LincPosty

Q: Can I put a Seagate FireCuda drive in my late-2009 iMac?

Apple Hardware Test (AHT) says that my SATA drive, 1 TB in size, has problems.  Nothing specific was indicated. The code given was:   4HDD/11/40000000:SATA(0,0)

 

I was testing because of prob trying to get a good download of macOS Sierra.  Looks like I need to replace a hard drive first.  I have a late-2009 iMac with a Core i7 quad core processor, 16GB of 1067Mhz DDR3 ram, and ATI Radeon 4850 HD graphics card.  Can I put a SSD in this unit or am I stuck with Barracuda drives.  I'm looking at FireCuda drives and like what I see And read about them.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Sep 26, 2016 4:47 PM

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Q: Can I put a Seagate FireCuda drive in my late-2009 iMac?

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  • by Kappy,Solvedanswer

    Kappy Kappy Sep 27, 2016 10:07 AM in response to LincPosty
    Level 10 (271,323 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 10:07 AM in response to LincPosty

    If you want an SSD then I highly recommend:

     

    • Samsung 840.
    • OCZ ARC100 and other models.
    • OWC 3G SSDs.

     

    The above are all compatible and should work well. Your model only supports SATA 3Gb/sec speeds due to the controller, so don't waste your money on more expensive 6G or 6Gb/sec drives since they will not run faster than a 3G drive. If you decide on a 6G drive, however, they should be downward compatible such that they work on the slower 3G bus.

  • by LincPosty,

    LincPosty LincPosty Sep 27, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Kappy

    Thank you very much!  Exactly the information I was looking for.