Upgrade iMac 2017 HDD to SSD?

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Level 1

8 points

Upgrade iMac 2017 HDD to SSD?

I have received this big (I think it’s 27 inches) and pristine 2017 iMac from a friend who said it had become unbearably slow. He had reinstalled the OS, but at some point he realized that it was because of the hard drive. Since he also has a very recent MacBook, the difference in speed between the two drove him

crazy, so he ended up getting a new one and gave me the old one for free.

Unfortunately he was right, even after formatting the disk and reinstalling the system, it’s still quite slow, almost painfully slow…

Is it possible to upgrade these 2017 iMacs with a new SSD relatively easy and cheap, or will it be complicated and too expensive for a 6 yr old computer?

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Jul 22, 2023 4:17 AM

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Answer 1

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Servant of Cats

Level 5

6,795 points

Jul 22, 2023 4:52 AM in response to KurterinO

An iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) has USB-A (USB 3) and USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports. So you've got options, including:

2.5" SATA notebook SSD in USB 3 enclosure. (Cheapest. Slowest.)
M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD in 2-lane USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2) enclosure. (Intermediate in price and speed.)
M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD in 4-lane Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. (Fastest, most expensive.)

A Thunderbolt 3 / M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD would run as fast as many internal SSDs, but even most USB 3.0 / SATA SSDs would give you a huge boost over an internal mechanical hard drive.

You can buy a pre-assembled SSD, or you can buy an enclosure and SSD separately and put them together in a few minutes, with minimal tools. If you buy a USB 3 / SATA enclosure, look for one that has UASP support (these should not be hard to find).

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Answer 2

Jul 22, 2023 4:28 AM in response to KurterinO

yes, it is possible to change out the internal HDD for an SSD in that iMac. however, it's it's not something that is easy to do. it requires the Mac to be partially disassembled. you can go to OWC’s website and view the hard drive replacement videos to see what's involved. then you can determine if you can do it yourself, or if you would want to "farm it out" to a professional.

but, your other (much easier and more cost effective) option would be to install macOS onto an external drive and run macOS from that. please see Use an external SSD as your startup disk with your iMac or Mac mini - User Tip to implement that.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,283 points

Jul 22, 2023 11:12 AM in response to KurterinO

I agree with the others that you would be best served in getting an external SSD, cloning the current boot drive to it with Carbon Copy Cloner or installing the system you want (that model will run Ventura).

I recommend drives from OWC (MacSales.com) as they have proven reliability, excellent customer support and warranties.

For your model contact OWC's customer support and get their recommendation for the SSD model that would best suit your iMac model, work requirements and budget. OWC is considered by most to be the primer 3rd party hardware supplier for Macs.

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