SSD in an iMac

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by

Mike Moffit
in

A solid state hard drive (SSD) is what you want in your computer when it comes to speed and reliability. Whether in your laptop or iMac, you WILL notice a speed increase by changing out your old rotating hard drive (HD) for an SSD. But the main difference between doing this job in a laptop versus an iMac is physical compatibility. All laptops that come with a traditional HD come with a 2.5” hard drive, whereas most iMacs come with a 3.5” hard drive. This means swapping out an SSD in a laptop is as simple as removing the old hard drive and installing the SSD in its place. Because of the 3.5” hard drive in an iMac there are a few things you need in order to complete this install. I will not go over the install process in detail, but simply what you need to get the job done:

  1. Solid State Hard Drive
  2. 3.5” to 2.5” Hard Drive Adapter bay
  3. Thermal sensor (if it’s a 2011 iMac) or a fan control app (if pre-2011)

Because the iMac is so big it needs more fans to cool everything. The HD has its own fan and its speed is controlled by reading the temperature of the HD by plugging into it. Well SSDs do not have this port to plug into, meaning the HD fan can’t read temperature causing the fan to speed up. If it’s a 2011, purchasing a simple thermal sensor will fix this issue. If it is pre-2011, you can use a Mac fan control app and set the HD fan speed to 2500 RPM, which will not cause it to overheat yet be low enough not to be an annoyance. But you may get lucky on a pre-2011 iMac because some of them have a hard drive temperature sensor that simply sticks onto the outside of the SSD, which will read the temperature and work fine. If you are installing an SSD in a 2012 or newer, the thermal sensor will work fine.

It is also important to note that you must remove the original bracket from the 3.5” HD and attach it to the 3.5” to 2.5” adapter bracket in order for the SSD to fit into the iMac. With all these items you can easily install an SSD in any iMac. If you do decide to do this yourself, just take your time and follow detailed instructions. Of course, your friendly Apple-certified techs at Small Dog can do this for you, too!