Replace iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) Fusion Drive with SSD

[Dr Kevorkian94]

Hi all I noticed a couple months ago my iMac was getting a bit laggy and I started to hear some mechanical noises from what I assumed was the HDD. I Finally went to check DriveDX and it showed the HDD portion of the fusion drive is failing. I think its time to switch to entirely ssd. Can I back up my mac with time machine, remove the hdd, upgrade the ssd, install mac OS, and restore from backup? I did see a thread saying its best to use fixits upgrade kit to convert the hdd to a ssd because its cheaper. Any thoughts or advice here?

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd recommend that BEFORE you attempt the upgrade, that you create a BOOTABLE cloned backup of your current (fusion) drive using CarbonCopyCloner (free to download and use for 30 days).

This way, you'll have a "second, external boot source" if needed.

Having said that...
I'd also suggest that if you do replace the internal HDD for an SSD, that you DO NOT "re-create" the fusion drive when things are back together.

Instead, set up the new SSD as "the boot drive" and the "main drive".
The internal SSD/blade (that was the SSD portion of the fusion drive) can "exist by itself".

Is the internal factory blade SSD 128gb?
If so, it could serve as a "second emergency boot drive".
You can NEVER have enough "secondary boot drives".

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

I'd recommend that BEFORE you attempt the upgrade, that you create a BOOTABLE cloned backup of your current (fusion) drive using CarbonCopyCloner (free to download and use for 30 days).

This way, you'll have a "second, external boot source" if needed.

Having said that...
I'd also suggest that if you do replace the internal HDD for an SSD, that you DO NOT "re-create" the fusion drive when things are back together.

Instead, set up the new SSD as "the boot drive" and the "main drive".
The internal SSD/blade (that was the SSD portion of the fusion drive) can "exist by itself".

Is the internal factory blade SSD 128gb?
If so, it could serve as a "second emergency boot drive".
You can NEVER have enough "secondary boot drives".

Makes sense, where would I create the backup on some extra external drive have or are you saying do this ton the ssd so when I install its all there?

This was the plan to use the new drive as the main / bootable drive, no need for fusion anymore. And yes its a factory blade SSD 128g, good to have a second drive for emergencies or even a second operating system no?

So it seems I can purchase https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMACHDD12/ kit in order to have the proper tools and the cables needed. And I can say use this drive https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B0786QNSBD?th=1 no ? Any other recommendations for 2TB would be great.

After all the hardware is installed is there a guide on how I can set the new ssd to the main / bootable drive? And a guide to restoring all my data? Or its as simple as doing so in disc utility upon boot, then using time machine or the carbon copy method above to restore all the data?