iMac 27" SSD Upgrade - Important Tip!

[C8XY]

So i went ahead and ordered the 3 parts that Picho posted. I also ordered an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 120GB SSD. I installed everything a few days ago in my Mid-2010 27" Core i5 (HDD only) and everything went as expected. I didn't realize the logic board had to be pulled so it took a little longer than expected but otherwise everything was as expected. I did not note which logic board connection I connected to the SSD, and which I connected to the factory HDD (hopefully it doesn't matter). I cloned the factory drive (fresh out of the box hadn't set up or anything, its brand new) to the new SSD after formatting (Mac HFS+ Journaled). I used disk utility to restore the HDD to the SSD using the restore tab with erase destination enabled (block-level copy). I then wiped the HDD chose the SSD as startup disk, and then booted for the first time. I went through set up and then used the computer and did some more set up and customization. I ran updates, repaired permissions verified the new SSD and a few other routine items to make sure everything was normal. Everything checked out and has been working well except one thing... When waking from sleep sometimes the computer freezes. It doesn't happen every time and it seems like it happens when it has been sleeping for longer periods (not sure though). I have to press and hold power to power off the machine and reboot. I left disk utility running before sleep (accidentally, but luckily i guess) and upon wake (before freezing) disk utility does not show the SSD, only the HDD and optical drive. I know that MacBook Pro Users have been having issues with hibernate so i confirmed that it is normal (hibernate mode: 0) pmset -g returns:

Active Profiles:
AC Power -1*
Currently in use:
hibernatemode 0
halfdim 1
womp 1
sleep 10
powerbutton 1
disksleep 10
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
ttyskeepawake 1
autorestart 0
displaysleep 10


Does anyone have any idea if I did something wrong, how I can fix this, or if the SSD may be at fault. Let me know. Thank you.

Edit: I also added 4GB (2x2GB) of OWC Ram at the same time. I don't think that would be the cause but it could be.

You’re not alone, mine occasionally freezes in sleep mode and only a hard reset will sort it.
Running SSD in optical bay on 27" iMac.

Any ideas peeps?

 

[ash06]

Need a little help.. :S

Hi there,

I'm attempting to add a 60GB Verex 2 SSD as a second drive to my 27" 2.93 iMac,
However, after installation i would like to use it as my main boot/apps drive
& store things like Photos, Movies, Downloads on the Stock 1TB drive..

How do i Clone my existing data onto the 60GB drive so that when it boots up nothing* has changed? :S (I have used less than 60GB so far on the stock drive) I hope i make sense here, any help is appreciated

Ash

 

[bally555]

I used CCC when i added my ssd to imac 27" 2.93.

you can download from this link. it works pretty straight forward.

just clone your existing data to your ssd and go to preference and set the boot drive to your ssd

http://www.bombich.com/

 

[ash06]

Thanks bally555,

Does it matter that the drive is larger than 60GB, & after cloning my data will the free space show up as 'freespace'- i.e. will I have the full 60GB disk to use or restricted to what CCC cloned?

& When i boot, will my iMac appear the same as before the SSD install?

Ash

 

[cliveports]

Do I need to remove 'Trim' from SSD?

Hi Folks, Been following this thread with great interest and thanks for all the hints and tips! One thing I'm not clear on; I've just bought a Crucial C300 256Gb which I plan to replace my optical drive with in my 2009 iMac 9,1. I'm 'worried' about TRIM. I've formatted the drive as GUID and have no idea if Trim is on the drive and if so should I remove it? If I need to remove it, anyone know how? or can I just ignore this and use the drive 'as-is'? (Or am I talking rubbish!!) Thank you for your help folks!

 

[camflan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camflan/sets/72157625769847682/with/5344340294/

 

[cliveports]

interesting, so you kept your optical AND your original HDD? so when you say 'new power harness' was a new one needed? And where from please? I was just going to replace the optical but I'd much prefer to do it the way you did,. Can this be done on an 2009 iMac 9,1? Or do I have to go the optical replacement way?

Anyone help me with my question about TRIM please?

I'm ready to clone my HDD system onto my SSD as I want the SSD to be my boot/System/Apps disk and I want my HDD to be user data but SuperDuper only offers to backup all files (which I cant use as I have a 256Gb SSD and a 640Gb HDD) or user files. What I really want to do is just clone the system side of things, including Apps and have my user data on the HDD. Could anyone walk me through cloning my system and Apps only onto the SSD (I have my entire 640Gb HDD backed up up to another HDD so maybe its a case of deleting user, cloning, putting user back?) please?

Thank you.

 

[SpitUK]

Trim currently doesn't exist on osx. The reason people choose the vertex 2e and derivatives is because they have the sand force 1200 controller which has it's own version of trim built in, which is obviously beneficial for osx. Unfortunately the c300 does not.

Should be fine and just enjoy your ssd.

 

[cliveports]

Trim currently doesn't exist on osx. The reason people choose the vertex 2e and derivatives is because they have the sand force 1200 controller which has it's own version of trim built in, which is obviously beneficial for osx. Unfortunately the c300 does not.

Should be fine and just enjoy your ssd.

Thank you very much 'spit'! You've put my mind at rest!! I knew OSX didnt support TRIM just wasnt sure if I needed to 'do' anything with the drive re garbage collection etc. but I have DiskTester now so I can use that to recondition the drive.

As for my other questions: I now know that I cant get the power loom since my model of iMac doesn't support adding the SSD in the way 'camflan' did with his.

So I'm back to my original plan of putting the SSD in the optical bay in place of the Superdrive.

So...I think the way I should use SuperDuper is (anyone out there please feel free to correct me as I'm still new to this!)

• copy my home directory to another separate external HDD.
• Remove my home directory from internal HDD giving me <256Gb of System, Library and Applications and User\SharedFolders
• Use SuperDuper to copy everything 'systemwise' to SSD
• Wipe internal HDD completely
• Copy back Home folder to internal HDD
• Set new SSD as boot disk (in System utilities)
• 'Tell' iMac the location of my home directory is now on the internal HDD (in the Users/Advance section of System Preferences)

How's that sound folks? Have I missed anything?
Not sure where/how to move/to put the Users/shared folder, any advice?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[36chambers]

Hi all. I am going to upgrade my imac(mid 2010) 27'' imac and add SDD Drive to existing HDD. What SSD is the best choice for my imac? I heard that OCZ Vertex 2 is very good and fast. Can you advise something to me? Thanks

 

[Maxi86]

Hello guys!

I bought my iMac 27" inch last September and starts to see it's limitations...
I'm interested in upgrading it, although I don't have the background or know-how to do it myself.

Using BootCamp I've installed Windows 7, and afterwards I created a third partition called Media in exFAT so I could read/write from both OS'es.

Regarding upgrades, I'm interested in 3 major things:
- replace SATA drive for a SSD
- replace the 8x SuperDrive for a Blu-ray combo drive
- add more internal memory, is it possible to add 3 x 4GB RAM extra?
- add HDMI-port, if possible...

When replacing the SATA drive for SSD, does it mean I've to install everything from scratch? Is it possible to again install Windows 7 via BootCamp on the SSD? How much storage is recommended, 180 or 240GB?
I don't need any storage for anything else... I'd like to put all my other data on a NAS (Drobo FS).

 

[cliveports]

A few hints and an answer to my own question on cloning/user data etc.

For cloning your system files I used Clone X3 which, in my opinion is better than SuperDuper or Carbon Copy for one simple reason; what I like is you can just say 'Clone entire system EXCEPT User data'.

I just bought a 27" i7 Quad-Core iMac which, has a second free onboard Sata600 connector on the main board so you can add the SSD as a second drive rather than replacing the HD or Superdrive. So I added the SSD into my iMac using using the apple cables and caddy as described by Picho in post #523 of this thread (thanks Picho!) bought from Applecomponents as described by Johnf1285 post #547 (Thanks johnf1285!) And it was cheaper even with the customs charge to buy from US and Ship to UK than buy direct in UK!!, it went in a treat, I used Clone X3 to copy my System over to the SSD, then deleted the system folders from my HD (all previously backed-up first to an external HD of course!) and within a very short time I had my system back up and running again. I re-mapped my user folder in System Preferences>Accounts>My Account>Advanced Options>Home Directory.

ONE BIG TIP: When dismantling your iMac, take a note which way round the temp sensor for the HD plugs into the HD connector. I didn't look and just pulled it out without realising the HD has an 8-pin connector and the sensor plug is 6 pin and has no 'key' so it could have gone back any of 4 ways. It goes like this;

White spot on top, i.e. on the HD pcb side of the drive and so you can see it when looking down onto your opened iMac. And it goes nearest the Sata connector on the HD. Hope that makes sense and helps someone not make my mistake as I had to open the flippin mac up 4 times before I got it right!

Oh and a can of air spray is good for removing dust from the screen before popping the cover back on.

And I simply couldn't have done it without this guide from Tobias Müller; http://www.twam.info/hardware/apple/installing-additional-ssd-in-mid-2010-27-imac, I had it showing on a laptop next to me when I broke the mac down. I also put all screws into individual pots and labelled where they came from AND beware; some of the screws that come out of power supply, logic board etc are different lengths so don't try to remember (like I did and failed!) but make a note which length came from where WHEN you take them out.

Now it boots in seconds, my Apps open almost instantly and I moved my VMWare fusion Virtual windows machine image onto my SSD and that opens in seconds.

Hope that helps, feel free to PM me if you have any questions on breakdown and rebuild of the mac.

 

[swobo04]

Home Directory

Based on the way the connector was just connecting on to two jumper pins on the hard drive, I figured there wasn't really inherently unsafe in giving that a go. It's a sensor wire rather than something carrying any significant current so I figured it would be ok

If you wanted to put your original hard drive back in it's the same process as before, there's nothing to show that you've had the computer opened up so for warranty purposes etc it's fine.

The system is very fast, I'm totally sold on SSD drives these days (along with a suitable external HDD for stuff like movies etc which you don't necessarily need to have on the SSD).

In retrospect I should probably have turned the computer on first when I took it out of the box to make sure it worked before cracking it open

Did you put the entire home directory on the external HDD? Is that recommended, or just move the files/libraries?

 

[cliveports]

Did you put the entire home directory on the external HDD? Is that recommended, or just move the files/libraries?

I put my entire home directory on my HDD and all of my system/apps etc on the SSD so it boots from the SSD.

 

[nkd]

Hi does anyone know if the optical bay adapter from ifixit works on the imac 2010 27inch. I wanna put an ssd in there since I dont use my optical drive at all. I will just use an external one I have.

I emailed ifixit.com and the rep said he is not sure but I can give it a try.

Any Ideas, it would be much appreciated.

I dont wanna go through the whole process of removing logic board to intall the ssd. Just wanna be able to replace the optical drive and replace it with ssd.

 

[Bat6111]

Actually they do.

I just looked at the Mid-2010 iMac Service Manual and when they just install the 256GB SSD instead of a hard drive, they use Apple Part #922-9628 to "shorten" the sensor, they just call it a jumper and it's this one:

You can get it for around $19 and it's Apple approved and it will not void your warranty.

If you're replacing the hard drive, this is the only part you need.

If you're adding an SSD in addition to the primary hard drive, you will need these three items:

922-9485 - Pressure Wall, Optical/SSD/MXM
This is the caddy that Apple uses to install the SSD. It sits right between the HDD and the optical drive.

922-9538 - Cable, SSD HDD Data
This cable is at a 90º angle and is small and the exact length to go form the S-ATA connector to the Pressure Wall caddy where the SSD will go. No extra cable lying around.

922-9531 - Cable, AC/DC Power/Backlight/SATA, SSD
This will provide power to the SSD, the HDD, the SuperDrive and the Display. A single cable without the need to install a S-ATA splitter.

All three parts are $19 each, so you can do the official, non warranty-voiding upgrade for only $57 bucks and you can leave it if you ever need to take it for repair. You need to take out about 30% of the computer to install it and if you know what you're doing, you can be done in less than an hour. It's just basically removing part of the logic board, installing the pressure wall, hooking cables and putting everything back together, nothing out of this world.

Hi all,

I need suggestion for my 2 iMacs 2010. I want to to do both like a twin. So, my first Machine has Apple SSD + 2TB(Hitachi) and the second has 1TB(WD) only. I want to upgrade both of them to OWC SSD pro + 2TB(Hitachi 7K300-64MB Cache).

How many jumper do I need? or Any Ideas about this upgrade?

 

[cliveports]

Hi does anyone know if the optical bay adapter from ifixit works on the imac 2010 27inch. I wanna put an ssd in there since I dont use my optical drive at all. I will just use an external one I have.

I emailed ifixit.com and the rep said he is not sure but I can give it a try.

The easiest way to check is to use system profiler to find out what the drive is in your iMac (I got a 2011, 27" and its a Sony AD-5680H) then just google the drive, find out if its a 12.7 or a 9.5mm (mine is 12.7mm) and see if that is the size of the ifixit.com part (would have helped if you'd said what ifixit part it was, since they sell both sizes so one of them will definitely fit!) But their bay adaptors are expensive. I got one from ebay for about £12. Go to ebay and enter "2nd HDD caddy 12.7mm" or "2nd HDD caddy 9.5mm" and you'll save yourself a packet! Make sure its SATA of course. I ended up putting my ssd in as a second drive so didn't use the caddy, so if you're in the UK you're welcome to it for a fiver +p&p!.

 

[nkd]

The easiest way to check is to use system profiler to find out what the drive is in your iMac (I got a 2011, 27" and its a Sony AD-5680H) then just google the drive, find out if its a 12.7 or a 9.5mm (mine is 12.7mm) and see if that is the size of the ifixit.com part (would have helped if you'd said what ifixit part it was, since they sell both sizes so one of them will definitely fit!) But their bay adaptors are expensive. I got one from ebay for about £12. Go to ebay and enter "2nd HDD caddy 12.7mm" or "2nd HDD caddy 9.5mm" and you'll save yourself a packet! Make sure its SATA of course. I ended up putting my ssd in as a second drive so didn't use the caddy, so if you're in the UK you're welcome to it for a fiver +p&p!.

Thanks I have the same drive as you(AD-5680H). Appreciate it.

 

[cliveports]

Thanks I have the same drive as you(AD-5680H). Appreciate it.

You're welcome.Was just thinking about it; what I'm not sure of is if you'll need a 2.5"/9.5mm since that is the size of most SSDs, but you're taking out a 12.7mm. So all I can say is a caddy will definitely help and for just a few bucks but I cant work out which size you'll need. so can anyone here help?

 

[Maila87]

The easiest way to check is to use system profiler to find out what the drive is in your iMac (I got a 2011, 27" and its a Sony AD-5680H) then just google the drive, find out if its a 12.7 or a 9.5mm (mine is 12.7mm) and see if that is the size of the ifixit.com part (would have helped if you'd said what ifixit part it was, since they sell both sizes so one of them will definitely fit!) But their bay adaptors are expensive. I got one from ebay for about £12. Go to ebay and enter "2nd HDD caddy 12.7mm" or "2nd HDD caddy 9.5mm" and you'll save yourself a packet! Make sure its SATA of course. I ended up putting my ssd in as a second drive so didn't use the caddy, so if you're in the UK you're welcome to it for a fiver +p&p!.

Does this thermal sensor adapter work with 2009 iMac?

 

[methodlala]

I used this guide to add an SSD as a second HD to my i7 27 inch iMac. Just wanted to pass along the resource, its outstanding.

http://www.twam.info/hardware/apple/installing-additional-ssd-in-mid-2010-27-imac

 

[The.316]

On a late 09 i7 model, do I have to short out any temp cables when replacing the optical drive with an SSD? And would all I have to do is split the power/sata cables that are going to the original HD, or is there other cables that I need to use?

 

[skarstein]

Hey guys

ive been thinking of buying myself a 64GB USB SSD(Asata S596) for the new iMac. Is it easy to setup and run MacOSX off it?

Are there any downsides?

 

[3282868]

You’re not alone, mine occasionally freezes in sleep mode and only a hard reset will sort it.
Running SSD in optical bay on 27" iMac.

Any ideas peeps?

Disable Hibernation. I have an OCZ Vertex 2 120 SSD in my Mac Pro and am installing one in a late 2009 27' iMac (using OWC Data Doubler). SSD's in desktop Mac's should not hibernate as it will either cause a kernel panic or stutter.

Here is an article to determine what your OS X hibernation state is currently set at and a detailed history/background of older and newer Mac systems shipped hibernation states:

Set newer portable Macs' sleep mode

Check the current setup

After you launch Terminal, the first step is to determine which sleep mode your Mac is currently using (in case you wish to go back to it). You can both view and change the sleep mode using the Unix program pmset. To see your current settings, type pmset -g | grep hibernatemode. You should see something like this:

$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode

hibernatemode 3

0 - Old style sleep mode, with RAM powered on while sleeping, safe sleep disabled, and super-fast wake.
1 - Hibernation mode, with RAM contents written to disk, system totally shut down while “sleeping,” and slower wake up, due to reading the contents of RAM off the hard drive.
3 - The default mode on machines introduced since about fall 2005. RAM is powered on while sleeping, but RAM contents are also written to disk before sleeping. In the event of total power loss, the system enters hibernation mode automatically.
5 - This is the same as mode 1, but it’s for those using secure virtual memory (in System Preferences -> Security).
7 - This is the same as mode 3, but it’s for those using secure virtual memory.
Once you see which mode you’re presently using, make a note of it. You could do this in one step, actually, with a command like this:
sudo pmset -g | grep hibernatemode > ~/Desktop/current_mode.txt
That will take the output of the pmset command, strip out everything other than the hibernatemode value, and then dump the result into a file on your desktop named current_mode.txt. Save this file for future use.

 

[orange.x]

Hi, I want to replace my ODD in my 27" late 2009 iMac. I ordered an optibay on eBay what appears to be the wrong one

But now I just realised that I don't want to wait 3 weeks for something to ship from China. So I searched around and found that I need a slimline (micro) sata > sata converter. But there seem to be many options for this.

As far as I can see in the iFixit teardown (http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/EPwDee2LtB2jCXO6.huge) that is a slimline sata cable. And it should be 6p+7p=13p right? That summs it up that I need a male slimline 13p sata to a female 22p sata.

I bought this adapter.

And I'm picking up an OCZ Vertex 2 180GB tomorrow. Downloaded an image of Lion so I can test that one, probably going to install Snow Leopard after it.

I'm curious how fast I can install OSX Lion from a USB key to my SSD