iMac 27" SSD Upgrade - Important Tip!

[Sensamic]

Okay, so I just did a test.

I restarted the imac from the dvd of Mac OS X that comes with. Then, I went to Disk Utility and unmounted the internal hard drive of the imac and close the app and spent some minutes in complete silence trying to see if this way the hard drive would be completely quiet.

Its weird. Every 30 seconds or so I heard a very little noise, probably from the hard drive. It was like the hard drive spinning for just one second every 30 seconds. Maybe to do a check? I dont know, but Im almost sure the noise came from the hard drive.

So then, you still hear the internal hard drive even if you unmount it? Im confused. I thought it would stop completely and be completely quiet. The imac was very quiet, except for this little noise every 30 seconds. Is there a way to stop this little noise from happening at all?

Maybe this little noise happened because I did this test from the dvd of Mac OS X? Is this possible? So then, if I do again the test, but this time from an external SSD, there will be no noise at all?

What do you guys think?

 

[Cockroach]

I think if it was the hard drive, it was because you were booted from the DVD or you had Disk Utility open. If you unmount a drive while running OS X it will spin down, and as someone else mentioned, only spin up when you open Disk Utility or perhaps when the iMac wakes from sleep.

If you have any external hard drive (possibly even a USB key if it's big enough) you can install OS X on that just to test.

 

[Sensamic]

Okay, I think I know what went wrong.

I had disabled the option of allowing the drive to sleep when possible in preferences. I enabled it and did the test again and the internal hard drive went to sleep and stop making noise. It finally worked, I think.

¿Is it really possible to install Snow Leopard on a usb key and use it as the main drive? Its a really cool way and maybe more cheap than SSD.

 

[slicecom]

I'm going to be doing the SSD upgrade in my i7 iMac tonight!


Quick question: Can I pull the existing 1TB HDD, throw it in an external firewire enclosure and boot off of it just as I did when it was internal until I get the SSD all set up?

 

[Cockroach]

Yes you can. Hold down option while starting up for a choice of boot disks. Once you're in OS X, you can set it permanently in System Preferences.

 

[slicecom]

Yes you can. Hold down option while starting up for a choice of boot disks. Once you're in OS X, you can set it permanently in System Preferences.

Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply. Can't wait to install the SSD!

 

[Sensamic]

Hey. I was doing some tests today and I found something interesting.

In preferences, where you choose which disk to boot from, theres an option to connect to mac computers and use one of them as it were an external hard drive. Doing this, could I use the other hard drive as the main drive to boot from on the imac?

For example. I buy a macbook air with SSD. Then I connect it to the imac via firewire 800 and chose this option on preferences. Then can I use the SSD of the macbook air as main drive to boot from on the imac and then unmount the internal hard drive?

Is it the same as an external hard drive?

 

[Cockroach]

If you start up a Mac that has FireWire holding down the 'T' key it goes into target disk mode and acts just like an external drive, so you could boot another machine from it. The MacBook Air doesn't have FireWire, so you can't use that.

 

[akm3]

Folks who have upgraded to an SSD in their Superdrive slot, how do you install Windows with boot camp? It won't work with my external DVD drive, and rEFIt isn't helping. Suggestions?

 

[Sensamic]

Is the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD better than the Intel? Im reading its one of the bests in the market right now and that has NO degradation over time. Is is true?

 

[ptrlhd]

Hi, I'm new here, so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it is related to SSD upgrading/replacing:

A couple of days ago my 15" Macbook Pro (MBP), early 2008 model, decided to call it quits after 2 years of service and go on vacation (motherboard died) and it will cost a lot to get it fixed here (I'm going to try to source the part from somewhere cheaper)...

So, I'm planning on getting an 27" iMac (probably with the i7 CPU) to replace the MBP, as the laptop hardly leaves the house. Now I have installed a Corsair SSD on my MBP about 6 months ago and I was wondering if it is possible to just remove it from the MBP and install it into the iMac and have everything running as if I was on the MBP (kind of similar to migrating from one mac hardware to another), and use the 1TB HDD as an external storage. Do you think this is doable and will work, or will I need to format and reinstall everything on the SSD.

Also, I know that the iMac uses 3.5" HDD vs. 2.5" HDD in the MBP, so I was wondering if anybody can recommend an adapter/bracket to do the upgrade/replacement.

 

[Cockroach]

If the SSD has the latest version of Mac OS X on it, it should be able to boot the iMac just fine. If it won't, clone it to another disk, wipe it and use the migration assistant when installing.

 

[ptrlhd]

I have recently done a software update (a month or so ago) on the MBP, so I'm guessing it is the latest version... don't know what is the version that the iMacs are coming with. Btw, I'm using the SSD currently in an external USB case and using it on my old Mac Mini to boot from it, temporarily till I get the iMac

 

[Cockroach]

When the iMac was released, it came with a custom 10.6.x that included the necessary drives. The next 10.6.x update included those, so 10.6.3 at least will be able to boot it. There's no problem if it cant - the migration assistant will do fine, and in actual fact, you could end up with a cleaner system which is always nice .

 

[ptrlhd]

I guess the best thing to do is to migrate from my Mac Mini/external SSD to the iMac then updgrade the iMac with the SSD (formated and install latest version of Mac OS X) and then migrate from Mac Mini/external iMac HDD, I think this is the easiest solution, unless somebody has a better idea

 

[Ravich]

I have heard vague blurbs about taking out the superdrive and putting in a second HDD... is this possible?

 

[Cockroach]

Yep, the optical drive uses SATA just like HDDs do so you can replace it. The power plug is different so you'll need a small adaptor.

 

[Ravich]

But... it IS possible? That sounds promising for future use of the iMac as a workstation when SSDs come down in price.

 

[Cockroach]

Yes, I have two SSDs in RAID0 in my iMac. Look back through this thread for more details and suggested parts.

 

[Sensamic]

So I finally bought this:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MS8USSD240/

OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 240GB SSD in the external enclosure. It looks good and all the reviews I've read say its one of the best SSDs on the market. The really cool thing is it seems it does not degrade over time. That is what they say and on macperformanceguide.com there is a review with proof of it. I really hope its true.

It will arrive on monday, I hope. I'll tell you guys how it goes.

 

[Cockroach]

Wow, pricey! Looks good though - hope you enjoy.

 

[Ravich]

Questions:

1) If I put the original HDD back in, can Apple tell? Does it void the warranty with some sort of indicator that Apple can check?

2) Does replacing the superdrive with a HDD require removing the glass like with the other internal HDD?

 

[Cockroach]

1) If I put the original HDD back in, can Apple tell? Does it void the warranty with some sort of indicator that Apple can check?

They may be able to tell, but there's no special indicator. As long as you haven't damaged anything by opening it, you warranty is still valid.

2) Does replacing the superdrive with a HDD require removing the glass like with the other internal HDD?

Yes, only the RAM can be upgraded without taking the screen out.

 

[Sensamic]

So how fast will be my OWC SSD in the FW800 enclosure compared to the internal HDD of the imac? Will it be faster or just as fast or a little bit slower?

Will it be fast enough to do everything and dont slow down? This worries me.

 

[Cockroach]

I don't think it will slow it down. 800Mb/s is still very quick for data transfer, but you get the advantage of random reads being quicker than the internal drive, which would never be as high as 800Mb/s.