xRRi2.png
 
EWDurbin, that's interesting stuff! Which model do you have - 2.5 GHZ or 2.7 GHZ? (I suppose it is 2011 version?)
 
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Base model! 2011 21.5" i5
 
How is the BTO 2011 iMac with SSD+HDD wired? I'm assuming when those parts are available it'll solve the issue of losing the temp signal from the HDD?
 
Wow, good job there, EWDurbin! I have not even ordered my iMac yet but now Im most certainly going to. Im using 64Gb SSD on my good ol' ThinkPad T60 and boy its fast. I would not want to buy 1200€ computer stuck with HDD.

Now Im just waiting that AppleComponents.com to come back online. Im wondering if their website is down because everyone wanted to buy those cables after your post. :D
 
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EWDurbin said:
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Base model! 2011 21.5" i5
Click to expand...

That understood. But even the high end model is i5 unless you opt for i7 by adding $$$. Either you have a 2.5 or 2.7 GHZ version?
 
siwi666 said:
Hey guys, can someone answer this:
I'd like to pair a new iMac with just an internal HDD with a thunderbolt external SSD (when they become available). Will it be able to replicate an iMac with dual HDD/SSD internal drives? The idea of giving Apple so much money for a SSD inside seems disgusting.
:)
Click to expand...
I don't know about the price relative to other SSDs on the market right now, but I would like to wait in general to get an SSD for them to be cheaper.

I am a bit surprised to see you were the first person in this thread to ask this question as that's what I thought the thread was about from the title...

Will an external Thunderbolt SSD be bottlenecked such that it will be slowed than an internal HDD? That is, should I just wait for the new Mac Pros so that I can add an SSD when the prices come down without having to hack my iMac?
 
AbeFroman77 said:
How is the BTO 2011 iMac with SSD+HDD wired? I'm assuming when those parts are available it'll solve the issue of losing the temp signal from the HDD?
Click to expand...

Im assuming that the BTO 2011 imac are #539-1295 (SATA DATA) #539-1296 (SATA POWER) like alienatf said in his post. And also by how EWDurbin wrote his post the fan problems are fixed since there are 2 separate data and power cables. I could be wrong if I am, please someone tell me otherwise.
 
michaelj1103 said:
Im assuming that the BTO 2011 imac are #539-1295 (SATA DATA) #539-1296 (SATA POWER) like alienatf said in his post. And also by how EWDurbin wrote his post the fan problems are fixed since there are 2 separate data and power cables. I could be wrong if I am, please someone tell me otherwise.
Click to expand...

This is correct.

There are no fan issues whatsoever as the HDD SATA Power Cable which carries the new temperature sensor data was not altered in any way.
 
So is the issue resolved when adding an aftermarket SSD to an iMac with an Apple HDD? No temp or fan issues?
 
AbeFroman77 said:
So is the issue resolved when adding an aftermarket SSD to an iMac with an Apple HDD? No temp or fan issues?
Click to expand...

No issue to resolve. Issue only crops up if you are replacing the Apple supplied HD with another HD. Adding another drive (SSD or 2.5" laptop HD) will not affect it at all.
 
tsugaru said:
No issue to resolve. Issue only crops up if you are replacing the Apple supplied HD with another HD. Adding another drive (SSD or 2.5" laptop HD) will not affect it at all.
Click to expand...
What sata/power cables did you use? I thought some people had problems with adding an SSD with the Apple HDD?
 
AbeFroman77 said:
What sata/power cables did you use? I thought some people had problems with adding an SSD with the Apple HDD?
Click to expand...

There is a spare SATA port on the rear side of the logic/motherboard. That is for the data.
For power, they take a SATA Y cable to provide power to the SSD and HD.

I didn't install the SSD in my iMac (I'm not that brave yet,) but I know the above is how it is done.
 
tsugaru said:
There is a spare SATA port on the rear side of the logic/motherboard. That is for the data.
For power, they take a SATA Y cable to provide power to the SSD and HD.

I didn't install the SSD in my iMac (I'm not that brave yet,) but I know the above is how it is done.
Click to expand...

Wasn't that how the temp signal was lost when the Y-splitter power cable was used?
 
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Temp sensor info goes over the data cable. Not the power cable.
 
tsugaru said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Temp sensor info goes over the data cable. Not the power cable.
Click to expand...

This from anandtech's review:

Apparently Apple likes to query HDD temperature quite frequently and uses that data in determining fan speed. In order to keep those requests off the SATA bus Apple supplies a custom power cable with surprisingly low gauge wires to not only power the hard drive but also return temperature data to Apple's fan controllers.

The standard SATA power cable is five pins. There's one pin for each voltage rail (3.3V, 5V and 12V) and two pins for ground. Apple's custom cable has seven pins, the remaining two are for temperature data. If you replace the iMac's internal hard drive with a drive that doesn't provide the appropriate temperature data, Apple's fan controller will go bonkers and try to cool what it assumes is an overheating drive.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4340/27inch-apple-imac-review-2011/5
 
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