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Is the current iMac HDD upgradeable?

R

raymondu999

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
1,009
1
Hey folks - due to a lack of BTO capability in my country, I have to buy a Mac from the stores - where they only carry the stock models. I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade the drive after purchasing? i.e. buy a 3rd party SSD, then switch out the internal existing HDD with an SSD?

Thanks.
 
raymondu999 said:
Hey folks - due to a lack of BTO capability in my country, I have to buy a Mac from the stores - where they only carry the stock models. I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade the drive after purchasing? i.e. buy a 3rd party SSD, then switch out the internal existing HDD with an SSD?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
It is possible but not everyone is comfortable with doing what is needed. Also, replacing the disk yourself can void the warranty. I would suggest just using an external disk for the additional storage.
 
I'm not looking for extra storage, I'm looking for extra performance, so I'm looking to switch out to an SSD.
 
I agree with the excellent advice given here. I may open my own iMac for customization in the future, but not at least until the 3 years of AppleCare have expired.

As Bear mentioned, an external SSD is a great option. You can get a Thunderbolt enclosure for about $100 now and a 256GB SSD for about $170. Throw in another $30 for a Thunderbolt cable and you're good to go. You can save even more by going with a USB 3 enclosure for a slight performance hit. Then you install OS X and boot off the SSD and can use the internal HD for storage.
 
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