iMac 2011 quad core 2.8 SSD installation

Which upgrade path are you choosing here? Are you planning to replace the optical drive with the SSD or add the SSD to the space beneath the optical drive?

If you are installing the SSD in place of the optical drive, then you need an adapter bracket such as the Data Doubler kit from OWC. I'm not sure how reliable the iMac's optical drive SATA controller is with an SSD. I've seen a lot of other Mac's optical drive SATA controllers have issues when paired with an SSD. Since OWC sells the kit for this model, it is likely Ok. This option is relatively easy once you open the iMac and requires no special thermal sensors IIRC.

If the upgrade you are talking about refers to keeping the optical drive and installing the SSD in the free space beneath the optical drive using the spare SATA port on the Logic Board, then this is a very difficult upgrade path. Have you watched the iFixIt video or OWC video installing an SSD drive this way? It involves completely removing the Logic Board which is not easy (especially reinstalling it). I do not recommend this option at all unless you are very experienced. With this option you do not need any special thermal sensors.

Because it is difficult to install or replace drives in the iMacs you would be much better off replacing the hard drive with a larger single SSD since they are so inexpensive at the moment. If the iMac contains an original Apple hard drive, then it may be nearing the end of its life after eight years of use. Even if the drive has been replaced, it could still be well worn. Some hard drive failures will interfere & cause performance issues even when the hard drive is not actively being used. Just something to consider. Replacing the hard drive with an SSD is just as easy (perhaps easier) than replacing the optical drive. You will need a drive mounting adapter and you do need to make sure to get the thermal sensor kit from OWC so the fans run at normal speed with the SSD. I believe OWC sells the necessary mounting bracket & cable separately from their SSD kit although it may be impossible to locate without contacting OWC support for assistance.

If you are keeping the hard drive installed, then before doing anything I would verify the health of the hard drive using an app such as DriveDX. I would suggest even if the drive shows as healthy that you post the DriveDX report here as the Health Indicators (aka SMART Attributes) will contain more useful information about the drive.

I hope you purchased the MX500 series drive and not the BX500 series drive since the BX500 is a very basic budget economy model which can be extremely slow with extended writes to the drive such as installing macOS, games, etc. Reading from a BX500 should be fine. The MX500 series performs very well as it is Crucial's top model.

I have a 27” 2011 iMac that I left the 1tb HD in and added an OWC SSD with their kit. I put in a 256gb SSD that I installed Mac OS and all my apps on. Thanks Ng works perfectly. I’m likely going to retire it soon though as it can no longer have Mac OS upgraded and it is definitely showing its age. You can do the same but remember you will still have a 2011 machine. If I was in your shoes today I’d put the money toward a new Mac.

Personally, the easy method would be to just purchase an external Thunderbolt/USB 3.0/3.1 enclosed SSD and plug into the Thunderbolt port of your 2011 iMac, install/clone your Mac OS, then boot and run your iMac from that external SSD drive.

Here’s a link to O W C ( macsales.com ) listings for external Thunderbolt/USB 3.0/3.1 drives here.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/external-storage

Easy Peasy plug and play setup.

No complicated iMac teardown needed.

Tips about the actual process:

I would suggest unplugging the iMac and waiting several hours before opening the iMac to give the capacitors on the power supply time to drain so you don't get shocked. Press the power button after unplugging the iMac to help drain these capacitors.

Make sure to magnetize the tip of your screwdriver. Installing & removing the screws holding the LCD panel is very frustrating due to the very strong magnets on the iMac adjacent to the LCD screws. I sometimes keep a magnet attached to the shaft of the screwdriver for this part.

Also be very careful detaching the cables as some of them can be tight & difficult to remove as you don't have a lot of working room or visibility while holding the LCD panel. Be very careful when reconnecting the LCD video cable to the Logic Board as this is extremely fragile and must be perfectly aligned or it could be damaged. The cable is very short and is in an awkward location since you are holding the LCD Panel as well.

While the iMac is open, I highly recommend using compressed air to clear out the accumulated dust from the fan & heatsink. Just blow the compressed air backwards through the heatsink, followed by running the nozzle along the fan exhaust (between fan & heatsink). Remember there are three fans (left, right, center).

Before removing the glass, I suggest thoroughly cleaning it. It will make it much easier to detect dust on the inside when reinstalling the glass as it is difficult to clean the glass when it is removed. Try not to touch the outside of the glass. Do not touch the inside of the iMac glass with your hands as it is very difficult to clean the oily residue from your fingers without leaving streaks. Do NOT use any liquids to clean the inside glass or LCD panel as it will leave streaks behind. Only use a clean dry microfiber cloth to clean the inside of the glass and LCD panel. Use a very light touch cleaning the LCD panel so it is not scratched or damaged. You may need several dry microfiber cloths depending on how dirty the inside of the glass is from dust. I hope you are not a perfectionist as it is extremely difficult getting the glass reinstalled without any specs of dust on the inside.

MichelPM wrote:

Personally, the easy method would be to just purchase an external Thunderbolt/USB 3.0/3.1 enclosed SSD and plug into the Thunderbolt port of your 2011 iMac

Unfortunately that's not an option on a 2011 iMac. It still has USB2 ports; USB3 did not happen until the 2012 iMacs. We have one and we fight the slow USB ports all the time.

The internal drive is a 3GBps roto but an external--regardless of how fast it is--can't run faster than 480MBps on the 2011's sad USB 2 ports. That is about 6x slower than the max rate on the current internal.

As the 2011 has a 6GB SATA drive bus but Apple elected to cripple it with a 3GBps rotodrive, an internal SSD rated SATA 6GBps is the best option for that model outside of a new Mac.

I am going to still be running my 2009 and 2010 iMac models until they actually die.

I do not really care if it cannot run Mojave or any future versions of macOS, at this timeframe.

If a user is not concerned with running the latest OS and the iMac is still working, why not continue using it!

Still plenty of older Mac users, like me, still running older versions of the Mac OS.

High Sierra is as far as all of my iMacs can go, but I am not even running any of thr more current Mac OSes on these iMac, anyways.

My 2009 iMac is running OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks most of the time off of an O W C FireWire 800 connected external SSD.

I have Mac OS X El Capitán installed on two other external hard drives and only use occassinally when needed.

My wife's 2010 iMac is runnung OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite, soon to be installing and running OS X 10.11.6 very soon!

Mac Mail still works for all of our email services. Firefox is still issuing updates that still are, currently, working on 5-6 year old Mac OSes.

Really no harm in running an older iMac as long as the ports, power supply or logic board do not fail, can continue to use these older Macs for as long as they can go!

I do everything I can to keep these older iMacs unning as cool as possible, too!

A cooler running Mac is a happy Mac.

Adding RAM, or new hard drive/SSD to an older Mac is still much cheaper to do than purchasing a new Mac or even somewhat older, used or refurbished Mac.

My wife and I are still getting by on these 9 and 10 year old iMacs and while I am using a nearly 4 year old iPad Pro, my wife and i still use 7 and 8 year old iPads and over 3 year old iPhone SE models.

And this whole iTunes ending thing really doesn't affect anyone using older operating systems on their Macs, either.

Existing versions of iTunes will still do what they always did.

Enjoy it then, however the longer you wait to upgrade the more difficult and expensive it will be when the time comes. We see this all the time on these forums, people wait with antiquated apps and hardware and when they are forced to get current it’s difficult at best.

However best of luck.