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DIY - Lets take this 2013 iMac apart and upgrade to SSD!

I

II BISTRO II

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 25, 2012
88
0
OK, ill be the guinea pig. I want to upgrade the HDD in my 27" 2013 iMac to an SSD. I know plenty others are looking for a DIY so lets figure this out together!

I will take apart my iMac and attempt to put in an SSD, all i need if for you guys to help me though it and throw suggestions at me.

Post links to a good SSD (500 - 1TB size) along with any cables that i might need. I will figure out a way to mount it in there and post a detailed DIY with pics.

I will also do any benchmarks that you guys request.

Lets do this MacRumors!
 
All you need for the upgrade is some double-sided tape, SSD and the 2.5 to 3.5 adapter to mount it. I would hate taking it apart and putting it back together because I would be worried the replacement tape would eventually break and have the sheet of glass fall on my desk and just shatter.
 
There is a topic that really helped me
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1507713/

The cable is not necessary.
Simply replace the HDD SSD via the adapter.
To install the Apple SSD is necessary to disassemble iMac completely. It's not difficult.

External Lacie Littli Big Disk Thunderbolt SSD 512GB or 1 TB will be faster one SSD inside the iMac.
 
Last edited:
I want to add a second drive (SSD) in addition to the Apple 1tb HDD. OP can you please let us know if a second drive requires a power cable or Y cable?
 
Related Question...

I actually thought about the upgrade myself, so I reached out to Apple to ask about Applecare status if such upgrade was to be performed. Would it void the warranty? The answer Apple gave is "No, as long as the work is performed by the Apple store or an authorized Apple repair facility"

Hmm... any thoughts on going the DYI route? Would there be a concern about the warranty?
 
is this a good deal for genuine apple ssd?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Toshi...-THNS256GG8BBAA-AP-655-1558B-46-/190913748832

or which one of these 3 would u guys prefer?

samsung 840 evo
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-7TE1T0BW

ocw mercury extreme
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMX6G480/

ocz vector
http://www.provantage.com/ocz-technology-vtr1-25sat3-512g~7OCZT0TM.htm


the samsung seems like a steal at 650$ for 1TB with almost the same read/write speeds as the other two, am i overlooking something?
 
Last edited:
The more I think about it it would make more sense to install a second drive, an SSD in addition to the standard 1tb HDD instead of adding a flash PCIe module.
 
KOTULCN said:
The more I think about it it would make more sense to install a second drive, an SSD in addition to the standard 1tb HDD instead of adding a flash PCIe module.
Click to expand...

Is there an extra SATA port in the 2013 model? Apple switched to PCIe SSDs so they no longer need two SATA ports, so I would guess that there's only one SATA port and an SSD upgrade must be done using the PCIe slot.
 
Hellhammer said:
Is there an extra SATA port in the 2013 model? Apple switched to PCIe SSDs so they no longer need two SATA ports, so I would guess that there's only one SATA port and an SSD upgrade must be done using the PCIe slot.
Click to expand...

According to the iFixit tear down of the 27" 2013 iMac it says there is both an extra SATA slot & PCIe connection.
 
KOTULCN said:
According to the iFixit tear down of the 27" 2013 iMac it says there is both an extra SATA slot & PCIe connection.
Click to expand...

Where? Because all I can see is this:

Budget-minded folks now can add a second hard drive to the base iMac because the Fusion Drive connector is no longer missing from the logic board.
Click to expand...

Which, in my opinion, suggests the PCIe connector, not an extra SATA port.
 
KOTULCN said:
Well it still needs clarification but it sounds like you can add a second hdd/SSD according to this article :

http://www.slashgear.com/imac-2013-sees-ifixit-teardown-ssd-slot-free-for-upgrade-25299126/
Click to expand...

They are basing their information on the iFixit teardown, which only talks about an empty Fusion Drive connector (i.e. the PCIe slot). iFixit's bullet point is rather unclear as they talk about adding a second hard drive but say that it's possible due to an empty Fusion Drive connector, which we all know can only fit a custom Apple SSD.

I'm still fairly certain that there isn't a second SATA port since it serves absolutely no purpose, meaning that the only way to add an SSD later on is to either replace the hard drive or find a custom Apple SSD.
 
Hellhammer said:
They are basing their information on the iFixit teardown, which only talks about an empty Fusion Drive connector (i.e. the PCIe slot). iFixit's bullet point is rather unclear as they talk about adding a second hard drive but say that it's possible due to an empty Fusion Drive connector, which we all know can only fit a custom Apple SSD.

I'm still fairly certain that there isn't a second SATA port since it serves absolutely no purpose, meaning that the only way to add an SSD later on is to either replace the hard drive or find a custom Apple SSD.
Click to expand...

That's why I'm hoping someone, sooner rather than later, will do a tear down and verify what the specifics are.
 
I just received a reply email from the iFixit tech that did the 2013 27" iMac tear down.

Sadly, because there's no optical drive, there's no additional SATA port aside from the one being used up by the existing 1TB hard drive.

The good news is that our 27" iMac had that empty PCIe port for the Fusion Drive. This should allow you to install an SSD into that location once a PCIe adapter comes on the market. The issue is that I don't know of any such adapter at this time.

Alternatively, you can buy a hybrid drive that has a bit of SSD sprinkled in with a regular platter drive, but I don't feel that's a good long-term solution if you need lots of SSD space:http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/1-TB-SSD-Hybrid-2-5-Inch-Hard-Drive/IF107-122

Hope that helps!

Thanks,

Miro
Click to expand...
 
after seeing the speeds of the pcie ssds that come in the new imac (around 650/700 write/read respectively) ive decided to return my imac and buy a new one with a 512gb ssd

this is a 450$ option (education pricing for me) and is way faster and cheaper than buying a 3rd party 512gb ssd

this way i will keep my warranty and still have the option to throw in a second ssd down the road if need be

guess i jumped the gun when ordering and didnt do enough research
 
II BISTRO II said:
after seeing the speeds of the pcie ssds that come in the new imac (around 650/700 write/read respectively) ive decided to return my imac and buy a new one with a 512gb ssd
Click to expand...
Have you seen the speed test the new imac late 2013 ?
 
Insar said:
Have you seen the speed test the new imac late 2013 ?
Click to expand...

here's one of my 256GB with filevault 2 enabled: http://imgur.com/TBFkCCo

definitely going to follow this thread. I went with just the 256GB SSD, but I have another SSD from my old desktop that I'd like to get into the iMac for bootcamp purposes at some point. Could go with that seagate thunderbolt adapter too but if it can go internal, might as well.
 
kansei said:
here's one of my 256GB with filevault 2 enabled: http://imgur.com/TBFkCCo

definitely going to follow this thread. I went with just the 256GB SSD, but I have another SSD from my old desktop that I'd like to get into the iMac for bootcamp purposes at some point. Could go with that seagate thunderbolt adapter too but if it can go internal, might as well.
Click to expand...

Can you post a screenshot of Serial-ATA tab in System Profiler? Just wondering if it's the same SSD as in MBA.
 
Like I said earlier booting from my external SSD (even over usb2) OSX runs faster, hopefully even faster when my USB 3 enclosure gets here. The one thing that sucks is that I cannot run bootcamp Windows 7 off the external SSD.
 
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