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27" - 21.5" iMac SSD upgrade tutorial

wondering if THIS CADDY would work, i'm finding $99 is hard to swallow for something that can be bought for under $20 at few places.

I read that it has to be 12.5mm? this one is 9.5mm if anything is smaller and it should work right..

I have a late 2009 27" imac btw
 
I have a 2011 imac 27"" and have bought a sata cable out from the spare sata 1 port under the motherboard and out through the RAM space underneath the mac. It is very tight and i had to reseat the RAm the first time i restarted. It gave me the 3 deadly chimes...

Worth the couple of hours work, as now i can plug whichever drive i like into the 6Gb sata port easily. It is just stuck to the back of the imac-ghetto stylee.

I would not like to open that beast up and go through that rigmarole again.

In case you are interested how.
http://www.btobey.com/learn/imac-ssd-install.php
http://amzn.com/B0056OB8GK
 
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Is it possible to keep both ssd and hdd without losing the SuperDrive?
 
BulletToothTony said:
it depends on which model you get.. 2010 and up yes since they have an additional Sata connector, 2009 no cause there's only two SATAs
Click to expand...

I am on a late 2009 imac, So if I replace the hard drive with a ssd, is there any issues I need to be aware of.
 
Mac7 said:
I am on a late 2009 imac, So if I replace the hard drive with a ssd, is there any issues I need to be aware of.
Click to expand...

I believe you may have issues with the temp sensor which will run at full speed (i think) if this happens just download SMC Fan Control and set the speed at around 1,000 RPM which is the default speed and should keep your SSD plenty cool.

What are you planning on doing if you go over your SSD space? External HDD? FW or what?
 
BulletToothTony said:
I believe you may have issues with the temp sensor which will run at full speed (i think) if this happens just download SMC Fan Control and set the speed at around 1,000 RPM which is the default speed and should keep your SSD plenty cool.

What are you planning on doing if you go over your SSD space? External HDD? FW or what?
Click to expand...

I was planning to use the original 500gb hdd asan external to store files

If I use bootcamp, will windows 7 boot from a external USB drive?
 
ImAlwaysRight said:
elsewhere:

 Any suction cup will work to remove the glass. And you do not need 2 but only one. I took a cheap plastic suction cup off the kitchen window where my wife had a pretty thing hanging. I imagine a dollar store or walmart would carry these for cheap. Part of the reason I decided to do this project this afternoon was that I was testing the suction cup and stuck it to the iMac and the corner of the glass cover popped right off.
Click to expand...

you dont need to use any suction cups. I can remove the screen in seconds with my fingernails.

Oh and when will people realise that the screen is not glass. Glass is not flexible like the screen is.
 
Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?
 
econoar said:
Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?
Click to expand...

Good question; I'm wondering the same. I'm about to modify the Optical Bay of a late 2009 22" iMac.

The OP has stated this in his original post:


The Slimline SATA Connection used for the SuperDrive is Sata II not Sata I. (It's the same speed as the Hard Drive SATA connection)
My OCZ Agility 128GB SSD has no problem utilising sleep connected via the SuperDrive SATA.
Click to expand...

My caddy is ordered and on it's way and I'm looking at this ssd drive:

OCZ Technology 120GB Vertex Plus Series SATA 3Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive

as opposed to much faster Vertex SATA 6Gb.

As far as I can see, there isn't much point in buying the 6Gb version as my iMac will not support it, :eek: this is but my opinion based upon the little that I have been able to piece together about the matter and I may be wrong.

Is there any point in my buying a faster SSD if the Link Speed of my disk is just 3Gb?
Can some more knowledgable person clarify this issue for me and the other forum readers who are interested in carrying out this modification?
 
econoar said:
Looking to use this tutorial to put SSD in my July 2010 iMac.

Does anyone know if those models can take SATA III SSD drives? Any other limitations I should know about?
Click to expand...

everything i've seen online has said that SATA III (6gb/s) will work fine on SATA II ports. it'll just be limited to the 3gb/s rather than working at full speed.
 
I really (really!) want to fit an SSD to my mid 2011 i5 iMac, but I just can't find the courage! :D

Does anyone know of any UK (preferably London) based Apple approved repairers that offer fitting?

Cheers.

A massive thanks to the OP for this thread. :)
 
Azzin said:
I really (really!) want to fit an SSD to my mid 2011 i5 iMac, but I just can't find the courage! :D

Does anyone know of any UK (preferably London) based Apple approved repairers that offer fitting?

Cheers.

A massive thanks to the OP for this thread. :)
Click to expand...

*Bump* :)
 
dave197 said:
Just done this today on my late 09 21.5

crucial m4 and 8 gig ram, should keep it going for another year

thanks for the guide OP
Click to expand...

I'm going to be doing on my late 09 21.5" iMac as well. Same SSD and everything. I assume you also have Crucial's RAM? I picked up an 8 gig kit which will give me a total of 12 when it's all said and done. Anything I need to watch out for besides the fans/temp sensor cable? I ended up picking one of these to attach to the SSD: http://www.applecomponents.com/item...emp-sensor/0000004352?pn=1&s=9214&per_page=30
 
Hello,
Great tutorial! There is one thing I was wondering though. Is there enough room and spare connections in the iMac to install an SSD and still keep the optical drive?

Cyril
 
jvpython said:
21.5" iMac. I was thinking that it could be possible considering Apple gives you the BTO option for 2 drives?
Click to expand...

If it has the option th configure your model machine with both a hard drive and SSD then yes, you can install a third party SSD as the SATA port is available. Retaining both the optical drive and hard drive.
 
late 2009 iMac SSD upgrade

Just did this upgrade on a late 2009 model iMac. I cut up an extra power cable I had laying around for some wire to push in to the heat sensor plug to short it, then wrapped some electrical tape around it so as not to expose any bare wire.

In the bottom right side of the image you can see i tucked this cable under the metal mesh so it doesn't dangle.

I used twist-ties to hold the SSD drive in place instead of getting a 3.5" sleeve. I actually like this solution better than purchasing a 3.5" case because there is more airflow and if you use all 4 twist ties, it will be very stable. I had plenty of space on all sides of the SSD.

This is about the easiest upgrade you can do to an iMac. The only slow down is removing the screen which has 8 screws and 4 plugs to remove so you can get at the hard drive.

Later iMac Modles can be more difficult if your adding a hard drive because you need to remove the logic board as well. This job on the late 2009 will take you less than an hour.

The speed increase is noticeable and is worth it if you need to use a lot of applications that take forever to load for your work. If you just use your computer for movies / mail / web then don't bother, space is more important than hard drive speed in your case.




iMac by sirchuck1, on Flickr
 
Using board from original drive to overcome temp

Hi,
Just thought I would share this. My HDD failed, I replaced it with a SSD. I used my fingernails to remove the front glass. After removing the HDD, I removed the six Torx screws holding the circuit board to the failed HDD. I then reattached the temp sensor attached to the HDD board, and plugged in the power and SATA cables to the new SSD. I was able to use the bracket that mounted the original HDD to mount both the SSD and the circuit board. Attach the SSD in with the screw that was holding the original drive on the top close to where the cables plug in. I mounted the circuit board using the screw that holds the bracket to the iMac. Plenty of space for both. The HDD was failing so no problem sacrificing the board and I have no fan issues. I used http://www.mactrast.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-trim-support-for-all-ssds-in-os-x-lion/ to enable trim. Everything appears to be working great.
 
Thanks for the guide. Easier than expected. Toughest part was removing one of the internal cables to get the LCD out. Once inside its an easy five minute job.

Recommend doing it with the iMac upright. Found leaning the LCD against my chest gave two hands for getting the cables out as a couple are tight - at least on my 2009 27.
 
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