Use Unibody MacBook HDD in Late 09 iMac?

[russellelly]

I've got 2 Macs, a 2008 Aluminium MacBook and a late 2009 27" iMac. Unfortunately, the hard drive in the iMac has failed. The iMac is mostly used for web browsing, whereas the MacBook is my main machine for doing work.

I'm wondering if it'd be possible to move the working HDD from the MacBook to the iMac, in order to fit the MacBook with an SSD? I know that the iMacs are fussy with having a drive with some kind of temperature controller, and don't know if my MacBook HDD would play nicely with it.

Any experience or ideas? Anything else I should consider? Thanks.

 

[satcomer]

You should just use SSDs in both machines! You can see install videos here.

 

[Fishrrman]

If it was me, I'd do this:
- Get an SSD
- Get an external enclosure that has firewire800 -and- USB3
- Put the SSD into the enclosure, connect to iMac
- Boot and run that way, using the SSD as an "external booter" for the rest of the life of the computer.

It will boot (via firewire800) roughly as fast as the old HDD did, and will be somewhat "snappier" once up-and-running.

If you have the technical ability, you might put the SSD inside the iMac, but it's possible to break something while doing so.

My opinion only...

 

[russellelly]

If it was me, I'd do this:
- Get an SSD
- Get an external enclosure that has firewire800 -and- USB3
- Put the SSD into the enclosure, connect to iMac
- Boot and run that way, using the SSD as an "external booter" for the rest of the life of the computer.

It will boot (via firewire800) roughly as fast as the old HDD did, and will be somewhat "snappier" once up-and-running.

If you have the technical ability, you might put the SSD inside the iMac, but it's possible to break something while doing so.

My opinion only...

Late reply, sorry. Thanks for the advice.

I think I'll just get an external HDD with FireWire 800 and USB 3.0 support and keep it running that way. Given the computer probably has limited time left and that it's mostly used for Google Docs, Netflix and social media the speed difference shouldn't be too painful.