Anyone familiar with the inside of a 2011 27" iMac? (Sata cable placements)

[SPNarwhal]

Oh yes. If the OP wants to put a 15 mm HDD under ODD that is probably not possible. Never seen a mount for that. Besides, that will block the airflow to the GPU heatsink which is silly. I will delete my post.

Why will it block airflow? I'll be removing the ODD entirely so I'd imagine there would be even more space with just a 2.5 15mm there. (?)

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Why will it block airflow? I'll be removing the ODD entirely so I'd imagine there would be even more space with just a 2.5 15mm there. (?)

The Youtube video I linked above provide you with one very good option to replace ODD with caddybay+HDD. Because it's a spinning disk, you'd better assemble it firmly, using the stock ODD frame. The caddy bay is designed to fit to that plastic frame. Airflow to GPU heatsink is still maintained pretty well.

I wouldn't stick a HDD to the aluminum case of the iMac, vibration should be reduced as much as possible, when you are using the HDD. SDD, on the other hand, can be placed any where inside the iMac.

 

[SPNarwhal]

The Youtube video I linked above provide you with one very good option to replace ODD with caddybay+HDD. Because it's a spinning disk, you'd better assemble it firmly, using the stock ODD frame. The caddy bay is designed to fit to that plastic frame. Airflow to GPU heatsink is still maintained pretty well.

I wouldn't stick a HDD to the aluminum case of the iMac, vibration should be reduced as much as possible, when you are using the HDD. SDD, on the other hand, can be placed any where inside the iMac.

I've used those Optibays plenty. My issue is that using a 4TB 2.5 means using a thicker 15mm drive. If I mount it with one of those caddys then it will pop out too much and get in the way of the LCD (I'm pretty sure)

I didn't want to put the drive against the aluminum. I once saw a mount that is for mounting a drive behind the ODD for a 3rd hard drive. I was hopping to find this mount for the thicker drive so it's mounted further back. (the ODD would be removed. not that it would fit anyway)

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I've used those Optibays plenty. My issue is that using a 4TB 2.5 means using a thicker 15mm drive. If I mount it with one of those caddys then it will pop out too much and get in the way of the LCD (I'm pretty sure)

I didn't want to put the drive against the aluminum. I once saw a mount that is for mounting a drive behind the ODD for a 3rd hard drive. I was hopping to find this mount for the thicker drive so it's mounted further back. (the ODD would be removed. not that it would fit anyway)

I'm afraid that the thickest caddy bay you can find in the market cheaply is 12.7mm. If this caddy bay can't house your 4TB 15mm HDD, then the only solution left for you is modding the caddy bay to lower the HDD a little bit.
This may involve:
1) Replace/reroute the ODD cable (7+6pin slime line SATA) with a normal SATA cable comble (22pin) or use the adapter in the below link with the original ODD cable.
2) Modify the aluminum caddy to lower the HDD a little bit, while cut-off the cable adapter part. Actually you can re-use the adapter of the caddy bay in stead of buying new.

Slimline 13 pin SATA Male to 22 Pin SATA Female Cable Adapter-III

www.amazon.com