Imac 27inch 2011 -has anyone replaced hard drive with ssd? help please

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I have a IMac 27inch 2011 model with 1tb hard drive. I want to replace it with 500gb SSD.Has anyone done it successfully and if so how easy is it? Any help/advice appreciated.
 
Is that the newer slim version or not.
I replaced a HDD on my old 2009 model. The glass screen comes off pretty easily using suckers or some packing tape. Then it's just a case of carefully removing the screen by undoing a few screws to get to the HDD.

The newer slim versions have the glass screen glued on so a bit more difficult to remove.
 
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2011 model should be OK, it's the 2012+ ones that are stuck together. You will need a thermal sensor module to connect up to the SSD to prevent the fans running at full speed.
 
It is the Mid 2011 model.Do I need a thermal sensor module for this model?
Has anyone from this forum done it by themselves?

thanks
 
Do SSDs need a thermal module? I wouldn't have thought they would get warm at all. You can also get software to manually override the fans anyway.
 
ecoleman said:
Do SSDs need a thermal module? I wouldn't have thought they would get warm at all. You can also get software to manually override the fans anyway.
Click to expand...

All Apple fitted hard drives (from 2009 onwards) come with a built in thermal sensor. If that sensor isn't there, the machine will run its fans at full speed. If you replace the HDD with an SSD, the machine will still expect the sensor to be there. Factory fitted SSDs are located in the gap behind the optical drive, but there won't be any connection cables. To fit the cables you need to remove the logic board, not something I would recommend without training.

You're correct that software is available, but I'd still go for a hardware fix.
 
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Ah of course it would still be expected. But there is software to overcome that.
I know my 2009 HDD has a thermal sensor but it was a stick on one. I just pulled it off and stuck it to the new drive.
 
ecoleman said:
Ah of course it would still be expected. But there is software to overcome that.
I know my 2009 HDD has a thermal sensor but it was a stick on one. I just pulled it off and stuck it to the new drive.
Click to expand...

The stick on thermal sensors definitely made things easier. :D
 
ecoleman said:
I replaced a HDD on my old 2009 model. The glass screen comes off pretty easily using suckers or some packing tape. Then it's just a case of carefully removing the screen by undoing a few screws to get to the HDD.
Click to expand...

Andy Taylor said:
2011 model should be OK, it's the 2012+ ones that are stuck together. You will need a thermal sensor module to connect up to the SSD to prevent the fans running at full speed.
Click to expand...

Interesting read - I've just passed the info on to a friend with a 2008 machine thats thinking of doing this...

Any suggestions on best SSD to look at - looking at 250 - 500 gb size...
 
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andyred said:
Interesting read - I've just passed the info on to a friend with a 2008 machine thats thinking of doing this...

Any suggestions on best SSD to look at - looking at 250 - 500 gb size...
Click to expand...

The 2008 models are a little more tricky because you have to take the glass and RAM door off, then the front bezel. Again, there are plenty of guides on ifixit and youtube.
The tricky bit is because the iSight camera is mounted on the front bezel - there's a cable connected to the rear housing, so take care.

as for SSD models, I'd go for a Crucial MX200 500GB = about 140 quid. You'll need a 3.5-5 inch adapter too.
 
ecoleman said:
Have a look at crucial, but any SATA SSD should be okay.
Click to expand...

Andy Taylor said:
The 2008 models are a little more tricky because you have to take the glass and RAM door off, then the front bezel. Again, there are plenty of guides on ifixit and youtube.
The tricky bit is because the iSight camera is mounted on the front bezel - there's a cable connected to the rear housing, so take care.

as for SSD models, I'd go for a Crucial MX200 500GB = about 140 quid. You'll need a 3.5-5 inch adapter too.
Click to expand...

Cheers guys - will let him know...
 
I did the same upgrade on mid-2011 21.5".
It's pretty straight forward if you follow one of the upgrade guides on YouTube. You'll need to buy a fitting kit off Amazon for about £30, which comprises a little tool kit and some suckers for getting the screen off. You'll also need to order power and SATA cables for the drive.
There's a spare SATA connector on the PCB for connection of a second drive, so no need to carry out any heat sensor mods.
I used Disk Utility to reduce the partition size on my main drive to less than 500GB (had to offload some stuff onto a spare drive), and cloned it onto the SSD. I then set the new SSD as the boot drive, and when I was happy everything was running fine I reformatted the original HDD to use as secondary storage.
It's a while since I did it, so I can't remember all the ins and outs, but it was pretty straightforward and had made a massive difference to the performance of the machine - after 4 years of use the original drive was getting pretty sluggish.
 
That is great.I will have a look at Amazon
 
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