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?
Cut? That doesn’t sound funYou have to cut the Mac open. It's a PITA but doable.
Depends on what you call funCut? That doesn’t sound fun
Thanks for that. It doesn’t look too bad but I have got the paws of a clumsy gorillaHere'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
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.Thanks for that. It doesn’t look too bad but I gave got the paws of a clumsy gorilla
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 yearOP 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.
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. 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
Thanks but I’ve taken the nuclear option and now have a 16/512GB Mac Mini Pro with 4TB and 2TB external drives fittedIn 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.
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.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?