Options for replacing 2017 imac fusion with SSD- what SSD should i be looking at?

[madeirabhoy]

in two minds, buy mini or replace fusion drive in my 2017. thinking internal rather than just buying, for a couple of reasons. ive been having usb and bluetooth issues which are intermittent, the repair centre might notice whats wrong when they open it up to add the SSD. might even just be too much dust and need a clean.


my head hurts with talking about blades and whatnot. i just want to pay a repair centre to take out my 1tb fusion drive and put in a 1tb SSD, or is there a second socket to have both?

My local Worten advertises they will fit an SSD for €50 plus the cost of the SSD but i dont know what SSD to buy.

i saw mentions of some brands not working with bootcamp, which is quite important for me for fallout NV/4 mods.

any advice appreciated.

 

[Rich B22]

Several years ago in 2 different 2017 27" iMac, I replaced the Fusion drive with 2 x 1TB SSD's. One of them, which I use as my boot drive is a Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB, which I mounted in Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card. Don't worry that it doesn't list the iMac, just know that it works! The other is a SATA Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB which I use for my Home folder, however, it could be used as your Boot. I haven't researched newer drives, but you can't go wrong with these, as both systems operate flawlessly. I haven't researched newer SSD's, but these threads may have some good information if they have kept current.

A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades

Here you can find and discuss all the collected knowledge regarding upgrading the HDD, blade SSD and CPU of a 27" iMac 2012-2019, as well as a list of performed upgrades. Here is a list of all 27" iMac models subjected in this thread: Late 2012 - 13.2 - MD095LL/A (2.9Ghz i5-3470S, HDD only /...

forums.macrumors.com

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) CPU and NVME SSD Upgrade Pitfalls and Tips

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) CPU and NVMe SSD Upgrade Pitfalls and Tips UPDATE: Information regarding upgrading the 2019 27-inch IMac with the Intel i9-9900K CPU and 2TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD can be found in the post below...

forums.macrumors.com

Another thought is although OWC products are a bit pricey, they are quality, are made for Mac and their support is great. I came across this link which mentions the Boot Camp issue specifically. https://www.owc.com/news/boot-camp-ssds

Getting it done for €50 is a great price, as the work is a bear and you always run the risk of cracking the screen if doing it yourself. Hopefully, your service center would take responsibility if that happens.

All that said, If I were in your situation now, finances allowing, I would most likely buy a new M2 Mini and a good monitor. Your 2017 is having issues and is getting to the point that probably within the next couple of macOS iterations, they won't support it anymore. I have no problem with not having the latest OS, however, I do have an issue once the security updates stop. Also,the M2 will be faster and more future-proofed.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[madeirabhoy]

Several years ago in 2 different 2017 27" iMac, I replaced the Fusion drive with 2 x 1TB SSD's. One of them, which I use as my boot drive is a Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB, which I mounted in Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card. Don't worry that it doesn't list the iMac, just know that it works! The other is a SATA Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB which I use for my Home folder, however, it could be used as your Boot. I haven't researched newer drives, but you can't go wrong with these, as both systems operate flawlessly. I haven't researched newer SSD's, but these threads may have some good information if they have kept current.

A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades

Here you can find and discuss all the collected knowledge regarding upgrading the HDD, blade SSD and CPU of a 27" iMac 2012-2019, as well as a list of performed upgrades. Here is a list of all 27" iMac models subjected in this thread: Late 2012 - 13.2 - MD095LL/A (2.9Ghz i5-3470S, HDD only /...

forums.macrumors.com

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) CPU and NVME SSD Upgrade Pitfalls and Tips

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) CPU and NVMe SSD Upgrade Pitfalls and Tips UPDATE: Information regarding upgrading the 2019 27-inch IMac with the Intel i9-9900K CPU and 2TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD can be found in the post below...

forums.macrumors.com

Another thought is although OWC products are a bit pricey, they are quality, are made for Mac and their support is great. I came across this link which mentions the Boot Camp issue specifically. https://www.owc.com/news/boot-camp-ssds

Getting it done for €50 is a great price, as the work is a bear and you always run the risk of cracking the screen if doing it yourself. Hopefully, your service center would take responsibility if that happens.

All that said, If I were in your situation now, finances allowing, I would most likely buy a new M2 Mini and a good monitor. Your 2017 is having issues and is getting to the point that probably within the next couple of macOS iterations, they won't support it anymore. I have no problem with not having the latest OS, however, I do have an issue once the security updates stop. Also,the M2 will be faster and more future-proofed.

Good luck whatever you decide.

thanks for the informative reply. can i ask some questions without sounding really thick.

so the imac has two slots then and they are different? one nVME and one SATA or they are both SATA and you used an adaptor (why)?

if i was leaving my old Fusion inside, would the new SSD be nVME or SATA?

thanks in advance

 

[Rich B22]

On a fusion setup, there are 2 slots. One with a very small nVME SSD (I think 32GB) if memory serves me and the other is a normal SATA hard drive (non-SSD). Unfortunately Apple uses a proprietary pinout, which changed from year to year for the nVME, and AFAIK, doesn't sell the correct SSD in larger capacities to the public. If they do, I'm sure there's a large "Apple Tax" on it. OWC does sell compatible blades, but are also more expensive. Thus, the need for an adapter, which matches their pinout and allows you to install a standard nVME into it. Note, not all nVME's will work with those adapters, so be very careful about which one you pick.
Before you do ANYTHING, BACKUP ALL YOUR DATA, in addtion to a Time Machine copy, and make sure you follow the process for splitting a fusion drive https://www.lifewire.com/split-fusion-drive-apart-2260166
If you are only installing one SSD, it should be the SATA one, replacing the spinning platter hard drive and you can leave the split nVME in place, format it and use it for a scratch disk or small storage. If replacing both, that is a lot more disassembly, since the nVME is buried under the mother board, but will probably cost you more than the €50. BTW, there is no reason to recreate the fusion drive with SSD's since that would actually slow them down.
Again, good luck