Late 2009 i7 iMac SSD in Optical Drive replacement

[Rocker007]

Hi all,

I have done my fair share of searching but could not find a definitive answer. Some say no difference and others say it affects the throughput etc.

I would like to put a SSD into my iMac but would prefer to keep the 1TB I currently have in the HDD slot and instead replace my optical drive that I never use. If I had to place the SSD in the optical drive space instead of the normal hard drive space will it be slower in anyway?

Currently my stats show this for the HDD:

Link Speed:3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed:3 Gigabit

Currently my stats show this for the Optical Drive:

Link Speed:3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed:1.5 Gigabit

Now would that 1.5 Gigabit above change to 3 Gigabit if I replace it with my SSD? Other than the heat sensor issue is there anything else that negatively affects putting it in the optical drive space instead of the usual HDD space?

Thank you for your help

 

[hfg]

I recently did this with my wife's 2010 21" iMac and it is working great. You should see the link speed increase to 3GB with the attachment of a SSD in that location. You will have to purchase a disk caddy to convert the 2.5" SATA connector of the disk drive to the optical connector as well as provide easy mounting. If you have a taped-on heat sensor, simply peel it off and attach it to the SSD. You can purchase a cheap $12 housing for your removed optical drive that will allow it to be used as a external USB drive with your iMac if desired. I have since created a Fusion drive in the iMac with the 256GB SSD I added and the original 500GB hard disk.

 

[Rocker007]

Thank You for the feedback. Some people said the 2009 Late 11,1 models are affected due to firmware but not sure if this is the case here. I have an Intel board, not the Nvidia ones people complain about. I really appreciate the feedback!

 

[fruitpunch.ben]

Done it on your exact machine 4 years ago. Do it now, you'll be so sorry you waited this long

 

[Rocker007]

Thanks Fruitpunch, I bought a 1TB SSD so looking forward to it but was just worried the optical bay replacement would slow the SSD down to 1.5. Appreciate it!