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A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades
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Hopefully, I got this! I also had to order a new front camera my dad said he may of damaged a pin so I’ll have this thing running like new soon
Even the 2014 would benefit although the speed you'll get from the blade would be more like 750/750. It would make a difference but whether or not it's enough is up to you. Even a simple(r) HDD to (SATA) SSD swap would help, in my opinion, but you'd be left with a small blade that wouldn't serve any real purpose.
I did a similar upgrade to a Late 2013 (NVME blade plus SATA SSD). It wasn't a Fusion drive originally, granted, but the end result was night and day different.
Last edited:
@mbosse
Hi Magnus,
I got Apple to issue an as-if still-on-warranty display replacement for my 2017 iMac. The display legitimately had yellow discoloration at the lower corners. This was a defect present from the factory. I just never dealt with it after the discovery of the defect during year 1 of ownership. Even though outside of warranty, Apple was a mensch and approved the service.
Why is this relevant? I asked the authorized Apple service technician to install the 4TB PCIe SSD and 16TB SATA HHD on my behalf (see post #851)--I even paid him for the privilege. He, however, could not make a fusion volume that would support an Apple OS install so, the device was returned to me with two independent volumes. I was able to make a fusion drive from the two drives and am now using Carbon Copy Cloner to re-install my old OS. We shall see if it will be bootable.
When the authorized technician was doing the PCIe SSD install, he decided--without consultation--that the heat sink might not fit and should be left off. I am now contemplating, do I peal the display off again and install the heat sink or do I wait and see if the card gets too hot during actual use?
Is there a resource you can point me to that will help me understand when (at what temps) the SSD is becoming too hot?
cheers
iain
Hi Magnus,
I got Apple to issue an as-if still-on-warranty display replacement for my 2017 iMac. The display legitimately had yellow discoloration at the lower corners. This was a defect present from the factory. I just never dealt with it after the discovery of the defect during year 1 of ownership. Even though outside of warranty, Apple was a mensch and approved the service.
Why is this relevant? I asked the authorized Apple service technician to install the 4TB PCIe SSD and 16TB SATA HHD on my behalf (see post #851)--I even paid him for the privilege. He, however, could not make a fusion volume that would support an Apple OS install so, the device was returned to me with two independent volumes. I was able to make a fusion drive from the two drives and am now using Carbon Copy Cloner to re-install my old OS. We shall see if it will be bootable.
When the authorized technician was doing the PCIe SSD install, he decided--without consultation--that the heat sink might not fit and should be left off. I am now contemplating, do I peal the display off again and install the heat sink or do I wait and see if the card gets too hot during actual use?
Is there a resource you can point me to that will help me understand when (at what temps) the SSD is becoming too hot?
cheers
iain
Dear Iain:
Thanks for the update. I‘d install Mac Fan Control simply to monitor drive temps for some time and if that is within the factory limits of your SSD I’d leave as is.
For a 2017 iMac the height limit of a heat sink is 3mm.
Out of curiosity: did the fans run normal with your new 16TB drive?
Best,
Magnus
Can someone please confirm exactly what isn’t in a 2017 27“ iMac when you have the blade only spec?
I’m removing my HDD, replacing it with an OEM 1TB blade, and wanted to remove everything that isn’t required. I thought about leaving it all in there but it would mean taping screws to the inside of the case (or I’d lose them) and I don’t really want to do that. The question has been asked before but I’d like someone with a blade-only (from the factory) 27” to confirm. The iMac is disassembled right now (waiting on a BR2032 battery) so I have access to everything.
p.s. If anyone in Australia is thinking about upgrading their blade-only iMac, with intention of adding additional (SATA) storage, send me a PM with your address and I’ll send the parts to you. I think the SATA/power cable is the same for all 2013 and later 27” models (maybe even 2012) but I’m not 100% sure.
I’m removing my HDD, replacing it with an OEM 1TB blade, and wanted to remove everything that isn’t required. I thought about leaving it all in there but it would mean taping screws to the inside of the case (or I’d lose them) and I don’t really want to do that. The question has been asked before but I’d like someone with a blade-only (from the factory) 27” to confirm. The iMac is disassembled right now (waiting on a BR2032 battery) so I have access to everything.
p.s. If anyone in Australia is thinking about upgrading their blade-only iMac, with intention of adding additional (SATA) storage, send me a PM with your address and I’ll send the parts to you. I think the SATA/power cable is the same for all 2013 and later 27” models (maybe even 2012) but I’m not 100% sure.
I cannot comment on what is actually in a blade-only 27“ iMac, but the screws and the SATA cable is the same from late 2012 through 2019.
Magnus
Unfortunately not, I managed to snatch a nice 2019 version ;-) - which I indeed opened and upgraded.
Very nice. I couldn’t find any local 2019s, at least not for a reasonable price, so settled on a 2017. I reckon the 2019 is the sweet spot though as it’s the last with upgradeable storage and a SATA connection. The 2020 was a taste of things to come.
Found another thread where my question is answered:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/adding-sata-ssd-to-late-2015-imac-27.2163544/post-27062597
The SATA cable and the hard drive screws (pins) are missing from a blade-only iMac, that’s it. If I don’t get any local takers, I think I might just leave it all in there. A small bag with the drive locating pins should be easy enough to tape to the insides and the cable itself can be (cable) tied in place.
This wonderful thread has been really helpful in my upgrade process and I want to give back to it in some capacity, so I'm sharing my own experiences.
Configuration: 2019 27" iMac, 3.0, 1TB FD, 570X.
Upgrade: 1TB FD to Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVME & remove HDD
I bought a 2019, 27" base model with a fusion drive a while ago because the price was really decent. In fact, just glancing at eBay now shows a number of base- and middle-tier 2019 27" models going for between $850 and $1150 CAD, which is a pretty good deal up here. So I hope this thread encourages more people to renew these models with SSDs and set them up as really solid, usable machines.
Anyway, my own experience couldn't have been better. I ordered a 970 EVO Plus 1TB from Amazon, a Sintech long adapter from Amazon, and some OEM adhesive tape from eBay. Nothing else. And nothing fretted about. The whole retrofit process took about 75 minutes from cutting into the display to starting the reinstallation of macOS. I reviewed much of this thread beforehand and watched a few instructional videos. I encountered no real problems in the upgrade process.
I will try not repeat what has already been shared in this really useful thread, but I will add a few of my own experiences/thoughts. These reflections are coming from a place of casual comfort and familiarity with computers and a career as a hand-worker, so I have a certain sensitivity and patience with technical tasks:
1. I did not find this to be a difficult process. Much has been said about the risks and challenges of replacing the blade drive in these machines. I agree with these sentiments and cautions, but I think that being systematic and patient can make this procedure much more approachable. It is complex, but it is also just a series of steps. Be thorough and patient and organize your work and you'll be fine. Really.
2. The Samsung EVO 970 Plus that I purchased has a manufacturing date of November 2021, so no firmware update was needed. I did not seek out a late model 970, I just ordered whatever was currently in stock. I took it from the box and plugged it into the adapter and then into the machine. That's it. Also, the iMac was updated to the most recent version of Monterey before the procedure. I reused the Apple OEM blade screw. I did not use a heatsink.
3. After reassembly (and using masking tape to temporarily secure the display for testing), I reinstalled macOS Monterey using internet recovery. No bootable USB was used. I just used Command-Option-R to enter Internet Recovery on startup.
I've had absolutely no issues with the machine since (although limited runtime so far), including OS reinstallation, booting, Time Machine data transfer, and general usage. No issues with sleep. Boot time is about 20-30 seconds. In terms of timeline: I started to cut the glass off at about 5:30pm, finished the upgrade and replaced the screen by 6:45pm, reinstalled macOS by 7:30pm and I'm typing out this post on the same (although snappier) machine at about 10:00pm (with a dinner break in there too!).
Happy to keep the thread updated with my experiences as they evolve/change, but am loving the new, snappier experience for now!
Samsung EVO 970 Plus:
Sintech Adapter:
Configuration: 2019 27" iMac, 3.0, 1TB FD, 570X.
Upgrade: 1TB FD to Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVME & remove HDD
I bought a 2019, 27" base model with a fusion drive a while ago because the price was really decent. In fact, just glancing at eBay now shows a number of base- and middle-tier 2019 27" models going for between $850 and $1150 CAD, which is a pretty good deal up here. So I hope this thread encourages more people to renew these models with SSDs and set them up as really solid, usable machines.
Anyway, my own experience couldn't have been better. I ordered a 970 EVO Plus 1TB from Amazon, a Sintech long adapter from Amazon, and some OEM adhesive tape from eBay. Nothing else. And nothing fretted about. The whole retrofit process took about 75 minutes from cutting into the display to starting the reinstallation of macOS. I reviewed much of this thread beforehand and watched a few instructional videos. I encountered no real problems in the upgrade process.
I will try not repeat what has already been shared in this really useful thread, but I will add a few of my own experiences/thoughts. These reflections are coming from a place of casual comfort and familiarity with computers and a career as a hand-worker, so I have a certain sensitivity and patience with technical tasks:
1. I did not find this to be a difficult process. Much has been said about the risks and challenges of replacing the blade drive in these machines. I agree with these sentiments and cautions, but I think that being systematic and patient can make this procedure much more approachable. It is complex, but it is also just a series of steps. Be thorough and patient and organize your work and you'll be fine. Really.
2. The Samsung EVO 970 Plus that I purchased has a manufacturing date of November 2021, so no firmware update was needed. I did not seek out a late model 970, I just ordered whatever was currently in stock. I took it from the box and plugged it into the adapter and then into the machine. That's it. Also, the iMac was updated to the most recent version of Monterey before the procedure. I reused the Apple OEM blade screw. I did not use a heatsink.
3. After reassembly (and using masking tape to temporarily secure the display for testing), I reinstalled macOS Monterey using internet recovery. No bootable USB was used. I just used Command-Option-R to enter Internet Recovery on startup.
I've had absolutely no issues with the machine since (although limited runtime so far), including OS reinstallation, booting, Time Machine data transfer, and general usage. No issues with sleep. Boot time is about 20-30 seconds. In terms of timeline: I started to cut the glass off at about 5:30pm, finished the upgrade and replaced the screen by 6:45pm, reinstalled macOS by 7:30pm and I'm typing out this post on the same (although snappier) machine at about 10:00pm (with a dinner break in there too!).
Happy to keep the thread updated with my experiences as they evolve/change, but am loving the new, snappier experience for now!
Samsung EVO 970 Plus:
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S1T0/AM) [Canada Version]
For intensive workloads on PCs and workstations, the Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus delivers ultimate performance powered by Samsung's NVMe SSD leadership. The ultimate in performance, the 970 EVO Plus is upgraded to be faster than the 970 EVO. It maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth for unbeatabl...
www.amazon.ca
Sintech Adapter:
Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade 2013-2015 Year Macs(Not Fit Early 2013 MacBook Pro)
NOTICE:because too many customers can use it,I suggest you to try it again if your MAC can't detect nVME SSD. Pls notice to insert card fully into SSD slot and you must prepare bootable USB disk(see third point) with High Sierra to format M.2 SSD first, it can't support recover from internet. mai...
www.amazon.ca
Device: Mid 2017 27” i5 3.8Ghz Radeon Pro 580 w/2TB Fusion Drive
CPU upgrade: None
Blade upgrade: 128GB --> 1TB Apple OEM SSPOLARIS
HDD upgrade: None - HDD removed
Speed test: 2490 MB/s read, 1980 MB/s write
OS: Monterey 12.2.1
Issues: None
In the end, I left the SATA cable and the screws inside, taped to the back of the machine (see photo). This is my third upgrade of a slim iMac, my second 27” and my first with a 5K display. I used genuine adhesive on my previous upgrade (late 2013 27”) which worked extremely well and I intend to do the same with this one. I purchased two for the 2013 and two for the 2015, just in case I made an error, so I will likely have some spares at the end of it all. The iMac is currently held together with painters tape but has worked flawlessly since I reassembled it so I’ll be looking to reseal it properly very soon.
Going the OEM route with the blade is certainly more expensive but I really wanted to keep the iMac as stock as possible, particularly as it’s still supported. I used a non-OEM drive in the 2013 as it no longer has OS support so wasn’t as fussed.
Good luck to all 😁
CPU upgrade: None
Blade upgrade: 128GB --> 1TB Apple OEM SSPOLARIS
HDD upgrade: None - HDD removed
Speed test: 2490 MB/s read, 1980 MB/s write
OS: Monterey 12.2.1
Issues: None
In the end, I left the SATA cable and the screws inside, taped to the back of the machine (see photo). This is my third upgrade of a slim iMac, my second 27” and my first with a 5K display. I used genuine adhesive on my previous upgrade (late 2013 27”) which worked extremely well and I intend to do the same with this one. I purchased two for the 2013 and two for the 2015, just in case I made an error, so I will likely have some spares at the end of it all. The iMac is currently held together with painters tape but has worked flawlessly since I reassembled it so I’ll be looking to reseal it properly very soon.
Going the OEM route with the blade is certainly more expensive but I really wanted to keep the iMac as stock as possible, particularly as it’s still supported. I used a non-OEM drive in the 2013 as it no longer has OS support so wasn’t as fussed.
Good luck to all 😁
Attachments
Look at my post above for OEM speeds in a 2017 and have a quick look at the first post for some comparison speeds of a 970 EVO (macguru8 for example - late 2015 but speeds would be almost identical). The 970 will be faster when benchmarked, every time.
thanks, I didn't see your previous post.
I know actually the speed of 970 evo, because I have it on my mac.
Basically, I have an iMac 27 late 2015 17,1:
- i7 6700k @ 4ghz (turbo 4,2)
- 32 gb ram ddr3 @ 1866mhz
- SSD blade samsung 970 evo 1 TB + SSD sata samsung 860 pro 500gb
- AMD R9 M390 with 2gb ram.
A friend of mine proposed me a 1:1 trade with his iMac mid 2017 18,3:
- i7 7700k @ 4,2ghz (turbo 4,5)
- 16 gb ram ddr4 @ 2400mhz
- SSD Apple original 512gb blade
- Radeon pro 580 with 8gb ram
So I would loose 2/3 ssd space and half of ram, but I would gain in graphic and overall speed (a bit cpu and ram speed) + something else (tundebolt 3/usb C). And I wanted to have more information about speed of original Apple ssd.
What do you think about the trade 1:1?
Basically I don't need such a great space inside the iMac (since I have a 24/24 connected nas plenty of free space and I don't keep anything stored in the iMac storage) and I think I would not see the difference between 16 and 32 gb of ram. But I could have a more recent iMac and better graphic.
I know actually the speed of 970 evo, because I have it on my mac.
Basically, I have an iMac 27 late 2015 17,1:
- i7 6700k @ 4ghz (turbo 4,2)
- 32 gb ram ddr3 @ 1866mhz
- SSD blade samsung 970 evo 1 TB + SSD sata samsung 860 pro 500gb
- AMD R9 M390 with 2gb ram.
A friend of mine proposed me a 1:1 trade with his iMac mid 2017 18,3:
- i7 7700k @ 4,2ghz (turbo 4,5)
- 16 gb ram ddr4 @ 2400mhz
- SSD Apple original 512gb blade
- Radeon pro 580 with 8gb ram
So I would loose 2/3 ssd space and half of ram, but I would gain in graphic and overall speed (a bit cpu and ram speed) + something else (tundebolt 3/usb C). And I wanted to have more information about speed of original Apple ssd.
What do you think about the trade 1:1?
Basically I don't need such a great space inside the iMac (since I have a 24/24 connected nas plenty of free space and I don't keep anything stored in the iMac storage) and I think I would not see the difference between 16 and 32 gb of ram. But I could have a more recent iMac and better graphic.
If you don’t need the space I would also consider that you likely gain a few years of macOS support with the 2017 machine.
My thoughts exactly. Unless you have specific workflows that require the faster drive the newer machine is definitely the one to pick.
Question regarding the temperature sensor for swapping out the HDD portion of the 3TB Fusion drive in my late 2014 iMac.
Is adding a temperature sensor required?
I see many folks here who have not used one and just want to be sure before opening up my iMac. I went back and forth and finally decided, why not spend a little money so I can keep it going and make it a little faster until I decide to move to another Mac later this year.
Looking to swap the HDD out for a Crucial MX500 2TB SSD. Not planning to change out the blade.
Thanks!
Is adding a temperature sensor required?
I see many folks here who have not used one and just want to be sure before opening up my iMac. I went back and forth and finally decided, why not spend a little money so I can keep it going and make it a little faster until I decide to move to another Mac later this year.
Looking to swap the HDD out for a Crucial MX500 2TB SSD. Not planning to change out the blade.
Thanks!
The imac as sleep/wake issues. Every time I put it to sleep it fully shuts down after 1 minute.
Thanks