Hi everyone! I am very new to iMacs, but I own a 2017 21.5-inch iMac with a 1TB Fusion Drive (MNE02 iMac 18,2). Does this mean that my iMac has a socket for an NVMe SSD? If yes, can I replace both the HDD and the SSD? Thank you in advance.
Apple released a couple of 21.5" iMacs in 2017 – a Retina model (iMac18,2), and a non-Retina model (iMac18,1).
Other World Computing has internal drives for those Macs, and because your iMac came with a Fusion Drive, it would have a place to install a "circuit board stick" SSD.
Other World Computing – OWC Solid State Drives For iMac 21.5-Inch (Late 2013 - 2019)
However, note that replacing the internal drives on these Macs is a job for a repair shop. You have to cut open a sealed display, almost completely disassemble the Mac, install the new drives, then reassemble the Mac.
Your Mac has USB-A (USB 3.0) and USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 3) ports which should let you use a wide range of external SSDs. Getting an external SSD, cloning your startup drive to it, and then using that SSD as your startup drive wouldn't involve paying a repair shop a lot to do surgery on your Mac, or taking the risk of doing the delicate surgery yourself.
Apple released a couple of 21.5" iMacs in 2017 – a Retina model (iMac18,2), and a non-Retina model (iMac18,1).
Other World Computing has internal drives for those Macs, and because your iMac came with a Fusion Drive, it would have a place to install a "circuit board stick" SSD.
Other World Computing – OWC Solid State Drives For iMac 21.5-Inch (Late 2013 - 2019)
However, note that replacing the internal drives on these Macs is a job for a repair shop. You have to cut open a sealed display, almost completely disassemble the Mac, install the new drives, then reassemble the Mac.
Your Mac has USB-A (USB 3.0) and USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 3) ports which should let you use a wide range of external SSDs. Getting an external SSD, cloning your startup drive to it, and then using that SSD as your startup drive wouldn't involve paying a repair shop a lot to do surgery on your Mac, or taking the risk of doing the delicate surgery yourself.
Servant of Cats is 100% correct regarding disassembling and re-assembling an iMac, if you want to improve speed, be economical and improve your 2017 21.5 iMac, it would be wise to simply get an external SSD and use that as your boot drive. Instructions for doing this are pretty straight forward and can be found in:
Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community
The external SSD I strongly recommend that you use is the https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-sx.
Okay, I understand. At least I can know that in my iMac I have a socket for a "Circuit Board Stick" SSD. Many thanks for your answer!
Sure, based on your opinion and Servant of Cats, trying to use an External SSD might be worth a shot. Thank you for your input and answer, cheers.
Does my iMac have an NVMe SSD Socket?
