SSD Upgrade on 2015 iMac 5K

[262Runnr]

I'm wondering what kind of performance increase I would expect upgrading my 2TB Fusion drive with a 2TB SSD?
I've got 32GB of DDR3 RAM.
Thanks.

 

[TwoH]

You'd see a great increase in speed, and reliability using only an SSD instead of a fusion between an SSD and HDD.
It is worth it.

 

[262Runnr]

Thanks, I'll probably do the upgrade in the Spring and see if prices drop further. My computer is working fine now....However, there is some question as to whether I will need the digital thermal sensor cable??

OWC Digital Thermal Sensor for 2009-2010 iMac HD Upgrade

Required for any drive installed into the main drive bay of a 2009-2010 iMac, and fixes fan noise and other firmware issues with third party hard drives.

eshop.macsales.com

My iMac is late 2015 so I don't believe that I will need it....

 

[TwoH]

With a 2.5" SSD - I have found you don't need an OWC temperature sensor for it - I've only had fans ramp on 2015 iMacs with HDDs that were not Apple HDD.
If you're using a flash SSD, you do not need a temperature sensor either, you would simply need to remove the SATA cable if you are removing the HDD as that would cause the fans to ramp.

 

[262Runnr]

The only other issues that I have before making the swap is the fact that I don't think I'll be able to do a restore from my Time Machine backups...I believe that since the Fusion is actually two separate drives that the machine will need a fresh installation of MAC OS and won't be able to restore from back-up....am I correct?
Thanks.

 

[TwoH]

I don't see why the fusion should make it an issue? It should be okay to restore from Time Machine I'd assume.

 

[262Runnr]

I don't see why the fusion should make it an issue? It should be okay to restore from Time Machine I'd assume.

I was watching this video and don't know exactly what it means...?

 

[TwoH]

I'll have a look at it later and see how I can help if no one else responds.

 

[262Runnr]

thank you!

 

[262Runnr]

OK, just to get an official definite answer I called Apple Support which has always worked great for me.

There is no issue in restoring a Time Machine Backup to the new SSD drive coming from my Fusion Drive....However, the Time Machine Backups will not longer work correctly to restore backups on the new SSD once the OS is restored.
You need to make new Time Machine backups from the SSD drive for it to work correctly which is not a problem.
Once I've migrated my backup to the new SSD from Time Machine, I'm going to wipe the Time Machine drive and use it for the new SSD installation.
Hope this helps someone also looking to do this.

 

[262Runnr]

Done!....that was easy...
the hardest part, other than using a couple guitar picks to open it up (and it wasn't too hard really) was figuring out how those damn display cables are connected to the motherboard....
I didn't want to break anything and couldn't figure out exactly how they disconnected...took almost as long to do that as it did to peel open the case.
I already created a new backup from the SSD image in Time Machine....Piece of cake!

 

[TwoH]

Awesome, glad to see you got it working!