I just bought 2 2017 iMacs. They both have internal factory nvme drives but no fusion or sata drives.
I would like to internal Sata drives to both.
My questions are.
Thank you.
iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 13.6
AFAIK, the temp sensor adapter is no longer needed....I think a later firmware update got rid of that annoyance since I don't see any OWC SSD upgrade kits including a temperature sensor anymore.
The OWC SSD upgrade page for the 2013-2019 iMac mentions that a 2.5" drive can only be installed if the iMac shipped with a Hard Drive or Fusion Drive from the factory....I think it is because the Logic Board does not contain any connector for the SATA Cable if it did not ship with the appropriate drive from the factory. Even if the Logic Board has the necessary connectors, the upgrade would require removing every single component including the Logic Board since all connections are on the back of the Logic Board, including the blade style SSD connector.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/imac-27-inch/2013-2019
OWC does provide a video showing the SSD upgrade process, but it makes the process look very easy. There are several fragile easily damaged cables & connectors which are hard to see & reach. Plus if the Display Assembly is not kept vertical, it could crack under its own weight.
Hope this information helps you decide on the best way forward.
AFAIK, the temp sensor adapter is no longer needed....I think a later firmware update got rid of that annoyance since I don't see any OWC SSD upgrade kits including a temperature sensor anymore.
The OWC SSD upgrade page for the 2013-2019 iMac mentions that a 2.5" drive can only be installed if the iMac shipped with a Hard Drive or Fusion Drive from the factory....I think it is because the Logic Board does not contain any connector for the SATA Cable if it did not ship with the appropriate drive from the factory. Even if the Logic Board has the necessary connectors, the upgrade would require removing every single component including the Logic Board since all connections are on the back of the Logic Board, including the blade style SSD connector.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/imac-27-inch/2013-2019
OWC does provide a video showing the SSD upgrade process, but it makes the process look very easy. There are several fragile easily damaged cables & connectors which are hard to see & reach. Plus if the Display Assembly is not kept vertical, it could crack under its own weight.
Hope this information helps you decide on the best way forward.
That is a lot of effort to avoid using external storage. Would not recommend. That said...
+1
It doesn't make any sense to purchase SATA drives, SATA cables, Thermal Sensors, Display Reseal kits and Risk Damaging something to put SATA drives into those iMac's.
Do yourself a big favor and just get a couple of large GB external HDDs or SSDs.
Total waste of time and effort to use internal drives. Simply connect external SSD's and you are done. Instructions for doing so are in How to setup an external SSD as your startup disk
Thank you so much. This was the information I needed. I kept seeing other people in other forums ask the same question only to get the same discouragement that I received here.
Thank you for the help.
Adding SATA storage to SSD only iMac's 2017, 21.5 and 27"
