Hey guys,
So in all of the laptops I've owned I've modded it with an optical drive caddy for a second hard drive, usually for storage. Does the 2011 iMac support SATA III or SATA II?
According to iFixit there are multiple ways to go about adding more hard drives, one method I'm a bit confused about. The 3 hard drives I'm aware of are:
1: The main HDD bay for 3.5" HDD/Fusion
2: The Logic board has space for a second HDD SATA port placing the 2.5" form factor behind the Optical (only on the 27" iMac?)
3: Optical Drive replacement with 2.5" SSD/HDD
My questions are thus.
I: The 500GB HDD that came stock with the iMac is just fine for storage but coming from an SSD the speeds are disappointing. If possible in the 21.5" iMac I would like to install an SSD on the open spare SATA port. By doing so would I still be able to boot from that drive at a decent speed?
II: If the above option is NOT available in the 21.5" model, would it be beneficial to put an SSD into that spot? Would it be possible to boot from that drive? As far as I understand Optical drives only support SATA II, am I correct?
III: I suppose the last option is a Fusion drive, are they worth it? As far as I understand the hard drive is identified by the computer as a single drive without access to the SSD portion. Does Apple software realize that OSX should be installed on that SSD portion or will it just do whatever it wants.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2308+Dual+Hard+Drive/8641/1
http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/1...l_21.5"_emc_2389&utm_content=popular_products
So in all of the laptops I've owned I've modded it with an optical drive caddy for a second hard drive, usually for storage. Does the 2011 iMac support SATA III or SATA II?
According to iFixit there are multiple ways to go about adding more hard drives, one method I'm a bit confused about. The 3 hard drives I'm aware of are:
1: The main HDD bay for 3.5" HDD/Fusion
2: The Logic board has space for a second HDD SATA port placing the 2.5" form factor behind the Optical (only on the 27" iMac?)
3: Optical Drive replacement with 2.5" SSD/HDD
My questions are thus.
I: The 500GB HDD that came stock with the iMac is just fine for storage but coming from an SSD the speeds are disappointing. If possible in the 21.5" iMac I would like to install an SSD on the open spare SATA port. By doing so would I still be able to boot from that drive at a decent speed?
II: If the above option is NOT available in the 21.5" model, would it be beneficial to put an SSD into that spot? Would it be possible to boot from that drive? As far as I understand Optical drives only support SATA II, am I correct?
III: I suppose the last option is a Fusion drive, are they worth it? As far as I understand the hard drive is identified by the computer as a single drive without access to the SSD portion. Does Apple software realize that OSX should be installed on that SSD portion or will it just do whatever it wants.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2308+Dual+Hard+Drive/8641/1
http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/1...l_21.5"_emc_2389&utm_content=popular_products