A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades

[Terraaustralis]

The most SSD´s have no Problems.

There is a problem related to APFS formatted NVME Samsung with the Phison Controller and Trim.
This results in long Boot Times after some Time.

log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep spaceman

If you use HFS this Problem is not present.

This is true for Mac Hardware and Hackintosh.

In addition many NVME Drives do not work with Apple´s implementation of the Drive´s Power States.
This leads to Heat and High Battery Drain.

The Crucial P5 which runs on Hackintosh has drained constant 9W even in an external Case.
For older Hardware the Crucial P2 was a good Choice and i have upgraded multiple 2014 MacMini or MBP with it.

As of Today i would try to use a WD SN570 because of the Lanes and PCIe Version it makes mostly no sense to use a WD 850 or x or even a WD SN 770 and for older Hardware i would try to find a Crucial P2 or sometimes if possible just use an SSD as the Crucial MX500 which is a Mac Darling and works forever.

The Crucial P3 has proven to be a bad choice for both Hackintosh and Mac.

There are several NVME running "somehow" in older Mac when formatted before but also most are not able to realise Firmware Updates so better do this before upgrading and save the Original.

First success does not implicate work on the long run.

I do not have old Hardware anymore but use WD SN 570 / 770 / 850 in an Hackintosh and 2 WD SN 770 in external enclosures @ my MBA M2.

I have upgradet many Mac´s with NVME and they are mostly running till Today.

Fair comment genexx, but do bear in mind that depending upon whether economy of cost or faster performance take priority, choosing PCIe 4.0 is a good decision for future upgrade flexibility and is not necessarily much more expensive than a PCIe 3.0 NVMe.

Further, with the new USB 4.0 Zike drive 7666, desktop PC and iMac can benefit from a fast EXTERNAL boot drive running over 3000MB/s and offers up to 16TB capacity. All dependent upon your model and which capacity NVMe you purchase.


Mcfix may be interested to see the WD Black sn850x performance in a Zike drive with the Asmedia ASM2464PDX chip will possibly exceed PCIe 3.0 NVMe performance in an iMac motherboard.

As time passes, chip design for external drives will presumably, only get faster.

Cheers.

 

[iMac2019]

The most SSD´s have no Problems.

As of Today i would try to use a WD SN570 because of the Lanes and PCIe Version it makes mostly no sense to use a WD 850 or x or even a WD SN 770 and for older Hardware i would try to find a Crucial P2 or sometimes if possible just use an SSD as the Crucial MX500 which is a Mac Darling and works forever.

That's exactly the route I've taken after learning about the successful shared experiences in this thread; proven hw that have worked ; thank again to all the contributors.

I can say that one year later after the upgrade done, the iMac is still working perfectly;
You could read about my experience a few pages earlier in this thread.

Of course, you may be tempted to try a newer model / manufacturer and/or with better performances on the paper;
But today's global race for profitability with planned obsolescence means that newer products could actually be more beta versions that the end user will finish making reliable.

 

[genexx]

Fair comment genexx, but do bear in mind that depending upon whether economy of cost or faster performance take priority, choosing PCIe 4.0 is a good decision for future upgrade flexibility and is not necessarily much more expensive than a PCIe 3.0 NVMe.

Further, with the new USB 4.0 Zike drive 7666, desktop PC and iMac can benefit from a fast EXTERNAL boot drive running over 3000MB/s and offers up to 16TB capacity. All dependent upon your model and which capacity NVMe you purchase.


Mcfix may be interested to see the WD Black sn850x performance in a Zike drive with the Asmedia ASM2464PDX chip will possibly exceed performance in a PCIe 3.0 on the iMac motherboard.

As time passes, chip design for external drives will presumably, only get faster.

Cheers.

View attachment 2437586
Intel or

I had a look into the ASMEDIA Enclosures as well and they are indeed running best with the WD SN 850 and x, but for internal use in Mac Hardware, where possible, there is a Max PCIe v3 if not v2 and less lanes.

For external i use the 2 2TB WD SN770´s only as Backup in 10Gbit enclosures because i have enough internal Space and the USB-C Hub cheap makes 10Gbit and at the second USB-C TB3 there is the Monitor connected.

For me it was cheaper and much better anyway to buy 1TB internal as to add TB3 Hub and Enclosure TB3 or USB 4 in the mid 2022 when i bought my MBA M2 16GB/1TB/10C BTO 65W.

Even in the Hacky there is PCIe 4 internal since the Upgrade to 11th Gen CPU but the WD SN 850 serves as Windows Boot because the Gaming takes Place on it sometimes when my Daughters want to hang arround in my Office.

I do not need this Performance.

 

[Terraaustralis]

I had a look into the ASMEDIA Enclosures as well and they are indeed running best with the WD SN 850 and x, but for internal use in Mac Hardware, where possible, there is a Max PCIe v3 if not v2 and less lanes.

For external i use the 2 2TB WD SN770´s only as Backup in 10Gbit enclosures because i have enough internal Space and the USB-C Hub cheap makes 10Gbit and at the second USB-C TB3 there is the Monitor connected.

For me it was cheaper and much better anyway to buy 1TB internal as to add TB3 Hub and Enclosure TB3 or USB 4 in the mid 2022 when i bought my MBA M2 16GB/1TB/10C BTO 65W.

Even in the Hacky there is PCIe 4 internal since the Upgrade to 11th Gen CPU but the WD SN 850 serves as Windows Boot because the Gaming takes Place on it sometimes when my Daughters want to hang arround in my Office.

I do not need this Performance.

Hi Genexx,
We each plan according to our needs.

I mentioned the Zike drive as it offers the ability to run an external boot drive on Intel or ARM Macs. So although my iMac cannot use all PCIe 4.0 sn770 speed, if in future I buy an ARM Mac I can now reuse the sn770 in a USB4 Zike drive and get higher speed when connected to the M? Mac . It is a good future proofing option.

Also; Intel upgraders now have a very fast, true USB4/PCIe4.0 external boot option to upgrade without opening the iMac.

I was not expecting you to race out and buy one.
Cheers.

 

[theorist9]

As of Today i would try to use a WD SN570 because of the Lanes and PCIe Version it makes mostly no sense to use a WD 850 or x or even a WD SN 770 and for older Hardware

The SN850 made sense to me, even though it's a PCIe 4.0 SSD, and my 2019 i9 iMac is PCIe 3.0, for two reasons:

1) Even a PCIe 4.0 SSD is, for most operations (esp. random reads and writes), not going to reach the max bandwidth afforded by PCIe 3.0. Thus you should get more performance by using a faster PCIe 4.0 SSD even in a PCIe 3.0 machine.

2) The cost difference between the SN850 and a top-quality PCIe 3.0 SSD was small, particularly for the size I used (2 TB).

 

[Terraaustralis]

Thanks for your reply. Do both the 970 evo and 970 evo Plus models work well on the iMac 2019? Are there any performance differences between them on the device, and which one is more recommended?

I did some more research and found on Reddit that some users have reported issues with the 970 EVO (or Evo Plus) trimming with iMac 2019, and that it can sometimes take up to 5 minutes to boot up!!
I'm even more confused now. I'm probably going to have to go with the WD , but I've also heard of panic boot issues with some of their models, like the sn770!! What about the sn750 or sn550? Are there any issues with those?

Hi Mohammed,
This response may be too late, but I can confirm you will be safe with the SN770. I have a 2019 Intel iMac 3.7Ghz i5 which I upgraded last August 2023 and it has run smoothly with the DW sn770 and a SATA Samsung 970 Evo installed. Reports blaming the sn770 for kernal panics deserve comment.

I had several kernal panics and sought help. trs96, a moderator from tonymacosx86 pointed out the Sintech blade was possibly the source of the problem as Sintech advertise an incompatibility with the WD sn770. The Sintech blade has previously been a favourite recommendation on Macrumors. (Before the sn770 existed).

This is what it says on Amazon about the Sintech NGFF adapter:

• Support Intel NVMe SSD : 600p, 660p, 760p,Toshiba XG3-XG4-XG5-XG5p-XG6 line,Samsung: 960 Evo, 960 Pro, 970 Evo, 970 Pro,WD:v1, v2 and v3,MyDigital: SBX - BPX

• NOT Support: PM981,950 Pro,WD Blue NVMe SN570 /SN770

I purchased both a long No-Name adapter and a short NFHK from Ali Express. Given the tight fit of these adapters, I found the short adapter/NVMe interface rigid. This would leave the sn770 exposed to maximum air circulation and cooling. I do have a Heatsink on the NVMe even though it runs cool (30C - 40C), for general usage; (non Gaming or small volumes of data transfer).

Since using the cheap adapter I have had no kernal panic problems whatsoever and flawless performance with speeds of 2900-3100 read/write.

In my experience your safest choice is WD sn770. It is a fast, cost effective WD NVMe. The sn850 and sn850x designed for Gamers, also work in iMac according to Macrumors members who have posted on this blog.

Note the need for Kapton tape if connection pins are visible between NVMe and socket canopy as insurance against shorting. See Page 1 comment by Dobrink in Macrumors.

 

[rin67630]

I expressed myself badly, I wanted to know if even after some time there are no problems with the boot times.

I am booting from an original Apple 120GO NVMe SSD and am experiencing a long time ~90 seconds until the white Apple on black background appears, someone knows why?
After that it boots normally.

 

[Terraaustralis]

I am booting from an original Apple 120GO NVMe SSD and am experiencing a long time ~90 seconds until the white Apple on black background appears, someone knows why?
After that it boots normally.

How long is a piece of string?
What tests have you initiated and which logs considered? Is this a Fusion drive? Which computer model and operating system?

 

[rin67630]

What tests have you initiated and which logs considered?

Nothing yet, because the long wait happens before the EFI got loaded.
Do you think there is something that gets logged nevertheless?
Where?

 

[Terraaustralis]

Have you tried reset SMC and VRAM? Have you tried start-up in Safe mode?

 

[rin67630]

Have you tried reset SMC and VRAM? Have you tried start-up in Safe mode?

Yes I did that. No improvement.
But it's not that horrible to wait for 90 seconds. I just wondered why?

 

[Terraaustralis]

Hi Rin,
I checked your earlier post:

I have got an iMac 2015 27" Retina with a defective FD blade.
I replaced that blade with a 210GB NVME SSD that I got left from an upgrade of a Macbook 2015.
They are both identical.
Once repaired, i did not recreate a fusion drive.
Instead I installed macOS on the NVME 120GB drive and formatted the 3TB HDD as HFS+.
Finally I moved my home directory to the HDD.
That alternative setup works very well. The system boots in a breeze and the user data on the HDD are fast enough.
Everything is very snappy.
And MUCH safer than the unreliable FD.

That is a very slow boot time in my experience.
Given you have replaced the NVMe blade earlier this year and you stated ‘everything was snappy’, what are the circumstances which have changed to create 90 sec startup?

Is your 210GB ssd formatted APFS? If not, that may account for slow boot time.

 

[mbosse]

Please try to install DriveDx and post the screenshot from your he SMART data here.

 

[rin67630]

Hi Rin,
I checked your earlier post:

I have got an iMac 2015 27" Retina with a defective FD blade.
I replaced that blade with a 210GB NVME SSD that I got left from an upgrade of a Macbook 2015.
They are both identical.
Once repaired, i did not recreate a fusion drive.
Instead I installed macOS on the NVME 120GB drive and formatted the 3TB HDD as HFS+.
Finally I moved my home directory to the HDD.
That alternative setup works very well. The system boots in a breeze and the user data on the HDD are fast enough.
Everything is very snappy.
And MUCH safer than the unreliable FD.

That is a very slow boot time in my experience.
Given you have replaced the NVMe blade earlier this year and you stated ‘everything was snappy’, what are the circumstances which have changed to create 90 sec startup?

Is your 210GB ssd formatted APFS? If not, that may account for slow boot time.

Yes it is formatted APFS, but until the Apple comes (too slowly) only the FAT-formatted EFI might be used, if ever.
Once booting from the NVMe, everything is normally snappy.
The 90 sec until the Apple comes were always there, I did just not mention.

 

[Terraaustralis]

1. Do as @mbosse, above suggests. If NVME SMART report is good, I would do the following:

2. Trash everything, reopen the iMac and withdraw then refit the NVMe. Often blades are not fully or correctly fitted as many in this Blog have found including myself. The symptoms of error vary from the obvious to the obscure. No-one likes repeating previous work but it is the only way to confirm the NVMe has been fitted properly.
While the NVMe is out, clean Mac with vacuum nozzle held over the PCIe cowel, and clean blade pins with isopropyl alcohol. Do not underestimate the importance of a clean, tight fit. You are dealing with very sensitive equipment. Wear surgical gloves so you do not inadvertently transfer static while working. Using bare fingers runs unnecessary risk.

3. If the 90 secs problem remains:
Try free software Ulbow from https://eclecticlight.co/consolation-t2m2-and-log-utilities/ scroll down to Ulbow.
This makes logs more accessible and makes reading a bit more understandable to lay people such as myself.
Directions are provided.
Then you can post the logs to get assistance here at Macrumors, or elsewhere such as Apple forum or tonymacosx86.

4. Live with it:
If you do not want to refit NVMe now, live with it. Should system slow further or other glitches occur over time
- go to 2.

 

[SomeSwede]

I decided to practice on my dying 2013 before upgrading my new to me 2017. It was an interesting operation, but not too difficult with a guide and the experience of repairing close to a hundred PC laptops.

And even if i really admired the engineering and how well made the iMac was on the inside i cannot help to hate whoever decided to place the SSD beneath everything or the guy who decided to glue the screen instead of using magnets.

When i had disassembled everything i decided to see if i could reassemble it again. First i had to try to get the lower part of the screen aligned correctly three times because the glue stuck immediately and it was a few millimeters off. The third time the screen got a little crack. When everything was connected the Mac refused to boot.

Oh well, it was kinda expected. At the moment the motherboard, sorry, logic board decorates my office wall as a reminder of the machine which gave me ten and a half year of service.

The idea of using a USB-C SSD as a boot drive is quite appealing at the moment.

 

[theorist9]

I decided to practice on my dying 2013 before upgrading my new to me 2017. It was an interesting operation, but not too difficult with a guide and the experience of repairing close to a hundred PC laptops.

And even if i really admired the engineering and how well made the iMac was on the inside i cannot help to hate whoever decided to place the SSD beneath everything or the guy who decided to glue the screen instead of using magnets.

When i had disassembled everything i decided to see if i could reassemble it again. First i had to try to get the lower part of the screen aligned correctly three times because the glue stuck immediately and it was a few millimeters off. The third time the screen got a little crack. When everything was connected the Mac refused to boot.

Oh well, it was kinda expected. At the moment the motherboard, sorry, logic board decorates my office wall as a reminder of the machine which gave me ten and a half year of service.

The idea of using a USB-C SSD as a boot drive is quite appealing at the moment.

I didn't even bother trying to do it myself. I just brougt the iMac and new SSD to my local campus bookstore, which is an authorized Apple service center, and they installed it for $100.

 

[progers885]

2017 27" imac 1TB Fusion drive, 3.4GHz quad i5, 24GB DDR4, Radon Pro 570 4GB

upgrade
WD_BLACK SN770 2TB
OLVINS M.2 NVME SSD Convert Adapter Card Upgrade for MacBook Air (2013-2017)

This upgrade is not for the faint hearted! prior to the upgrade I put the SN770 2TB into a
Thunderbolt 3 ORICO Technologies Co.,Ltd. SCM2T3-G40 and loaded Ventura on to it; boot took about 30 seconds and Black Magic test returned:

Now this is not bad so if thats good enough for you I would advise you to stop there and just boot to the external
drive; if you are not happy with this performance then read on

I upgraded the 32 GB SSD Blade to WD_BLACK SN770 2TBand the adapter, as I said not for the faint hearted, I left the 1TB sata drive in erased it and just use it as a storage for files i don't need quickly.

Booted up into Ventura and boot was about 25 seconds Black Magic disk test was

so internal blade is about 20% faster on writes and 25% faster on reads com[ared to thunderbolt port.

I used a combination the following instructions

iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K Display Blade SSD Replacement

If your iMac was configured with a solid state drive or Fusion Drive, it includes a blade SSD on the back of the logic board. Use this guide to...

www.ifixit.com

problems:-
I would take the psu and logic board out together as its very hard to release the locking tab on the DC Power Cable and I ended up breaking the locking tab pin but the cable is is such a tight fit going back that the locking tab is not needed.

Testing before removing the tape from the new seals I made the mistake of putting the display closed up thinking it would not seal however there was some of the orignal tackyness after clearing off the old seals and this stuck on the seals so when I came to open it to remove the tape it was stuck shut and I had to be carefull getting it apart so use a small wedge to keep it from sealing whilst you do a check that all is working.

Don't for get to test camera and microphone as well as the sd card slot before you seal up

Because of the problems with the seals I got the alignment .5mm slightly out with the case on one side but its hardly noticible unless you are looking for it and I decided to quit while I was still ahead also I did not have a spare seals to do it again so you might want to order two sets of seals if you are a perfectionist they don't cost a lot.

Advice:-
look very carefully at the cable connectors as some have locking levers, don't just yank them out

Take your time doing this and do it with good lighting as there is a very small cable coming up from the bottom of the frame where the Apple Logo is which is mentioned in the video but not in the ifixit instructions (That I could find) this has an even smaller locking lever so be carefull; this may not be a problem for young eyes and nimble fingers but as I am 72 and have poor eyesight with the start of cataracts then it took me ages to plug the cable back in hence take your time.

Wrote this up as I spent days investigationg what would work and what doesn't.

Hope it helps