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Late 2012 iMac 21.5 SSD upgrade options

For anyone still following the 2009 iMac, found out why they system wouldn't boot up from the internal HDD. Booting into Verbose mode showed it getting stuck in a loop of "too many corpses being created" - that made me lol.

So with a clean High Sierra 10.13.6 running on the external HDD I was able to use Migration Assistant to transfer all of her User profiles/Apps/Pictures and other files onto the external so it now runs as it should without getting into this "too many corpses being created" loop

I did find people suggesting things you can type into Terminal but it didn't seem to be a 100% fix, it worked for some and not others. The only real way people found was to restore from a TM back up or a full wipe and reinstall of macOS.

Anyway, with the copy on the external drive I can now open it and install the SSD and then go through the whole Migration Assistant process again and hopefully that'll be it done
 
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Last update: got the SSD installed into the 2009 iMac and all files transferred back onto it via Migration Assistant from the external HDD. Runs like you wouldn't believe, can boot up in about 35sec, much the same time as my 2012 via USB 3. The amount of dust inside wasn't as bad as I was expecting but I did blow everything out that I could and cleaned the CD fan and fan on the PSU side of the machine. Only mod left for the 2009 is to stuff more RAM in it but it has 8GB at the moment and probably won't be used too hard these days so 16GB might be over kill.

As the SSD doesn't use the Apples internal HDD temp sensor I'm using the free SSD Fan Control app, works great, set to SMART and you can adjust the ram up temp. The fans do run at full power when you first boot up but after 10sec they ramp down again once the software starts running part way through booting up.

Well, this experiment has brought new life into two iMacs that will hopefully serve several more years at the very least. I know my sister is looking at a new MBP at some-point and if she pulls the trigger on that then I can just remove the SSD from this iMac, put it in an enclosure and boom, she's got a super fast 1TB storage drive/TM drive.

Big Thanks to redfirebird08 and Fishrrman for their advice and guidance on this thread 👍 and anyone else who has chimed in, truly appreciated. This is what I like about the Apple/MacRumors family so Thank You again folks.
 
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mbosse said:
comfirmed: also with a SanDisk X600 no temperature sensor needed.

Magnus
Click to expand...

Hello,
If I replace my internal 1ΤΒ hdd from 2012 27 with samsung 860 EVO 500GB do I have to buy the thermal sensor? Do I need any extra software for the fan?
 
Souponastick270 said:
Hi everyone, I'm looking at getting an SSD set up for my iMac, it's going to be 8 years old in December and is still running on the original 5400 rpm non-fusion drive HDD (yes I know I bought the upper spec iMac and cheaped out on the HDD 😅) so there are three main options I'm looking at,

1) Samsung T5 1TB via USB 3.0 type A
2) Samsung EVO 860 1TB via external enclosure (also looking at the QVO and MX500 as alternatives)
3) Samsung EVO 860 1TB but open up the iMac and install within the machine

Options 1 and 2 are the easiest / lowest risk options, but I've read of people having issues with running Mojave on the T5 with Apples file format running APFS and getting black screens for ages on boot up. I know the work around that is supposed to work is to format the T5 to HFS+ and clone your Mojave to an HFS+ formatted volume, and the format will not change to APFS.

In an ideal world I'd just like to have an identical clone of my HDD as it is today on an SSD and use the SSD for the whole system.

So here are my questions:

1) Does an internal SSD like the EVO 860 being used in an external enclosure suffer the same file format issue as the T5 when used this way ?

2) If I clone my HDD with say SuperDuper! is it a perfect 1 for 1 copy ? ie: plug into iMac select the clone as a boot drive and run off it without issue

3) Is there any benefit to using the Thunderbolt 1 port >Thunderbolt cable >Thunderbolt 1 & 2 to the Thunderbolt 3/USB Type C adapter > T5 which has a Type C interface ?

System Spec:

Late 2012 iMac 21.5 running Mojave 10.14.6,
2.9 GHz Intel Core i5,
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3,
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB.

With 224GB left on the original 1TB internal HDD

Cheers
Click to expand...
Plan to follow your suit. Did you not upgrade the ram at the same or just stick to 8gb? Cheers
 
Teyelvis said:
Plan to follow your suit. Did you not upgrade the ram at the same or just stick to 8gb? Cheers
Click to expand...

In the end i opted to run my 2012 iMac via USB-3 to an external 1TB MX500 SSD in a cage that has USB-C as i didn't want to deal with the issue of the foam glue that holds the screen on. Also upgrading the ram in the 2012 onwards involves having to get the motherboard out and having to move the speakers and I think the power supply too so I'm leaving it at 8GB, maybe when Ive got a new iMac I'll be brave and take this one apart but as it's my daily I'm leaving it for now.

My read and write performance with the external SSD was over 10x better than the 5400 non-fusion drive inside the machine.

As for my sister's 2009, she was fine with the 8GB of ram in hers, plus her machine has an access door on the bottom face should she wish to upgrade at any point but I think she'd just buy a new machine now since the 2009 only supports up to High Sierra
 
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Ask

I have installed catalina on ssd enclosure and work with it when startup. But i decide to put the ssd into imac. It can't start up, just showing question folder. Is there any methode? Or was i wrong in steps?

Ssd i used: Samsung 870 evo 500gb.

Thanks for the answers
 
nambuccaheadsau said:
How did you format and partition ther drive?
Click to expand...
Using enclosure, usb catalina bootable. Power > options > Disk Utility to format > Install Catalina from usb bootable.

Before using the methode above, i have tried to format internally (ssd inside imac), but i can't format it.

Oya, i just format it, without making partition.
Should i making a partition?
 
What you read or not, My fan went flying off the hook when I installed a sandisk ssd. Definitely a late 2012. I also saw the sensor it was taped to the housing and under the aluminum clip the 2 HDD cables went under. The first time I did this I do not remember the fan sesor wire but I broke one of the 4 antenna plugs off the logic board. I am careful and it's not my first rodeo, it literally popped the 1mm male plug off the board. I was so pissed I didn't comp-lete the upgrade. Sold for parts. I can attest to needing to deal with the fan on the Late 21.5 as does the other person in this forum.
 
LucasMoore said:
What you read or not, My fan went flying off the hook when I installed a sandisk ssd. Definitely a late 2012. I also saw the sensor it was taped to the housing and under the aluminum clip the 2 HDD cables went under. The first time I did this I do not remember the fan sesor wire but I broke one of the 4 antenna plugs off the logic board. I am careful and it's not my first rodeo, it literally popped the 1mm male plug off the board. I was so pissed I didn't comp-lete the upgrade. Sold for parts. I can attest to needing to deal with the fan on the Late 21.5 as does the other person in this forum.
Click to expand...
Strange. A late 2012 doesn't have a separate sensor - just the one HDD cable. Also, with a late 2012 there should no be any fans running loud.
 
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