SSD Upgrade for iMac i7 (Late 2012)

[Prosound]

Hi All,

I'm interested in upgrading my iMac by replacing the current HDD with a 2.5" SSD SATA III internal drive, as well as adding an SSD to the SSD slot. My plan is to use the 2.5" SSD as my work drive for projects, samples, video, etc., and use the SSD slot as my system boot drive. My goal is to optimize speed and performance.

My issue is that I'm having a little trouble deciding which drives to purchase. I know some high performance SSD slot style drives aren't compatible as boot drives, but I'm having trouble finding info regarding compatibility. I was thinking of going with an OWC Aura 6G SSD for guaranteed compatibility for the slot, but I've heard a few people claim that OWC performance specs aren't accurate.

Any information or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Prosound

Hi All,

I'm interested in upgrading my iMac by replacing the current HDD with a 2.5" SSD SATA III internal drive, as well as adding an SSD to the SSD slot. My plan is to use the 2.5" SSD as my work drive for projects, samples, video, etc., and use the SSD slot as my system boot drive. My goal is to optimize speed and performance.

My issue is that I'm having a little trouble deciding which drives to purchase. I know some high performance SSD slot style drives aren't compatible as boot drives, but I'm having trouble finding info regarding compatibility. I was thinking of going with an OWC Aura 6G SSD for guaranteed compatibility for the slot, but I've heard a few people claim that OWC performance specs aren't accurate.

Any information or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

Why not use the ssd you're replacing the current system drive with as a system drive? Then you don't have worries about whether the drive is bootable or not. SSD slot? Do you mean the place where the optional SuperDrive optical drive is? The biggest worry for iMac drives is making sure they have the right connections for the temperature sensing system so your fans don't run at full speed all the time.

Ad if you want to really optimize performance max out your ram to 32 gig - OWC for the buy.

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by musicman691

if you want to really optimize performance max out your ram to 32 gig - OWC for the buy.

OWC also sells the kits that are needed to prevent the fan from constantly running at maximum RPMs.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

OWC also sells the kits that are needed to prevent the fan from constantly running at maximum RPMs.

Thanks - didn't know that. So one should be able to add just about any ssd then without having the temp sensor worry right? I know ssd has all kinds of neat things for iMacs like the tool kit for taking apart one.

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Thanks - didn't know that. So one should be able to add just about any ssd then without having the temp sensor worry right?

Correct. We do hold this truth to be self evident, that not all SSDs are created equal. That certain SSDs have better performance, longer lifespans, and other factors that I would have to Google in order to list them here.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

Correct. We do hold this truth to be self evident, that not all SSDs are created equal. That certain SSDs have better performance, longer lifespans, and other factors that I would have to Google in order to list them here.

That's not needed; what I was trying to get across is we no longer have to sweat temp sensor hookups with the OWC kit.