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I bought the 2013 27" iMac with a 256gb SSD. This is way too small. I have tried attaching a usb 3 drive but it causes problems or inconvenience when I am working with FCP due to the size of the projects.
I understand that this mac uses PCIe connectors. My idea is to leave the current SSD and add a second SSD in the SATA connector. Does that sound feasible ?
Thanks.
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This series of iMac's has two drive connections. The first is the SATA III (6.0 GHz) that supports a standard HD. The second is a custom PCIe SSD blade drive.
As the configuration you bought was a SSD model you do have the SATA drive location free to support a second drive.
So, yes you could put in another SSD drive but you may find the limits of space will still be present if you don't get a larger SSD. Sadly, the larger SSD drives are costly! A 1, 2 or 4 TB SSHD drive maybe a better way to go. It offers a deep SSD cache, yet it's a standard spinning HD for the deeper storage.
Bear in mind the newer 'Thin Series' iMac's are a bear to open and if you don't use the correct tools and take your time you can damage the display. Follow the IFIXIT guides to the letter otherwise you could have the added expense of a new display assembly!
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Thanks, that confirms my thoughts. Would this be than a much simpler diy than in comparison to the one shown here for the ssd replacement where you have to strip a lot down ?
With the SSD, I am intending to use a 1TB one. I imagine that it will still be best to run the PCIe ssd as the system drive and have eg. FCP libraries on the second ssd.
Yes, installing a SATA drive will be the easier direction. The M.2 SSD blade drives Apple uses so far aren't available by the major 3rd parties in larger sizes than what Apple offers. So going into the system that deep won't be worth the work. You'll need this adapter cable: OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for Hard Drive Upgrade for 27" iMacs 2012 and Later for your SSD, SSHD or HD you put in, you'll also need the combo SATA/Power cable. Review the IFIXIT guide: iMac Intel 27" EMC 2639 Hard Drive Replacement
Thanks mate. Two questions about your suggestions.
1. Isn't the power cable already currently attached in the computer even though I do not have a drive in that slot ?
2. Will a guide identify where the thermal sensor cable will connect onto the logic board ?
Thanks.
Apple doesn't supply the un-used combo SATA/power cable in the system. You'll need to order it. The OWC adapter cable is needed here as well as you need to supply a thermal sensor. In this case it's just so the system doesn't go into cooling over drive when it sees the SATA port in use and doesn't get a sensor signal. The OWC doc will explain things.
Dan, I'm still confused about one thing, that is the power cable. The owc thermal sensor link you've shown seems to have an adapter as well. Does that not also supply power. If not, can you suggest an appropriate power cable that will work. Thanks, good to go with everything else.
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Thought I would ask here before repeating the same question in a new thread, I am wanting to install a 2.5" SSD and was wondering if someone could give me a list of parts I need (Drive Bays, SATA cables, screws, Thermal Sensors, etc.), as well as where to get them. Thanks.
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@CampbellWray - You can't really add a 2.5" SSD in this system. You could swap out your HD for a SSD or the better direction here is to add a PCIe blade SSD the system was designed to hold. Please explain what your direction is here.
My issue is the same as kapps7, I already have the PCIe Flash (256GB) and I was wanting to put a 1TB Samsung SSD into the area where a HDD would go in the low end models. But from my research there is just going to be an empty hole where I am wanting to put this SSD so I am going to need some mounting equipment to secure it. (Similar to if I wanted to just add a 3.5" HDD in there)
Basically I wanted to know what equipment I would need. Thanks
@CampbellWray - I must warn you many people kill their display in the process of opening the system! So be very careful. You may want to think about going with a SSHD vs SSD as it's cheaper and will offer better access speed than a HD. Also, make sure you don't try setting up a Fusion drive with the SSD or SSHD as the system can't handle it. OWC offers the needed sensor kit for either a HD or SSD for this system (see above link). You'll need a 3.5" to 2.5" frame adapter to house the SSD in the HD mounts. You'll may need the custom Apple SATA cable (some systems have it, others not). Make sure you buy the special tools & tape strips as outlined in the IFIXIT guide here: iMac Intel 27" EMC 2639 Hard Drive Replacement.
Is it possible to add a mount bay for 2 SSD/SSHD drives where the original HD drive is located ?
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You have two problems here: First you have limited space (this system is very slim). You would need to wedge in the second SATA drive some where (I don't see where you would find the space). The next issue is finding power for the drive and a means to convert the SSD blade port to a SATA port to connect it. So far I've not seen any way to do either. Basically, this is a dual drive'd system (single SATA drive and a single SSD blade drive) per Apples original design and thats what it is.
Oki, thanks! :)
I was talking to OWC for a couple of months back. About the ssd blade, but they haven't come out with some products yet. Just for the 2012 models. Not 2013late. But, if they do soon.
Do u think its possible then, to have one ssd blade & then ssd in the regular main drive ?
There are a few issues running two SSD's. As I stated above you can't configure them as a RAID as the I/O speed between the SATA & PCIe interfaces are quite different. You likewise can't set up a Fusion drive across the SSD's. So you will have a dual SSD setup. Frankly, I don't see any real benefit doing this. You would get better performance with an external Thunderbolt connected RAID drive set (HD or SSD based).
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Dan,
I have a 2013 A1419 27" iMac (i5/3.4Ghz) which had a cracked display. I got a replacement in, but it took me a couple of days to realize I had to move the heat sensor that was on the old display. Prior to that I had been trying everything to get it working properly and the fan not spinning up!
One thing I tried was to reformat the M.2 "Blade" SSD attached to the back of the logic board, but now that I know the issue wasn't the drive or the installation of same, I need to format the drive back to "unformatted" which is what its designation was before.
I've tried Disk Utility, Drive Genius and I've looked at Terminal commands, but do not find a command or item that does what I need. I think possible "writing zeros" in Drive Genius might, but not sure, any thoughts?
Thanks,
JoeL
ATL
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You need to re-install the OS onto the drive via either via a setup OS installer USB thumb drive or via Internet recovery.
Reformatting the drive wiping out the OS, doesn't need any other efforts. I don't know where you were going here with all this reformatting efforts. SSD's are not like HDD's they don't need to be written with a hash (random Zero-Ones) to destroy the information.
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Hey Dan,
Directionally similar question for you, as I couldn’t get ‘straight answers from OWC about this, but I want to put a an ADDITIONAL SSD into my 2013 iMac 27” - is there a 2nd m.2 slot hiding in there?
I’ve already replaced/upgraded the original 1tb hdd with a 2tb SSD, but I’d like to know if I can add in a 2nd SSD - a ‘blade’ M.2 2 (512gb from my late 2013 MBP)? this is just a 2nd drive, no raid, or fusion, or any Of that nonsense
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Technically the PCIe blade drive is not an M.2 compliant drive so get that out of your head. Apple designed their own physical and electrical blade drive interface. So you are limited into using Apple or one of the 3rd party drive makers OWC or Transcend for the proper drive.
As far as what interfaces the system has internally:
1 - SATA III (6.0 Gb/s)
1 - PCIe 2.0 x2 (5GT/s) effective 4.0Gb/s
Thats it nothing hidden!
Here's more on your Blade SSD options The Ultimate Guide to Apple’s Proprietary SSDs
But! You do have a very powerful external interface Thunderbolt-2!
While you have the older version of Thunderbolt the interface is able to support 20 Gbps! The newest version Thunderbolt-3 offers 40 Gb/s.
I would strongly recommend you get an external RAID drive box with either HDD's or SSD's depending if you want deep storage or need ultra fast storage. It is the easiest upgrade you can do.
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I was wondering if this was feasible in the opposite way, if I have a (I do) 2013 iMac with an HDD is it possible to add an SSD as an additional drive? I see walkthroughs for a 2010 which state it can be done on that machine through the purchase of some kind of adapter which connects to the logic board?
also, the drive I'm hoping to Frankenstein is an OEM blade 128gb SSD I pulled out of my 2015 MacBook when I upgraded. I'm hoping this would be compatible?
da Gary Fuelberg