SSD in iMac mid 2007, where to go?

Hi, My mid 2007 iMac is still going strong but now i have upgraded to Yosemite things are going a little slower. I've chosen to upgrade to a 256gb SSD drive. Now initial thoughts were to swap it with the 2TB HDD that is in there now. But I've read that you can keep the original HDD in place and put the SSD in the optical bay with an adapter. However this seems more complicated and I'm unsure about setting it all up. it seems easier to me to swap the drives but I would then need to put all of my files onto an externally connected HDD. If i do this with a firewire cable will I negate or offset the upgrade benefits of going to a SSD drive for Apps etc or should I be brave and try putting the SSD in the optical bay? Hopefully, someone can advise on which is best. Many thanks in advance. Craig

I think it would be easier and more convenient to remove the optical drive and install the SSD in its place. You can buy the adapter and also get instructions from Mac Sales here in the US. It may be less expensive to buy the adapter in the UK while at the same time look at the installation video from Mac Sales.

I just looked at what Mac Sales has for adapter kits. They only sell the kits for the 2009 thru 2011 iMac models. Earlier models are not adaptable. So perhaps your idea about replacing the 2 TB with a SSD is better, however, I certainly would go for a larger SSD if you have the money to do so.

Thanks for that. Yes, I'm shying more and more away from the optical drive solution. If I put a 250gb SSD as my main drive for apps etc would putting my photos and music on an external firewire drive work well? Or should I use an NAS? I wouldn't want the apps to be snappy and then the photos to load slowly.

Suggest using the SSD as your systems drive to get the benefits of it. USe the 2TB drive as an eternal via FW800.

I've been looking for a firewire enclosure to put my 2TB (5400rpm) drive into and come up with some information regarding putting the 2TB drive into a NAS enclosure instead. Then plug this into my router via a switch. I could then pop another HDD in when I need to. Would this be a better solution than just using a firewire enclosure?

Alternatively, would I experience a slow down accessing photos from iPhoto etc from a USB 2 connected drive? The enclosures seem to be more readily available and cheaper! Thanks

In one word yes.

Never ever does cheaper equate with faster!

I recently swapped out the optical drive in my 2012 MBP for a 256GB SSD. It wasn't a walk in the park but it wasn't terribly hard **IF** you follow the instructions carefully and don't shortcut.

I love the speed of the SSD but now I regret not having purchased a far larger capacity one, since it is now obvious I will have to replace the boot drive with one as well (I just have too much stuff for 256GB).

And an iMac would be somewhat more difficult chas?

Ok, so I've installed a 240gb SanDisk SSD Plus in the place of the old HDD. It's made an improvement but I don't think its a massive one. I need to download an app to test the speed etc. But I'm happy, apart from the fact I can still hear the fan and the back of the iMac is really really hot. Not sure if I've noticed it this hot before.

CRAIGYBABES said:

Ok, so I've installed a 240gb SanDisk SSD Plus in the place of the old HDD. It's made an improvement but I don't think its a massive one. I need to download an app to test the speed etc. But I'm happy, apart from the fact I can still hear the fan and the back of the iMac is really really hot. Not sure if I've noticed it this hot before.

Click to expand...

When you were in there replacing the drive I hope you did not accidentally unplug a connector to a Fan. It's easy to do when you take out the LCD on the 2007 as the Temp sensor cable plugs in right by where at least one Fan plugs into the Logic board.

It seems ok now. Fan has stopped. I was very careful when i opened it up and put it back, following the OWC youtube video. I've ran some tests and I can see I'm getting around 200MB/s write and 250MB/s read. I believe that's correct for a SSD connected on SATA II.
It is definitely an improvement now everything has settled down. I just need to make sure the correct folders/files are on my firewire connected HDD.
Thanks all for advice

CRAIGYBABES said:

It seems ok now. Fan has stopped.

Click to expand...

Hopefully it hasn't stopped, or something is likely to overheat and fail. All 3 fans should run continuously but quietly. Usually if the fans run at high revs and are noisy it indicates a sensor is not connected.

Steve is 100% correct. When you put in a Hard Drive on a 2007 and 2008, you have to take off the LCD and disconnect one sensor to the LCD. That cable is a pain to re-route and plug back in and many miss that. Without that cable from the LCD's heat sensor one of the fans will rev up. I would check that to be sure. The Sensor cable comes from under the Left of the LCD and plugs in with 3 other cables in a row on the Left.

You have to be careful to route it so it misses the one hole that takes a screw when you put on the front Bezel!

On closer inspection.....ear pressed up against screen, i can hear a whirring noise and it does sound like the fan/s are/is on. I've shown below the screenshot from iStat. Hope that all reads ok? I'm absolutely very confident that I plugged everything back in ok. Are those temps ok?


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27491411/Screen%20Shot%202015-07-18%20at%2023.15.55.pdf

I edited your post as the screen shot was not showing probably because it was a PDF so I made you a URL so people can view it.

Those temps and Fan Speeds look Just like my late 2007 so you are good to go.

Just a note for others... the reason the Optical bay can't be converted for SSD use is in a 2007 iMac, the optical is PATA rather than SATA like the later ones.

pinto79 said:

Just a note for others... the reason the Optical bay can't be converted for SSD use is in a 2007 iMac, the optical is PATA rather than SATA like the later ones.

Click to expand...

That is also very true. Otherwise I would have done it here with my late 2007. 2008 still has the PATA DVD drive and no extra SATA jack on the Logicboard.

pinto79 said:

Just a note for others... the reason the Optical bay can't be converted for SSD use is in a 2007 iMac, the optical is PATA rather than SATA like the later ones.

Click to expand...

Unless one wants to bother using an adapter as I recall when I was looking into the conversion with our mid-late 2007 24" iMac way back when, maybe like this or similar:
SATA HDD Caddy to PATA Adapter Converter
Amazon.com: HDE® 12.7mm SATA HDD Caddy to PATA Adapter Converter: Computers & Accessories
but then again, I think they may have been restricted with the limited ATA bus speed and wasn't worth the trouble, besides we were still using the builtin Optical drive so end of idea!!

Everything would be running at PATA speed which would make an SSD run like an old IDE hard drive.