The 2009 iMac is a SATA II - 3Gbs maximum, half the speed of a modern SATA III - I am pretty sure that both the HDD and the DVD connections are the same and both can run at 3Gbs - I will look later and check which SSD I have in the 2009 and what Black Magic speeds it is giving.
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Using 2009 iMac today
- Thread starter Kierkegaarden
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The 2009 iMac is a SATA II - 3Gbs maximum, half the speed of a modern SATA III - I am pretty sure that both the HDD and the DVD connections are the same and both can run at 3Gbs - I will look later and check which SSD I have in the 2009 and what Black Magic speeds it is giving.
Yes, the 2009 iMac runs at SATA II. So I think the speed will be the same whether you put it in the optical drive bay or the HDD bay. I have no experience putting an SSD in the optical drive bay in these iMacs (though have done in MBPs), have only done it in the HDD bay with an OWC thermal sensor cable. Up to you which one to go for, all I can say is I've always found it fairly straightforward and have had no issues with operation, though yes the OWC sensor cable is not cheap.
Can confirm that my 1TB Samsumg EVO (HD slot) and 2TB WD spinner (DVD slot) in my 2009 iMac both run at 3 Gigabit
As far as I remember the sensor on the DVD drive was taped to the outside of the drive, and I removed it and reattached it to the SSD, so no new sensor required. And there is no worry as it is very unlikely that a standard SATA SSD drive will overheat that much. NVMe's are different.
I wonder if the C2D 2009 iMac is built differently then, I only have experience with 2010-11 models. But in any case I've always wanted to keep my ODD on my iMac as its only Mac with an ODD I have so have never considered the dual drive route.
I think that in all the 2009 models the temperature sensor of the DVD drives was external. But I did this swap about 6 years ago, so maybe wrong. Just checked the fixit dual drive guide (step 17) for the 2009 27" (quotes it works with all three processor options) and the thermal sensor is taped to the outside and can be passed on to the exterior of the SSD.
www.ifixit.com
Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 and 2374 Dual Drive
There are many benefits to adding a second hard drive or SSD to your iMac such as improved speeds, greater storage space, and less heartache when...
www.ifixit.com
Completely agree with the advice to swap out the internal drive for an SSD. I did this a couple of years ago with my late 2009 27" 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo iMac using a 1 TB Crucial MX 500 SSD. I would add the following comments to those already given by others:-
1) I used a couple of cable ties instead of a drive caddy to secure the SSD
2) I solved the fan speed issue with a hardware solution using the special sensor uniquely manufactured by OWC
3) My DVD drive ceased functioning years ago and I haven't missed it at all!
4) The work is not difficult as long as it is not rushed. I did the swap with my iMac in the upright position.
5) The video demo from OWC, iFixit, etc are good. N.B. care needs to be taken after unscrewing the display and gently pulling it forwards a short distance from the top to avoid cable damage.
6) Disconnect the cables carefully - especially the ribbon cables.
7) To top off the performance upgrade I also upgraded the RAM from 8GB to 16GB.
Good Luck!
1) I used a couple of cable ties instead of a drive caddy to secure the SSD
2) I solved the fan speed issue with a hardware solution using the special sensor uniquely manufactured by OWC
3) My DVD drive ceased functioning years ago and I haven't missed it at all!
4) The work is not difficult as long as it is not rushed. I did the swap with my iMac in the upright position.
5) The video demo from OWC, iFixit, etc are good. N.B. care needs to be taken after unscrewing the display and gently pulling it forwards a short distance from the top to avoid cable damage.
6) Disconnect the cables carefully - especially the ribbon cables.
7) To top off the performance upgrade I also upgraded the RAM from 8GB to 16GB.
Good Luck!
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1) That was ingenious!
2) As I said above, at least on my iMac, the DVD thermal sensor was taped to the outside of the DVD and I just passed it across to the SSD. Never had a fan issue.
3) Did you replace the HDD or the DVD?
4) I only detached one cable as I held the screen at about 45% degrees with two chopsticks, so didn't need to detached the other two cables. That is the most risky fiddly part.
5) Yes I agree
6) I mainly avoided that
7) I added 8GB from my original 4, to a total of 12GB
Love how this old machine is still totally usable for quite a few basic uses.
ref your point [3]: I replaced the HDD with an SSD. I left the non-functioning DVD with sensor in situ. I didn't want to lose any sensors to avoid a possible risk of unnecessary high fans speeds. As I said, I haven't missed the DVD drive at all because I've had no need for a DVD drive since software and OSX upgrades became downloadable. I've never watched DVD movies on my iMac. I read somewhere, some time ago, that the DVD drives in iMacs do not have a good reputation for reliability and that has been my experience too.
I'm with you on your closing remark. I would add that one sign of progress with iMac development has been the increasing difficulty of doing internal upgrade work when screws are replaced with adhesive to bond parts together in more recent models, but I guess that's just the way that Apple wants it
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I left the HDD with its sensor in, and used it as backup and storage, and removed the DVD, which was in a much more accesible place anyway.
Yes I have lots of much more modern Macs: Mac mini 2014 and 2018, MacBook Air 2015 and a 2017 2TB MackBook Pro
I have modified them all, but none as easily as the 2009 - Most new ones is either just SSD or just memory - More modern laptops neither.
Yes I have lots of much more modern Macs: Mac mini 2014 and 2018, MacBook Air 2015 and a 2017 2TB MackBook Pro
I have modified them all, but none as easily as the 2009 - Most new ones is either just SSD or just memory - More modern laptops neither.
There is, perhaps, one caveat to using the SATA connection for the DVD drive to connect an SSD drive. While data speeds will certainly be a lot faster with the SSD than the original HDD, I believe the read/write speed is slower when using the DVD SATA connection instead of the original HDD SATA connection to attach the SSD.
Can confirm that my 1TB Samsumg EVO (HD slot) and 2TB WD spinner (DVD slot) in my 2009 iMac both run at 3 Gigabit.
An extract from system report on my late 2009 iMac reveals:
Serial SATA Device Tree
link speed: SSD 3 Gigabit DVD 3 Gigabit
Negotiated link speed SSD 3 Gigabit DVD 1.5 Gigabit
Actual data transfer speeds are what really matter:
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for SSD
Write: 204.6 MB/s
Read: 238.2 MB/s
To be more precise with the temperature cable:
Instead of the OWC Kit, you can use an optical drive temperature cable. As some here in the thread have done you can re-route it from the DVD (if you take the DVD drive out) or, if you intend to replace the HDD and keep the DVD drive, you can buy one from Ebay for very little money (about 7€):
The part number is 593-0493. The plug is identical to the thermal sensor cable of the original HDD and thus fits nicely on the logic board, so its simply plug&play.
Best,
Magnus
Instead of the OWC Kit, you can use an optical drive temperature cable. As some here in the thread have done you can re-route it from the DVD (if you take the DVD drive out) or, if you intend to replace the HDD and keep the DVD drive, you can buy one from Ebay for very little money (about 7€):
The part number is 593-0493. The plug is identical to the thermal sensor cable of the original HDD and thus fits nicely on the logic board, so its simply plug&play.
Best,
Magnus
Yes, I think that the 1.5 Gigabit limit on the DVD is a physical limit of the device, not the connection, as both SATA II connections on the 2009 iMac are 3 Gigabit. I have read that some SSD's tend to default to SATA I (1.5 Gigabit) when they can't negotiate the now standard SATA III 6 Gigabit speed.
My Crucial M500 240 GB, that I installed 6 years ago in the DVD bay, has the following Blackmagic results:
Write: 195.3
Read: 267.3
Agreed on actual data transfer speeds are what matters!
Here is my system report for both drives. We definitely have two different set-ups on our late 2009 iMacs given the difference in negotiated link speeds:
(hard drive slot) Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1TB:
Vendor: Intel
Product: 5 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Physical Interconnect: SATA
Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported
(DVD slot) WDC WD2003FYYS-XXXXX:
Vendor: Intel
Product: 5 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Physical Interconnect: SATA
Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported
I have the feeling that the systems are similar, the difference being that the DVD drive is what limits that link to 1.5 Gigabit. If it was replaced by a HDD or SSD it would link and negotiate at SATA II 3 Gigabit
Mine is the even more original Core 2 Duo late 2009 27" and also running like a champ and being used for email, web and basic office use still on a daily basis. As well as second screen to my wife's work Toshiba Laptop.
There are several more modern Macs around, but this one is still going fine (with an SSD and 12GB memory) and still looks great sitting on a worktop.
Honestly, really shows the strength of the design all these years later.
I replaced my 500 gb HDD last year and installed a Kingston 480 gb SSD in the most simple way possible in my iMac 2011 21.5 and it works great.
OWC kit is actually not absolutely needed. Just open up the iMac as tutorials on Youtube shows. Uninstall the old drive, but keep the bay. The new much smaller SSD can be fixed to at least one side. A piece of duck tape on the other solves the rest. It sits firmly in place.
No additional thermal cable needed. I installed the free MacsFanControl and it runs like a charm. No problems with fans and actually a better cooling management. The app is available for Windows as well if you run BootCamp.
I enabled trim and run APFS as well.
I decided to go as simple as possible on this, since it’s an older machine. It works really great. Super snappy and responsive. no fan issues, no problems at all.
There is a ton of tutorials on MacsFanControl settings on the web as well.
OWC kit is actually not absolutely needed. Just open up the iMac as tutorials on Youtube shows. Uninstall the old drive, but keep the bay. The new much smaller SSD can be fixed to at least one side. A piece of duck tape on the other solves the rest. It sits firmly in place.
No additional thermal cable needed. I installed the free MacsFanControl and it runs like a charm. No problems with fans and actually a better cooling management. The app is available for Windows as well if you run BootCamp.
I enabled trim and run APFS as well.
I decided to go as simple as possible on this, since it’s an older machine. It works really great. Super snappy and responsive. no fan issues, no problems at all.
There is a ton of tutorials on MacsFanControl settings on the web as well.
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I am very glad to read this 2009 iMac thread, very helpful for me to install SSD for my iMac late 2009 27".
I have been very happy with my iMac 27", never had major problems for years, but suddenly it can't boot anymore, it's always showing the prohibitory symbol or question mark, maybe the hard drive corrupted(??).
My question is if I can directly to install SSD to replace the HDD/optical drive without fixing the HDD problem?
I have tried to use two USB flash disks; one 8G as OS installer, one 120G as OS installation target. 8G USB can start the process to install OS, but somehow the 120G drive can't detect properly.
Thanks for sharing
I have been very happy with my iMac 27", never had major problems for years, but suddenly it can't boot anymore, it's always showing the prohibitory symbol or question mark, maybe the hard drive corrupted(??).
My question is if I can directly to install SSD to replace the HDD/optical drive without fixing the HDD problem?
I have tried to use two USB flash disks; one 8G as OS installer, one 120G as OS installation target. 8G USB can start the process to install OS, but somehow the 120G drive can't detect properly.
Thanks for sharing
