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iMac SSD upgrade

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thundermustard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
152
1
I bought the OWC kit for adding an SSD to my 27" iMac. I added a Crucial 512 GB drive from Amazon and it is amazingly fast now.
The whole process took about an hour and if you download the video from OWC and watch it through once, then follow it step by step, it is not hard at all.
Many people mention worrying about removing the glass. That is the easiest part. I had no dust on the inside afterwards. OWC includes a nice microfiber cloth that removes smudges and dust.
The 512GB from Amazon is currently less than $400 and a no brainer.

SSD I used https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-512GB-2-5-Inch-9-5mm-CT512M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JL3Y
The 256GB model is currently $190 https://www.amazon.com/MODEL-Crucial-256GB-2-5-Inch-CT256M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JL2A
OWC kit and video http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIM27SSD11/
 
chevalier433

chevalier433

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2011
510
13
Don't say the operation is easy because apple is make it harder to mod our macs in every generation:D
 
KylePowers

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
Is the OWC kit really necessary? It seems a tad overpriced.

Good job though! I plan on doing this this summer :)
 
T

thundermustard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
152
1
KylePowers said:
Is the OWC kit really necessary? It seems a tad overpriced.

Good job though! I plan on doing this this summer :)
Click to expand...

You could buy all the items from the OWC kit for less but they did go through the trouble of putting out the video so I felt like I should buy from them.
I used their suction cups to get a dent out of my car though. :)

----------
chevalier433 said:
Don't say the operation is easy because apple is make it harder to mod our macs in every generation:D
Click to expand...

It isn't easy like a Dell PC, but it isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
I am so glad I did it. Just be careful, go step by step and you will be done in an hour.
The biggest risk is you being careless and breaking a cable, but that would be a result of you being careless, following the directions mitigates any risk.
I added a hard drive in one of the older iMacs and this was actually easier. The glass just popping off is why it is easier now.
 
L

Litany

macrumors member
Jun 5, 2012
90
0
The video shows the SSD upgrade is easy. You want something hard, try taking apart a Quad CPU assembly.
 
T

tigereat

macrumors regular
Dec 23, 2009
214
2
Is this one compatible with 27 iMac 2011 (current one with i7)

SanDisk Extreme SSD 240GB SATA 6.0 Gb

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extre...sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339167270&sr=8-1-spell


Will it be compatible with iMac 2012? Amazon has a very good deal of this SSD and someone said is even better than Crucial M4 with lower price.

I'm planning to buy this SSD to use with the coming 27 iMac 2012 as well but will be with 480 GB one. I will give the current one to my cousin

Just expecting that if this one works on the current model , then it should work on coming one too

Any idea?
 
T

thundermustard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
152
1
It will work. As with any SSD non Apple drive make sure you enable TRIM support with one of the various hacks. I forget the name of the one I used. Just google it.
 
D

dannywaugh1

macrumors member
May 13, 2010
58
0
thundermustard said:
I bought the OWC kit for adding an SSD to my 27" iMac. I added a Crucial 512 GB drive from Amazon and it is amazingly fast now.
The whole process took about an hour and if you download the video from OWC and watch it through once, then follow it step by step, it is not hard at all.
Many people mention worrying about removing the glass. That is the easiest part. I had no dust on the inside afterwards. OWC includes a nice microfiber cloth that removes smudges and dust.
The 512GB from Amazon is currently less than $400 and a no brainer.

SSD I used https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-512GB-2-5-Inch-9-5mm-CT512M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JL3Y
The 256GB model is currently $190 https://www.amazon.com/MODEL-Crucial-256GB-2-5-Inch-CT256M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JL2A
OWC kit and video http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIM27SSD11/
Click to expand...
I been looking for this for a while i forgot what write it was on and a video on how to do it also is great!


let us know how you get on! :apple:
 
P

police340

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2011
128
3
SSD Upgrade

thundermustard said:
It is called Trim Enabler.
Click to expand...

What is trim enabler and do I need it? I just did the upgrade with OWC SSD 480Gb 3G Extreme and their kit last night. Took me some time as I did it step by step, watching the video on the MacAir. Was only more difficult because the small wires and such that you had to disconnect and i started it at 7PM and light wasn't the best.

Other than that it went well and so far seems to be working well. I tried to run BlackMagic Speed test on it but it says drive is read only

Thanks,
Bill
 
Crazy Badger

Crazy Badger

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2008
1,297
698
Scotland
Thanks for this thread!

After the disappointment of yesterday, decided to bite the bullet and get a refurb 27" iMac and a 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM all for just over £1600!

Probably saved about £300 plus and twice the SSD capacity and should have my new machine on Friday :D
 
Crazy Badger

Crazy Badger

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2008
1,297
698
Scotland
Having successfully completed this now, I would also recommend looking at the iFixit guide before starting as this suggests resting the iMac on it's back which is actually much easier than trying to do it standing as showing in the OWC video!
 
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phdkriz

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2012
3
0
I'm new to this forum. I'm going to be doing a similar upgrade to my iMac next week. I have a mid-2010 iMac with 3.2GHz i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM. My question is: would this 120GB SanDisk Extreme SSD work with my iMac?

I will be adding this SSD as well as upgrading the CPU. From an i3 to an i7 (i7-870). According to various sources the cpu will work but I'm not sure about the SSD. Any help on this would be appreciated.

I'll be following these guides:
For CPU: Link 1
For SSD: Link 3, Link 4
 
Last edited:
T

TopB

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2012
57
3
phdkriz said:
I'm new to this forum. I'm going to be doing a similar upgrade to my iMac next week. I have a mid-2010 iMac with 3.2GHz i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM. My first question is: would this 120GB SanDisk Extreme SSD work with my iMac?

I will be adding this SSD as well as upgrading the CPU. From an i3 to an i7 (i7-870). According to various sources the cpu will work but I'm not sure about the SSD. Any help on this would be appreciated.

I'll be following this guides:
For SSD: Link 1
For CPU: Link 3, Link 4
Click to expand...

I have the 2010 I5, 2.8ghz and installed an SSD (Crucial M4 256GB) with no problems. I would think any standard SSD would work. Good Luck! Let us know how it works out.
 
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phdkriz

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2012
3
0
TopB said:
I have the 2010 I5, 2.8ghz and installed an SSD (Crucial M4 256GB) with no problems. I would think any standard SSD would work. Good Luck! Let us know how it works out.
Click to expand...

Hey! Thanks. I know Crucial and OCZ are known to work fine with macs, but I have yet to read about Sandisk. I decided to upgrade due to low budget. Total cost is about $400, cheaper than getting the latest one. I will let everyone know in this thread about the results once I'm done.
 
M

makotoisle

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2012
256
26
I really want to do this, and I even have the SSD already, but I'm paranoid that I will get dust inside the screen and regret it later.
 
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phdkriz

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2012
3
0
makotoisle said:
I really want to do this, and I even have the SSD already, but I'm paranoid that I will get dust inside the screen and regret it later.
Click to expand...

We are on the same boat. I'm just gonna pull the trigger and do it as soon as my parts and tools get here. You just have to be extra careful about the screen. Do it in a room with minimum ventilation and cover the lcd with the glass as soon as you can. And if the dust thing happens, man just clean it up. As they said the glass is the easiest part so no big deal. Good luck
 
A

Ace1024

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2011
32
0
phdkriz said:
Hey! Thanks. I know Crucial and OCZ are known to work fine with macs, but I have yet to read about Sandisk. I decided to upgrade due to low budget. Total cost is about $400, cheaper than getting the latest one. I will let everyone know in this thread about the results once I'm done.
Click to expand...

I have the Sandisk 240GB extreme hooked up to an external seagate thunderbolt adapter. The SSD is fantastic, and blazingly fast. It works as my iMac boot drive, whilst the 1tb internal is my backup/media file storage.
 
T

thundermustard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
152
1
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