Two disk in iMac
Hi,
Can someone tell me if I can put in two disks in my iMac 2011 system. SSD instead original disk, and a bigger HDD disk instead superdrive.
Will it work normally? Thanks!
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Your system has three SATA ports on its logic board:
2 - SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) one currently is being used for your HD drive
1 - SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) currently used by your Optical drive
So… We still have one SATA III port unused! Here’s the needed kit iMac Intel 21.5" (Mid 2011) Dual Hard Drive Kit All you need then is the SSD drive. Here’s the guide you’ll need to follow Installing iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2428 Dual Drive Kit I personally like the Samsung 860 EVO SSD
As for the HDD you do have a slight problem here as this series leverages the HDD’s internal thermal sensor to maintain the systems thermals via SMC. So if you switch out the drive you’ll need add this sensor to replace the internal drives sensor (this is a custom drive for Apple) Here is the needed part OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for iMac 2011 Hard Drive Upgrade as well as your new 3.5” HDD. I would recommend getting a SSHD like 3.5” Seagate FireCuda
While its possible to replace the optical drive with a 2.5” drive you’ll hit a few different issues as most HD makers have dropped support for SATA II interface in 2.5” drives. As an example lets look at the 2.5” Seagate FireCuda As you can see comparing the 2.5” to the 3.5” drives support for SATA II was dropped in the 2.5” model. What ever drive you get for the optical drive needs to list SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) if its not listed in the spec sheet don’t buy it!
But how do we get a 2.5” drive to fit? You’ll need this adapter: iMac & Mac mini Dual Drive Enclosure.
Given the slower I/O speed I would’t put the SSD into the optical drive bay, and as the 3.5” HD drive is a faster HD drive I would stick with it in the 3.5” bay so that pushes us to use the spare SATA port for the SSD as being the best config.
Product
iMac & Mac mini Dual Drive Enclosure
$19.99
Product
iMac Intel 21.5" (Mid 2011) Dual Hard Drive Kit
$27.99
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So, if i understand You well, i can pull out original imac hard drive and put ssd instead. And i can put hdd disk in superdrive case, but it need to be sata II, and 3.5, or 2.5 but in that case i need adapter, to fit 2.5 in 3.5? I didnt explaine my question well at first time. I want to do this switch// original disk switched by ssd(480gb), and remove superdrive and put hdd 1 or maybe 2 TB i side. Is that ok for this imac, and will it work normaly, and of course faster than now with only one 500gb hdd disk? Thanks.
The optical drive carrier will only hold a 2.5" drive! Finding a SATA II 2.5" HDD while possible will be hard as no one makes them any more. So you are looking for a discontinued drive which might be used Vs new. And it will be a slow 5400 RPM drive. I don't recommend that.
I would make the effort as I outlined at the start! Adding the 2.5" SSD behind the optical drive using the spare SATA III port. And if you want deeper HDD storage stick with the 3.5" drive held in the HD bay.
Look at it this way... Instead of putting on nice round wheels on my bike I could put on oblong wheels! While it will work, you'll get very sea sick after a long trip ;-} Clown Bucking Bike
It will take you the same amount of time and effort to do it correctly.
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I understand. But there is sata case, and with that case 2.5 become 3.5 size. I think i am going to put ssd instead superdrive using that case, and in future replace original disk with bigger memory size disk. Thanks for answer..
by Josko