So I’ve got a spare 2TB SATA SSD. How difficult would it be to replace the Fusion Drive in my 2017 27” Mac? Is it as simple as take back off and swap it over like a PC?
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Replacing a Fusion Drive with an SSD
- Thread starter martint235
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Depends on what you call fun
The screen is glued on. iFixit sells a kit that includes everything you need, including new adhesive strips to put the screen back on. Took me like 2-3 hours total, going slow and careful.
I believe ‘cut’, you have to break the seal between the screen and the body of the unit.
There are a few YouTube videos on how to do it. To me personally, now (2023), not worth it.
There are a few YouTube videos on how to do it. To me personally, now (2023), not worth it.
Here's a link to the repair guice that iFixit.com shows for your iMac - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+27-Inch+2017+Hard+Drive+Replacement/136942
Thanks for that. It doesn’t look too bad but I have got the paws of a clumsy gorilla
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The worst part is cleaning the old adhesive off the display so you can apply new adhesive. You don't want to take any shortcuts with that, or your screen might just fall off onto your desk. The work of putting in the SATA drive isn't terrible really. It's all doable if you set up a nice clean workspace and go really slowly.
OP wrote:
"It doesn’t look too bad but I have got the paws of a clumsy gorilla"
You don't want to try this job unless you're certain of your abilities.
It's VERY easy to break something inside, and then you have a REAL problem.
Better visit ifixit.com to see what's involved.
Watch some youtube videos, as well.
My recommendation:
Put the SATA SSD into a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure.
Then... plug it into one of the USBc ports on the back (DO NOT use a USB3 "a" port)
Then... use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of the internal drive to the SSD.
SD is easier if you've never done it before.
This will give you an external boot SSD with read speeds around 850-900MBps.
Pretty good.
"It doesn’t look too bad but I have got the paws of a clumsy gorilla"
You don't want to try this job unless you're certain of your abilities.
It's VERY easy to break something inside, and then you have a REAL problem.
Better visit ifixit.com to see what's involved.
Watch some youtube videos, as well.
My recommendation:
Put the SATA SSD into a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure.
Then... plug it into one of the USBc ports on the back (DO NOT use a USB3 "a" port)
Then... use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of the internal drive to the SSD.
SD is easier if you've never done it before.
This will give you an external boot SSD with read speeds around 850-900MBps.
Pretty good.
Thanks. I’m confident in my technical knowledge and ability but see part above about paws of a gorilla. I think benefits v risks I’ll leave it and see what new comes out later this year
In the meantime you could try splitting the fusion drive. It's really easy to do, but I believe it will erase both drives. I did this on my iMac (same year/size model as yours) and it is amazingly fast just running on the SSD blade. My SSD is only 128GB, so I use external SSD for other storage.
Thanks but I’ve taken the nuclear option and now have a 16/512GB Mac Mini Pro with 4TB and 2TB external drives fitted
I USED a regular Pizza Cutter on a 2012 IMAC to start the cut then just switched to guitar picks to finish it.
I did the upgrade from a fusion to Crucial SSD and the biggest PITA was lining the screen up when putting back together. Be sure to buy good tape as if you need to take it off again (like I had to due to misalignment) the cheap tape is awful. iFixit tape is much better.
It's a pain. Doable, but not fun and there are several "if you're not careful, you'll need to replace these really expensive parts". My sincere advice would be to take it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider and have them do it. If it's not under warranty, then they're usually much more comfortable about doing it.