put in SSD in iMac

Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
617
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
Chalfont, PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro M2 16GB Memory Apple M2 Chip, Somona
Wonder if I could put in SDD on 27 iMac 2013 late version. the one i have now is running slow on start up
Ron
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Check out this page from OWC. If you're info is correct there is a way. That page shows the model ID numbers which they have kits for. It also shows you how to identify you're iMac's model ID.

I believe their site also has installation videos to give you an idea of the degree of difficulty.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Wonder if I could put in SDD on 27 iMac 2013 late version. the one i have now is running slow on start up
Ron

As Moderator Slydude pointed out, you can find instructions for doing so at OWC. I just want to add that your model iMac (I have the same one) is very difficult to open up and add an SSD or even swap out the hard drive. If you're planning on any do it yourself project, just make sure you understand what's involved. Personally, I would have the job done by an authorized Apple certified repair and only if the iMac was no longer covered by Apple care.
 

IWT


Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
10,218
Reaction score
2,175
Points
113
Location
Born Scotland. Worked all over UK. Live in Wales
Your Mac's Specs
M2 Max Studio Extra, 32GB memory, 4TB, Sonoma 14.4 Apple 5K Retina Studio Monitor
I don't want to interfere, but is there some mileage in trying to find out why a less than two-year old iMac is running slow on start up before he undertakes a difficult DIY job fix?

Presumably it was fine previously, so what's changed to bring this about? Knowing the OS and some machine specifics might help to advise on appropriate remedies.

Has he undertaken the usual housekeeping functions up to including running OnyX for example? Just saying.....

Ian
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Good point. Even assuming the OP has done OS updates/upgrades since purchasing the machine that wouldn't produce much in the way of a noticeable slowdown for a machine this new.
 
OP
Dittoman1
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
617
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
Chalfont, PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro M2 16GB Memory Apple M2 Chip, Somona
Put in SSD in iMac

Yes the only thing I don't like i the start up, once I m in website, its running fine. Love my Laptop with SSD in it. Reinstalling OS X Yosmite would nt help if others have same problem I have..I would have Professional do it for me, wondering about the cost.
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Others aren't necessarily having that problem. The fact that the slowdowns are occurring during startup and not constantly might be a good place to start looking for potential problems.

If you go into the Users & Groups preference pane and look at the settings for your account what login items are loading? Are there any there that you may not need? Don't delete them yet unless you know what pro9grams they belong to and are sure they aren't needed.

Here are a couple of questions which occur to me:
1. How much free space is available on the hard drive (select the drive then press command I). the results will be in the window that appears.
2. Where in the boot process is the slowdown happening? Is it slow getting to the login screen or slow going from the login screen to the point that login is complete and you can work?
 
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
5,073
Reaction score
758
Points
113
Location
Ohio (USA)
Your Mac's Specs
2023-14" M3max MBPro, 64GB/1TB, iPhone 15 Pro, Watch Ultra
What is currently in the iMac? Is it a regular hard drive or a fusion drive or an SSD? If it is a regular hard drive the startup will be slower than what the OP is seeing with an SSD.

Also as Slydude said above - what space is left and when is the slowdown happening - which would indicate what would be loading.

Lisa
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
What's actually wrong with a "slow startup", and how long is considered "slow" and especially when booted "...its running fine"???

Seems like a bit of an overkill and expensive thought just to get a faster boot time. ;D
 
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
8,428
Reaction score
295
Points
83
Location
Waiting for a mate . . .
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac 2.9Ghz 16GB RAM - 10.11.3, iPhone6s & iPad Air 2 - iOS 9.2.1, ATV 4Th Gen tvOS, ATV3
Why are you shutting down so much, that you need to restart the iMac, when there is no need to really shut down, unless there is a update that requires it. I have gone 100+ days with a restart.
If its a power issue, then again, when the iMac is sleeping, it uses very little power too. Maybe re-thing the amount of time you shut down.
 
OP
Dittoman1
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
617
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
Chalfont, PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro M2 16GB Memory Apple M2 Chip, Somona
Others aren't necessarily having that problem. The fact that the slowdowns are occurring during startup and not constantly might be a good place to start looking for potential problems.

If you go into the Users & Groups preference pane and look at the settings for your account what login items are loading? Are there any there that you may not need? Don't delete them yet unless you know what pro9grams they belong to and are sure they aren't needed.

Here are a couple of questions which occur to me:
1. How much free space is available on the hard drive (select the drive then press command I). the results will be in the window that appears.
2. Where in the boot process is the slowdown happening? Is it slow getting to the login screen or slow going from the login screen to the point that login is complete and you can work?

Hard Drive is plenty: Available: 431.81 GB (431,810,457,600 bytes)
Capacity: 499.05 GB (499,046,809,600 bytes)
Its slow when computer is turn on and when Apple icon appear ... long before it opens desktop
In Users and Group setting account I see only 4 are loading and all is needed..
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
+1. Thanks TattooedMac, I guess that's a better worded question rather than what I was asking. ;)
 
OP
Dittoman1
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
617
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
Chalfont, PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro M2 16GB Memory Apple M2 Chip, Somona
Why are you shutting down so much, that you need to restart the iMac, when there is no need to really shut down, unless there is a update that requires it. I have gone 100+ days with a restart.
If its a power issue, then again, when the iMac is sleeping, it uses very little power too. Maybe re-thing the amount of time you shut down.

Yes I do shut down every night... Should nt I/
Should I enable Power nap while on Battery or Power>>??
 
OP
Dittoman1
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
617
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
Chalfont, PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro M2 16GB Memory Apple M2 Chip, Somona
I m not going to shut down iMac any more and see what happens. I change the setting power setting to default but wonder if I should put check enable Nap or not??
Thanks for all the replies
Ron
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Many of our members (myself included) go days/weeks without actually shutting down their systems. They simply go into the Energy Saver preferences and set sleep times that seem to meet their needs. If needed you can set separate sleep times for the screen and rest of the computer.

This overview of Power Nap map help you decide which setting si right for you.
 
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
8,428
Reaction score
295
Points
83
Location
Waiting for a mate . . .
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac 2.9Ghz 16GB RAM - 10.11.3, iPhone6s & iPad Air 2 - iOS 9.2.1, ATV 4Th Gen tvOS, ATV3
Yes I do shut down every night... Should nt I/
Should I enable Power nap while on Battery or Power>>??

There is no real need. this isn't a Windows environment. A si mentioned, I only shut down in a situation, where I do a Update, and before I do, I Repair Permissions, clean the Mac up, click update, then restart after that, if the update says so or not.
There are a great deal of users here as well, that don't shut down either. there really isn't a big need too.

I have my Energy set to Computer ~ Never Sleep, Display Sleep ~ 45 Mins and have the Put Hard Disk to Sleep unchecked, and Wake for Network Access Checked.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan

… … ...
I have my Energy set to Computer ~ Never Sleep, Display Sleep ~ 45 Mins and have the Put Hard Disk to Sleep unchecked, and Wake for Network Access Checked.


I used to use similar settings and possibly a hangover from the days when the maintenance cron jobs wouldn't run if the Mac was in sleep mode. But then I discovered that things changed starting with SL 10.6.x I believe, that the some of maintenance tasks changed to run on wakeup, and they changed even further with the later OS X versions.

Now they're not even cron jobs but called something else I believe that my old brain forgets at the moment.

And yes, I'm very aware that the startup of any HDD is quite hard on them, so there should be a good compromise somewhere, or just let them keep spinning.

But even when set to keep spinning in any preferences, the OS still seems to put most HDDs into a sleep mode if left unused for some length of time. And the data and info seems hard to find what actually is going on.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Messages
792
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Ok Depends in all do honesty..

You need to look at the hard drive you have now.

250gigs you might want to go to 500 gig's

500 gig's you might want to go to a 1tb.

Now bad new's!!!

You can do a SSD I honestly recommend the ones from owc cheaper models from amazon/ebay just corrupt and fail.

But again it's not cheap most run 250.00 on up so be prepared for a bit of a sticker shock my 64 gig for my macbook pro ran me 150.00 for a good Drive not a cheap one it's still working and kicking can i recommend a ssd for some speed but remember you are limited still by ram and by sata bus speed as well.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
965
Reaction score
128
Points
43
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Various Mac's
Hard Drive is plenty: Available: 431.81 GB (431,810,457,600 bytes)
Capacity: 499.05 GB (499,046,809,600 bytes)
Its slow when computer is turn on and when Apple icon appear ... long before it opens desktop
In Users and Group setting account I see only 4 are loading and all is needed..

The smallest hard drive or fusion drive supplied with your Late 2013 27" iMac is 1TB, but you list it above as 499.05 GB. Have you partitioned your hard drive for Boot Camp or is your hard drive the 512GB flash storage SSD? The maths doesn't add up.
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
I would agree on 2 points...

1. Changing to an SSD only because the computer is slow on startup is overkill. However, once you go SSD, you won't want to go back to a HD.

2. Shutting down every night is overkill - if you do not also unplug the power cable every night, you are probably saving between $0.50 to $1 a year in electricity by shutting down vs allowing your computer to just go to sleep.

However, to provide any assistance on a slow startup issue, we need to know either:

A) How many seconds from pressing the power button until the login window appears.

B) If you have your computer set to boot direct to the Desktop without logging in, for testing purposes, you need to remove all items you have set to start at log in, then time how long it takes to reach a functioning Desktop from the time you press the power button. (You do know, you can add them back after you are done testing.)

While testing, you will do a full shutdown, not a restart.

With item "B" above, any additional time your personal startup requires would be due to the time to load the items you have set to start at login.

With an accurate report of time to the Login Window or time to Desktop, I can possibly provide further recommendations on decreasing the startup time.

And... there are no "needed" items at Startup - because they can all be started manually after you log in. Most of us do have items we "want" to load at Startup. I have 4 myself currently and that number increases and decreases from time to time.

edit:
I did not check, prior to posting, but techiesteve is correct as to the available drive sizes for a 2013 27" iMac - also please advise what drive you have.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top