2009 27" iMac storage upgraded to SSD

[Raz0rEdge]

I've had my 27" iMac since I bought it in 2009 and it's been been workhorse for a lot of things. A couple of years ago, I got a 2013 rMBP from work and I gotta say that I got a little spoiled with the machine coming up out of sleep within a fraction of a second and doing things significantly faster than my iMac.

After much hemming and hawing, I finally decided to do the HDD -> SSD upgrade on the iMac which happened this past weekend. I opted for a Sandisk Ultra II 960GB SSD with all the necessary convertors/cables to plug it into the iMac.

Following a few of the tutorials online, I had the iMac apart in about 10, the HDD->SSD swapped out of its holder in another couple and the entire thing back together in another 15 or so. Ridiculously easy upgrade for the boost that I'm seeing.

The SSD is a SATA 3, but the 2009 iMac SATA interface is only SATA 2. While the drive is rated (or marketed with some people backing it up) at doing 500 MB/s read and writes, I've been getting consistent 250-260 MB/s or about half which is what I would expect going from SATA3 6Gb/s to SATA2 3Gb/s..

I made a installer USB of El Capitan and did a fresh install as opposed to restore the Time Machine backup of the HDD since that backup has all of my stuff accumulated through the upgrades from Leopard -> El Capitan and all the programs that I barely remember having or using.

Overall, the machine seems more responsive, but doesn't compare with my rMBP's 800 MB/s read and writes or the newer rMBP's 1500 MB/s read and writes..

 

[pigoo3]

I opted for a Sandisk Ultra II 960GB SSD with all the necessary convertors/cables to plug it into the iMac.

Overall, the machine seems more responsive, but doesn't compare with my rMBP's 800 MB/s read and writes or the newer rMBP's 1500 MB/s read and writes..

Sounds great Ashwin! I think that I'm in the same boat. I have a couple of MacBook Pro's I should upgrade to an SSD. And I would probably be thinking the same thing (why did I wait so long).

Hey…since you have a 2009 iMac…did you use one of the special thermal sensor cable's for the SSD (what OWC sells)…or something similar?

- Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Nick,

I was going back and forth between using the sensor from OWC or just shorting the pins that some people did. I figured, since I use iStat Menus to monitor the temps, it would be nice to know the SSD's temp in the off chance it begins to misbehave. So I forked over the money for the temp sensor and installed it.

All in all an easy upgrade..

This way I won't feel like I have to upgrade the iMac itself for a few more years...

 

[pigoo3]

Sounds great Ashwin. Wanted to see how an expert like you handled the upgrade…and the need to deal with the temp sensor complexities Apple makes us go thru for certain iMac models.

Congrats again,

- Nick

 

[MCDD]

White Screen

I've had my 27" iMac since I bought it in 2009 and it's been been workhorse for a lot of things. A couple of years ago, I got a 2013 rMBP from work and I gotta say that I got a little spoiled with the machine coming up out of sleep within a fraction of a second and doing things significantly faster than my iMac.

After much hemming and hawing, I finally decided to do the HDD -> SSD upgrade on the iMac which happened this past weekend. I opted for a Sandisk Ultra II 960GB SSD with all the necessary convertors/cables to plug it into the iMac.

Following a few of the tutorials online, I had the iMac apart in about 10, the HDD->SSD swapped out of its holder in another couple and the entire thing back together in another 15 or so. Ridiculously easy upgrade for the boost that I'm seeing.

The SSD is a SATA 3, but the 2009 iMac SATA interface is only SATA 2. While the drive is rated (or marketed with some people backing it up) at doing 500 MB/s read and writes, I've been getting consistent 250-260 MB/s or about half which is what I would expect going from SATA3 6Gb/s to SATA2 3Gb/s..

I made a installer USB of El Capitan and did a fresh install as opposed to restore the Time Machine backup of the HDD since that backup has all of my stuff accumulated through the upgrades from Leopard -> El Capitan and all the programs that I barely remember having or using.

Overall, the machine seems more responsive, but doesn't compare with my rMBP's 800 MB/s read and writes or the newer rMBP's 1500 MB/s read and writes..

Hi there, I'm so glad you got this to work because I'm having a **** of a time. I'm using the same SSD as you mention, any suggestions would be great if you've encountered the following problems at all on your travels through the web:

iMac late 2009, A1312, 10,1, EMC 2309 ... nvidia mcp79 ahci

The Sandisk 960GB drive works/boots OK from a USB dock.

The problem: When connected internally, the iMac chimes and goes to a blank white screen. No PRAM reset capability, no startup functions at all.

Never happens with SATA III HDDs, only this SSD.

What could it be do you think?

Any help would be fantastic, I'm flummoxed and working on this for two days now. Thanks.