Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
An SSD for my iMac
- Thread starter zoran
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You would want one that does a SATA III interface. You may need adapters for the SSD which is likely 2.5" to 3.5" mounting position for a HD. Adapters should be in the box. Any major brand should work. Personally I use Samsung EVP 840s for such projects. You only need a 256GB one for boot, OS, and apps. If you want to keep some data on the SSD, then consider a 512GB SSD. When you go to 1TB SSD costs, it might be cheaper to have a small SSD and up large external HDs for larger libraries of photos, music, videos, documents...etc.
Suggestion, clone the SSD outside the iMac via a USB cable to verify everything first. Then swap the the SSd for the internal HD. And needless to say, have a good Time Machine backup before starting!
Suggestion, clone the SSD outside the iMac via a USB cable to verify everything first. Then swap the the SSd for the internal HD. And needless to say, have a good Time Machine backup before starting!
What about having an ssd that supports "trim" or not. If im not mistaking, OWC ssds seem to support trim. Is it needed or do i just get any ssd drive? Shouldn't i care about the ssds wite speeds or any other specs that claim the drives technical abilities?
Most SSDs support trim. Since Apple doesn't officially support trim on 3rd party drives, it's a moot point unless you go through all the steps to enable it. It will be easier on El Capitan.
I put a Samsung 840 Pro in my wife's 2011 iMac sometime ago and it has been running great. Used Trim Enabler until Yosemite broke it with kext signing.
What do you mean most SSDs support trim? Do they support it inherently you mean? I thought that only OWCs supported trim. How can i know which brands support trim?
What do you mean by moot point (my english isnt native sorry)
Has Apple stated this?
Broke it with kext signing?
Any SSD you buy new today will support TRIM. I think what you are referring to is OWC's BS marketing claim that their drives do not need TRIM. There is no need to overpay for one of OWC's SSDs. OWC is talking about "garbage collection" that is different than TRIM.
Just grab something like the Samsung 850 EVO or the Crucial MX200 in whatever size you want. Get whichever you can find cheapest. You will also need a 2.5 to 3.5 inch adaptor like MCAsan mentioned.
Your machine will run Yosemite. So just install the latest 10.10.4 version of Yosemite that includes a built in TRIM activation tool from Apple and you will be all set. One you get 10.10.4 installed just run the command below in Terminal then reboot and TRIM will be enabled.
Code:
sudo trimforce enableXcuse me for asking but how is that certain?
What does "BS marketing claim" mean?
What are the differences between the two and which is the most important needed?
Are those two drives overkill for my mid 2010 iMac since it can only understand sata2 drives if im not mistaking?
Can you post a pic of that adaptor so i can understand what we are talking about here?
I guess you will just have to trust me.
I'm not sure how I would prove this to you.OWC charges a premium for their drives by convincing users there is something special about their drives that makes them not need TRIM, and it is just not true. TRIM is a benefit on any SSD.
Garbage collection is part of the drives firmware and TRIM is part of the OS. Both are used for essentially cleanup and housekeeping of data on the drive. I am way oversimplifying, but that is the basics. There is a long article here if you want to read more about it.
Nope... SATA is backwards compatible, so either will work fine. Even if you could still find a SATA II drive for sale today, it would likely cost more than a SATA III drive.
It looks like this. Allows you to mount a smaller 2.5 inch drive in the mounting spot of a 3.5 inch drive.
Attachments
I just want to add the ssd as primary but keep the 1TB drive (that already came with the iMac). Isn't this adapter used for placing the primary drive? I think i will be able to mount it with double sticky tape on the iMac inner walls. Catch my drift?
And also, just to make sure, are these cables the correct ones to install the Evo850 drive on to my mid2010 corei7 iMac 11.3 ?
Last edited:
Use trimforce command in 10.10.4. No need for Trim Enabler app or waiting for El Captain.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/07/01/apple-adds-trim-support-for-aftermarket-ssds-in-os-x-10104
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/01/os-x-trim-ssd/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/0...lows-you-to-enable-trim-for-third-party-ssds/
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/07/01/apple-adds-trim-support-for-aftermarket-ssds-in-os-x-10104
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/01/os-x-trim-ssd/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/0...lows-you-to-enable-trim-for-third-party-ssds/
why do you need cables to swap from one SATA drive (HD) to another (SSD?) The cables and connectors are already inside the Mac. As for inventing another mounting location inside the iMac.....very bad idea do to extra power consumed, heat generated and tape giving way sooner or later. Spend $20 on an external enclosure that matches the fastest ports you have....likely FW800.
That's a pretty bad idea, there's not an awful lot of space inside the iMac and the heat generated inside it could cause the tape to fail. The best solution would be to mount the SSD where your original hard drive was, and then stick the hard drive in an enclosure.
I dont think its that hard nor that there is so much heat on the iMacs back. Afterall the iMac uses passive cooling, so all the heat lifts upwards, anyhow take a look here on that owc proposes (5.45) i think its pretty decent!
I wont be swapping, i want to add the ssd, only i will make it the primary disk of my imac. What do you think?
I've been kicking this idea around for my wife's 2010 iMac - any idea what performance would be like?
If you do an SSD internally for boot/OS/apps you will see a world of difference. I rebuild 4 2010 white MacBooks for last year for some grand nieces and nephews. I put in Samsung EVO 840 512GB SSDs and upped the memory to 8GB. Huge decrease in boot time and in opening apps after boot was over. Boot time went from somethjing like 20 seconds to 7 seconds. App opening went from around 8 seconds to around 2 seconds. This can buy you time before needing to purchase the next new Mac. Plus when it is finally time to give the old Macs an honorable burial, you can retrieve the SSD and put it into an external enclosure that uses USB3 or TB.
SSDs can be expensive for large storage. So for storage of large libraries ( movies, music, documents) and backups, use external HDs connected via FW800, USB2, USB3, or TB.
SSDs can be expensive for large storage. So for storage of large libraries ( movies, music, documents) and backups, use external HDs connected via FW800, USB2, USB3, or TB.
well i mean that the 1TB hardrive will be inthere only for storing videos etc.The ssd will be the primary drive for the OS and Apps! Thats what i mean by not swappingSwapping =
If i am not mistaking the Samsung 850 evo series have been experiencing performance issues. is this true and if so has it been resolved?
No... there was an issue with the 840 EVO, and that was fixed with a firmware update.
It was only the 840 that had the bug. The 850 is the replacement for the 840 with an updated controller and a new memory architecture called V-NAND. A bit faster and can handle more write cycles.