Samsung 860 EVO on an iMac

[OFS]

Hello everyone!

I’m thinking about upgrading my 2014 27” iMac retina, swapping the existing 3TB fusion drive for an SSD.

I already bought the appropriate OWC adapter kit for the SSD but got scared to pull the plug on the SSD drive itself after reading about compatibility issues.

So I’d like to ask if anybody has successfully installed a 2 terabyte Samsung 860 EVO SSD on a similar iMac and if there were any issues using High Sierra.

Note that I do not wish to remove the SSD portion of the existing fusion drive, I just want to replace the HDD and leave the original SSD as a second drive.

Thanks everyone in advance!

Miguel Barrosa

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Get a USB3 caddy, hook it up externally. Clone the operating system to it using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner and it will be bootable. Select as the boot drive in System Preference > Startup Disc by clicking on it and away you go.

The 2012 and newer iMacs are really only for the experienced to crack open and the screens are glued in, and fragile.

 

[OFS]

Get a USB3 caddy, hook it up externally. Clone the operating system to it using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner and it will be bootable. Select as the boot drive in System Preference > Startup Disc by clicking on it and away you go.

The 2012 and newer iMacs are really only for the experienced to crack open and the screens are glued in, and fragile.

nambuccaheadsau, thanks for your input. I know opening the iMac is not an easy task, but I’ve watched a few videos and I think it’s doable. I’m concerned about the performance if I used an external USB3 caddy, thatywhy i’d prefer to install the drive internally. Do you know about compatibility issues when installing 3rd party SSD’s?

Thanks for your help!

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

It will perform very well. Did this for years with a 2011 iMac.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Do you know about compatibility issues when installing 3rd party SSD’s?

No issues with 3rd party SATA SSDs and Super Duper