iMac 2011 - SSD install whilst retaining AppleCare

randal

randal

randal

Soldato
Joined
1 Oct 2006
Posts
14,322
So whilst I'm totally happy with doing the installation myself, I'm sure those overly happy and helpful people at the Apple store might crack a frown if I took my machine in for a repair and they spotted my handiwork...

I'm itching to get an SSD in to my iMac given the price you can get them for now, but it looks like I'm going to have to use an authorised reseller/repair vendor to do so.

Has anyone gone down this route before?

Any recommendations of where (down south)?

How much etc..?

Cheers in advance.
 
randal24 said:
So whilst I'm totally happy with doing the installation myself, I'm sure those overly happy and helpful people at the Apple store might crack a frown if I took my machine in for a repair and they spotted my handiwork...

I'm itching to get an SSD in to my iMac given the price you can get them for now, but it looks like I'm going to have to use an authorised reseller/repair vendor to do so.

Has anyone gone down this route before?

Any recommendations of where (down south)?

How much etc..?

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...

Unless each reseller has their own 'rules', the repair / reseller in Merry Hill wouldn't do mine =/
 
Hmm, nuts.

The reseller near me is an approved repair centre, and they do state they do upgrades but I'm wondering if that extends to iMacs. Or if it's just drive/memory on the more accessible machines (MBPs etc..)?

I've tried to call them but got VM, will try again in a bit. I doubt it'll be cheap, as if they do it I expect they'll use genuine Apple fitting kits like the pressure wall and so on. Still, price we pay I guess...
 
I just did it myself.

The long and short of it is...I come across NO warranty stickers to void...I fitted mine and left it so nobody could really tell.

If anything goes wrong it'll go in under warranty, I seriously doubt they'll clock it.
 
Literally just extended my AppleCare today, poignant timing Mr Phate. :D

Hmm, I reckon I could get the install done easy enough myself. If there's no warranty stickers to get in the way then that makes it all the better. Did you use a kit, or just an off the shelf SSD and some cables?

I'm looking into getting a genuine Apple pressure wall to do the job, but I guess for that to be worth it I should use an Apple supplied SSD too... which... ah... no. :)
 
randal24 said:
Literally just extended my AppleCare today, poignant timing Mr Phate. :D

Hmm, I reckon I could get the install done easy enough myself. If there's no warranty stickers to get in the way then that makes it all the better. Did you use a kit, or just an off the shelf SSD and some cables?

I'm looking into getting a genuine Apple pressure wall to do the job, but I guess for that to be worth it I should use an Apple supplied SSD too... which... ah... no. :)
Click to expand...

Kits and cables? its just a hard drive, surely

You could even put your current one aside for a rainy day when everything should go wrong, pop it back in and whistle nonchalantly.
 
Phate said:
I just did it myself.

The long and short of it is...I come across NO warranty stickers to void...I fitted mine and left it so nobody could really tell.

If anything goes wrong it'll go in under warranty, I seriously doubt they'll clock it.
Click to expand...

I could possibly tell if you gave yourself away by acting funny when you booked it in.

Otherwise, if you'd put it back to standard I doubt I'd notice if you'd been careful.

We (an APR and AASP) don't fit any HDDs in 2011 iMacs because they don't behave properly afterwards, so we leave them alone. There's ways round it with fan software etc but obviously we don't want to fit a drive and leave a machine like that, that's up to the user to do.


BunnyKillBot said:
Kits and cables? its just a hard drive, surely

You could even put your current one aside for a rainy day when everything should go wrong, pop it back in and whistle nonchalantly.
Click to expand...

non-apple drives (not just SSDs) cause problems with 2011 iMacs. Not previous ones, just the 2011. Something to do with heat sensors and fans. Our store got round to fitting any before our company became aware of the problems and put the kibosh on it so I don't know precisely what the beef is, but whatever it is there's a reason why fitting an aftermarket drive in a 2011 iMac isn't as simple as in the others. Putting it in the machine is the same but the machine doesn't behave like it should afterwards.
 
Last edited:
Apple managed to cram a temperature sensor somewhere in the power cable for the original hard drive, if you change it for a non apple one it causes issue...mainly the fan speeds running full speed, there is a fix for it...but I'd rather now.

Which is why I retained my original hard drive (and is now being used for storage)
 
randal24 said:
Literally just extended my AppleCare today, poignant timing Mr Phate. :D

Hmm, I reckon I could get the install done easy enough myself. If there's no warranty stickers to get in the way then that makes it all the better. Did you use a kit, or just an off the shelf SSD and some cables?

I'm looking into getting a genuine Apple pressure wall to do the job, but I guess for that to be worth it I should use an Apple supplied SSD too... which... ah... no. :)
Click to expand...

I used an off the shelf SSD for it, OCZ Vertex Agility 3 to be exact.

You then need the Apple Pressure wall, A data slimline cable, female to female, which I had to get from America.

I also bought a few bits as a precautionary...can of compressed air to blow the dust off from between the panels, proper glass cleaning stuff as well (fingerprints bug me)

That's basically it.
 
Phate said:
I also bought a few bits as a precautionary...can of compressed air to blow the dust off from between the panels, proper glass cleaning stuff as well (fingerprints bug me)

That's basically it.
Click to expand...

We have suckers, special gloves and a magic roller for taking off dust and it's still my least favourite part of working on Macs.

I can't let it go either, if there's one bit of dust it's off for another try. Takes me half an hour sometimes.

Stupid dust.

The stupid part is I did my own one at home ages ago and it took me two goes with no special kit... I just had a bit of cloth. Now I've got all the gubbins they all take me ten tries!
 
PardonTheWait said:
We have suckers, special gloves and a magic roller for taking off dust and it's still my least favourite part of working on Macs.

I can't let it go either, if there's one bit of dust it's off for another try. Takes me half an hour sometimes.

Stupid dust.

The stupid part is I did my own one at home ages ago and it took me two goes with no special kit... I just had a bit of cloth. Now I've got all the gubbins they all take me ten tries!
Click to expand...

Forgot about the sucker for the glass, I didn't have to buy that, borrowed one.
 
Worth noting to the OP that there are ways around the temperature sensor...software to control the fans (which is not recommended), shorting out the correct pins, or using an external temperature sensor. Would personally do the job but to be honest, cannot be bothered xD
 
I remember reading about a cable that simulated the function of the temp sensor, might have to have a gander at that.

Anyone got any links to the kit they used?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom