

- #BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 UPGRADE#
- #BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 PRO#
- #BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 PLUS#
- #BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 DOWNLOAD#
- #BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 FREE#
Before I begin, please note that this article is not a how-to manual, and as such it should never replace the excellent step-by-step guides available on iFixit and elsewhere on the Internet.
#BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 UPGRADE#
This is an account of how the upgrade went, the difficulties I found, and whether I recommend anyone do the same (Spoiler alert: yes, very much so). Set everything up in a comfortable environment and get to work! IntroductionĪ couple of weekends ago I finally had time for a project I’d been wanting to do for months: upgrading my iMac’s internal hard drive to an SSD. The rest of the article has been preserved in its original form for historical accuracy. It’s a terrific machine and I have no plans to replace it anytime soon. Prices vary slightly on Amazon but you can’t go wrong with any of these, so my advice would be to get whichever is cheaper at the moment.Įven though it will not be supported by the newly-announced macOS Sierra, my Early-2008 iMac is still my primary Mac. That said, keep in mind that in this case the bottleneck will be your iMac’s 3 Gb/s SATA 2 interface, so any of these drives will have nearly identical performance.
#BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 PRO#
If you want something fancier, both the Samsung 850 Pro and the SanDisk Extreme Pro are excellent, as well. The original text is still valid, but SSD recommendations are now outdated.Īs of July 2016, the consumer-grade SSD I recommend is the Samsung 850 EVO. Since then, it’s consistently been the most popular piece on this site almost every month. Good luck.UPDATE, July 16, 2016: This article was originally published on May 21, 2014. Well, that’s everything you need in order to do the job. Then make the swap! :-) It Looks like my pocketpussy. First, hook up your new SSD to a USB to SATA adapter (any of these: ), then use SuperDuper to clone your existing drive to the external drive.
#BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 FREE#
You can get an app called TrimEnabler to do that for free.Īnd the very last thing! If you want to actually just clone your existing hard drive onto the SSD you are going to put in the machine, the easiest way is with the free SuperDuper app.

One other thing you’re going to need to do is manually enable Trim on your iMac since you have a third party SSD installed. Just install, reboot, and then launch the app and tell it to use “smart” fan control. Its totally free, but works like a charm.
#BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 DOWNLOAD#
Head on over and download the SSD Fan Control App. So there is one last thing you need to do! Its not normal, because the SSD doesn’t generate that much heat. Only problem is, without that connector attached, your fan is going to spin up and be very loud on the iMac all the time. Which is fine – you just kind of leave it dangling. But after you get to the part where you put your SSD in, you’re going to notice that there is no spot to plug the thermal heat sensor on the drive. Ok, the guide will pretty much walk you step by step through the process, and its pretty much easier than they make it out to be. You will also need both T8 and T10 bits in order to dismantle and reassemble the iMac so here’s a great set for $6.50 on Amazon. I paid $15 for this Newer Technologies adapter which fit the system absolutely perfectly. Next, you’re going to need a converter to mount a 2.5″ SSD into a 3.5″ slot. But instead, I would highly recommend this $13 Handle on Demand glass suction cup from Amazon for $13 with free Prime shipping. In all fairness that isn’t a bad deal, especially considering their excellent tutorial.
#BEST EXTERNAL SSD FOR IMAC 2009 PLUS#
But there are a few little things they left out.įirst, they suggest you buy their suction cups for $15, plus at least $5 for shipping. Now that’s the kind of increase you can really notice! Here’s how I did it.įirst of all, iFixit has an excellent upgrade guide right here. In fact, I had it laying around from other projects so for me it was free! If I had to buy one, I would look for the fastest SSD I could afford and then do all the same stuff as I have outlined below.Īs a result of the switch, my system went from achieving about 100 MB/s write speeds to over 250 MB/s, with the read speeds jumping from around 115 MB/s to over 265 MB/s. Its not the biggest or fastest SSD around, but Sandisk makes a quality product, and these are extremely affordable. Today I did an upgrade on my Late 2009 27″ iMac to change out the stock 1TB 7200rpm Seagate drive to a 120GB Sandisk SSD.
