Replacing Optical Bay with SSD?

[sartios]

Hello

I've been searching for the last couple of hours of how to install my SSD into my iMac.

I am not going to bother ripping it all apart to install a second drive, (shame on you apple for making it so much hard work)

So I've been looking at replacing the optical drive with the SSD, is this as simple as swapping out the superdrive and installing this item:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/9-5MM-2nd...opAccess_RL&hash=item415fba41d3#ht_855wt_1180

I presume that would work fine? also would the temp sensors be ok still with this and the fans run normal?
Also I've heard Windows doesn't boot properly if there is a HDD in the optical bay? I will be using BootCamp for my games so will need Windows to work.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

 

[Bear]

The Optibay adapter you linked is for laptops and not the iMac. Therefore it probably won't work.

Truthfully? You're better off doing a proper SSD installation on the iMac, it's the same amount of work to get to the SSD/HD area as it is to get to the optical drive.

And yes you need to worry about the thermal sensor.

Of course, depending on what model/year iMac you have, the issues around and directions for installing SSD are different.

 

[sartios]

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The Optibay adapter you linked is for laptops and not the iMac. Therefore it probably won't work.

Truthfully? You're better off doing a proper SSD installation on the iMac, it's the same amount of work to get to the SSD/HD area as it is to get to the optical drive.

And yes you need to worry about the thermal sensor.

Of course, depending on what model/year iMac you have, the issues around and directions for installing SSD are different.

Thanks for the reply, I might as well just rip it all apart and do it that way then, what do I need ? I have spare sata cables lying around, do I just need the y splitter?

I have the latest iMac 21.5.

Regarda

 

[KylePowers]

I've seen someone replace the Superdrive with a hard drive. Basically they used the first two SATA ports to RAID two SSDs and used the 3rd SATA port for their 1TB (or 2TB) hard drive. Pretty cool.

The problem with throwing an SSD on the Superdrive port is that it's only SATA II. So you'll want to do a proper installation, which isn't too difficult if you're familiar with building PCs or modding any sort of consoles or cars or something.

http://blog.chargedpc.com/2011/05/2011-imac-ssd-install-guide.html
http://www.btobey.com/learn/imac-ssd-install.php

 

[fa8362]

Be careful. A lot of people break their Macs when trying to install new gear.

 

[fgullama]

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Thanks for the reply, I might as well just rip it all apart and do it that way then, what do I need ? I have spare sata cables lying around, do I just need the y splitter?

I have the latest iMac 21.5.

Regarda

Hey sartios,

You might want to consider getting a Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter and adding an SSD to to your iMac externally, leaving your iMac untouched. I've got a 2011 27" iMac and have been running this way for the last week. Check out this thread for others' experiences:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1317577/

Here is a link to the part, although you might be better off Googling the part # (STAE121), as it is on back order at many places:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/accessories

The adapter is $99 and the Thunderbolt cable is $49 (just go to Amazon, etc. for that), so this may not be for everyone. It does give good performance though and saves you from having to do potentially dangerous surgery on your system. Plus, you would potentially have your system drive on the go, able to take with you and plug into a friends iMac, Macbook Air, etc. to have your machine with you whenever needed.

I have a Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD running in this giving me around 250MB/s writes and 350MB/s reads. Perhaps not the top speed of the drive, but still damn fast and a vast improvement from the stock hard drive.

The only caveats I have seen so far is that the drive does (without some hacking) appear external (orange color) and therefore an installation of Windows 7 via Boot Camp to the Thunderbolt drive is a no go.

Frank