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How-To: Now’s the right time to swap your old iMac’s hard drive for a fast new SSD

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If you bought your iMac 3-5 years ago, there’s probably nothing so seriously wrong with the hardware that you need to consider replacing the machine. Sure, the new iMac with 5K Retina Display looks a little nicer, but at a steep $2,499 starting point, it’s still a luxury, not a necessity.

Yet there’s something you can do for $200 to $500 that will radically change your iMac’s performance: install a solid state drive (SSD) in addition to or instead of its original hard drive. SSDs use high-speed memory chips rather than the spinning platter mechanisms in traditional hard drives, achieving up to 5X benefits in speed while requiring no moving parts. Five years ago, SSDs were both expensive and limited in capacity, making them unlikely components for most Macs. Today, high-quality, capacious SSDs can be had for reasonable prices, and they’re surprisingly easy to install in iMacs. With limited expertise and only three tools, I swapped out my old hard drive for an SSD in roughly 30 minutes. Here’s how I did it, and – if you’re up for a quick do-it-yourself project – what I’d recommend for you.

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First Choice: Are You Replacing or Keeping Your Old Hard Drive?

iMacs sold between 2009 and mid-2012 have two drive bays: one for the hard drive, and one for the DVD/CD SuperDrive. Some people prefer to keep their old hard drives and replace the optical drive with an SSD. Other people want to keep the optical drive and swap the hard drive for an SSD. It’s easier to replace the optical drive, but if you still use DVDs or CDs on occasion, swapping the hard drive is an option. (That’s what I did.)

If you’re going to keep your old hard drive inside your iMac, you could save money on the SSD by going with a lower capacity model: 128GB or 256GB could be enough to hold OS X and all of your apps, keeping your music, photos, and videos on the old drive. But if you’re going to swap the hard drive for an SSD, you’ll probably want a 512GB or 1TB drive, which will have enough breathing room for files that you won’t feel constrained over the next few years. I paid a little bit more and went with a 1TB drive, a decision I don’t regret at all.

What You’ll Need

 

samsungevo850

A solid state drive. After a lot of research, I strongly preferred the price, performance, and durability offered by Samsung’s 850 EVO, which comes in 1TB ($400, reg. $500), 500GB ($200, reg. $270), 250GB ($100, reg. $150) and 120GB ($75, reg. $100) versions. With write and read speeds in the 500MB/second range, the 850 EVO is super fast, has a five-year warranty, and promises 30% better long-term performance than its already excellent predecessor 840 EVO. There are cheaper SSDs out there, but I value speed and reliability; the 850 EVO has both in spades.

torx

Tools. You’ll need two grippable suction cups (or one large suction cup, gently applied) T-8 and T-10 Torx screwdrivers, a small Philips head screwdriver, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and some LED screen-safe cleaning spray. You’ll probably have at least some of these tools already. This $8 (reg. $13) Delcast Torx set will give you the special Torx drivers you need for this and future projects; a $4 suction cup like this one from WorkShop will be enough for this product. A metal paperclip or tweezers are also handy for pulling the LED display up from the iMac’s chassis.

thermalsensor

An in-line digital thermal sensor. If you’re going to remove the iMac’s hard drive, this $37 cable (or the newer version sold for $42.50 direct from OWC/Newer Technology) will save you major headaches going forward. Apple hard drives have temperature probes inside; third-party SSDs do not. This cable adds a probe to your SSD, preventing the iMac from panicking and turning on its fans at full blast whenever you turn the computer on. There are software alternatives to this cable, but consider this a small investment that will reduce your need to screw around with manual fan controls while keeping your Mac running perfectly.

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A 2.5″ to 3.5″ drive converter bracket. Again, if you’re going to remove the iMac’s hard drive, you’ll need a $10-$15 metal plate to mount the 2.5″ SSD in the iMac’s 3.5″ drive bay. Newer Technology sells this $15 one called AdaptaDrive. Screws are included to mount the SSD on the plate; you’ll reuse the iMac’s screws to mount the plate inside your computer.

How Do You Do It Yourself?

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In all candor, I had no idea how easy or difficult the SSD swap process would be. But if you have the parts mentioned above, it’s astonishingly simple.

Preserving Your Software

Preparing your iMac’s existing hard drive to be replaced is almost as painless as if you’re leaving it untouched inside. You can run a complete Time Machine backup to an external drive (preferably one that’s connected with a cable rather than over Wi-Fi), or complicate the process somewhat by using a complete drive cloning app.

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In my opinion, going the Time Machine route is a better idea when starting fresh with an SSD, and it costs nothing. You just turn off and unplug your iMac, swap the drives, then hold Command-R down on the keyboard when first restarting your Mac. Any recent version of OS X will boot into Internet Recovery mode, enabling you to use Disk Utility to format the SSD (choose Mac Extended + Journaled), then restore directly from your Time Machine backup. The restoring process will take hours, but you’ll come back to a fresh Yosemite install with everything pretty much as it was left on your old drive.

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If you want to go the more complex route, you can order this $13 (reg. $16) USB 3.0 to 2.5″ SATA III Adapter Cable, connect it to your iMac and SSD before opening up the machine, and run SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer the old drive’s contents to the new drive. This will let you start using your iMac right away after the drive is swapped, without waiting hours for Time Machine, and for better or worse pretty much guarantees that every one of your files (and potentially plenty of cruft) will be exactly where it was before.

For users with plans to swap an optical drive for an SSD, nothing needs to be done to prep software beforehand. Backing up your Mac is always a good idea before opening it up, but all you’ll need to do after the SSD installation is run Disk Utility and format the new drive.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7logphayJw&feature=youtu.be]

Hardware

While I’ll leave the specific iMac opening instructions to the experts at iFixit (this guide works for pre-2012 27″ iMacs), and the details of installing the digital thermal sensor to this video at OWC/Newer Tech, here’s a brief play-by-play of my SSD installation experience.

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(1) Removing the iMac’s glass front was much easier than I expected. If you go gentle when pulling up on a single large suction cup in the upper left or right corner, you can remove the glass face in a matter of seconds, pulling tabs upwards from the iMac’s metal chin. Cleaning and reinstalling the glass was so simple that I wish I’d tried it earlier, when dust first began to accumulate between the glass and screen.

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(2) Pulling up the iMac’s display looks a lot more complicated than it is. Eight Torx screws need to be removed, which is barely challenging at all. You then need to follow the iFixit directions, using a paperclip (or tweezers) against the screen’s metal frame to tilt it upwards, then very gently pull four small monitor connectors out from the iMac’s various boards. Go slowly and carefully, though you’ll soon realize that (with a little dexterity and that modest bit of experience) you’d be able to do all four again in less than two minutes.

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(3) Swapping the hard drive out takes little more effort than removing two cables from its back and unscrewing four more Torx screws. An EMI sticker gets pulled off the hard drive and placed on the SSD. Figure out which orientation the SSD needs to be on relative to the 2.5″ to 3.5″ drive converter bracket, then screw the SSD to the bracket with the bracket’s included screws. Attach the bracket to the old hard drive’s metal rail, such that the SSD’s connector pins will eventually face the iMac’s small and large hard drive cables.

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(4) Following OWC’s video, add the in-line digital thermal sensor to the larger hard drive cable in the iMac, connect the sensor’s larger connector to the SSD, then use the adhesive backing to attach the sensor to the SSD’s large exposed side. Reattach the smaller hard drive cable to the SSD, then use the other Torx screws to attach the bracketed SSD in the iMac. Tuck the thermal sensor’s body off to the edge of the SSD.

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(5) Go in reverse, reattaching the four display cables, remounting the screen, putting the 8 Torx screws back, and reattaching the glass. Stop long enough to gently clean the screen and the glass with the microfiber cloth and screen-safe cleaning fluid.

Can I Do This Myself, Or Should I Hire Someone To Help?

Following publication of this article, several commenters suggested that the upgrade is too difficult for regular people to handle on their own. I respectfully disagree, but then, I find 30 minutes of using a suction cup, screwdrivers, and a paperclip a lot easier than more labor-intensive do-it-yourself projects like remodeling a bathroom or changing a car’s tire. Reasonable people – as well as their particular skills and concern levels about technology – may differ.

If you’re intimidated by the thought of opening your iMac, or think you might have problems gently removing parts or disconnecting the internal cables, seek out a local Mac repair shop to do the hard drive to SSD swap. Be prepared to pay between $50-$100 (plus the cost of the SSD and possibly other parts), and transport your iMac to and from the shop in its original packaging to avoid damaging it in transit. You’ll also want to make sure the shop has specific experience in iMac hard drive replacements, and is insured in the event something goes wrong, as these are the only potentially important differences between hiring someone else and doing it yourself.

That’s It? Seriously?

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If you’re swapping the old hard drive for an SSD, yes, that’s it. Rebooting your Mac with an empty SSD requires just holding down command-R on the keyboard, after which you’ll see the Internet Recovery prompt and perhaps 15 minutes of automated downloading. If you’re booting from a pre-cloned SSD, your Mac will come back as it was before. And if the SSD’s in the optical drive bay, your iMac will now have two internal drives to choose from. Make the SSD the boot drive by installing Yosemite on it and choosing it in System Preferences > Startup Disk.

speedtestssd

You’ll begin to notice how much faster your iMac is pretty quickly after the installation process is complete. Until and unless there are some major Mac processor performance jumps (and apps worth upgrading for), simply adding an SSD is going to make a much bigger speed difference for most iMac owners than getting a completely new computer with a faster CPU or video card. The machine will resume from sleep instantly, reboot in seconds, and load apps as if they’re tiny. My SSD-equipped iMac is now seeing roughly 500MB/second read and write speeds, a solid 5 times faster than it was with a hard disk.

What About Trim?

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A number of readers have asked about Trim support for third-party SSDs, a topic that’s both important and potentially somewhat confusing. Trim — automatic recycling of SSD space freed up by deleting files — is a background task performed by your Mac. It’s handled in the background by OS X, though for reasons unknown, Apple generally provides Trim support only for its own drives.

Cindori’s free application Trim Enabler (Pro version $10) enables Trim support for third-party SSDs under OS X, including the latest 10.10.2 and 10.10.3 versions. Please note, however, that Trim Enabler must be turned off each time you do a OS X system update (say, from 10.10.2 to 10.10.3); if you forget, you’ll see a gray box when the machine tries to reboot after an update, and you’ll need to follow these instructions to make the machine work properly again.

Conclusions

Prices have fallen enough that average users will finally find that SSDs now deliver a great balance of speed and capacity for the dollar. You can reasonably expect to see 3X to 5X speed improvements across apps and other files using SSDs of the caliber recommended above. If you’re an iMac user, and you want to experience much-improved performance, it’s time to make the switch. There’s no better (or more cost-effective) way today to speed up an old iMac.

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Comments

  1. Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

    This article should really start with some kind of notification that this is a really difficult upgrade that no normal consumer should even try.

    Sure, a lot of techie folks that come to this site will have no trouble with it, but to imply as this article does that it’s some kind of easy-breezy update that anyone can do is just so wrong.

    • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

      Yeah… I’ve been up inside many macs… [giggity] but I’m terrified to try doing this.

      • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

        I’ve done it a few times and it’s daunting to say the least.

        I haven’t done it for a year or so, but the last time I did, that stupid sticky metallic tape (curiously not in any of the pictures or on the video) was a nightmare and basically impossible to not rip at least a few times. Also, don’t touch the screen, be careful of this, of that, and keep a zillion different tiny screws all organised etc. Bleh!

    • I have to agree with you there. It is not for the faint of heart.

      I swapped out my dying DVD drive in my iMac for a 64GB SSD. It wasn’t too difficult (except for one small ribbon cable). It took about a half hour. But it was worth it. I built a Fusion Drive from it and the internal HD… The system is A LOT faster. It is a huge difference. Applications open instantly – and that’s not exaggeration. Even something like Xcode launches after a single bounce. If you have the guts to do the upgrade, it is worth it. Like getting a brand new system. All for only $130 ($80 for the SSD, $50 bracket).

      • I have a iMac 27 Late 2009 with 2T original drive. I like to keep the original HDD
        drive and add a 256G SSD (Samsung EVO 850) and create a Fusion drive.

        I have the ordered the OWC Internal SSD DIY Kit For All Apple 27″ iMac 2010 Models w/ Tools.

        Do I need a special bracket for Samsung EVO 850?

    • Jurgis Ŝalna - 9 years ago

      Just know what you are doing – follow the guide.

      If something does not move just a bit more force that is enough to break a matchstick – hit the internet, look for better guides, preferably videos.

      Accidents do happen, but most people break stuff just because they do not know what they are doing.

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      It’s actually not a difficult upgrade. If you can use a screwdriver and follow directions, it’s amazingly easy. There’s a lot more fear of the unknown involved in this one than actual challenge involved. Zero “stupid sticky metallic tape” to rip when I did my upgrade, and there were fewer than 16 screws to deal with, all but two of which were the same as one another. So… yeah.

    • dcj001 - 9 years ago

      I bought a late 2012 iMac before Apple offered flash storage smaller than 768GB. I wanted to boot from an SSD, so I bought one of the best 250GB SSDs, put it in a Firmtek USB 3.0 enclosure, which support read/write speeds up to 440MB per second transfer speeds, and I selected the SSD as my start up drive in System Preferences.

      I also chose to use the 1TB internal HD as the Time Machine drive. This set up has worked very well.

      The Firmtek USB 3.0 enclosure supports the fastest speeds that I have seen through USB 3.0, and it is very affordable.

      Here is the link for more information:

      http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/dlite1.html

    • theoddshipp - 9 years ago

      It’s actually really easy, especially if you follow ifixits guide. I did my mbp by just taking it apart without any tutorials and my friends imac was simple enough, the guide breaks down every single thing piece by piece

    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

      The thing I would be more afraid of is the dust and smudges issue. Nothing worse than getting dust inside the glass.

      What they should do is at least advise people to wear those special gloves when handling the glass and panel.

    • charismatron - 9 years ago

      Totally agree. There’s nothing simple about looking at the guts of a computer without having experience. It’s often daunting, over-whelming, and the cost of failure sucks the will to tinker right out of you.

      Even a simple mistake could cost you a lot. And you might be left with a mess you don’t know how to put back together.

      I like the article because it’s inspired me to make the change. Well, it’s inspired me to order the SSD and buy a case of micro brew for my techie friend to make the change. :)

    • Martin Paule - 9 years ago

      Actually, my 60-something wife with no tech experience installed an SSD (and new RAM) in her Mac Book Pro with little fuss. The biggest chore was getting the Torx screwdrivers. Didn’t know about the TM restore option though, she took the data cable route to migrate her system. Thanks for a well written and illustrated story.

  2. Cameron Hood - 9 years ago

    What about putting in a 3 TB ‘Fusion’ drive?

    • theoddshipp - 9 years ago

      Pretty simple, get a ssd add it into your imac or on a mbp move the hdd to your SuperDrive slot and put the ssd in your hdd slot and then boot from a os x install usb drive and with some coding in terminal you can create a fusion drive. Takes a couple of hours and bam it’s all purdy and works like a dream

    • jasonakay - 9 years ago

      I did this some time ago, installed a 3TB hard drive and a 256GB SSD into my iMac to create a ‘3.2GB’ Fusion Drive onto which I restored a Time Machine backup. I was able to leave the DVD drive installed as well.

  3. jmush (@jmush) - 9 years ago

    No mention of discharging static?

    I also don’t have the balls to do this on my iMac. I would love to pay someone $100 to do it.

    • theoddshipp - 9 years ago

      I do fusion drive upgrades for $150

      • blqman989 - 8 years ago

        Do you still do fusion drive upgrades, I’m interested , I’m Terrence blqman989@aol.com or you can call 510-938-3601

  4. Andy Bo - 9 years ago

    It makes no mention of the issue of Drive “Trim” software, that is not run for non Apple SSDs under Yosemite. The SSD’s supplied by OWC dont have this issue.

    • JD Mathewson - 9 years ago

      The 850 EVO is supposed to have its own hardware-based garbage collection that obviates the need for activating TRIM.

      • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

        I’d be looking at the Pro version of SSD’s, not the EVO version. The Pro versions are faster and longer lasting/more reliable.

      • telecastle - 9 years ago

        It’s a common misconception to claim that SSD garbage collection obviates the need for TRIM. Please google this and read up on this because your claim is erroneous. Additionally, it’s been proven (again google it) that the OWC claim that their drives’s performance doesn’t suffer because of the lack of TRIM support is at best a non-so-subtle marketing gimmick, and at worst is …

      • JD Mathewson - 9 years ago

        Samsung says it does, not me. I said “supposed to.” Please take the time to read what you’re replying to before you reply.

      • nosiycrow - 9 years ago

        OWC do explain the issues well in this article here. Be warned, it very ‘sales’ orientated but their claim is over provisioning and controller implementation avoids their direct need for SSD GC done by the OS (aka TRIM)
        http://blog.macsales.com/21641-with-an-owc-ssd-theres-no-need-for-trim

    • nosiycrow - 9 years ago

      Good article but you’re right to point this out.
      OWC disks don’t get around it they over provision.
      TRIM support is essential for the health and longevity of your SSD. OWC is a better choice for Macs but I use Trim Enabler to enable TRIM in OS X
      READ this to understand the TRIM support issues in OS X
      http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/
      In short, if you don’t enable TRIM your disk performance will degrade over time

      • telecastle - 9 years ago

        TRIM Enabler doesn’t work with Yosemite. At least it didn’t a few months back I checked into this. The solution to disable kext authentication by OS X is a controversial workaround.

      • custom2012 - 9 years ago

        Exactly my point , With Yosimite we’re fluck

    • You’re right, but there’s a hack to make it work for non Apple SSDs…

      http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/298507-enable-trim-on-non-apple-ssd/

      If you’re capable of installing an SSD in an iMac, applying the hack should be a no brainer.

      • custom2012 - 9 years ago

        Not a good idea… even Trim Enabler maker say so….

  5. Jurgis Ŝalna - 9 years ago

    Please do not keep 3-5 year old HDDs. They are just about to start dying.

    • Matt - 9 years ago

      So what should I do with my six year old drive?

      • philboogie - 9 years ago

        Test your backups by restoring them and see if everything is there, and still functioning. Trivial for boot drives.

      • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

        Your 6 year old drive is well past it’s intended life span. Consumer hard drives are usually warrantied for 3 years but that got limited to one year when Apple put it in your Mac. Enterprise class drives are warrantied for 5 years, usually constant service. SSDs generally have a similar MTBF as enterprise class drives. People who run servers are advised to swap out drives after the warranty is up to prevent unexpected failure. If that is a policy that appeals to your sensibilities and fits in your budget, then replacing the drive is long term wise, but the rest of your computer may not last much longer and a 6 year old computer is getting obsolete in other technologies. That being said, I have a 2009 Mac Pro but my hard drives are not that old. I put in a PCIe OWC SSD as my boot drive. 960GB

  6. custom2012 - 9 years ago

    Samsung EVO 850… well what do we do with the fact that Yosemite kill Trim Enabler (Not signed Kext) !!!

  7. JD Mathewson - 9 years ago

    No need to spend extra on a temperature sensor. Just lightly remove the temp sensor that’s already attached to your iMac’s HD and re-attach it to the SSD when you install it. This method works just fine and has caused me no problems.

  8. Will the Apple Store do this service?

    • theoddshipp - 9 years ago

      No, but I do. If you’re in Sacramento hit up orchardrepair.com

    • nosiycrow - 9 years ago

      Definitely not. Apple supports only their prescribed, tested and warranted hardware. 3rd party ‘PC style’ mix and match is a no no.

  9. bsenka - 9 years ago

    I recently replaced the HDD in my iMac. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as it looks. Definitely worth the time and effort.

  10. bradmacpro - 9 years ago

    The in-line digital thermal sensor is needed, or a software hack, for just 2009 and 2010 models, many other model iMacs don’t have the direct connection to the hard drive. Also many other models don’t have the adhesive EMI trim around the display. As for TRIM support and Yosemite’s effect on Trim Enabler, besides the OWC drives which don’t support TRIM but don’t quite need it, if you want to be safe with TRIM, this company’s SSDs support TRIM. http://www.angelbird.com/en/prod/ssd-wrk-for-mac-929/ And you probably will need Torx T6 or T8 as well as Philiips 0 or 00 drivers. Finally it is a rather tricky procedure, with the delicate connectors and small screws, particularly on the MacBook Pros. But a SSD upgrade make a huge difference. And you can get a cheap anti-static wrist strap. As for losing the screws, I print up Apple’s technician guide for the model I’m working on, and tape down the screw onto the page showing it’s removal. This way I don’t loose it and it goes back in where it came out.

  11. philboogie - 9 years ago

    If you need to do all that couldn’t you simply get a new Mac? That’s what I always do for difficult to upgrade parts. For HDD/SSD I simply pop in a new one as I’ve always bought a Mac Pro.

    • scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

      Just simply pay another 1500 to 2800 dollars when I can get a 256gb ssd, 2 terabyte hdd and the kit to do this for 400 dollars. Thanks mister money-bags.

    • scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

      This isn’t about Mac Pros d-bag

  12. nekomichikun - 9 years ago

    It’s not just for iMacs, the SSD upgrade also works great for MacBooks and it’s easier to do by yourself, too.

    I replaced the HDD with an SSD in my 2011 MacBook and now it starts up and launches apps about the same speed as the latest generation MacBooks. What’s important about flash-based storage for laptops is that they’re not vulnerable to shock/shaking whereas a hard drive that’s shaken while writing data could have a “hiccup” and in some cases result in data loss. This is especially the case for portable computers like laptops.

    Since the optical drive failed, I removed that and combined with the lack of spinning parts of the SSD, my MacBook now runs completely quietly. No more whirring or clicking noises when booting up or working.

  13. scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

    Some good info, but why is the fact that any 2011 or newer 27″ iMac is made with 2 drive bays and dosen’t need to have the optical drive removed.

    • carpetbomberz - 9 years ago

      I think one of the drive bays, and correct me if I’m wrong is UNDER the motherboard. And if you think these directions are challenging, removing the motherboard to access Drive Bay #2 is in a word, non-trivial. I was able to add an SSD to my 2012 iMac 27″ but I had to practice, read-up on it and keep watching the videos over and over. I don’t think I’ll ever go back and upgrade the 256GB Crucial M4 in that slot. I would however gladly go for the current HDD or CD/DVD drive instead.

  14. b9bot - 9 years ago

    Just boycott Samsung copycats is the only thing I would change. Use any other make except there’s. I used a toshiba drive and my iMac screams with the fusion drive setup.

  15. carpetbomberz - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on Carpet Bomberz Inc. and commented:
    Prices are coming down on SSD’s and even on the name brand ones. I noticed just today Samsung drives are getting cheaper. A 512GB EVO is ~$200 now with the 1TB EVO for just over $414. Not bad at all. But not all Macs are as friendly and upgradeable the old G4 and G5 Mac towers from years ago. Now instead you’ve got to use suction cups and gingerly pull out a bare 27″ LCD screen on the iMac. But thanks to the DIY spirit 9to5Mac has shared the steps to do a hard drive swap. Power to the people, we can do this!

  16. My local Apple dealer did this for me for £50 + parts, which I supplied myself. The price including cloning the contents of my old drive onto his server, installing a 500GB SSD and installing Yosemite and my Applications and Home folder, swapping the optical drive for an 2TB HD which he partitioned to hold my iPhoto and iTunes libraries, and a back up of the SSD. (Additionally everything from both drives is backed up to an external Time Machine HD and an external 4TB HD).

    It’s a brilliant way of speeding up a Mac (once you’ve used an SSD you’ll never want to use anything else), but I think it’s extremely reckless to advise average users that this is something that can be done ‘surprisingly easily’. It can’t, and there’s a serious risk of knackering your Mac and (unless you properly clone the drive rather than using Time Machine) losing your data too.

    I’m pretty handy with tech and DIY but there’s absolutely no way I would attempt this.

    Unless you’re absolutely confidant you can go through each of the instructions, just spend the £50.

    Otherwise this ‘surprisingly easy’ installation will end up costing you a lot more…

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      It’s a matter of both one’s perspective and intimidation factor. I found this hard drive replacement to be a lot easier and less stress-inducing than changing a tire on a car. If you have the tools and guides above, zero of the steps requires more expertise than using a screwdriver, gently pulling out cables, and applying adhesive. I shudder to think of the world we would be living in if suggesting an average person couldn’t follow simple instructions and do those things was actually “extremely reckless,” but as they say, fear is the mind-killer…

      • This is not about ‘fear’ or ‘intimidation’ This is about common sense.

        Can’t you see that just because you find this easy it doesn’t mean that everyone else will? Having used (and pulled apart) Macs on a daily basis since 1985, I watched the process you described being performed by a professional and I stand by my point that it would be irresponsible to guide eager but inexperienced users to attempt it themselves – especially when the entire process can be achieved risk-free for £50.

        I agree with your view that confidence is learned through experience, but experience entails making mistakes and learning from them. It’s wrong to have your readers learn those lessons by damaging their valued Macs and possibly losing irreplaceable data.

        The power to write and publish goes hand in hand with responsibility. You are claiming that something that’s at best tricky and at worst has the possibility of being catastrophic is a stroll in the park. PLEASE put some caveats and warnings in – one sentence would do – and inform readers that this can be done for next to nothing by a qualified Apple engineer, at least here in the UK.

        Reading through other postings, a good number of your readers seem to share my view.

      • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

        Jack, the point at which discussion turns to hyperbole is when I stop responding further. I realize this is Internet Commenting™ where anything goes, but throwing around accusations of “catastrophic” loss and irresponsibility based on an article about DIY hard drive swapping is a bit over the top.

        We’re talking about opening and closing a backed-up computer using a suction cup, screwdriver, and a paper clip, not defusing a bomb or scaling a skyscraper. No MacGyver-level creativity is required here, either; it’s just following a set of instructions (which many people have indicated they have done without issues).

        I think most readers are smart enough to choose for themselves whether to attempt the upgrade or pay someone else to do so. But I’ve added a mention to the article to underscore that such an option exists.

      • Jeremy: many thanks for listening and adding the para explaining necessary caution.

        I have a defunct ’07 iMac sitting in my garage if anyone would like to practice first…

  17. Ingo (@Zockaholik) - 9 years ago

    Last december i added a 1TB Samsung PCIe SSD to my 27″ late2013 iMac, which has an additional Slot on the back of the Motherboard.
    It easily outperforms every SSD you put in den HDD-Slot.

  18. Scott Snider - 9 years ago

    Any ssi drives for the mac mini yet?

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      Any 2.5″ form factor drive would be fine for a Mac mini. You don’t say what exact model you have, you may need some unique tools, like to pull the motherboard out.

  19. Aaron Hebert - 9 years ago

    V-NAND baby, V-NAND! Pay a little more now for better tech or wait a year and pay less for more. Happy Mardi Gras!!!

  20. bradmacpro - 9 years ago

    While this type of DIY is harder than most, anyone not handy and prepared should leave it to others. I have helped more than one client buy a new computer because they fried their Mac trying to put in more memory or a video card in much easier to upgrade machines. And while 50 pounds in the UK sounds reasonable and a good option, in my experience in the USA, the Apple Stores refused to do anything like this, just replacement of exactly what was there before, not even replace a dead 320 GB hard drive with a new 500 GB (or larger) hard drive as an example.

  21. jhartscnd - 9 years ago

    I want to install either an external SSD or an internal SSD on my late 2012 iMac. I wouldn’t open the late 2012 myself, so I’m am thinking external via Thunderbolt. Comments, ideas….instructions?

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      External SSD via Thunderbolt should be just as good as internal and could in fact be better and certainly no hassle. OWC sells the Buffalo DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt with a striped pair of SSD for even faster throughput. Should be bootable and much cheaper than the similar Lacie Little Big Disk

      • jhartscnd - 9 years ago

        It seems like an expensive option to me (but a good one). Thanks for the suggestion – I am going to do some additional research, and search around the web to see if there are big pricing differences.

      • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

        Yes this expensive, but there are much cheaper single SSD Thunderbolt drives.

    • I’ve got a LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt 120GB SSD as system disk and it works really well. Felt like I got a new computer after I installed it. And the installation was obviously trivial.

    • nosiycrow - 9 years ago

      Yeah, I’ve used enclosures and the Drobo (Direct Attached Storage) DAS is nice. Downside is it’s pricey

  22. dodofancy - 9 years ago

    Why don’t you examine the chance to upgrade a cpu on an iMac? I’d like to cpu-upgrade my mid 2011 iMac.

  23. David Schapiro - 9 years ago

    Great article, Thanks!
    If I am going to replace the optical drive with an EVO 850 1TB SSD do I still need an inline temperature cable? Will I be able to run everything off this SSD and use the current internal drive as additional storage? I plan to do a time machine backup, then erase the internal drive, restart and format the SSD, then do a time machine backup onto the SSD. Kind regards Dave

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      You don’t say which generation iMac you have. The mentioned cable is for 2009 and 2010 models only
      See http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/

      • David Schapiro - 9 years ago

        Hi

        I have an 11,1 Late 2009 27″ iMac

      • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

        So that model needs this digital thermal sensor replacem cable from OWC or some software to control your fan which otherwise would blow at full speed all the time.

      • David Schapiro - 9 years ago

        Thanks. Do I need that cable if I am replacing the optical bay with the SSD?

      • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

        No, but you will need a DataDoubler bracket kit to mount it where the optical drive used to go http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMCL0GB/

        >

  24. b9bot - 9 years ago

    If you want step by step instructions another good resource would be http://fixit.com.
    The instructions above do not apply to 2012 and later iMacs that have no optical drive installed on them. Those require different tools to remove the display which is held by a double sided special tape and the display is the glass so don’t try and separate the two or you will have one BIG repair bill from apple to replace that display. Were talking $600 plus. Again http://ifixit.com has instructions to take apart the later model iMacs.

  25. b9bot - 9 years ago

    The link was wrong on my previous post. Here is the correct one to fixit.com.
    https://www.ifixit.com

  26. Joseph (@joek1971) - 9 years ago

    What if I have iMac 27″ Mid 2010 will the same things work or do I need anything more.

  27. ijordo - 9 years ago

    I just bought an 850 for my Macbook pro 2011. I am hoping it will give me a performance boost.

  28. Ricardo Trenard - 9 years ago

    Question: If I am going replace the optical driver for the SSD, do I need to buy also an in-line digital thermal sensor and the 2.5″ to 3.5″ drive converter bracket? Thanks very much for the answer, I already bought the driver plus the suction thing, I have the t8 and t10 and the clip, so I wonder if I am ready to go.

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      you don’t the in-line digital thermal sensor but you do need a bracket, that is not the usual 2.5″ to 3.5″ drive converter as the optical drive is not a 3.5″ form factor. OWC sells what they call the DataDoubler either individually or as a kit with a SSD and screwdrivers.

  29. jasond12015 - 9 years ago

    To correct a few points, it’s entirely untrue that ANY third-party SSD is designed in such as way as to not benefit from TRIM support. The claim that OWC SSDs are somehow immune to physics is preposterous nonsense and pure marketing speak. Here are the facts:

    1. All SSDs benefit from TRIM. If you do the research (beyond what you read by an SSD supplier that doesn’t support it), you will learn what TRIM is and how supporting it makes a big difference in performance and life expectancy of the SSD. It doesn’t mean SSDs that don’t support TRIM (such as those from every 3rd party company besides Angelbird) won’t work. They certainly will, but over time their performance will degrade faster than those that do (in this case, SSDs from Apple and Angelbird).

    2. There’s a reason companies that pretend TRIM doesn’t matter don’t offer long warranties – whereas Angelbird warranties their SSDs for 5 years.

    Do your homework and don’t believe the technobabble from companies that aren’t able or willing to do what it takes to support Mac TRIM. Buying third-party SSDs for Mac that fail to respond and support the Mac OS TRIM command simply won’t perform as well for as long a period as SSDs such as those from Apple and Angelbird. Simply a fact and I’m sure one that competing manufacturers are hoping Mac customers ignore.

    • Pedro Morgado Cândido - 9 years ago

      Hi jasond12015, please could you explain why Angelbird can provide Yosemite TRIM support and all the others SSD makers not…is Apple trying to have full control of Mac hardware, thirdy party makers are not allowed to develop drivers for MAC OS X anymore?

      • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

        Sorry to jump into this conversation, but the Mac market may be too small for Intel or Samsung to bother to make their SSDs Mac TRIM compatible while Angelbird, a small company felt they could grab this market segment. I would imagine Apple did not help much. And it is not a software you install on the Mac, it is part of the drive firmware. If it was so easy, the others would do it.

  30. Tona Spalato (@mojSplit) - 9 years ago

    Hello,
    Just installed 240GB SSD to my MacBook described before (hold Command-R down on the keyboard when first restarting your Mac. Any recent version of OS X will boot into Internet Recovery mode, enabling you to use Disk Utility to format the SSD (choose Mac Extended + Journaled), then restore directly from your Time Machine backup.)
    Sorry but this is not working as is giving me a QUESTION mark after holding R-Command. So I put the Installer CD and choose to do it from BackUp.
    Not sure at this point how this gonna work…
    Any advice?

  31. Stephen Ferris - 9 years ago

    If I replace the optical drive on my 27″ late 2009 iMac with an SSD and use that as my startup drive, will overall performance be any different from replacing the internal hard drive?

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      As noted, the SATA interface for that optical drive is slower, which was OK for an optical drive. So putting a SSD there will give you the fast access times but limit your throughput. Still a nice jump overall. Seagate makes hybrid hard drives, 1, 2 & 4TB, so you could replace also the other 3.5″ hard drive and get a nice speed boost as well as capacity. If you are replacing a Seagate drive you won’t need the digital thermal cable from OWC.

      • Neal Rennie - 9 years ago

        Looking at simple solutions to speed up a late ’09 iMac. Could the HDD be left in place, remove the optical drive, encase it with a USB connector to use on current iMac or future machines, add a SDD to the optical drive bay in a DataDoubler bracket to use as the main drive with OSX plus apps, BUT, switch the data cables such that the 6 Gb cable runs to the SDD and the slower 3 Gb cable from the optical bay now goes to the HDD.
        Comes down to: 1. Length of cables, and, 2. whether the 6 Gb cable carries any data relating to fan operation.
        This seems like a simple and easy fix, giving essentially a two part fusion drive type of system.
        I am also concerned about TRIM Enabling becoming too difficult to enable, as OSX marches on- we now have OSX 10.10.4
        Have I missed anything or forgotten the elephant in the room which crashes the idea?
        Thank you for your help and inspiration.

  32. James Loker-Steele - 9 years ago

    There is also the possibility of leaving the SATA bulk hard drive in and installing an additional SSD under the SuperDrive and giving your mac the benefits of the much hyped fusion drive. Links on how to do this are on the web as i looked into it last year.

  33. Rick McGinley - 9 years ago

    The drive converter tray by StarTech is not sized correctly for the job. The description on Amazon is 7.5×7.4 but what arrived was 4×4. At that size, you cannot attach the iMac mounting bracket and the mounting pins do not line up to the mounting holes. Not the author’s fault but I just want to make others aware.

    I ran to a local Fry’s for a new converter tray and the install was completed quickly after the delay.

  34. Thanks so much for your article. I have a 24″ iMac; I’m not sure which year. My harddrive just died for the second time. The first replacement was non-Apple. I’m looking to replace again. Would this drive work for this model iMac? Is it the best option. Thanks for your help.

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      If it’s a 24″ iMac, the answer should be yes. Every 24″ iMac used the Serial ATA (SATA) connector standard used by the SSDs recommended above!

  35. TOO RISKY upgrade for even an intermediate user, I screwed up my 27″ iMac display.

    I attempted the HDD to SSD swap after inspiration from this article on my 27″ Late-2013 iMac. Brought the 1TB EVO 850. Remember 2013 iMacs use adhesives, any alignment mistakes are costly. Everything went smooth until the end, while trying to align the display with the frame with display, mistakenly I pulled the ribbon cable (vsync??).

    After connecting everything back – with SSD the mac is blazing fast BUUUTTT – 2inch thick black stripe formed on one side of the screen – it doesn’t go away. Reading through the internet it looks like only option is to take it to Apple Authorised Service Provider and pay for the replacement of the display—-Its a costly affair now… I will update this post once I get the quote from AASP.

  36. I did this to my MBP and I am wondering how do I turn my old HDD into just a storage device that my new SSD can access?

  37. Les Faber (@LesFaber) - 9 years ago

    “Rebooting your Mac with an empty SSD requires just holding down command-R on the keyboard, after which you’ll see the Internet Recovery prompt and perhaps 15 minutes of automated downloading.”. You need to partition the new drive first. At least I did. ;-)

    Great article BTW!

  38. Marcelo Burgos - 9 years ago

    Due OSX has trim support for Apple SSDs, it`s possible to buy SSd`s brand Apple?

  39. Kenny Low - 9 years ago

    Hi Jeremy,

    Just wanted to say a big thank you for this article! I’ve just changed the HDD on my early-2009 24″ iMac for an SSD! (Chose the Samsung Evo 850 – 500 GB) Works like a new iMac now – it was previously freezing quite a bit – i suspect partly due to the heat generated from the old HDD, as well as ventilation being choked by dust over long periods of use.

    One little point to note however would be that my iMac already has an external temperature probe attached to the HDD, so all I needed to do was to remove that and attach it to the SSD. (https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2267+Hard+Drive+Replacement/9028 ) Sadly though, I had bought it from OWC, but I guess it’s much cheaper than getting a new Mac!

    Thanks anyway! :)

    cheers,
    Kenny

  40. John Araki - 9 years ago

    Thanks for the write up. Very helpful. I ran into an issue with the SSD not formatting due to a “partition failure: unable to write to last block of the device” error. It would stall forever on the unmount process and then deliver the partition error message. Turns out that the drive converter bracket was the problem. I unscrewed/removed the circuit board and connected the SATA cables direct to the thermal sensor & the drive and it formatted no problem.

  41. godefroyb - 9 years ago

    I am about to engage upgrading my iMac 27″, i5 2.66 ghz, Late 2009 11,1 version.
    I am planing on removing the CD ready to replace it with a SSD card, and remplace my now 5 year old HDD with a WD 3 or 4TB Red or Black drive. I have a few questions for anyone with more experience than I!

    1. Is the OWC Mercury 3G product better than the Samsung EVO 850 series?
    2. Are there any compatibility issues with the any of the products above?
    3. Are there any heat related issues with installing a WD Black series HDD 7200 rpm series? I was told this series of hard drive creates a lot of heat and could affect drive longevity? I would be better of with the WD RED NAS 5400 rpm series, and if I want to spend the extra, the RED Pro 7200 rpm drive.

    Thanks for the help anyone!

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      The SATA connection for the optical drive bay is 3Gb/s SATA II, but the SATA for the main hard drive is SATA III, 6Gb/sec. There is a manufacturer specific thermal sensor connected to the main HDD. You can get around this with one of these adapter cables: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/ You would need the OWC datadoubler bracket if you put in a 2.5″ form factor SSD in the optical drive space, or a 3.5 to 2.5″ adapter if you put it in the main HDD space. The Samsung EVO 850 would require TRIM enabler 3.3 under Yosemite, which requires a hack which disables kext signing. The Angelbird wrk for Mac does not, as it supports TRIM natively. http://www.angelbird.com/en/prod/ssd-wrk-for-mac-929/ The OWC Mercury uses the next best thing in garbage collection. The original drive was 7200 rpm, 1 or 2TB, so you can put in another 7200 rpm drive. The 4TB Hitachi Deskstar is a good one. Best brand and generally uses less power than ST or WDC. Watch out for the NAS version with a slower seek time. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/HGST/0S03355/

      • godefroyb - 9 years ago

        So, would you recommend installing a 3G SSD Sata II on the optical drive with a new internal HDD an the main board, or opt for a 6G on the main board with an external enclosed HDD? I was opting for the first option because from what I have come to understand I would suffer less lag with an internal HDD.

        From what I read on the OWC web-site, should I come to the conclusion that their Mercury SSD manage Garbage collection and so I would not have to install a Time enabled program that exposes me to issues with Yosemite?? Thanks, your feedback is very appreciated

  42. Sun Tui - 9 years ago

    Can I install a Samsung EVO / PRO 850 512GB into a ’20-inch Early 2008′ iMac pls?

    • yellowlemonie - 9 years ago

      It seems okay based on user comments at the bottom on the ifixit page:
      https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1008 it seems okay…

    • bradmacpro - 9 years ago

      The hard drive interface is only 3Gb/s (375 MBytes/sec) SATA II, so you could use a slower and cheaper SSD. Also a side mount adapter will be required to physically mount it. At least the thermal sensor won’t be a problem. Ahh but I see the newer 850 is selling cheaper than the older model.

      • Hi Brad – I’m trying to complete a kit for my early 2008 imac. From what I read in your post, I don’t need the thermal sensor? And, it uses another 2.5 to 3.5 adaptor? Can you help me pick the right one?

      • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

        This adapter should work to mount the 2.5” SSD in the space formerly occupied by the 3.5” hard drive in the early 2008 iMac http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/ While there is a stuck-on thermal sensor for your iMac, under some sticky foam, you can leave it connected to the motherboard and re-stick it onto the SSD. It will run much cooler than a HDD, so that fan should be idling.

        One note worth mentioning, when you get the glass and the display off, (be careful with the connections on the back) you will see the old HDD with a black plastic piece attached to the top, you have to push down really hard to flex it and push outward to release the old HD. It’s pretty easy to snap the SSD and bracket and Apple’s mounting bits back in place.

        I got a good deal on a 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD which will be a project for some future need like this.

        >

  43. Thomas Hofts - 9 years ago

    I have a mid 2009 13″ Macbook Pro (4GB RAM) I recently installed a WD2 Black Dual drive ($139 @ Newegg) which has a 1TB 5200 rpm drive + 128 GB Flash in the same unit.. There are not so easy to understand instructions on how to create a true Fusion Drive in a Mac running 10.9 or 10.10.

    BUT…the mid 2009 Macbook runs FAST. Boots in 12 sec on OS 10.10. Launches MS Word in 2.5 seconds. Very happy and I have tons of storage. Happy camper!

  44. godefroyb - 9 years ago

    Hi everyone. I started back a couple of months ago researching to upgrade my iMac late 2009 27″ i5 to upgrade it with an SSD 3G drive 240GB and by the same means, change the internal drive that was 5 years old. So my supplier’s on-line Tech team were such an amazing source of information and help during this process, but not the only source! I used different blogs and also a youtube video that saved my life which helps user create a bootable USB key I recommend you look at especially if you don’t have hard OS copies with you, just lookup jbtech how to create a bootable os x usb on Youtube. Also, make sure your backup has the same OS version of the the USB key, I suggest making sure your using latest version then do a full backup before proceeding with switch.
    My research brought me to invest in a Guardian Maximus RAID firewire enclosure a couple of months ago, again very happy I spent the money on a 2X4TB Raid 1 Back up system.
    So I proceeded with the hardware change over the week-end and to my surprise when came time to use Time machine fully restore my hard drive, it always failed after 13.1%! I could never get past that number! I spent hours searching only to find out hundreds of comments on different blogs. I was starting to loose faith when Disk migration was failing because it could not recognize the HDD, only the SSD drive. I told myself, thank god my old internal drive is still functional and that I had a external enclosure available. So I logged on to the on line tech team from my supplier and proceeded the following way: Used time-machine to restore all softwares to the SSD drive, and manually copying the balance of the data over in the old drive to drive method. I just can’t believe how lucky I was and how unreliable time-machine was in this situation. I can’t believe it failed the restore procedure and I basically was in trouble if my old drive had crashed…..

  45. haf5joshua - 9 years ago

    Thanks for posting! Was a little concerned doing this based on my previous experience with a much older white iMac replacing that hard drive. Based on the directions here, I purchased the SSD, thermal sensor and bracket as indicated. The one thing I wish was detailed a tad more was the thermal sensor.

    Our unit is a 2010 21″ aluminum model we got as a free hand me down. Within about a month of using it, the 1TB HDD died (bad sectors). So I opted for moving to a SSD to get this thing back and action and much faster than it’s old SATA drive.

    The directions worked well, however when I got to dropping the SSD in place and attaching the sensor, it didn’t mention what do to with the existing HDD temp sensor cable that was attached between the HD and the motherboard. I assumed it should be removed all together so I disconnected the end still on the board, and then put the new OWC sensor in place.

    All booted fine, however after a few minutes of being up and running…the fans are going at full speed and the top back near the exhaust vent is hot as hell…I assume from the fans spinning constantly. Did I do something wrong? Should I have left that cable in there, just not hooked to anything…that didn’t seem like the right thing to do. I don’t mind opening the thing back up as I don’t want to listen to the fans all day, and I’d rather not use SMC fan control having already spent the $ on the new temp sensor.

    Thanks!

    Joshua

  46. Kevin Higgs - 9 years ago

    Just done the same upgrade on an iMac 21.5 2009 model using Samsung 850 Evo, one thing I’d add is that I had not realised that the new SSD needs to have an OS X installed on it before the iMac will recognise the new drive. You sort of mention this but I did not notice until re-reading when I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

    Great article, although fiddly, taking out and installing a new drive is pretty straight forward provided you watch the video for your version of iMac

    • Hey Kevin, I have the same model of iMac and I was wondering if you needed to purchase and install the thermal temperature sensor? I read another user had found that it was already installed on their original hard drive and wanted to see if that was the same case for you before I dive into this. Thanks!

  47. Randy Searle - 9 years ago

    Would the in-line temp sensor work if I were to replace the optic drive with a 2nd SSD? It works great on the main SSD that I just replaced and decided to replace the optic drive as well and wondered if I could do the same sensor?

  48. Francois Beaupre - 9 years ago

    I completed an iMAC late ’09 upgrade with a Samsung EVO 850 512GB SSD today and it went flawlessly thanks to this post and to the precious instructions at OWC. The iMAC is so speedy now! unreal!.

  49. Stephen Todd Tackett - 8 years ago

    Not easy. I messed up some connectors namely the one that connects the video. That would have been a deal breaker. Somehow I got it working with tape and luck. I can never open up the iMac again or the tape will come lose.

  50. Peter Milewski - 8 years ago

    It’s surprising the hard drive in my mid-2007 iMac lasted as long as eight years. But it became so slow that even typing often produced the beach ball of death. Memory upgrade to 4Gb had minimal effect. So I nearly spent £1600 on a replacement up to date iMac. Then I spotted your guide on this page and through you the iFixit one for exactly my model https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2134+and+2211+Hard+Drive+Replacement/8968.

    I have no experience of the insides of computers but could find no local expert to do this work. Trying for help from the nearest Apple dealer was a no-no. They just want you to buy their latest machine.

    But, with the help of your guide, the iFixit one (and my wife), I did it myself with no problem. The tools cost about £20 and the SSD £250 (a 1Tb Samsung 850 EVO), plus a small amount for the TRIM enabler.

    I now have my fantastic iMac back again and don’t even have to listen to the whir of a hard drive – or a fan!

    Thank you so much for publishing this information.

  51. Josh Donner - 8 years ago

    Just did this today and it was stupidly easy. Your link to the temp sensor cord was the best time saver, no need to remove the logic board now! They even sell kits with the tools and suction cups for $40 on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJAQLMG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00). Restoring from my Time Machine backup as we speak.

  52. Jamie Weber - 8 years ago

    I have a bit of a calamity on my hands. Currently have a Mid 2011 iMac with a standard 1TB drive in it. I would like to upgrade this to a setup with both an SSD and HD. The easiest way to do this would of course be to simply swap the ageing Drive for a new one and install the SSD in place of the SuperDrive. However as I have found the SuperDrive only has a Sata II Connection while the HD Drive has a Sata III connection. My question is now how much would the Sata II impact the performance of my SSD and if it wouldn’t be better to get a 2,5″ HD and put that in the SuperDrive Slot while occupying the default Drive Bay with the SSD. Of course the disadvantage of this would be that the 2.5″ HDs are slower and smaller (capacity). I would greatly appreciate some advice!

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 8 years ago

      My article on swapping the iMac SuperDrive (also on 9to5Mac) discusses this. Short answer is that performance is best if you swap the HD; expect a 2.5x improvement rather than 5x. I have the same iMac and went HD swap. No regrets.

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      The primary advantage of a SSD over a HDD is access time, so a SSD in the SATA II interfaced optical drive bay, with a physical mounting bracket, (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMCL0GB/) would preserve that aspect, but limit the throughput aspect. A SSD replacing the main HDD would preserve the throughput aspect and the access time aspect. A 1 TB SSD would be an ideal replacement. A mobile type 2.5″ HDD in the optical drive would be holding less vital overflow, perhaps just downloads, so the slower access time and throughput of a normal 2.5″ HDD is acceptable for this role. That being said, you can get a 1 TB hybrid drive, which would be faster than just plain old spinning HD. It’s based on a low power 5400 mechanism, so it won’t generate too much heat in the area of the iMac that normally doesn’t.
      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178340&cm_re=ST1000LM014-_-22-178-340-_-Product

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      I should add you should also add this to keep your fans working properly if you replace the internal HD with a SSD: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD11/ and this bracket to mount the 2.5″ SSD in the place of the original 3.5″ HDD: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/

  53. All right. You convinced me! I ordered up the materials and I’m going to give it a try! Thanks for the info!

  54. William Torgerson - 8 years ago

    I replaced my old drive with the rec’d Samsung and I get a three beep error when I try to start up my iMac. Any ideas?

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      You forgot to put the RAM back in would be my guess. 3 beeps means no good banks of memory.

      • William Torgerson - 8 years ago

        Thanks for the response! I took the RAM cards out. I noticed that although the cards were from the same manufacturer, two of them had fatter print. I put the fat-print RAM cards on the same side and this fixed the problem. So maybe there were very subtle differences in the cards (an ignorant hypothesis) or I just got the cards in more securely the third time I took them out and put them back in.

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      Of course it’s also possible you fried the RAM with a static discharge or you didn’t put the memory all the way in or if your iMac has 4 memory slots and you had a mismatched pairs before, you have put the RAM back where you have dislike sizes in both the front and rear slots. I’ve seen memory with gunk on the connectors. You may have to remove the RAM and clean the contacts. I use a soft pencil eraser to rub off any oxidation. Check with a flashlight the contacts on the iMac.

  55. Brian Clark - 8 years ago

    Just used this guide (plus OWC videos) to put a Samsung 850 SSD in a 21.5 mid 2011 iMac. Reinstalling the OS was a little dicey, mostly because i had no boot disk ready and had to use internet recovery-my original HD had crashed so i was unable to make a el capitan bootable installer before hand (enlist a buddy with a Mac to do this for you if you’re in the same boat i was, it will save you a lot of time).Got it together with all data recovered within a couple days (I had time machine backups that wouldn’t restore, but were recoverable via Migration Assistant. Keep in mind you want the OS version you are restoring to to be the SAME or NEWER than your back-ups, should you go this route.) Really this was the hardest part for me- the actual swap was pretty easy with a little patience and care (be CAREFUL with those cables connecting the LCD). Speed is great thus far, it’s made a noticeable difference in my aging mac. Enabled trimforce (avalible in terminal in el capitan with : ‘sudo trimforce enable’. Nothing has exploded.

    Putting the screws back in around the LCD is a bitch…you’ll get pretty good by the third or fourth one tho…tweezers to hold the screws helps.

    If you’re feeling nervous, don’t. It’s really simple if you’re careful and watch the videos and do your research. Have a can of duster on you, if your Mac is like mine you’re gonna find plenty in there.

  56. I performed the above including thermal sensor, however I’m not comfortable the cooling is where I would like it to me. What should be reasonable temps, and do you recommend manual setup of Macs Fan Control? If manual, what do you recommend as settings for PCI, PS, Exhaust, Intake and Boosta?

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      I don’t own a Mac of this sort, so I can’t say what temps should be. If you want the machine to run cooler, adjust the fan speeds up till they become audible and then back them down a touch.

  57. This is a very easy repair. No one should be worried, if you follow the directions. A few things. Check with ifixit to get the actual swap method for your particular model. They are all a little different. Mine is a 2007 and it is very different than this. (built in digital thermal sensor, for example). Don’t rely on the Command + R or Command + Option+R to get your operating system back. Make a bootable usb and get a wired keyboard. It looks daunting, but with Drivemaker X, the drive is EASY to make and you won’t go insane when your computer won’t boot. Last thing. The mount makes a difference. I had to really mess with mine to make it work. The connectors don’t line up and there isn’t any “play” in the wiring at all. Again, do yourself a favor and make sure your adapter is correct before you start. That being said, the actual fix was easy and fun. Made a HUGE difference in speed. Don’t need a new computer now. EVO drive is great!

  58. jhencken - 8 years ago

    If you have an older iMac (2009) you can only have a 3G SSD, rather than a 6G, so it’s slower. Does this 500Mb/sec read/write speed apply to the 3G SSDs I can put on my 2009 iMac?

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      Yes. Even the Late 2009 models are limited to 3 Gbps SATA II speeds. That is a throughout limitation, not an access time limitation, so a SSD, thermal sensor and adapter bracket swap is still worth doing. It wasn’t until the mid 2011 21.5″ and 27″ models until the hard drive interface was upgraded to 6 Gbps SATA III. That functionality required the iMac EFI Update 1.6 from May 11, 2011 which most folks did as it came out like 2 days later.

  59. Great tutorial and I followed it to the letter to upgrade my Imac 2010. The results of switching to a SSD drive are no brainers: Speed, startup time, app reactivity….. Txs so much

  60. Hi,

    I have an iMac (27-inch, late 2009) in which I’ve put a Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (replacing the original HDD). Everything worked fine (for about 1 year) until a couple of days ago. I cannot boot now (it is freezing showing a white screen) and the only way I can use the system now is in safe mode. The OS is El Captain version 10.11.4.

    I did not use any thermal cable as the one suggested in this article and had no problems until now.

    I reinstalled the system but had no luck with that freeze.

    Is there something that I can do in order to solve this issue? The disk has no errors (I have checked with some apps like Disk Utility, DriveDx, etc.).

    Thank you!
    Mihai

  61. I’ve been having some issues with my mid 2010 iMac, just with general slowness opening apps and even freezing up from time to time (especially when 2 profiles are open simulatenously). About a year ago I upgraded the RAM from 8GB to 12GB, that seemed to work for awhile and now it seems like we are having the same issues again. How do I know if the hard-drive is the issue and that it’s not the processor and it’s just time for a new computer? Basically I don’t want to put $500 into a new hard-drive, if it’s the processor.

  62. I have a mid-2010 iMac and I have been having issues with it freezing up and just general slowness, about a year ago I upgraded the RAM from 8gb to 12gb. Now I’m not sure whether it’s the HD or the processor that’s the problem. Is there any way to determine this? The reason I ask is because I don’t want to spend $500 on a new HD if the processor is the issue.

  63. Arbor Place Gang - 8 years ago

    We are not high tech but want a solid mac for short animation and graphic design and are on a budget. We are looking at a 20″ imac early 2009 w an upgrade to 8gb ram and 1TB hard drive and 6 month warranty refurbished for $500. includes mouse, keyboard and
    Radeon HD Graphics 256mb
    OSX 10.11.5 El Capitan
    iLife, iWork, MS Office
    Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Ste CS6
    What do you think? Good buy? Thank you!!

    • Les Courcha - 8 years ago

      I bought a second hand mac exactly the same specs with i5 cpu and 27″ screen for the same purpose plus running a few windows programs I use for audio editing runs perfectly not a problem installed parallels on it and it hasn’t missed a beat upgraded the hard drive to a SDD 1Tb drive and added an extra screen best thing I ever did

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      Who told you 8 GB, the max for the early 2009 iMac, is sufficient to run El Capitan properly? It’s marginal for normal uses and inadequate for graphic design. I’d suggest you set your sights a little higher and newer.

      • Les Courcha - 8 years ago

        Sorry but from experience you are wrong I’m doing graphic work and video editing and rendering mostly using parallels running ELCapitan and 8GB is no problem. My question would be who told you it had to have 16gb? I also by using two screens have a windows program doing graphics running whilst using Videopad and vinylstudio and there is no memory problems

      • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

        How exactly would you know you have a memory shortcoming? Do you use menumeters or iStat menus or watch your Activity Monitor? Do you get frequent spinning beachball cursors? 8GB may work, just not very well.

      • Les Courcha - 8 years ago

        No I don’t get frequent spinning ball cursors and my activity monitor is quite happy.

      • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

        I’m happy you’re happy Les. This conversation has gone off topic. I don’t use some of the applications you do. An Apple technician admitted 8GB of RAM was marginal and my own experience. I had 12GB in my Mac since new in 2009 and it wasn’t until El Capitan and the newest apps that I determined that 12GB was getting close to being enough for what minor things I do, but a lot at the same time, so I doubled to 24GB and it’s fine again. I also have two monitors, a 4K 31.5″ and a HD 24″ and I also occasionally use Parallels Desktop to virtualize Snow Leopard Server. I use VMware Fusion to virtualize Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. And who also told me 8GB isn’t enough are my clients running El Capitan. I’m a Mac consultant with several hundred clients, admittedly most rather occasionally as they don’t have too many problems after I visit. So experience has also told me. I’m fairly sure the situation with macOS Sierra will need even more.

      • Les Courcha - 8 years ago

        My reply was to your statement that it was inadequate for graphics work and I was pointing out from experience that it is adequate. Abor Place Gang said thye were an a tight budget and would the system be adequate with the programs they wanted to use the answer is yes. I also have been in the IT industry since the early 80’s and in that time have looked after thousands of PC’s and Macs for large ming companies, Government departments and small business So I think I do have some idea on what I am talking about. infact the simple answer to memory management is if you are not using it (program)close it.

      • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

        I surely agree users should quit apps they aren’t using, but all too often they ignore the in use indicators in the Dock.

    • bradmacpro - 8 years ago

      Consider a 21.5″ Mid 2010 3.6 GHz Core i5 instead. Still dual core but offers hyper-threading. Supports 16GB in 4 slots. The video card is a Radeon HD 5670 with 512 MB VRAM. Still uses a 1 TB 7200 rpm drive.

  64. Gary Kimes - 8 years ago

    and then, guess what? If you use your optical drive bay and install an SSD in addition to the platter drive and are counting on getting a USB superdrive to take its place .. SORRY .. will not work. You will no longer be able to access an optical drive. I love the speed after upgrading. I miss being able to upload files via an optical drive.. big time..

  65. Jerry Davison - 8 years ago

    I read this and thought that I could upgrade my early 2008 24″ iMac old HDD to a new Samsung 850 EVO. NOT!!!

    First, make sure to note that this write up does NOT cover earlier than 2009. Next, make sure the 2.5″ to 3.5″ bracket you buy will reach your SATA cables which are very short in my version.

    I bought a bracket that others bought on Amazon with the SSD. Bad strategy. Check out the one mentioned here or get one with cable extenders to insure a good SATA connection.

    Next is I have been told now by the OWC distributor that this digital sensor is incompatible with my older unit. I am trying to determine how my unit should get its temperature sensing. Any suggestions are welcome.

    My SSD worked for a few days then the iMac blinked off 2 times and I had to struggle to reclaim power. The 3rd time it blinked off the iMac never came up again. Power on just gets a short fan spin and then nothing. Any suggestions are welcome.

  66. Mark Litwa - 7 years ago

    So I just installed a new Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD in the optical drive bay of my mid-2011 iMac and am only seeing read/write speeds in the 260 mb/s range, which is much lower than what was advertised. Is this because Optical Drive SATA’s are inherently slower?? I see online that I could achieve the faster 6g speeds with a firmware update or resetting the SMC. Nobody said anything about NOT getting SATA III speeds with the optical drive so I’m a bit frustrated.

    Are there any work-arounds with this issue?? I’d like to keep my original HDD if possible.

  67. marklitwa - 7 years ago

    So I just installed a new Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD in the optical drive bay of my mid-2011 iMac and am only seeing read/write speeds in the 260 mb/s range, which is much lower than what was advertised. Is this because Optical Drive SATA’s are inherently slower?? I see online that I could achieve the faster 6g speeds with a firmware update or resetting the SMC. Nobody said anything about NOT getting SATA III speeds with the optical drive so I’m a bit frustrated.

    Are there any work-arounds with this issue?? I’d like to keep my original HDD if possible.

  68. Paul Terrier - 7 years ago

    hi there,

    I didn’t notice in the article whether the thermal sensor is used when replacing the optical drive, or just when replacing the HDD.

    Thanks!
    Paul

    • bradmacpro - 7 years ago

      There is a thermal sensor for the main drive bay, not the optical drive. Generally the optical drive generates little heat, certainly compared to the CPU,GPU or HDD.

  69. Bill Kerry - 7 years ago

    I have a Late 2012 iMac, 27inch. It has a 3TB fusion drive. The drive seems to be failing and reviving itself so I need to change it. 2 years ago Apple said I qualified for a replacement drive. I didn’t do it because my computer was working fine and the repair would take over a week. If Apple will not make the repair at this late date, I want to do the job myself. However there are a few things I need to know first: 1. Can I replace the 3TB HD and leave the Fusion sector of the drive in the computer and untouched. 2. If I replace the HD with a new one, will the “fusion” sector present a problem for me when I attempt to reload data onto the replacement drive. 3. What is the best brand and model of HD for me to purchase.

    Thanks

    Bill

  70. Andrew Aidman - 7 years ago

    This is a great article. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. So I had a quick question. I am using an old imac early 2009 model, and wanting to upgrade the hard drives. My thought is to put in a 250gb SSD in the optical drive ( since the cd plays doesn’t work anymore), and a 1tb SSD in place of where the current 1tb hard drive is. But I heard that the Sata cables are not the same, I guess the optical sata chord is half the speed of the other. That’s super lame. So now the question becomes which chord to connect my system drive to, and which to use as storage? Whats the best way to set up two ssds, to make the imac run at its maximum speed. And what size ssds would you recommend? I love the idea of paying a few hundred dollars to make my imac last 10 plus years. – Best, Andrew