Ok. Sounds like a plan. Thank you all for the help.
Good luck! If the videos looked easy, you should have no trouble. I just watched one on YouTube and a few things I'd suggest:
- Keep track of screws in order of how you take them out. Reverse the order to put them in.
- Wear cotton gloves to keep from touching the screen once you've removed the glass.
I think the screen is going to be your most hair-raising part. Looks easier than the new ones (that are glued down vs. held in with magnets). If you don't have any of the tools (torx drivers), I'd at least get the tools from OWC and either one of their drives or a Samsung EVO which is what I got. Whatever you think is the best, but you're not limited to the OWC drives.
Also, having a way to watch the video while you go along (iPad, iPhone, etc.) will help.
Good luck, and let us know how it went when you're done!
I agree with everyone else. Drop an SSD in it.
The internal HD that comes with it is 5400 rpm. Very slow and just get worse over time.
Be careful if you plan to do it yourself. Go slow, use a ground strap.
A static free mat wouldn't be a bad idea.
OWC is awesome. I have bought from them many times. Great customer support too.
I agree with everyone else. Drop an SSD in it.
The internal HD that comes with it is 5400 rpm. Very slow and just get worse over time.
Be careful if you plan to do it yourself. Go slow, use a ground strap.
A static free mat wouldn't be a bad idea.
OWC is awesome. I have bought from them many times. Great customer support too.
So do you recommend cotton gloves over rubber gloves?
I have the 2011 iMac, and know how you feel. Adding an internal SSD is a great idea, but I didn't wanna risk the screen or messing with the internals, so I used a different solution. Im using a 256GB Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt SSD external drive connected to a Thunderbolt port. I installed a new image of the latest build, el capitan, and it runs like butta. No taking off the screen, and you still have the 1tb internal which you can access the data from. The internal Drive I have a Bootcamp partition and a mac partition for data storage. Good luck.
Huh. I may try that first. Thanks, I've just made the decision to out he grunt in what is still a magic desktop device, just slowed. I was going to take out the HDD and put it where the DVD drive is as a secondary storage. I am assuming you went into rescue mode and just changed the boot order? Any gotchas you can point to?
Almost forgot!
You'll need a way to get the old drive data to the new one. If you're using a Time Machine backup, this will be simple. If not, you'll want a drive caddy for the old drive. You can clone the drive to the new one before installing. Or boot from the old drive (connected externally in the caddy) and clone it over then. OWC sells those, too.
I have the 2011 iMac, and know how you feel. Adding an internal SSD is a great idea, but I didn't wanna risk the screen or messing with the internals, so I used a different solution. Im using a 256GB Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt SSD external drive connected to a Thunderbolt port. I installed a new image of the latest build, el capitan, and it runs like butta. No taking off the screen, and you still have the 1tb internal which you can access the data from. The internal Drive I have a Bootcamp partition and a mac partition for data storage. Good luck.
what about performance ? I don't have very good experiences about external storageI have the 2011 iMac, and know how you feel. Adding an internal SSD is a great idea, but I didn't wanna risk the screen or messing with the internals, so I used a different solution. Im using a 256GB Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt SSD external drive connected to a Thunderbolt port. I installed a new image of the latest build, el capitan, and it runs like butta. No taking off the screen, and you still have the 1tb internal which you can access the data from. The internal Drive I have a Bootcamp partition and a mac partition for data storage. Good luck.
what about performance ? I don't have very good experiences about external storage
For a device that age you should use thunderbolt not USB.
What about finding an apple authorized shop to do the work, I don't mean an apple store because they may not be keen on the idea, but a third party place may - provided they're experienced with Apple.I have the 2011 iMac, and know how you feel. Adding an internal SSD is a great idea, but I didn't wanna risk the screen or messing with the internals,
I think I'm leaning towards an internal drive. I really don't want to invest in an external and have an issue with the internal HDD and have to invest more.