Using 2009 iMac today

[Kierkegaarden]

I have a late-2009 imac 27” and am wondering if I can stretch the use of it until next year when Arm Macs start showing up.

Usage is in Keynote, Sketch, Affinity Designer (like Illustrator), and Pages.

I believe the processor is still capable as I went with a quad core i7 at the time.

Internal drive is spinner, so I would like to boot to external SSD. Would this arrangement give me a speed advantage?

 

[redfirebird08]

Been there with a 2009 iMac. Part of the problem on 2009 iMac is slow connection ports. USB2 only runs at 60 megabytes per second. Firewire 800 only runs at 100 megabytes per second. Your real world speed with Firewire 800 external SSD will not be much faster than an internal spinning drive, but it will give you a good backup copy of your computer and help prevent a dead internal drive from totally screwing you.

If you get a Firewire 800 drive with USB3, you can then hook it up to a later iMac and get the better speed from USB3 compared to Firewire 800. It's a solid stop-gap solution to cover your butt. Never hurts to have a backup copy of your boot drive in general.

Below is an external SSD that has both Firewire 800 and USB3. So you could use it as a stop-gap on your 2009 machine with FireWire 800 in the short term. When you buy a new iMac later, you can use this drive and it will provide plenty of speed with USB3 connection on the newer machine.

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro 1TB SSD

Packing a one-two punch of super fast USB 3.0 and FireWire 800, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go has what it takes to truly work cross platform.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Thanks for the suggestion and explanation. I will definitely have to retire the machine soon. I may try using an external ssd I have now to see what speed benefits, if any, I notice.

 

[jerwin]

Is your video card compatible with metal?

 

[r6mile]

Why don't you swap the internal HDD for an SSD? It's a fairly easy upgrade. Unfortunately an external ssd will be severely bottlenecked by the FW800 interface - it will probably be quicker than your internal spinner, but you'll get much better performance from an internal SSD (if you're comfortable doing the upgrade, or if not you could pay someone to do it?).

I have a 2010 i7 27" iMac, which is very similar to yours with 16GB RAM and an SSD, and I use FW800 for my external HDD and backups, but pretty sure it would be fairly slow for booting. With an SSD you can definitely 'stretch' your machine. And if you want Metal (and install Catalina) you can even replace your GPU - there is a whole other thread about that. I have no plans to replace this machine until it dies. Your machine is still very capable and your usage doesn't sound too taxing, and with an SSD it will make a huge difference.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Why don't you swap the internal HDD for an SSD? It's a fairly easy upgrade. Unfortunately an external ssd will be severely bottlenecked by the FW800 interface - it will probably be quicker than your internal spinner, but you'll get much better performance from an internal SSD (if you're comfortable doing the upgrade, or if not you could pay someone to do it?).

I have a 2010 i7 27" iMac, which is very similar to yours with 16GB RAM and an SSD, and I use FW800 for my external HDD and backups, but pretty sure it would be fairly slow for booting. With an SSD you can definitely 'stretch' your machine. And if you want Metal (and install Catalina) you can even replace your GPU - there is a whole other thread about that. I have no plans to replace this machine until it dies. Your machine is still very capable and your usage doesn't sound too taxing, and with an SSD it will make a huge difference.

I never considered this, but I guess I have nothing to lose. The only other iMac I did surgery on was the first Intel one (failed hd). Good idea ~ I’m going to give it a shot.

Could you point me to a specific thread if you have one in mind? Also, any recommendations for a gpu and any other upgrades I could do while I’m at it?

 

[r6mile]

I never considered this, but I guess I have nothing to lose. The only other iMac I did surgery on was the first Intel one (failed hd). Good idea ~ I’m going to give it a shot.

Could you point me to a specific thread if you have one in mind? Also, any recommendations for a gpu and any other upgrades I could do while I’m at it?

Re the SSD, this OWC kit has everything you need - the tools, the drive, the thermal sensor cable, etc. Follow the OWC videos, it's a fairly straightforward upgrade, just be patient and careful with the little cables! Obviously you'll need to clone your drive to the SSD first, you can do with a USB or FW800 2.5" enclosure.

Re the GPU, this thread has all the info, but the consensus seems to be that the Quadro K1100m and K2100m cards are the most straightforward and functional (I have the K2100m). Other than the GPU, you'll need thermal paste and 4 M2*15mm screws (I misread the post and got 10mm to start, don't make the same mistake as me! The 2009-2010 models are much easier to change the GPU on, because the GPU is on the 'right' side of the computer, you don't have to remove the logicboard as on the 2011 models.

Other than that, the RAM is the only obvious upgrade - you can go up to 32GB (4x8GB) though that may seem like overkill! I'm on 16GB which is way more than I need already.

PS: If you use Target Display Mode, keep in mind that I'm pretty sure it doesn't work beyond High Sierra, so something to consider if you are thinking of going to Catalina. The 2009-10 models have the advantage that they can display signal from a PC, which the 2011 models can't, and this was very important to me as a I use the iMac as a monitor for my work PC laptop.

Let me know if you have any further questions!

 

[Fishrrman]

An external SSD isn't really going to give you much "boost" on a 2009 iMac.
An internal SSD would, but you'll have to open it up to install one. Are you able to do that?

Other than that, just keep using it, so long as it runs "well enough".

If it was me, I might consider buying a 2019 to have one of the last Intel iMacs.
That way you have something you know will work with the software you have now.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Re the SSD, this OWC kit has everything you need - the tools, the drive, the thermal sensor cable, etc. Follow the OWC videos, it's a fairly straightforward upgrade, just be patient and careful with the little cables! Obviously you'll need to clone your drive to the SSD first, you can do with a USB or FW800 2.5" enclosure.

Re the GPU, this thread has all the info, but the consensus seems to be that the Quadro K1100m and K2100m cards are the most straightforward and functional (I have the K2100m). Other than the GPU, you'll need thermal paste and 4 M2*15mm screws (I misread the post and got 10mm to start, don't make the same mistake as me! The 2009-2010 models are much easier to change the GPU on, because the GPU is on the 'right' side of the computer, you don't have to remove the logicboard as on the 2011 models.

Other than that, the RAM is the only obvious upgrade - you can go up to 32GB (4x8GB) though that may seem like overkill! I'm on 16GB which is way more than I need already.

PS: If you use Target Display Mode, keep in mind that I'm pretty sure it doesn't work beyond High Sierra, so something to consider if you are thinking of going to Catalina. The 2009-10 models have the advantage that they can display signal from a PC, which the 2011 models can't, and this was very important to me as a I use the iMac as a monitor for my work PC laptop.

Let me know if you have any further questions!

Thanks for your help! This should be quite a fun little project.

As far as the drive, you wouldn’t go with a Samsung and buy the other parts separately?
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An external SSD isn't really going to give you much "boost" on a 2009 iMac.
An internal SSD would, but you'll have to open it up to install one. Are you able to do that?

Other than that, just keep using it, so long as it runs "well enough".

If it was me, I might consider buying a 2019 to have one of the last Intel iMacs.
That way you have something you know will work with the software you have now.

That’s a good point too. Sketch is the only app that might be an issue, but Affinity apps seem to support much older OS versions.

 

[r6mile]

Thanks for your help! This should be quite a fun little project.

As far as the drive, you wouldn’t go with a Samsung and buy the other parts separately?

That's what I had to do because you can't find the OWC kit including the drive in the UK. Have a look at what it might cost to buy the parts separately (including the tools if you don't have them, the 3.5-2.5 enclosure, and the thermal sensor cable which is crucial) - I've never used an OWC drive but I think they're supposed to be pretty good, so if it's cheaper to get their kit with everything then personally I would do that. I suppose it doesn't make a difference though!

 

[mindquest]

I have a late-2009 imac 27” and am wondering if I can stretch the use of it until next year when Arm Macs start showing up.

Usage is in Keynote, Sketch, Affinity Designer (like Illustrator), and Pages.

I believe the processor is still capable as I went with a quad core i7 at the time.

Internal drive is spinner, so I would like to boot to external SSD. Would this arrangement give me a speed advantage?

I have a late 2009 iMac 27" i7 (Model iMac11,1) with a Samsung 840-EVO 1TB and a 2TB WD spinner in the DVD slot for 3TB total storage. Memory is maxed out as well.

Thanks to dosdude1 I upgraded it to Mojave without a problem! http://dosdude1.com/mojave/

Other than not be able to play the lastest games because of my video card (non-metal) it has served me well. I use it 7 days a week for work. I plan on keeping it till I upgrade next year with a SOC version
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PS: If you use Target Display Mode, keep in mind that I'm pretty sure it doesn't work beyond High Sierra, so something to consider if you are thinking of going to Catalina. The 2009-10 models have the advantage that they can display signal from a PC, which the 2011 models can't, and this was very important to me as a I use the iMac as a monitor for my work PC laptop.

Let me know if you have any further questions!

Can confirm Target Display Mode works on a late 2009 iMac i7 model 11,1 running Mojave.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

That's what I had to do because you can't find the OWC kit including the drive in the UK. Have a look at what it might cost to buy the parts separately (including the tools if you don't have them, the 3.5-2.5 enclosure, and the thermal sensor cable which is crucial) - I've never used an OWC drive but I think they're supposed to be pretty good, so if it's cheaper to get their kit with everything then personally I would do that. I suppose it doesn't make a difference though!

I did some checking and it does look like the OWC kit you specified is the way to go for me.

Thanks, my friend ~ you saved me some money, and this iMac should suffice until the first Arm Macs start rolling out.
[automerge]1592957745[/automerge]

I have a late 2009 iMac 27" i7 (Model iMac11,1) with a Samsung 840-EVO 1TB and a 2TB WD spinner in the DVD slot for 3TB total storage. Memory is maxed out as well.

Thanks to dosdude1 I upgraded it to Mojave without a problem! http://dosdude1.com/mojave/

Other than not be able to play the lastest games because of my video card (non-metal) it has served me well. I use it 7 days a week for work. I plan on keeping it till I upgrade next year with a SOC version
[automerge]1592950604[/automerge]


Can confirm Target Display Mode works on a late 2009 iMac i7 model 11,1 running Mojave.

Thanks for sharing that Mojave patch — I’m set if I can at least use this OS. I’m shocked that my 09 iMac will still be useful — I was set to recycle her.

 

[mindquest]

I did some checking and it does look like the OWC kit you specified is the way to go for me.

Thanks, my friend ~ you saved me some money, and this iMac should suffice until the first Arm Macs start rolling out.
[automerge]1592957745[/automerge]

Thanks for sharing that Mojave patch — I’m set if I can at least use this OS. I’m shocked that my 09 iMac will still be useful — I was set to recycle her.

FYI you could go to Catalina if you want. I didn’t because in Catalina they changed how photos are saved in the Photos App.

Three things to implement when going to a SSD on this machine:

1. enable trim for the SSD

2. Install HDFancontrol software to deal with the fan running at high all the time. iStat menu will do it as well

3.Go with a Samsung SSD

 

[kschendel]

I can't agree with going with Samsung. Samsung had a considerable performance advantage a few years ago, but now they are mostly just overpriced. Plus, we're talking about a SATA SSD which has been a commodity item for a few years now. I have used recent Samsung drives in specialty applications (970 Pro) but I wouldn't bother putting one in a machine I plan on replacing in a couple years.

I wouldn't normally recommend an all-in-one package like the OWC setup, but I think in this case it's probably worth it. A bare drive such as the very good Crucial MX500 is probably $65-ish for 500GB, so you're paying $50+ for the tools and the goofy thermal sensor cable and the convenience of having it all there. Not terrible at all.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

FYI you could go to Catalina if you want. I didn’t because in Catalina they changed how photos are saved in the Photos App.

Three things to implement when going to a SSD on this machine:

1. enable trim for the SSD

2. Install HDFancontrol software to deal with the fan running at high all the time. iStat menu will do it as well

3.Go with a Samsung SSD

Wouldn’t the thermal sensor cable take care of any fan issues? What is the purpose of enabling trim?
[automerge]1592971494[/automerge]

I can't agree with going with Samsung. Samsung had a considerable performance advantage a few years ago, but now they are mostly just overpriced. Plus, we're talking about a SATA SSD which has been a commodity item for a few years now. I have used recent Samsung drives in specialty applications (970 Pro) but I wouldn't bother putting one in a machine I plan on replacing in a couple years.

I wouldn't normally recommend an all-in-one package like the OWC setup, but I think in this case it's probably worth it. A bare drive such as the very good Crucial MX500 is probably $65-ish for 500GB, so you're paying $50+ for the tools and the goofy thermal sensor cable and the convenience of having it all there. Not terrible at all.

And the kit that was recommended has a 250gb drive included with all tools for $75. Not bad at all.

 

[mindquest]

Wouldn’t the thermal sensor cable take care of any fan issues? What is the purpose of enabling trim?
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And the kit that was recommended has a 250gb drive included with all tools for $75. Not bad at all.

More on trim here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8518077

 

[r6mile]

Wouldn’t the thermal sensor cable take care of any fan issues? What is the purpose of enabling trim?
[automerge]1592971494[/automerge]

And the kit that was recommended has a 250gb drive included with all tools for $75. Not bad at all.

Yes, with the thermal sensor cable you don't have to worry about the fans. I've done half a dozen of these 2009-11 iMacs and always used it.
The OWC kit really does seem like excellent value - you'll see they do it with a 500gb SSD too for an extra $40 or so, though personally 250gb is enough for me as I have a big external drive.
Good luck!
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I did some checking and it does look like the OWC kit you specified is the way to go for me.

Thanks, my friend ~ you saved me some money, and this iMac should suffice until the first Arm Macs start rolling out.

And my pleasure! I'm probably getting a reputation in the this forum for being the guy who tells everyone to upgrade their old Macs rather than replace them, but I just think these machines (especially 2009-2012) have a lot of life in them still for most people.

 

[AdamJohnG]

I have a 2009 iMac 27" with a Core2Duo 3.06 that still gives great service as a basic email/browser/MSOffice computer as well as external screen for my wife's work Toshiba laptop. Its has 12GB of memory and an 240GB SSD and is still faster in real day use than the much more modern Toshiba.

I went the route of putting the SSD in the CD/DVD slot with an easily available kit. I found it had two big advantages:

- Leaves you with the original 1TB HDD for backup and storage

- Is a much easier job, as you only need to unplug one of the screen cables to access it to make the swap. Though some guides say you must, I found that you can hold the screen open with two chopsticks, or similar, while doing the work.

This is the iFixit guide:

Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 and 2374 Dual Drive

There are many benefits to adding a second hard drive or SSD to your iMac such as improved speeds, greater storage space, and less heartache when...

www.ifixit.com

If you go to Step 5 and click on the blue '25 comments' you can read half way down what I wrote in. It is a very easy change and you do not need anything to pull the screen off, a sharp knife and a couple of old credit cards do it very easily and you do not have an issue with the HDD thermal sensor, as the HDD stays in.

When choosing the size of SSD do remember that with this computer you do not have the option of adding fast storage later, as USB2 is NOT fast and sourcing old FW800 is not cheap, nor will be of any use in the future. That said, mine has 240GB and need no more for our usage.

Long live the 2009 27" iMac!
[automerge]1593009098[/automerge]
The caddy you need is one like this:

iMac & Mac mini Dual Drive Enclosure

Increase the storage space in your computer by replacing the optical drive with a second SATA hard drive or SSD.

www.ifixit.com

New Internal 2nd HDD SSD Caddy for Apple iMac Core 2 Duo MB952LL/A MB952 Late 2009 A1312 27" Computer SuperDrive Optical Bay Second Hard Drive Enclosure Replacement

You can now have two hard drives in your iMac! CDs are fast becoming obsolete, yet data space never goes out of style. Adds a lot more space to your laptop. Add an SSD for your OS and most commonly used Apps to drastically increase your speed, while still keeping your old HDD for ...

www.amazon.com

OWC Data Doubler - Replace Mac Optical Drive with an SSD

Get all the tools needed to safely replace the optical drive of your MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac with a 2.5-inch HD or SSD. Includes DIY install videos.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[r6mile]

Your iMac is different though - you have the C2D model whereas the OP has the i7 version which I think is build differently? I think it's quite similar to the 2010 which I have - in this model it is easier to just do a swap of the drive; removing the superdrive is more involved. I might be wrong though.

 

[redfirebird08]

I have a 2009 iMac 27" with a Core2Duo 3.06 that still gives great service as a basic email/browser/MSOffice computer as well as external screen for my wife's work Toshiba laptop. Its has 12GB of memory and an 240GB SSD and is still faster in real day use than the much more modern Toshiba.

I went the route of putting the SSD in the CD/DVD slot with an easily available kit. I found it had two big advantages:

- Leaves you with the original 1TB HDD for backup and storage

- Is a much easier job, as you only need to unplug one of the screen cables to access it to make the swap. Though some guides say you must, I found that you can hold the screen open with two chopsticks, or similar, while doing the work.

This is the iFixit guide:

Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 and 2374 Dual Drive

There are many benefits to adding a second hard drive or SSD to your iMac such as improved speeds, greater storage space, and less heartache when...

www.ifixit.com

If you go to Step 5 and click on the blue '25 comments' you can read half way down what I wrote in. It is a very easy change and you do not need anything to pull the screen off, a sharp knife and a couple of old credit cards do it very easily and you do not have an issue with the HDD thermal sensor, as the HDD stays in.

When choosing the size of SSD do remember that with this computer you do not have the option of adding fast storage later, as USB2 is NOT fast and sourcing old FW800 is not cheap, nor will be of any use in the future. That said, mine has 240GB and need no more for our usage.

Long live the 2009 27" iMac!
[automerge]1593009098[/automerge]
The caddy you need is one like this:

iMac & Mac mini Dual Drive Enclosure

Increase the storage space in your computer by replacing the optical drive with a second SATA hard drive or SSD.

www.ifixit.com

New Internal 2nd HDD SSD Caddy for Apple iMac Core 2 Duo MB952LL/A MB952 Late 2009 A1312 27" Computer SuperDrive Optical Bay Second Hard Drive Enclosure Replacement

You can now have two hard drives in your iMac! CDs are fast becoming obsolete, yet data space never goes out of style. Adds a lot more space to your laptop. Add an SSD for your OS and most commonly used Apps to drastically increase your speed, while still keeping your old HDD for ...

www.amazon.com

OWC Data Doubler - Replace Mac Optical Drive with an SSD

Get all the tools needed to safely replace the optical drive of your MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac with a 2.5-inch HD or SSD. Includes DIY install videos.

eshop.macsales.com

Plus Firewire 800 really isn't that fast either. USB2 clocks at a max of 60 megabytes per second. Firewire 800 clocks at a max of 100 megabytes per second. I used an external SATA SSD with FireWire 800 and it was clocking around 80 megabytes per second in real world conditions. Not much different than an internal spinning hard drive, but at least the SSD is more consistent and less likely to crash! The good thing was my FireWire drive also had USB3 built in. So when I bought a 2017 iMac to replace my 2009 version, I was able to plugin the same external SSD and it worked great via USB3.

 

[AdamJohnG]

It is possible that the HDD is in a different place, obviously the DVD is in the same place in all the models.

All I can say is that doing the DVD swap is easy and needs only one cable removed.

And the clone can be done on board.

At least now he has two choices.

I would recommend him that he reads that iFixit guide as well as the comments we all have added in, as it makes it easier knowing the possible obstacles.
[automerge]1593010181[/automerge]

Plus Firewire 800 really isn't that fast either. USB2 clocks at a max of 60 megabytes per second. Firewire 800 clocks at a max of 100 megabytes per second. I used an external SATA SSD with FireWire 800 and it was clocking around 80 megabytes per second in real world conditions. Not much different than an internal spinning hard drive, but at least the SSD is more consistent and less likely to crash! The good thing was my FireWire drive also had USB3 built in. So when I bought a 2017 iMac to replace my 2009 version, I was able to plugin the same external SSD and it worked great via USB3.

Yes, I agree. If I were him I would probably spend the extra US$25/€25 and go 500 GB, that should mean no need for external storage.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I have a 2009 iMac 27" with a Core2Duo 3.06 that still gives great service as a basic email/browser/MSOffice computer as well as external screen for my wife's work Toshiba laptop. Its has 12GB of memory and an 240GB SSD and is still faster in real day use than the much more modern Toshiba.

I went the route of putting the SSD in the CD/DVD slot with an easily available kit. I found it had two big advantages:

- Leaves you with the original 1TB HDD for backup and storage

- Is a much easier job, as you only need to unplug one of the screen cables to access it to make the swap. Though some guides say you must, I found that you can hold the screen open with two chopsticks, or similar, while doing the work.

This is the iFixit guide:

Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 and 2374 Dual Drive

There are many benefits to adding a second hard drive or SSD to your iMac such as improved speeds, greater storage space, and less heartache when...

www.ifixit.com

If you go to Step 5 and click on the blue '25 comments' you can read half way down what I wrote in. It is a very easy change and you do not need anything to pull the screen off, a sharp knife and a couple of old credit cards do it very easily and you do not have an issue with the HDD thermal sensor, as the HDD stays in.

When choosing the size of SSD do remember that with this computer you do not have the option of adding fast storage later, as USB2 is NOT fast and sourcing old FW800 is not cheap, nor will be of any use in the future. That said, mine has 240GB and need no more for our usage.

Long live the 2009 27" iMac!
[automerge]1593009098[/automerge]
The caddy you need is one like this:

iMac & Mac mini Dual Drive Enclosure

Increase the storage space in your computer by replacing the optical drive with a second SATA hard drive or SSD.

www.ifixit.com

New Internal 2nd HDD SSD Caddy for Apple iMac Core 2 Duo MB952LL/A MB952 Late 2009 A1312 27" Computer SuperDrive Optical Bay Second Hard Drive Enclosure Replacement

You can now have two hard drives in your iMac! CDs are fast becoming obsolete, yet data space never goes out of style. Adds a lot more space to your laptop. Add an SSD for your OS and most commonly used Apps to drastically increase your speed, while still keeping your old HDD for ...

www.amazon.com

OWC Data Doubler - Replace Mac Optical Drive with an SSD

Get all the tools needed to safely replace the optical drive of your MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac with a 2.5-inch HD or SSD. Includes DIY install videos.

eshop.macsales.com

Thanks for suggesting this option as well. It would be nice to not have to deal with the thermal sensor. I just have to decide if I think I’ll need the optical drive in the future.

Two good options — thanks to you and r6mile — either way I will be preserving yet another ‘09 27” iMac. This should hold me over until the Arm iMac arrives.
[automerge]1593048692[/automerge]

It is possible that the HDD is in a different place, obviously the DVD is in the same place in all the models.

All I can say is that doing the DVD swap is easy and needs only one cable removed.

And the clone can be done on board.

At least now he has two choices.

I would recommend him that he reads that iFixit guide as well as the comments we all have added in, as it makes it easier knowing the possible obstacles.
[automerge]1593010181[/automerge]


Yes, I agree. If I were him I would probably spend the extra US$25/€25 and go 500 GB, that should mean no need for external storage.

I’ll definitely be reading the guides and caddy link you sent — thanks for that.

 

[AdamJohnG]

Thanks for suggesting this option as well. It would be nice to not have to deal with the thermal sensor. I just have to decide if I think I’ll need the optical drive in the future.

Two good options — thanks to you and r6mile — either way I will be preserving yet another ‘09 27” iMac. This should hold me over until the Arm iMac arrives.
[automerge]1593048692[/automerge]

I’ll definitely be reading the guides and caddy link you sent — thanks for that.

The dual drive kit that I purchased at the time came with a USB external enclosure for the DVD drive. I have not now found any that do include it, probably because less of these changes are being done and there is less need for a DVD drive anyway. But I did find this caddy:

Opticaddy© USB 2.0 External Enclosure for 9.5mm and 12.7mm SATA Apple Superdrives for Mac Mini (2009, 2010), iMac (2009, 2010, 2011), Macbook (2009) and Macbook Pro (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) (contains NO optical drive) - Silver

Opticaddy© USB 2.0 External Enclosure for 9.5mm and 12.7mm SATA Apple Superdrives for Mac Mini (2009, 2010), iMac (2009, 2010, 2011), Macbook (2009) and Macbook Pro (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) (contains NO optical drive) - Silver

www.amazon.co.uk

Fitting the DVD Superdrive in is very easy. I haven't used mine since I added all my CD's to iTunes more than a few years ago.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

The dual drive kit that I purchased at the time came with a USB external enclosure for the DVD drive. I have not now found any that do include it, probably because less of these changes are being done and there is less need for a DVD drive anyway. But I did find this caddy:

Opticaddy© USB 2.0 External Enclosure for 9.5mm and 12.7mm SATA Apple Superdrives for Mac Mini (2009, 2010), iMac (2009, 2010, 2011), Macbook (2009) and Macbook Pro (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) (contains NO optical drive) - Silver

Opticaddy© USB 2.0 External Enclosure for 9.5mm and 12.7mm SATA Apple Superdrives for Mac Mini (2009, 2010), iMac (2009, 2010, 2011), Macbook (2009) and Macbook Pro (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) (contains NO optical drive) - Silver

www.amazon.co.uk

Fitting the DVD Superdrive in is very easy. I haven't used mine since I added all my CD's to iTunes more than a few years ago.

I did not know there was such a thing as optical drive caddies — pretty neat. Probably wouldn’t need it though, because as you said music could just be imported into iTunes.

The iFixit link showed a comment that made it sound like the optical drive bay connection would lead to a slower data speed than, presumably, the current internal hd connection. If this the case, it would make sense to stick to the original hd location. Does anyone have a thought on this?

 

[rumorguy]

My early 2019 iMac is still "truckn' like the do-dah man...Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been."