Mid 2010 iMac 27 SSD

Aleksandrs · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:53

Hey guys, couple of SSD questions for you hope you don't mind!

Looking at purchasing an ssd for the imac, and was wondering if literally any SSD could go in and work? I don't have to look out for one that works with a Mac or anything do I?

Secondly, anyone who has done this on the mid 2010 model, any ideas if two hard drives can fit in? I want to keep the current hard drive in here, or maybe purchase a larger 2TB 7200rpm to go in with the SSD.

Third and final Q is, anyone else think it's worth buying one now? I was thinking the £90 OCZ 50GB SSD in the Overclockers store, but I wouldn't mind holding on till later in the year if I knew I could get say a much faster SSD for the same money along the line, or a much larger capacity SSD.

I do kinda need it, as the current standard hard drive is a complete bottleneck and I use this for all my video and photography work and could do with the performance boost, but at the same time I'm not exactly loaded so could cope for a while if it means I can get a better deal.

Thanks guys

Spit · 5 Jan 2011 at 20:55

i have done it

I have a Patriot Inferno 120Gb as the Main Drive and a 2Tb drive for media. It took about an hour to do. i managed to do it without taking out the motherboard, just lifted it up slightly and plugged the sata cable in.

Runs fantastic and really makes the iMac a joy to use. Windows 7 Parallels 6 on the SSD is amazing to witness.

Aleksandrs · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:03

Even with putting both hard drives in, was there any extra bits you had to get or any fiddling to get it all in, or was it literally just a hook up and screw in jobby?

Also I take it from your choice of SSD, that any SSD or in fact any Sata hard drive will work fine on the mac without any problems?

cheers

Spit · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:13

The 2010 model is designed for an SSD and HDD. It took a few mins making sure the cables were neat but it was fine. Macrumours forums has tons of walkthroughs with photos.

You need SATA power splitter and a SATA cable that is left angled.

Any drive will work but go for one with the latest Sandforce controller like the Inferno or Vertex 2e as they have onboard garbage collection which helps as OSX doesnt currently have trim.

Aleksandrs · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:22

Ah wonderful, thanks.

I think I may wait a few months for the prices to go down a bit, seems like the more sensible option as I can't really fork out for either of those at the moment.

I'll check out the walkthroughs though, thanks

Tilluss · 6 Jan 2011 at 10:07

SSD's are seen as premium products still so i don't think the prices will drop too much until the 25nm chips start to hit the market. Hopefully that's not too far away though as I think 1 or 2 were announced at CES.