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iMac upgrade

C

Coflash

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 13, 2013
13
0
Hello

I have a 2011 iMac, the model number is A1312

It has a slow mechanical drive

I want to upgrade to a SSD, can anyone help me with the parts?

I was thinking of this for the SSD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB SSD

Would there be any issues with that?

Thanks
 
Coflash said:
Hello

I have a 2011 iMac, the model number is A1312

It has a slow mechanical drive

I want to upgrade to a SSD, can anyone help me with the parts?

I was thinking of this for the SSD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB SSD

Would there be any issues with that?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The Samsung 840 Pro is the stock OEM drive found in the 2012 retina MBPs.

As long as you use an Apple OEM like SanDisk or Samsung (830/840, both Pro) you'll have no problems.

I have an 840 Pro 512GB in my Sandy Bridge 15" MBP.
 
Richdmoore said:
I think you may need to deal with the hard drive fan sensor if you do a straight swap. Owc has some kits to add a ssd or swap a hdd, or I think apple just shorts a jumper when they install a ssd only (without hdd).

Here is a link to the hdd & sdd kits blog post:
http://blog.macsales.com/16946-owc-...-up-to-8x-the-original-storagebackup-capacity
Click to expand...

In my Sandy Bridge MBP, I just slotted my 840 Pro into the SATA bay. And the fans still run fine.

I think the sensor is built into the SATA cable and head itself.

Not sure whether it's the same for the Sandy Bridge iMac or not.
 
yjchua95 said:
The Samsung 840 Pro is the stock OEM drive found in the 2012 retina MBPs.

As long as you use an Apple OEM like SanDisk or Samsung (830/840, both Pro) you'll have no problems.

I have an 840 Pro 512GB in my Sandy Bridge 15" MBP.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, sorry for the delayed response. I was thinking of this one in particular... Samsung 840 Pro 256GB:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1370&products_id=22032

I am getting a PC shop to install it since taking off the front of an iMac looks like it could be more trouble than it's worth, and they do a lot of Apple upgrades so I assume they know what mounts they need and what issues they will come across. The thing was though, they wanted to charge me $450 for that same $255 SSD -_- I said I'd get it myself.

One more question; if I wanted to put 16GB of RAM in it, is there a particular brand I need?

Again; it's a 2011 iMac (model no. A1312) if that helps

Thanks again, I really appreciate this info
 
Coflash said:
Thanks for the info, sorry for the delayed response. I was thinking of this one in particular... Samsung 840 Pro 256GB:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1370&products_id=22032

I am getting a PC shop to install it since taking off the front of an iMac looks like it could be more trouble than it's worth, and they do a lot of Apple upgrades so I assume they know what mounts they need and what issues they will come across. The thing was though, they wanted to charge me $450 for that same $255 SSD -_- I said I'd get it myself.

One more question; if I wanted to put 16GB of RAM in it, is there a particular brand I need?

Again; it's a 2011 iMac (model no. A1312) if that helps

Thanks again, I really appreciate this info
Click to expand...

Any brand will do fine. But I usually buy Apple OEMs like Samsung, Hynix or Elpida.
 
yjchua95 said:
In my Sandy Bridge MBP, I just slotted my 840 Pro into the SATA bay. And the fans still run fine.

I think the sensor is built into the SATA cable and head itself.

Not sure whether it's the same for the Sandy Bridge iMac or not.
Click to expand...

I think that the MBP sensor is different than the iMac one. The MBP never has hard drive sensor problems but the iMac often does. Either way, the samsung 840 pro will probably work.
 
I looked it up, you have a 2011 27" iMac I believe. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Like I said in the previous posts, if you are going to swap/remove the HDD for a SSD only, you will need the kit from OWC that includes a thermal sensor to stop the fans from going wild (or apply the Short method).

A better solution is to get the SSD kit from OWC instead, add the SSD and keep the HDD in it's current position. It requires a new cable inside your computer.

Here is a link to the kit (without tools:)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIM27SSD11/

With Tools:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIM27SSD11/


If you wish to completely remove the HDD and install SDD, here are the instructions to "short" the fan sensor (I believe that is what apple itself did for SSD only 2011 iMac's)
http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=10302

Of course, if you wish to swap a new HDD as well as a sdd, or prefer to keep the temperature protection anyway, here is links to the HDD replacement kit for a 2011 27" iMac.

Without Tools:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIM27HDD11/

With Tools: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIM27HDD11/

Other software solutions simply ignore the fan issue, and then apply a software fan control instead of a hardware solution. This will make the Apple Hardware Test fail if it is run, and who knows if the software will have future compatibility issues with later versions of OSX? That is why I prefer a hardware solution vs a software one.

If you are getting a professional installation (I would never install this myself) I would ask them how they are getting around the fan issue. If they have done SSD installs on the 2011 iMac, they should be able to tell you.

If the shop has never done a replacement before, or doesn't know about the fan issue, I would RUN AWAY and go somewhere else.


FYI, OWC also offers a professional install, which might be the way to go if you don't have faith in your local shop:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac

Finally, one other option to consider is getting an external thunderbolt SSD, it should allow booting just as fast as an internal drive, and without the hassles of opening up the computer.

Good luck with your install.
 
Thanks for that, your post helped me confirm that the installer knew what he was doing :)
 
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