Can you assist me in preparing for an SSD Upgrade?

[Abdullah Shahid3]

Best SSD I can get on a budget for and iMac?
Also, do I have to install Mac OS on the SSD first? How would I do this?
Can I just buy any SSD or is there specific things to look for?
I'm going to be replacing the HDD on a Late 2006 iMac.

 

[Matador]

Re: SSD Upgrade

Well, I just opened up my 27" iMac (late 2013) yesterday and did a SSD upgrade. I have been running an external SSD drive for about a year as the computer was getting really slow. Ever since running the external SSD it was like having a brand new iMac...maybe even faster. I had to replace the internal drive as it finally failed and was getting errors and my iMac kept rebooting as the drive was unable to initialize. I ordered a kit to do the upgrade myself and a 1TB Samsung Evo 860 SSD. Install went smoothly and just did a comparison. My boot up time is about is about 15seconds faster than when I was running the external SSD. Only upgrades have been doubling the ram to 16gb and the SSD drive.

I gotta say....this is a big reason why I switched to Apple. This machine is almost 7 years old and runs just as good, if not faster than my work Windows laptop which is less than 6months old.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Re: SSD Upgrade

That’s awesome and I appreciate you sharing your experience with us.