Purchasing new iMac- use old iMac as 2nd Display/ external HDD?

[appstate]

I'm going to purchase a new 27" iMac soon.

I have a 2011 iMac that I'd like to use for a second display. Besides that, can I use the HDD in the 2011 iMac as an external HDD for my new iMac?

 

[TyPod]

I think you would need to take the hard drive out of the old iMac and put it in an external enclosure in order for the new iMac to recognize it.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I have a 2011 iMac that I'd like to use for a second display.

That will work fine - Target Display Mode is your friend.

Besides that, can I use the HDD in the 2011 iMac as an external HDD for my new iMac?

Yes, but you cannot use it as a hard disk as well as an external monitor, at least not both at the same time. You'd need to boot into Target Disk Mode to gain access to the internal HDD, and that precludes the use of Target Display Mode.

 

[jaxhunter]

You might be better off selling the iMac and buying and external display and external hard drive. The iMac is going to use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat to do that and as you would have to use the hard drive networked your data throughput will not be the best. Target Display Mode is an incidental feature enabled as a convenience more than anything else. What you're trying to do is recycle the machine you already have but for what you want to do with it the better solution would be to recycle it into cold hard cash first.

 

[appstate]

Great feedback guys!

Thanks!