Parts needed to add a 2nd hard drive to iMac 2011 27"

Question

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429

Model A1312 / Mid 2011 / 2.7 & 3.1 GHz Core i5 or 3.4 GHz Core i7 Processor, ID iMac12,2

708 Soru Tümünü görüntüle

Paul Kemp @paulkemp

İtibar: 25

2

1

Gönderildi: 25 Eyl 2012

Seçenekler

Parts needed to add a 2nd hard drive to iMac 2011 27"

HI all,

I've been looking around here on iFixit, on OWC and on seperate forums, but i still cant find a clear answer to my question.

What i want to do:

I have a 2011 iMac that shipped with only a SSD. So, since Im running low on space, i want to add a 2nd hard drive. I want this to be a 3 GB 3.5mm disk. Not an SSD.

My questions:

1. Do I need a bracket to install a 3.5mm hard drive?

2. Where inside the iMac will this bracket be installed?

3. What will happen with the hard drive fan control that Apple has incorporated? Does this apply when you add a 2nd drive?

I've seen that there are some posts regarding this, but I have not managed to find a answer. But most of the posts are for replacing the original hard drive with a new one. Or the posts are about 2010 or 2009 iMacs. And I want to be 100% sure before i purchase the tools needed.

Yanıtlandı! Cevabı görüntüle Ben de bu sorunu yaşıyorum

Bu iyi bir soru mu?

Evet Hayır

Puan 2

Yorum Ekle

5 Cevap

Seçilen Çözüm

Dan @danj

İtibar: 478,9b

Self employed contract worker

35

329

970

Gönderildi: 25 Eyl 2012

Seçenekler

Theres a couple of different options here:

Move the SSD to the second SATA port and then affix the SSD to the behind the optical drive (because the SSD is lighter in weight) ig you have the SSD in the HD frame. Review this IFIXIT guide: Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429 Dual Drive Kit (HDD or SSD) Then mount your new 3gig HD into the HD frame. You'll need the SSD cable set iFixIt offers to do this.

Check out the iFixit Guide HD Replacement Note the current HD is a 5.25 inch and is hung by one side. For a 3.5 drive you'll need to get a subframe to hold it to the 5.25 mounting clip. Your current 2.5 SSD drive likewise has a subframe to hold it to the 5.25 mounting clip.

You could also go with a full 5.25 inch drive as well.

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429 Hard Drive Görseli

Kılavuz

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429 Hard Drive Replacement

Zorluk:

Orta

—

20 - 30 minutes

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429 Dual Drive Kit Görseli

Kılavuz

Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429 Dual Drive Kit (HDD or SSD)

Zorluk:

Zor

—

1 - 3 hours

Bu yanıt yardımcı oldu mu?

Evet Hayır

Puan 3

4 Yorum:

OK, but does this mean that the current 2.5mm SSD bracket is universal so that it fits the 3.5mm HDD as well?

And what about the Apple proprietary temp reader that comes with the built in harddrive? Is that an issue when adding a 2nd hard drive?

Paul Kemp tarafından 25 Eyl 2012

I'm confused here?? your system came with a SSD only (no spinning mechanical HD) correct?

Then the current frame Apple has in your system can support a 3.5 inch disk {not mm} (they only made one HD frame for either HD or SSD). They did make a special frame to hold a second drive (only SSD 2.5 inch) when you ordered the system with the double drive setup (HD with SSD). As I stated before the best solution is to move the SSD under the optical drive frame and use the current frame to hold the HD.

Heres the iFixIT kit you'll need to mount the SSD SSD mounting kit

Yes, you may still have a temp monitoring issue. Depending on the drive you buy.

Dan tarafından 26 Eyl 2012

OK, thanks for your replies. However, Im still confused. My iMac came with a SSD 2.5", and you still say that it can support a 3.5"? I will have to trust you on this one. WIll report back eventually :)

Paul Kemp tarafından 28 Eyl 2012

Paul - Review the iFixIt guide drive replacement for clarity.

Dan tarafından 4 Şub 2013

Yorum Ekle

OK, but does this mean that the current 2.5mm SSD bracket is universal so that it fits the 3.5mm HDD as well?

And what about the Apple proprietary temp reader that comes with the built in harddrive? Is that an issue when adding a 2nd hard drive? — Paul Kemp
I'm confused here?? your system came with a SSD only (no spinning mechanical HD) correct?

Then the current frame Apple has in your system can support a 3.5 inch disk {not mm} (they only made one HD frame for either HD or SSD). They did make a special frame to hold a second drive (only SSD 2.5 inch) when you ordered the system with the double drive setup (HD with SSD). As I stated before the best solution is to move the SSD under the optical drive frame and use the current frame to hold the HD.

Heres the iFixIT kit you'll need to mount the SSD SSD mounting kit

Yes, you may still have a temp monitoring issue. Depending on the drive you buy. — Dan
OK, thanks for your replies. However, Im still confused. My iMac came with a SSD 2.5", and you still say that it can support a 3.5"? I will have to trust you on this one. WIll report back eventually :) — Paul Kemp
Paul - Review the iFixIt guide drive replacement for clarity. — Dan

tkasner @tkasner İtibar: 49 1 · Answer 1 · 2013-03-16T16:26:07-07:00

I also have a mid 2011 that shipped with ONLY SSD, no spinning drive. The SSD is plugged in to the SATA2 port (not SATA0 where the spinning HD would normally be), and is mounted on a bracket behind the DVD drive, NOT in the center of the system where the spinning drive would go.

SATA0 has a different power connector than the SATA1 and SATA2 ports. The cable included in this kit is for the SATA2 port, NOT for the SATA0 port. SATA0 on mine has a normal SATA data connection, and the power is a 2x5 ribbon cable pin block (like an USB header, but slightly different), it currently has a jumper across two of the pins (I am assuming to tell the HW that it does not need to monitor the HD temp.. but that is just a guess)

I was going to add a second 256GB SSD, but because of the different power on the third SATA port, I had to unplug my DVD to plug in the SSD. I'm going to try using a SATA power splitter to get power to the third device, but that will require cutting the provided cable as the "apple" side of the cable is different than anything I have lying around, and the "device" side of the cable is joined together.

I went through the guide a few times before cracking my imac open, I was surprised with what I found, I didn't have any reason to expect that the config of my imac would make the kit not work, but that is in fact what happened, and I strongly suspect that is what the other people above are talking about.

Apple sold SSD only systems, have the SSD drive mounted in a special frame in the mid plane in the early systems and then they mounted the SSD to the back of the optical drive like the IFIXIT guide shows. 3rd party upgraded systems either swapped out the HDD for the SSD or mounted the SSD behind the optical drive.

As far as the SATA ports the HDD & Spare (SSD) use the same custom SATA cable. The optical drive uses a different interface hence a different cable the SATA & power headers on the logic board are the same for both the HDD & SSD. The optical drive is different! — Dan

J Parker @jparker22238 İtibar: 13 1 · Answer 2 · 2013-01-30T09:30:56-07:00

J Parker @jparker22238

İtibar: 13

1

Gönderildi: 30 Oca 2013

Seçenekler

did anyone ever find a solution here? in the same boat.

Bu yanıt yardımcı oldu mu?

Evet Hayır

Puan 1

1 Yorum:

Asked & Answered see first set of entries. Nothing special here.

Dan tarafından 4 Şub 2013

Yorum Ekle

mandrakecigars @mandrakecigars İtibar: 13 1 · Answer 3 · 2015-01-28T10:57:28-07:00

mandrakecigars @mandrakecigars

İtibar: 13

1

Gönderildi: 28 Oca 2015

Seçenekler

Sorry for bumping the old post but I'm not seeing a correct answer here. To install a new 5.25" HDD in my mid-2011 27" iMac which only came with a SSD, I need a 5.25" HDD bracket, 2 mounting pins and the proper sata/power cable. If I want to install a second SSD then I would need a 2.5" to 5.25" bracket as well.

My existing single SSD setup is sitting in it's own bracket under the optical drive. The location where the HDD normally sits is completely empty.

Is there a kit for this? Or at least a thread explaining how to do this that I'm not finding? TIA!

Bu yanıt yardımcı oldu mu?

Evet Hayır

Puan 1

2 Yorum:

See if this OWC link will do it for you. There's a link to a 17 minute video on how to the upgrade on this page: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIM...

mayer tarafından 28 Oca 2015

This looks like the sata power cable:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/922...

Just need to use that with a data cable.

mandrakecigars tarafından 28 Oca 2015

Yorum Ekle