The hard drive is one of the major bottlenecks in any system and will be especially true in an i7 based iMac, I would advise running the iMac for one week before performing any work as you need time to establish if your unit suffers yellow tint issue etc.
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27" - 21.5" iMac SSD upgrade tutorial
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Thanks for posting this guide, very useful! I just got a refurbished i5 and was thinking about popping an SSD into it once I've used it for a bit to make sure it's in good shape. I had a few questions for anyone who's done this installation.
How difficult is it? The only experience I have opening up computers is replacing the ram on my macbook, which is not at all on the same level as this. That said, I know how to be cautious and how to follow directions, and it seems like this operation can be done by someone without prior experience. How high is the risk of permanently screwing something up?
Would this SSD drive work in the 27"? It's not one of the recommend OCZ or Intel drives, but it's much cheaper for the space you get (budget is important to me), and seems to have pretty good reviews on Newegg. Are there any technical reasons it wouldn't work?
Has anyone found an external usb enclosure for the superdrive once it's removed? I pretty much never use an optical drive, but it would be handy to have just in case, and also nice to have something to keep it protected with in case it needs to go back in. Would this adapter work (though it has no actual enclosure for protection)?
As for a boot camp windows install, I was thinking I would just put the SSD in the optical bay, then clone OS X with Carbon Copy and clone the Boot Camp partition with Winclone. Any reason that wouldn't work? I think i'd rather not have to go into the machine twice.
Thanks in advance to anyone who feels like answering any of these questions.
How difficult is it? The only experience I have opening up computers is replacing the ram on my macbook, which is not at all on the same level as this. That said, I know how to be cautious and how to follow directions, and it seems like this operation can be done by someone without prior experience. How high is the risk of permanently screwing something up?
Would this SSD drive work in the 27"? It's not one of the recommend OCZ or Intel drives, but it's much cheaper for the space you get (budget is important to me), and seems to have pretty good reviews on Newegg. Are there any technical reasons it wouldn't work?
Has anyone found an external usb enclosure for the superdrive once it's removed? I pretty much never use an optical drive, but it would be handy to have just in case, and also nice to have something to keep it protected with in case it needs to go back in. Would this adapter work (though it has no actual enclosure for protection)?
As for a boot camp windows install, I was thinking I would just put the SSD in the optical bay, then clone OS X with Carbon Copy and clone the Boot Camp partition with Winclone. Any reason that wouldn't work? I think i'd rather not have to go into the machine twice.
Thanks in advance to anyone who feels like answering any of these questions.
The hardware tutorial is suitable for those confident disassembling and reassembling electronics competently, if in doubt then ask a friend or someone with relevant skill.
That SSD is fine, MCE do an Optibay for the superdrive. (See my tutorial for links)
The cloning idea sounds good, let me know how you get on so I can update my tutorial accordingly.
That SSD is fine, MCE do an Optibay for the superdrive. (See my tutorial for links)
The cloning idea sounds good, let me know how you get on so I can update my tutorial accordingly.
hey all taken
update
Got an i5 and put in optibay intel ssd x25 160 gb and use 1tb as storage. also my mac air cd drive works great and looks great with i5 after mod, goes right into usb port now.
for my home theater I put 160ssd in mac mini (little super mini).
what do you think about raid with another 160ssd in i5, will it make a big difference. is it worth the trouble.
thanks for all your help, learned a lot from you.
mickey
update
Got an i5 and put in optibay intel ssd x25 160 gb and use 1tb as storage. also my mac air cd drive works great and looks great with i5 after mod, goes right into usb port now.
for my home theater I put 160ssd in mac mini (little super mini).
what do you think about raid with another 160ssd in i5, will it make a big difference. is it worth the trouble.
thanks for all your help, learned a lot from you.
mickey
Hi Mickey,
Thanks for the update it sounds great, happy?
I think 2 SSD's will give stellar performance in a raid configuration, practical uses for the SSD raid are beyond me but i'm sure there are some. Let us know if you decide to try.
Thanks for the quick response. I noticed MCE have an external usb enclosure that they include when you order an optibay from them, but I was planning on ordering the same one used in the guide (from newmodeus.com), and MCE doesn't seem to sell their enclosure separately. Anybody know of anywhere else that they are available?
Are you sure that the internal drive is 12.7mm?
On a side note, how are you overcoming performance degradation of the SSD on your mac? I purchased a X25-M G2 160, which I know is different from what you have, but I'm still curious what can be done.
Of course I'm sure lol, I use the same 160GB G2 intel SSD in my Macbook Pro so I know what performance issues can arise.
The Macbook Pro for instance uses the slimmer drive, however, both sizes can be used in the iMac - the 12.7mm drive is the default.
If by performance degradation you are referring to read speed then that does not become an issue. Write speed however does degrade over time and will still be higher than a 10K traditional platter.
I feel the need to note that anyone performing this modification will be installing an internal hard disk for storage or an external solution. I use my SSD for booting the OS (Win 7 & OS X) and some of my main apps.
All of my other apps and media go on the traditional hard disk. If you manage to buy a SSD that fits your storage needs entirely then I would say degradation in the write performance will become an issue, since myself and others don't fill the SSD and use the traditional hard disk for storage of media and non essential apps this is not an issue.
Hope that helps.
hi all
I opened my big mouth !!!!! everthing was great !!
until last night, I was just surfing on my ssd and it started beach balling everything and then. went into disc U. and tried to clean and repair. it would not let me, So I boot from org. hd no problem and go into disc U. ssd not even there anymore.
So i took it out and put it in my blackX to see if I can boot, no luck. it looks dead.
It was working great then all of a sudden, started dying. no way to bring ssd hd back to life is there. I also tried to put it in my macbook pro and would not boot.
any thoughts.
I bought ssd on ebay and with a great seller and he said he would give me full refund, pretty great. just a pain !!!!!
just want to know any quick fix.
mickey
I opened my big mouth !!!!! everthing was great !!
until last night, I was just surfing on my ssd and it started beach balling everything and then. went into disc U. and tried to clean and repair. it would not let me, So I boot from org. hd no problem and go into disc U. ssd not even there anymore.
So i took it out and put it in my blackX to see if I can boot, no luck. it looks dead.
It was working great then all of a sudden, started dying. no way to bring ssd hd back to life is there. I also tried to put it in my macbook pro and would not boot.
any thoughts.
I bought ssd on ebay and with a great seller and he said he would give me full refund, pretty great. just a pain !!!!!
just want to know any quick fix.
mickey
one question:
Currently my regular hd uses 140-150gb of virtual memory(according to activity monitor). If my SSD has only 160gb and was used for system and apps(which uses say 40gb), where would the other VM come from? Would the size reduce and the system rely more on the physical RAM?
Currently my regular hd uses 140-150gb of virtual memory(according to activity monitor). If my SSD has only 160gb and was used for system and apps(which uses say 40gb), where would the other VM come from? Would the size reduce and the system rely more on the physical RAM?
I would put you less commonly used apps and media on the default hard drive. Use and external dvd drive for optical storage.
Hey, thank you so much for this walk through, i am going to attempt it today.
One question, I have already installed my intel SSD in my macbook, if I take it out and put it in the iMac will I be able to boot from it or will this cause me issues? Thanks
(also, I plan on leaving the stock 2TB in its bay, without formatting it, will this cause problems as it already has snow leopard on it?)
One question, I have already installed my intel SSD in my macbook, if I take it out and put it in the iMac will I be able to boot from it or will this cause me issues? Thanks
(also, I plan on leaving the stock 2TB in its bay, without formatting it, will this cause problems as it already has snow leopard on it?)
you need to reformat the drive it won't work without it. been there done that and it doesn't work.
Thanks mystikjoe, just to clarify I need to format the 2TB drive that is already in the iMac? Thanks
So I installed my 160 gig X25-M G2 drive into my 27" i7 iMac (8gig). It feels so much faster now. That's hard to believe considering how fast the stock i7 is with the 2TB drive. I used this guide (thanks) to do the install, as well as the guide from
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Optical-Drive-Replacement/1637/1
So i'm happy to say that it wasn't too hard to put everything in. I had a hard time with the screws that secure the modus enclosure to the black tray that is in the iMac. A little perseverance got me there.
Here is how I have my iMac setup:
SSD: 160gb Snow Leopard Partition
2TB internal:
160 gig Snow Leopard Partition (will be mirror of SSD)
30 gig Bootcamp (windows 7)
Remainder- Data partition with my user folder as well as other files.
I have the win7 partition so that I can trim the drive if it gets slow. I'd boot it up in windows, reformat the ssd as ntfs, then trim, then copy my snow leopard partition back onto the ssd. We'll see if I need to do this, but I'm ready.
Thanks for the help!
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Optical-Drive-Replacement/1637/1
So i'm happy to say that it wasn't too hard to put everything in. I had a hard time with the screws that secure the modus enclosure to the black tray that is in the iMac. A little perseverance got me there.
Here is how I have my iMac setup:
SSD: 160gb Snow Leopard Partition
2TB internal:
160 gig Snow Leopard Partition (will be mirror of SSD)
30 gig Bootcamp (windows 7)
Remainder- Data partition with my user folder as well as other files.
I have the win7 partition so that I can trim the drive if it gets slow. I'd boot it up in windows, reformat the ssd as ntfs, then trim, then copy my snow leopard partition back onto the ssd. We'll see if I need to do this, but I'm ready.
Thanks for the help!
That sounds fine but 30G partition is too small for bootcamp win..once done you cant resize so you may want to make a larger size from gitgo...just MHO
I'm sorry to have to correct you here, but there is a definite problem with non-Apple drives in the new iMacs. Even when replacing it with a new drive of the same sort, the issue with high RPM on the fans persist. We tested with putting a WD Green 2TB drive in a 27-inch, the drive originally had a WD 1TB Black. The jumper pins look exactly the same, but does not offer the same function in the third-party drive (not Apple branded). I believe the temperature sensor HAS to be shorted if you want to use a third party drive.
I have an Intel SSD in the optical bay and ran the EFI firmware. No problems at all. Where did you read that there would be problems?
scary but interesting thread
Worthy of a Nobel prize actually.
To provide a solution sorely needed for the IMac.
I was an electronic tech decades ago but the images I'd seen looked pretty intimidating for disassembly of the IMac.... glad someone had the courage to do and share this.
As costly as Mac repairs can be, voiding the warrantee is a risk I'd attempt with extreme caution.
Though I've owned a dozen macs, I've only taken a unit in once or twice in 10 years, so perhaps, once one is sure a unit is burned in, such a modification isn't TOO hazardous, if done properly.
I called the local Apple dealership and asked about having a 2nd drive installed in a MBP .... service said it's doable, yet no one there has ever done it.
Worthy of a Nobel prize actually.
To provide a solution sorely needed for the IMac.
I was an electronic tech decades ago but the images I'd seen looked pretty intimidating for disassembly of the IMac.... glad someone had the courage to do and share this.
As costly as Mac repairs can be, voiding the warrantee is a risk I'd attempt with extreme caution.
Though I've owned a dozen macs, I've only taken a unit in once or twice in 10 years, so perhaps, once one is sure a unit is burned in, such a modification isn't TOO hazardous, if done properly.
I called the local Apple dealership and asked about having a 2nd drive installed in a MBP .... service said it's doable, yet no one there has ever done it.
SSD with dualboot OSx/Win7
Howdy all,
I'm rather new to the whole Apple world, I just bought an iMac 21". But as I am a Windows guy, I'm wanting to dualboot it with OS/x but the primary OS should be Win7. Why? Because I just love the Apple hardware and they way it also performs running Win7.
So now my question, is it possible to install a SSD in the place of the Superdrive and have that drive boot Win7? And install OS/x on the internal 500GB drive?
Forgive me if I should place this question elsewhere.
Cheers and thanks,
Hans
Howdy all,
I'm rather new to the whole Apple world, I just bought an iMac 21". But as I am a Windows guy, I'm wanting to dualboot it with OS/x but the primary OS should be Win7. Why? Because I just love the Apple hardware and they way it also performs running Win7.
So now my question, is it possible to install a SSD in the place of the Superdrive and have that drive boot Win7? And install OS/x on the internal 500GB drive?
Forgive me if I should place this question elsewhere.
Cheers and thanks,
Hans
I wanna get Otibay to my iMac 27 but i wounder i have a SSD but i wanna reset my 1tb in the imac with one 1,5 TB or "tb how i do that? Can i go to a Apple Support Center and pay them to do that? 