I want to RAID0 two SSDs by putting the second one in the optical bay. You can get adaptors that are for 9mm drives, but this iMac is 12mm. Would it still work?
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iMac 27" SSD Upgrade - Important Tip!
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I'm hoping someone would do a step by step illustrated/photo instructions on putting in an SSD for those of us who are nervous taking apart an iMac. I've changed hard drives and memory in a mini, so I'm not a total coward, but still I'd be sweating pulling apart a 27"... maybe iFixit will come through with a nice guide!
isn't it a probe with a cable ?
or is it really connected to the HDD ?
because if it's just a probe, then you'll just have to stick it to the SSD
i don't see why the temperature probe would work with the stock HDD but not with the SSD
or is it really connected to the HDD ?
because if it's just a probe, then you'll just have to stick it to the SSD
i don't see why the temperature probe would work with the stock HDD but not with the SSD
It's not a probe (my old 24" had a thermistor which was attached to the surface of the HDD to monitor temperature).
On the 27" iMac, it's actually a 6-way connector block which plugs into the jumper section of the hard drive (there are 8 jumper pins). Oddly even though it's a 6-way connector, only two pins are actually connected to wires. The thing is that the jumper block of the HDD is for configuring the drive for stuff like SATA-150 etc, there's no temperature data being sent over those jumper pins. Even if the HDD is not powered up, just having this connector block attached lets the fans operate normally so there's definitely no temperature data going back to the motherboard.
Something makes me think that they maybe intended to put a thermistor in there but for some reason changed their mind and put this in instead. It's very odd, but just completing the loop and shorting the two wires of the connector together seems to sort it out.
So how exactly did you end up shorting the two together? Did you just whack the end of the connector off and twist them together, or did you actually go through the effort to make a two pin U-Shaped type short to plug it into?
I just got a piece of single-core wire and formed a small 'U' shape and pushed it into the connector to connect the two wires together then secured it so that the connector didn't touch any other part of the computer.
Since you said you're likely to be trying this yourself, here's exactly what I did:
1. Lie the iMac down with the iSight camera closest to you.
2. Get a suction cup and attach it at the top corner of the glass. Lift gently until it comes away about half an inch, enough to get your finger underneath. Carefully swing the glass forward (there are metal tabs at the bottom so make sure to pivot the glass away from the top until you can then lift it away.
3. Using a properly sized Torx screwdriver, remove the 8 screws (4 either side of the screen).
4. you'll need something thin to get under the metal tab at the top of the LCD display to lift it from the top, you can lift it from the iSight end like a car bonnet, but be careful not to lift it more than an inch initially as there is a little ribbon cable attached to the right. Carefully pull this cable horizontally out of the connector then you can hinge the display upwards by about 6 inches or so.
5. You'll see the HDD bay in front of you. Detach the SATA and Power cables, unscrew the two torx screws and lift one side of the HDD and pull it towards you and it'll come away completely. Unscrew the legs attached to each corner of the HDD as you'll need these for attaching the SSD drive.
6. Attach your SSD drive to a suitable mounting bracket, making sure the connectors are in roughly the same position as the original HDD (the SATA and Power cables are short and will only reach to that area). As best you can, secure the mounting bracket using the same legs as Apple used with the original HDD. Attach SATA and Power cables.
7. Using a suitable piece of wire, form a 'U' shape and slide it into the connector which used to be connected to the jumper block of the original HDD. Secure it appropriately so it doesn't touch anything else.
8. Re-assemble in reverse order. A can of compressed air is good for making sure you clear any dust away before replacing the glass.
Of course that's just what I did, I can't assume responsibility for anything you do to your own system but this worked fine for me.
1. Lie the iMac down with the iSight camera closest to you.
2. Get a suction cup and attach it at the top corner of the glass. Lift gently until it comes away about half an inch, enough to get your finger underneath. Carefully swing the glass forward (there are metal tabs at the bottom so make sure to pivot the glass away from the top until you can then lift it away.
3. Using a properly sized Torx screwdriver, remove the 8 screws (4 either side of the screen).
4. you'll need something thin to get under the metal tab at the top of the LCD display to lift it from the top, you can lift it from the iSight end like a car bonnet, but be careful not to lift it more than an inch initially as there is a little ribbon cable attached to the right. Carefully pull this cable horizontally out of the connector then you can hinge the display upwards by about 6 inches or so.
5. You'll see the HDD bay in front of you. Detach the SATA and Power cables, unscrew the two torx screws and lift one side of the HDD and pull it towards you and it'll come away completely. Unscrew the legs attached to each corner of the HDD as you'll need these for attaching the SSD drive.
6. Attach your SSD drive to a suitable mounting bracket, making sure the connectors are in roughly the same position as the original HDD (the SATA and Power cables are short and will only reach to that area). As best you can, secure the mounting bracket using the same legs as Apple used with the original HDD. Attach SATA and Power cables.
7. Using a suitable piece of wire, form a 'U' shape and slide it into the connector which used to be connected to the jumper block of the original HDD. Secure it appropriately so it doesn't touch anything else.
8. Re-assemble in reverse order. A can of compressed air is good for making sure you clear any dust away before replacing the glass.
Of course that's just what I did, I can't assume responsibility for anything you do to your own system but this worked fine for me.
Perfect.. Thanks a lot. I'm just trying to decide now if I want to get the C2D or the 5i Quad core. I'm so impatient.
The OCZ Vertex does not have an internal temperature sensor (=official answer from OCZ you can check on their forum; iStat Pro will also return 0). I'm guessing the cable you found needs to be hooked up to the drive to get a reading from the internal temperature sensor. As there is none in the Vertex ssd this could cause the fan to either spin at its max or at its minimum setting. The Vertex has the ability to use jumpers but be careful, with a jumper you can put the ssd into flash mode (used to do a backflash to 1.10). You might want to check out OCZ's own forum on this subject.
Thanks for the detailed description. I'm thinking of buying the base 27 inch and upgrading the hard drive to 2tb myself instead of BTO.
I'm most worried about lifting the glass. How many suction cups did you use? Was one enough and were you concerned at all about cracking the glass as you lifted up the top right edge? Would using two suction cups help? How much resistance did you have? To confirm, just tilt the glass up, pivoting along the bottom edge?
Thanks in advance.
Would be great if someone created an SSD drive that is actually the size and shape of an optical drive. There is no technical reason why an SSD drive has to be the size and shape of a 2.5" hard drive. You would save the money for another enclosure, and the added space could be used to either build the same capacity as a 2.5" SSD drive using much cheaper technology, or to add much more space.
Thanks everyone for the great tips. I want to replace the optical drive with an SSD to run the OC and keep the original 2gb HDD in place as storage. I'm new to mac and I've never opened a iMac before. In fact, I'm switching to Mac because the new 27' iMac. Could anyone list the parts and steps needed to do this? I would be really appreciated by everyone.
I think apple doesn't allow an SSD because they want you to pay more for an Mac Pro in order to use the SSD. It's their business strategy. You want the extra speed? Go for the Mac Pro.
Thanks in advance!
I think apple doesn't allow an SSD because they want you to pay more for an Mac Pro in order to use the SSD. It's their business strategy. You want the extra speed? Go for the Mac Pro.
Thanks in advance!
I used one little suction cup from a small hockey jersey which you hang on your car window, it had a little piece of plastic attached to it which allowed me to grip and pull on it properly. It does take an initial force to lift the glass a few millimetres, but once it's lifted slightly it gets a lot easier . The glass has a metal surround so it seems very well reinforced. It would probably be best to use two suction cups, one at each corner to lift it evenly but I didn't have any issues with lifting from one corner. You're right though, you tilt the glass forward away from the iSight camera, pivoting along the bottom edge.
In terms of dust etc, I did find that while working on it a little bit of dust settled on the screen and glass but a can of compressed air to clear them both before putting the glass back on had it completely free of any visible dust, and if you notice anything you can always tilt the glass forward and give it another blast of compressed air to clear anything that you might have missed initially.
it's at least possible that the optical sata could be the slower 1.5G variant - might be worth checking somehow before deciding to use it for an ssd and expecting the full benefit.
otherwise you might end up trying to snake sata data data cables around to get the ssd data to the hdd sata which i'd assume would be full sata 3G
otherwise you might end up trying to snake sata data data cables around to get the ssd data to the hdd sata which i'd assume would be full sata 3G
"Would be great if someone created an SSD drive that is actually the size and shape of an optical drive."
Or try this, sure it would fit in the imac too? or are the sata conectors different?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....36230&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2558wt_1167
Or try this, sure it would fit in the imac too? or are the sata conectors different?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....36230&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2558wt_1167
Can anyone please tell me? According to iFixit, I can use this to install an SSD in the optical bay of the new 27" iMac.
My question is, are the power and data connectors for the optical drive identical to what would be used on the SSD? IE is the connection SATA 3Gb/s, and would I get the speed performance as if it were connected in place of the regular 3.5" drive?
Also, would I be able to use the 3.5" drive as a secondary media drive and the optical bay SSD as the boot drive? Could I just set this in Startup Disk preference pane or would I need some sort of hack/workaround.
Thanks so much to whoever can answer this for me. I would really like to have an X25M G2 80GB SSD as my boot drive in the optical bay, and use the stock 3.5" SATA drive for media etc.
My question is, are the power and data connectors for the optical drive identical to what would be used on the SSD? IE is the connection SATA 3Gb/s, and would I get the speed performance as if it were connected in place of the regular 3.5" drive?
Also, would I be able to use the 3.5" drive as a secondary media drive and the optical bay SSD as the boot drive? Could I just set this in Startup Disk preference pane or would I need some sort of hack/workaround.
Thanks so much to whoever can answer this for me. I would really like to have an X25M G2 80GB SSD as my boot drive in the optical bay, and use the stock 3.5" SATA drive for media etc.
OK cool, I see some others are interested in the same thing I am. I found out that the connectors (while SATA) used for the optical drive are not the same as the SATA and power connectors on an HD. However, the enclosure I linked from iFixit converts the optical connectors to HD ones.
I am just wondering if anyone knows for sure if the optical drive connection is 3Gb/s? Or maybe 1.5 like someone else mentioned? Also can I for sure use the second drive in the optical bay as my boot drive easily?
I am just wondering if anyone knows for sure if the optical drive connection is 3Gb/s? Or maybe 1.5 like someone else mentioned? Also can I for sure use the second drive in the optical bay as my boot drive easily?
I don't see there being any sense in making the optical drive 1.5G - 3G is available on the "southbridge" in pairs.
That's what I'm trying to figure out. That is for a 9.5mm drive, but the iMac is 12.7mm.
All caddies take care of the different connectors (i.e. 9.5mm ones)??
I'm sure you can just change the startup disk.
But do other ones? Like 9.5mm ones that are more easily available?
I agree, it would be more effort to make it 1.5Gb/s as they would have to limit it. The two ports inside my MacBook are reported as "3 Gigabit".
Great stuff guys!!! Keep it comming. If anyone of you replaces the optical drive with SSD could you take some photos and let us know what you used and what were the steps. If we could make this work, it would be a crazy deal!
Thanks everyone!
Thanks everyone!