Installing an SSD into a 20" early 2008 iMac

[MadKiwi]

Hi there

I want to breath some more life into the 20" iMac that our daughter is using for the odd kids game, YouTube etc. and in order to do this I’m thinking that putting an SSD in it may be the best option.

Has anyone in the forums had an experience with doing this on a machine this old? I know I’ll need some sort of adapter in order to install the SSD as the iMac uses 3.5" HDDs - are there any recommendations on this also?

Cheers

 

[jhernandez2005]

It definitely is possible and you will need a 2.5" to 3.5" mounting bracket. I purchased the drive below and the mounting bracket below. Both working fine in my 2008 iMac (2211) 24". I also remember reading someone just using heavy duty Velcro on the SSD and mounting inside the iMac without the 3.5" mount casing inside. Since the SSD has no moving parts, it should work fine and runs cooler than a standard hard drive.

SSD: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

SSD Mounting Bracket: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...2.5_to_3.5_adapter-_-9SIABR04YT6756-_-Product

 

[spyguy10709]

Yep! Any 2.5 SATA SSD is electrically compatible in this machine, I'd look for the lowest cost option for whatever capacity you'd need from any reputable vendor (Sandisk, samsung, OCZ, OWC, intel)

And that SSD mounting bracket would be perfect. I just recently did one of these upgrades for a colleague and it's working beautifully

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Suggest not buying a super fast SSD as the iMac is limited to SATA I, 1.5Gb/ps. Some SATA III 6Gb/ps are not backwards compatible to the earliest speed.