iMac Service Wedge

Sorunum

To replace my 2639 iMac (27" late 2013) HDD with Samsung 850 PRO SSD

Tamirim

It went smooth, thanks to iFixit guides, videos, and tools

Önerim

Take your time to plan and prepare for it, handle the screen with extra care, no need to completely remove the left speaker if you plan to replace the HDD; only moving it a little after unscrewing it will do the job.

Sorunum

The 1TB hard drive gave a SMART warning through Tech Tools Pro. So taking no chances I used Bombich Carbon Copy Cloner to make a backup and restore partition. This was a good idea as I would have to make a Fusion Drive as the iMac originally had the 1TB Fusion using terminal in the restore partition. I the used the restore to do a clean install of OS X and migration from the clone.

Tamirim

The most time consuming is breaking the adhesive. My advice is take your time. You will be reusing the circular cutting wheel and "old " credit cards to break it free. I chose to loosen the right speaker and move it to expose the two hard drive bracket screws and lift the hard drive out. Putting the new hard drive back in took less than 5 minutes.

Önerim

The only time you need an assistant is putting the display back for alignment; I do not think I could have done that by myself. Also, format the drive outside with a dock and run a utility to check it out before installing. Especially if the drive has bad block or was DOA! Not good. My drive was okay. Make sure your clone of your drive is bootable.

Sorunum

I upgraded the RAM and the hard-drive (8 GB - 32GB, and 1 TB HDD to 500 GB SSD)

Tamirim

The repair went very well. The directions were great. I was surprised at how easy it was to remove and reattach the glass display.

Önerim

1) The provided screwdriver contains extra bits in its top cap. I didn't realize this. It didn't affect my repair, as I have an appropriate screwdriver kit, but others might find it helpful to know that there are more bits than just the Phillips bit.

2) The metal retaining brackets in steps 20 and 51 have plastic tabs attached to them that make them easy to grab with your fingers. I found this easier than trying to use forceps.

3) The screws in step 52 are very tight and the heads are easily stripped. I stripped one... Out of necessity, I realized that the whole bluetooth/AirPort board is easily removed. Just pull up on it firmly. It was also easy to replace.

Sorunum

Broken glass impelled me to buy a replacement and iFixit tool kit 2 years ago. Then I read about the iFixit SSD harness, so... put in a SanDisk 128 SSD with IFixit hard drive. Problems, problems.

My issues with the earlier installation were:

1. bent / broke display data plug teeth twice reinstalling —ambient light, case slipping, fat hand all contributory factors. (Repair guy had to finish it for me — $150.00 plus 2 extra cables.)

2. 128 SSD kept running out of space, was corrupted regularly. Constantly had to use Disk Utility and then MacPaw CleanMyMac 3 to jolly it along. Two different configurations, first I paid for (guy told me Fusion Drive wasn't really necessary), second I got off line about 6 months ago. Problems decreased but never went away.

Reminded me of my 1966 USAF experience with a giant room-sized Univac — it was down about half the time.

Tamirim

Replaced 2428 internal WD 500GB with a Seagate 1TB hybrid hard drive. I girded my loins for this latest foray into the guts of my 'puter.

Lots of research, but I can never lock in a complete step-by-step list of parts, changes to SUDO, etc. So I'm glad to report that my girlfriend showed up at the end of the day with steady, small hands to hold lights and reconnect the LCD thermal sensor cable (my day was spent straightening the tiny pin on the right without breaking it — although the metal cover on LCD plug bent backwards, then broke).

Then she helped with that pesky Display Data Plug — angle of insertion, that pull tab and a sinking lack of perception about whether it's seated properly being my previous downfall.

Önerim

1. Note to self: Losing 2 T10 8mm Torx screws for reassembly not real brilliant.

2. Fan speed flat out ("SMART" button didn't show up for me using that first recommended utility, but turning iMac off, unplug, waiting etc, then reboot worked - fan still seems noisy but it's not constant.

3. Make a Fusion Drive of your SSD + HDD with Terminal —

A. diskutil list —> to find the mount points for both drives;

B. diskutil coreStorage create FUSION /dev/disk# /dev/disk# —> where # stands for those two different mount points;

C. diskutil coreStorage createVolume lvgUUID jhfs+ “Fusion HD” 100% —> where lvgUUID = that big long serial number that showed up after the last command; AND FINALLY

D. sudo trimforce enable ... WOW! UberSanDisk was fast before, but FUSION HD 100% SCREAMS.

Sorunum

to replace my 27" iMac 1TB HDD with Samsung 850 PRO 512 SSD

Tamirim

It went perfect; thanks to iFixit guides and videos

Önerim

take your time to prepare for this, a clean area and quiet place will help a lot. handle the screen with extra care, and there's no actual need to remove the left speaker completely if you just intend to replace the HDD with an SSD

Sorunum

Everything breaks eventually and we get asked to fix it. We needed some good tools for our computer repair center.

Tamirim

These tools are going to make our jobs easier. We've used them for a few projects already and we suspect they'll last us years and headaches to come.

Önerim

Go with iFixit branded tools. They won't let you down or disappoint you. The repair business kit bag even has a compartment for my MacBook Pro which is freaking awesome and made me feel like my purchase was even more money well spent. Just a note that any 17 inch computer probably won't fit in the bag and a 15 inch is stretching it in terms of accessibility.

Sorunum

We have encountered an issue with Apple's fusion drive, where if you work move masses amounts of files on a daily basis, the drive will come to a crawling halt. We have an identical iMac with SSD where this issue didn't happen. Replacing the Fusion Drive with an SSD - best move ever and a new lease of life for my iMac

Tamirim

Like any first time repair, your a little nervous especially when your using a tool to separate a screen from it's self, but the iMac cutter tool made this a lot easier than I feared and the guides were amazing!

Önerim

Just buy the tools suggested and follow the video. Small investment which still comes out over half the price of an Apple SSD. Go ahead and replace the slower drive. You won't regret it! Just take your time on the repair, there is no rush. Just like cutting wood, measure twice cut once.