Just posting. I had an 2017 - 18,2 iMac 21 Inch. It was crazy slow. I had about 600 GB stored and the fusion drive (32 GB + 1 TB platter). Just a few things I learned recently and figured to share.
- Apple stops its support of the machine. Latest OS is Ventura, I would not invest much in the machine.
- The Fusion drive is really two drives. Pretty Cool, mine is a 32 GB, and 1 TB platter drive. I am sure this concept will be gone soon, as SSD are cheap and fast. I think Mac is moving to soldered in storage for great speed.
- I was able to use a drive kit, install kit - OWC. I installed just a cheap Samsung 250 GB.
- The process required me to rework the Fusion drive. When I pulled the platter drive and booted, the mac showed now two drives. a problem. This fix is simple to do (I was first like oh god). There is an easy terminal command, I hink it is "fusion reset" or something close.
- If you are using Time machine be sure to grab the right OS version and build a USB with the install, I used the latest Ventura (And a simple command to build it). Once I used this, I could use the right Terminal command and Time Machine backup was available. Also, be aware I was only able to get bootable USB for more current Mac OSs, those that you can download in the app store.
So the take away, if I knew the stuff above and did not have to learn it, the upgrade would be about 1 hour job. The old Mac is running bullet fast, yes I kept the Fusion set up. 32 + 250 GB. I also just have 8 GB of memory. All my old content 600 GB is now in iCloud. I also no longer have to worry about backups and set my self up for current apple mac computers (small drives).
Just a heads up, current macs ahve this set up, Mem (8) and drive space (250 GB). I will likely use the machine a few more years and toss it. The upgrade /fix did give me a few more years and some fun learning stuff.
A side note, given icloud you no longer need big drives. Most I would bet can just offload the high volume old content
After a few calls to Apple, they also said. The drive cannot be changed.
Here are some links
Links
Shows OS Compatibility
https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility
Create a bootable disk
https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
Shows how Timemachine maybe used:
https://www.pandorarecovery.com/blog/restore-hard-drive-from-a-time-machine-backup/
- Apple stops its support of the machine. Latest OS is Ventura, I would not invest much in the machine.
- The Fusion drive is really two drives. Pretty Cool, mine is a 32 GB, and 1 TB platter drive. I am sure this concept will be gone soon, as SSD are cheap and fast. I think Mac is moving to soldered in storage for great speed.
- I was able to use a drive kit, install kit - OWC. I installed just a cheap Samsung 250 GB.
- The process required me to rework the Fusion drive. When I pulled the platter drive and booted, the mac showed now two drives. a problem. This fix is simple to do (I was first like oh god). There is an easy terminal command, I hink it is "fusion reset" or something close.
- If you are using Time machine be sure to grab the right OS version and build a USB with the install, I used the latest Ventura (And a simple command to build it). Once I used this, I could use the right Terminal command and Time Machine backup was available. Also, be aware I was only able to get bootable USB for more current Mac OSs, those that you can download in the app store.
So the take away, if I knew the stuff above and did not have to learn it, the upgrade would be about 1 hour job. The old Mac is running bullet fast, yes I kept the Fusion set up. 32 + 250 GB. I also just have 8 GB of memory. All my old content 600 GB is now in iCloud. I also no longer have to worry about backups and set my self up for current apple mac computers (small drives).
Just a heads up, current macs ahve this set up, Mem (8) and drive space (250 GB). I will likely use the machine a few more years and toss it. The upgrade /fix did give me a few more years and some fun learning stuff.
A side note, given icloud you no longer need big drives. Most I would bet can just offload the high volume old content
After a few calls to Apple, they also said. The drive cannot be changed.
Here are some links
Links
Shows OS Compatibility
https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility
Create a bootable disk
https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
Shows how Timemachine maybe used:
https://www.pandorarecovery.com/blog/restore-hard-drive-from-a-time-machine-backup/