How hard is SSD install on 2010 iMac?

[Florida Gator]

I've been thinking about getting a refurbished 2010 iMac, but want my next computer to have an SSD. I've watched some replacement videos on YouTube, and it seems a little much for my experience level, but I'd be willing to try it if the end results are good.

Anybody that has done this, is there anything notable I need to keep in mind? I'm sort of timid about the temperature sensors. I know this is the big issue with 2011 iMacs, but don't entirely understand how 2010 models differ. I'm thinking probably going to go with an Intel SSD. Any quirks or bugs?

I'm considering the refurbished 27" iMac or a new Mac Mini when it is released with a 27" monitor, both with SSD. I figured it would be nicer having an iMac with a hefty GPU and cheaper to install over 8GB of RAM. I can live without Thunderbolt, especially with the savings. Just want to see which option will be the best.

 

[clyde2801]

Do you have any good old fashioned 3rd party authorized mac repair shops in your area? Rather than spend half a day minimum and tons of aggravation with a non user friendly DIY job, see if a local shop can do it for you. Mine quoted me roughly $100 to add an SSD to my 2011 27", and I'm inclined to go that route.

 

[Florida Gator]

Do you have any good old fashioned 3rd party authorized mac repair shops in your area? Rather than spend half a day minimum and tons of aggravation with a non user friendly DIY job, see if a local shop can do it for you. Mine quoted me roughly $100 to add an SSD to my 2011 27", and I'm inclined to go that route.

I researched that. I live in the Bay Area, so I figured there would be plenty. Turns out, most of them have horrific reviews.

 

[stridemat]

Do you have any good old fashioned 3rd party authorized mac repair shops in your area? Rather than spend half a day minimum and tons of aggravation with a non user friendly DIY job, see if a local shop can do it for you. Mine quoted me roughly $100 to add an SSD to my 2011 27", and I'm inclined to go that route.

This is what I have done. My iMac goes under the knife today *gulp* When she is rebuilt she will have the 1TB stock drive and a 60GB OS and application drive. As I do not have the required technical knowledge I found a reputable service provider near to me who is goin to install the SSD for £70. Money well spent in my eyes.

 

[clyde2801]

This is what I have done. My iMac goes under the knife today *gulp* When she is rebuilt she will have the 1TB stock drive and a 60GB OS and application drive. As I do not have the required technical knowledge I found a reputable service provider near to me who is goin to install the SSD for £70. Money well spent in my eyes.

What kind of SSD are you putting in? Seems nobody on the boards wants to discuss anything than the OCZ Vertex, Intel and OWC brands. Oh, and good luck.

 

[stridemat]

An OCZ Agility. Not the newest on the market, but still acceptable for my needs. I purchased it almost 2 years ago now and it still works great.

 

[clyde2801]

An OCZ Agility. Not the newest on the market, but still acceptable for my needs. I purchased it almost 2 years ago now and it still works great.

If I'm lucky, I may be having a Crucial 256gb C300 put in tomorrow. One of the early sata3 speed SSD's, and I've found one on CL for $300. Anandtech gave it a less than stellar rating because the GC didn't stand up very well to its torture test, but the newest firmware seems to have fixed the problems. Seems to be a lot of happy folks on amazon and the like talking about it, but I guess I'm a touch insecure about it. And on these boards, if it's not one of the big three, nobody wants to talk about it.

Bummer about preliminary reports saying TB storage drives won't be bootable.

 

[simon201]

"How hard is it to install"

Quite hard I guess.
I put in a crucial c300 256gb drive in my 2010 27" at the weekend. You have to allow a good bit of time and patience. I used the guide on the twam site combined with a couple of other guides. Although I kind of thought there were some bits that didn't need to be removed, and also, some say you don't really need to take out the logic board to access the sata ports but it would be hard to be convinced that the sata connectors were inserted fully etc without taking it out. Also, its not easy to ensure all the plugs and things that you've unplugged from the logic board don't get trapped underneath when putting it back.
Anyhow all is back up and running, I've now transferred the system etc to the ssd and also my user library. Everything else will stay on my 1tb.


Half way through!
The bits of masking tape are where things were connected to the logic board or where certain screws were.

Version 6 fw is on the crucial. I got a disk in the box with version 7 on it, but while the iMac boots from the windows section of the disk and the firmware loader boots up it just gets stuck on 'preparation stage' and doesn't go any further...

All in all if you have a 100 dollars/Euros spare it would be worth it to have a repair centre do it.

 

[clyde2801]

"How hard is it to install"

Quite hard I guess.
I put in a crucial c300 256gb drive in my 2010 27" at the weekend. You have to allow a good bit of time and patience. I used the guide on the twam site combined with a couple of other guides. Although I kind of thought there were some bits that didn't need to be removed, and also, some say you don't really need to take out the logic board to access the sata ports but it would be hard to be convinced that the sata connectors were inserted fully etc without taking it out. Also, its not easy to ensure all the plugs and things that you've unplugged from the logic board don't get trapped underneath when putting it back.
Anyhow all is back up and running, I've now transferred the system etc to the ssd and also my user library. Everything else will stay on my 1tb.

View attachment 289355
The bits of masking tape are where things were connected to the logic board or where certain screws were.


All in all if you have a 100 dollars/Euros spare it would be worth have a repair centre do it.

<claps hands> How's the crucial working for you? Have you used it on a mac before?

Oh, I think the OP has checked out the 3rd party shops and is having issues about the reviews posted about them online.

 

[simon201]

How's the crucial working for you? Have you used it on a mac before?

Yeah great. Boot up from chime to workable desktop is about 15 seconds! I hadn't used the crucial before except when I first got it last week. I put it in an external sata box to try and do the firmware upgrade but got the same problem as now. Not sure what the problem is. The crucial pdf on the firmware says it should only take seconds with an empty drive and a bit longer with a drive with stuff on it....

 

[Florida Gator]

Thanks for the reply. I wish I could find a good place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anybody know of any authorized service centers?

 

[panzer06]

Thanks for the reply. I wish I could find a good place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anybody know of any authorized service centers?

Do you think buying the $1869 2010 refurb with the 256GB SSD sill has the traditional 3.5" bay for a standard hard disk to be installed?

Cheers,