SSD Upgrade to my iMac Mid2010

Question

SSD Upgrade to my iMac Mid2010

Hello Folks

I am interested in upgrading my iMac Mid 2010 hdd to ssd. Actually i want to keep the samsung hdd that was originally installed on my computer and install a solid state drive as the booting drive in order to get speed.

Though the think that worries me is that if the version of my computer will meet the feutures of the solid state drive.

As i have seen the ssd provides a 6gbps but my iMac notes thtat the link speed is 3gigabit.

Please advice what ssd is suitable for my iMac and if it will play a significant difference in the performance.

Constantinos

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jan 29, 2015 3:06 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 29, 2015 3:19 AM in response to constantinos118

There is nothing to worry about with your year of iMac, any 6GB/S SSD will work, but just at slower 3GB/s as the logic board cannot go any faster.

For replacing the HDD with the SSD you will need a bracket such as this - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer+Technology/ADPTADRV/

Depending on whether your iMac is a 21.5 or 27 as the 27 incher has a spare SATA port under the optical bay, which can house the SSD, otherwise you can install the SSD in place of the Optical Drive, you will need some form of caddy.

As for which SSD I would check out either Crucial or OWC, I have used both and brands of drives and have not had a single problem!

Check out iFixit for instructions and/or Youtube they can be very helpful!!

Hope this helps😉

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Answer 2

Jan 29, 2015 6:39 AM in response to Muufungman

Hello Muufungman

Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful. About the SSD what about kingston hyperx 3k or samsung evo? What do you say about those brands

??

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Answer 3

ichoderso

Level 1

113 points

Jan 29, 2015 4:51 AM in response to constantinos118

if you need any additional information, take a look on ifixit.com with repair/build instructions. As an example

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+SSD+Dual+Drive+Instal lation+Replacement/9068

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Answer 4

Jan 30, 2015 12:15 AM in response to constantinos118

I personnally wouldn't recommend either as I have read that they degrade alot with out TRIM which has become quite a problem since Yosemite came around, but if you have experience with those brands and have found them reliable enough to use, by all means go ahead!

Many other users on this forum seem to prefer and recommend Samsung, however I won't.

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Answer 5

Feb 6, 2015 3:00 AM in response to Muufungman

Hello again

I need some guidance from you as you seem to be experts. As i said i have an iMac mid 2010 ( model: iMac11,3 )

I am going to get the hardware needed in order to add an ssd as the main hdd that my operating system will be using to boot and the sata hdd i will use it for data storage. I have been advised to use an sandisk ssd ultra 2 6gbs. I have found this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDSSDHII-240G-G25-240GB-Ultra-Internal/dp/B00M8A BEIM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423219332&sr=8-1&keywords=sandisk+ssd+240gb

As for the cables needed i have found: ( is that suitable??)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-Power-Splitter-Cable-Adapter/dp/B002N2EHVQ/ref= sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423219959&sr=8-1&keywords=SATA+power+splitter+imac

As for the data cable i found this one: ( Is that suitable??)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-50cm-7-Pin-SATA-Male-to-Female-Extension-Power-Dat a-Cable-Red-963-UK-/111317525984

Any response will be appreciated.

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Answer 6

Feb 6, 2015 5:20 AM in response to constantinos118

Everything is looking good!

As I assume you are mounting your SSD underneath the optical drive, it is good to see you have researched it thoroughly!

Follow this guide https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2390+Dual+Hard+Dr ive+Kit/9266for installation.

However I am unsure whether that SATA power splitter will reach the full length to the SSD, or it may be easier to attach another SATA connector to it

Good luck and I hope the surgery goes well!😉

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Answer 7

Feb 25, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Muufungman

I will submit that in the short term the average user will not really notice much of a difference. But I would suggest revisiting once you have experienced multiple read/write cycles such as what comes with frequent rewrites of disk space with addition/removal/relocation of media files etc. over a few years.

OS native Trim support will never be rivaled by any thrid party GC, especially on a proprietary OS - the third party is simply hazarding a "guess" whereas the OS "knows" definitively.

Quite frankly, I feel disabling native trim support for non-Apple SSDs should actually come under the purview of antitrust/monopoly legalese.

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Answer 8

Jan 30, 2015 10:39 AM in response to constantinos118

Just remember, Mac OS X DOES NOT officially support TRIM on non-apple SSDs.. you may need to disable kext and hack the OS a little or leverage third party utilities.

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Answer 9

Jan 31, 2015 1:49 AM in response to constantinos118

Simply put, do not use TRIM, get an OWC SSD as they have over-provisioning and TRIM isn't needed.

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