iMac 2 hard drives...many questions.

[JuicyJones]

I had to purchase an iMac spur of the moment due to my Macbook Pro being stolen and I've had an SSD since 2010 and being this purchase wasn't planned for, I couldn't afford $600 to add an SSD.

So I'd really like to add a SSD and use my SSD for boot and my hard drive for everything else. I've seen the tutorials with the adhesive tape but I'm more-so looking to do this "the right way" and the way my iMac would have come if I added an SSD. If I were to add an SSD to an iMac is it the same SSD that is in the Macbook Air or is it actually a 2.5' drive? If it is Macbook Air style Flash Storage, is it possible for me to purchase a 256gb Air-style drive and install that to the board or is it a different board than I would get if I added 2 drives from the factor? Or is the SSD actually built into the board? If it is actually a 2.5' SSD and not Air-style Flash Storage, where is it actually installed in the computer? Under the Optical Drive? (I'm trying to avoid this adhesive tape from the iFixit guide).

Any help would be really appreciated, I've searched and all I found was links to the iFixIt Guide.

If I could add a 256gb Macbook Air drive to the board myself, I DEFINITELY would. I just don't want to go through all this work to find that the board in my iMac doesn't have the capabilities of adding flash storage because I have a inferior board than I would if I had ordered my iMac with 2 drives.

 

[dqpassat]

I believe Apple uses the Samsung 830 line of SSDs for their iMacs. They do not use MBA-style flash drive. You are right, the SSD goes under the optical drive.

I used this guide to add a Crucial M4 SSD:
http://www.btobey.com/learn/imac-ssd-install.php

Although it was nerve wrecking, I succeeded without any issues (I did forget to connect one of the LCD connectors and freaked out when all I got was a black screen upon start up, but went back and realized my mistake). At the bottom of this write-up there is reference to SSD bracket that Apple uses. But for $30, I figured I could just use velcro instead, and have not had any problems going this route.