iMac 27" SSD Upgrade - Important Tip!

[copperlab]

i'm very interested indeed on making this kind of upgrades, but i will like to know if is it possible to replace the dvd optical drive for a ssd with the appropriated adapter and have two disk on my mac? When you are on SL's installing system, it recognizes the two Drives properly?

I have seen in previous pages that for the DVD drive needs an adapter for Sata, is that right?

Can i use the macbook air superdrive if i need external drives ? i Don't want to use AC adapter for this...

I am using the intel ssd in the optical bay with an adapter. It recognizes both drives and boots off the ssd in the optical bay.

I am not sure about the power issue with using the superdrive externally through USB... Someone else will have to field that question.

 

[Cockroach]

I think we said in this thread we wan't to keep the 02G9 as the new one removes the 'voodoo' in favour of TRIM, which isn't supported in OS X.

 

[oodi21]

abcdefg

 

[monkeymann]

trim ssd

am i correct to assume that even if osx won't work on a new trim enabled ssd drive in the new imacs, that booting into windows 7 via bootcamp on the same drive should still work? (if the drive was previously partitioned)

 

[Cockroach]

It will work on OS X, the performance will just degrade.

I would assume TRIM would work OK if you have the right drivers etc in Boot Camp. But I wouldn't want Windows messing with the OS X partition to try and optimise it, though.

 

[monkeymann]

nice one, thanks for the quick response.. i'm gonna give this a go now then.. swapping out the optical drive for the ssd using the overpriced ifixit enclosure, will let you know how i get on

 

[SpitUK]

Anyone tried a Crucial M225 drive? Do I need to downgrade the FW to a non trim one? Thanks.

 

[nefoxforever]

Another important tip!

Guys, just did it!

Perfect setup. I now got i5 6gb ram with x25-m 160Gb G2 (enormous speeds), 40gb is for Windows 7 Ultimate 64. All flawless.

TIP:
1. During upgrade, magnets are really annoying...
2. Do not need Suction caps really. May do with nails.
3. Make sure you buy rack that has the same length of your 3.5 HDD otherwise it will be very difficult to stick it so it does not move. I've used sticky tape but not too sure if that's what you will want
4. Do not need air copressor neither, mouth blow will do.

Good luck!!!

 

[dannys1]

Hi guys,

I just managed to pick up 3x 160gb X-25M G2's in the UK for a fantastic price of £260 each.

Originally the seller had Kingston re-brands which do sell slightly cheaper despite being the same drive (and I thought Kingstons might have been an advantage as they have the old firmware on them...)

What arrived this morning though were brand new retail boxed with the 3.5" adapter Intels - what a price! Next day special delivery perfectly packaged too, very happy - especially as the price on these had bumped up hugely for me since look at them in Jan, £275 seemed achievable but they are £310 everywhere at least now, with some sellers going for anything up to £400 (the cheapest price on a google search now is £340!)

Im going for a raid array in the iMac - not just for the increased speed but also the size, but i effectively will have the fastest 320gb drive you can buy. I still have a 2tb drive sat on Firewire, ive been using it a lot over the last few days and its very quiet and for the files I will be accessing on it actually quite fast...

The third SSD is going into my Macbook Pro, with the optical drive being removed for its current 500gb internal drive for the extra space.

All three drives were packed at the end of Jan so have the latest trim enabled firmware. Since looking at this thread in early Jan the situation still doesn't seem to have changed for OSX users and the Raid 0 setup might be a bit of a nightmare to maintain. Still im going to do it by perceivable difference rather than running benchmarks all the time to try and see if my write speed is knackered.

Once i feel the system is not running light it should I'll go ahead and perform the format of the drives. Im kind of hoping that there *might* be an OSX solution even if its third party by the time the drives are not performing perfectly...

Any news on any Trim support in OSX, via Apple, Intel or a third party?

 

[yargok]

Is there anyway to downgrade the firmware to version 02G9? I just bought a G2 160gb and am not sure what firmware version it will come with.

 

[x-machine]

It will work on OS X, the performance will just degrade.

I would assume TRIM would work OK if you have the right drivers etc in Boot Camp. But I wouldn't want Windows messing with the OS X partition to try and optimise it, though.

There are no additional drivers needed for TRIM support. To utilise it, you run the Intel SSD Optimization software which only touches NTFS partitioned drives. So nothing to worry about...it works a treat for my Win7 partition.

Additionally, you could use a SLC flash based drive like the ones from OWC. That would mitigate most of the degradation problems seen with MLC based drives (like the Intel X25-M). However, I've had mine in for 3 months and cant see any difference yet. Boot time is the same as when new, perhaps I dont do enough writes to the drive to see it.

Just as an aside, biggest difference in OS and app load times seems/feels to be in OS X. I dont think Win7 boots much quicker than it did before I put in the SSD, but SL feels like lightening!

 

[x-machine]

Is there anyway to downgrade the firmware to version 02G9? I just bought a G2 160gb and am not sure what firmware version it will come with.

Sadly not, this has been well discussed elsewhere. Dont worry about it though, it's not that apparent in daily use (see above post for more info).

 

[mystikjoe]

There are no additional drivers needed for TRIM support. To utilise it, you run the Intel SSD Optimization software which only touches NTFS partitioned drives. So nothing to worry about...it works a treat for my Win7 partition.

Additionally, you could use a SLC flash based drive like the ones from OWC. That would mitigate most of the degradation problems seen with MLC based drives (like the Intel X25-M). However, I've had mine in for 3 months and cant see any difference yet. Boot time is the same as when new, perhaps I dont do enough writes to the drive to see it.

Just as an aside, biggest difference in OS and app load times seems/feels to be in OS X. I dont think Win7 boots much quicker than it did before I put in the SSD, but SL feels like lightening!

you have to be rich to buy an slc! mlc was tuff enough on my wallet!

 

[Sensamic]

Ssd

Hi everyone! Im new, from Spain.

I have just exchanged my I7 for the third time, but now I have an i5. I returned them because the loud noise of the hd bothered me a lot. So I thought of buying a SSD. I need your help cause Im new at this and i want to buy the correct drive.

I have looked at these ones:

OCZ Solid State Disk (SSD) Colossus Series 3.5 - 120 GB - SATA II

INTEL Solid State Disk (SSD) X25-E MLC 2.5 - 160 GB - SATA-300

Intel X25-M 160GB 2.5" SSD SATA

I think the 3.5 is best because then I wont need and adapter, what do you guys think? Should i buy the 3.5 or go for the 2.5? Which one makes less noise and fits better on the imac?

Does the SSD have to be from Intel or can it be from OCZ or Samsung or anyone? Is there any difference between the two intel drives listed above?

My BIGGEST concern is the noise. I want a silent hd and an almost silent imac.

I would want to buy the first one or the third one. Please help me decide which one is best! I think the 3.5 size is really important, right? So maybe the best one is the first one?

Thanks for the help.

 

[mystikjoe]

Hi everyone! Im new, from Spain.

I have just exchanged my I7 for the third time, but now I have an i5. I returned them because the loud noise of the hd bothered me a lot. So I thought of buying a SSD. I need your help cause Im new at this and i want to buy the correct drive.

I have looked at these ones:

OCZ Solid State Disk (SSD) Colossus Series 3.5 - 120 GB - SATA II

INTEL Solid State Disk (SSD) X25-E MLC 2.5 - 160 GB - SATA-300

Intel X25-M 160GB 2.5" SSD SATA

I think the 3.5 is best because then I wont need and adapter, what do you guys think? Should i buy the 3.5 or go for the 2.5? Which one makes less noise and fits better on the imac?

Does the SSD have to be from Intel or can it be from OCZ or Samsung or anyone? Is there any difference between the two intel drives listed above?

My BIGGEST concern is the noise. I want a silent hd and an almost silent imac.

I would want to buy the first one or the third one. Please help me decide which one is best! I think the 3.5 size is really important, right? So maybe the best one is the first one?

Thanks for the help.

nothing beats an intel setup with mac and windows 7 on it for a boot drive then having a 1tb backup time capsule drive. i think you buy the adapter ditch the crappy opti drive and buy a killer external blu-ray drive. i might be biased since that is exactly what i did. ssd makes my computer load programs about 4-5 times as fast. it's amazing!

 

[skh]

Hey all,

Just bought an i7, no second thoughts about replacing with an SSD. I am going to replace the HDD (not the SuperDrive)

Anyway - I bought the intel X25 G2 (160gb) here

The description says (in specifications tab) :
"Includes installation kit that contains: 3.5" desktop drive bay adapter to 2.5" SSD adapter bracket, screws, installation guide, and warranty documentation"

Pic here

Is this sufficient for a caddy? (ie. I dont need to buy a 2.5-3.5" to hold it in place)

Saw a bunch of people have been using this drive, but no one seems to have mentioned this. Leads me to believe either their's didn't come with the caddy, or it doesn't fit properly.

Thanks!

 

[Cockroach]

Yes, that will work fine. The cable will reach better if you put it upside down.

 

[skh]

Yes, that will work fine. The cable will reach better if you put it upside down.

Thanks for the tip.

Is there reason why this caddy would be beneficial (or worse for that matter) over the included intel one?

I placed the order for both parts before realizing the SSD came with a caddy. I'll likely see if I can just cancel the caddy, but at 7$ I'd keep it if there were any advantage (eg. maybe cable would reach better - but I'm assuming the issue is Apple's short wire not the intel caddy).

 

[mystikjoe]

Thanks for the tip.

Is there reason why this caddy would be beneficial (or worse for that matter) over the included intel one?

I placed the order for both parts before realizing the SSD came with a caddy. I'll likely see if I can just cancel the caddy, but at 7$ I'd keep it if there were any advantage (eg. maybe cable would reach better - but I'm assuming the issue is Apple's short wire not the intel caddy).

i just don't see how 160gb is enough storage for any setup these days. to each his own though. i use my blu-ray drive maybe twice a month. i use my hard drive every time i'm on my pc. food for thought!

 

[skh]

i just don't see how 160gb is enough storage for any setup these days. to each his own though. i use my blu-ray drive maybe twice a month. i use my hard drive every time i'm on my pc. food for thought!

Well I totally agree that 160GB is not enough for storage for any setup. I can easily fit my docs, vm's and OS on 160gb, (I do Web dev so lots of browsers/VM's, Photoshop, terminal, IDE, etc) which are the only things I need to be fast.

On the other hand, accessing my media files on a 3TB (total) FW800 external is more than fast enough for me. Admittedly I do have next to no use for a superdrive, my reasoning was that
1) the silence of no spinning disks is very attractive
2) I've head of BootCamp and other issues may arise when replacing the SuperDrive. One of the reasons I like Mac's is how things usually just work, so (although I'm still 'hacking' it), I wanted to emulate their setup as much as possible.
3) the stock 1tb wouldn't be much benefit to me, and Apple's HD's are ridiculously overpriced, 250$ to upgrade to 2tb?

Overall I would have had to spend an extra $250 for the 2tb, ~40 for the optical caddy, + whatever an external cd/dvd drive costs when I need it that one time in the future.

But indeed, to each their own, I had a hard time choosing what route to take

 

[drew0020]

I'm thinking about getting the i5/7 imac because the new laptops haven't come out yet. I need a SSD but really don't want to take the computer apart and the thought of dust behind the screen would annoy me to no end.

Is there anyway to boot from an external SSD? Thanks!

 

[Cockroach]

Yes, you can put it in a USB or FireWire caddy, but that will lose a lot of the benefit.

I used a hairdryer (on cold) to blow the dust out. It can be done.

 

[mystikjoe]

Well I totally agree that 160GB is not enough for storage for any setup. I can easily fit my docs, vm's and OS on 160gb, (I do Web dev so lots of browsers/VM's, Photoshop, terminal, IDE, etc) which are the only things I need to be fast.

On the other hand, accessing my media files on a 3TB (total) FW800 external is more than fast enough for me. Admittedly I do have next to no use for a superdrive, my reasoning was that
1) the silence of no spinning disks is very attractive
2) I've head of BootCamp and other issues may arise when replacing the SuperDrive. One of the reasons I like Mac's is how things usually just work, so (although I'm still 'hacking' it), I wanted to emulate their setup as much as possible.
3) the stock 1tb wouldn't be much benefit to me, and Apple's HD's are ridiculously overpriced, 250$ to upgrade to 2tb?




Overall I would have had to spend an extra $250 for the 2tb, ~40 for the optical caddy, + whatever an external cd/dvd drive costs when I need it that one time in the future.

But indeed, to each their own, I had a hard time choosing what route to take

doesn't an external hard drive look like a$$?

 

[skh]

doesn't an external hard drive look like a$$?

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/TW851LL/A

Can't even see it =).

Have 2x1.5tb samsung ecogreens in a dual bay external which sleep when inactive so nice and quiet.

 

[bfolkers]

Would the Apple store install an SSD in my iMac if I purchased one and took it to them?