SSD upgrade queries...

[KevChallis]

I am interested to find out what happens when you upgrade to SSD

I plan to upgrade to ssd on my 2012 (bought mid 2012, one with DVD drive) 21.5 iMac.

I have a couple of questions that I can't find a definitive answer to, I plan to place the ssd behind the DVD drive, if I use this as a boot drive, do I lose the fans? As I hear they are controlled via the hdd, is there anyway around this? Or do you just have fans running max all the time?

How would it work if I put all programs on ssd bit leave the os on the boot drive?

Thanks in advance for any help given

 

[toddzrx]

First, if you purchased it new in 2012, you've got a 2011 machine: it has a Sandy Bridge processor in it.

As for placing the SSD, you won't need to worry about the fans because there's no temp sensor for the SATA connection behind the optical drive. Just plug it in and you're good to go.

I would highly recommend putting the OS on the SSD: that's kind of the point if you want to reap the speed benefits it will give you.

See iFixit for more (the only difference being you're installing an SSD instead of an HD, but there is no difference in the procedure):

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/6434/1

 

[KevChallis]

Thanks for your reply, I watched the video and it seems ok. One thing more though, I don't have a boot disk, how can I load OS onto ssd without one?

Thanks again

 

[toddzrx]

Easy enough: use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the disk image of the current HD onto the new SSD. If I remember right, CCC will let you pick and choose the various apps and data you want to clone. I've used CCC for this purpose twice over the past couple years; worked fine for me.