You need to move the motherboard only if you want to use the second SATA connector for the SSD that is behind the motherboard. That is useful if you want to leave the HD or install 2 SSDs.
@@mustyshagcarpet Not sure if you did the upgrade yet. I just did it myself. Take your time and you will be fine. Get a 2.5 to 3.5 housing for your ssd and apple 922-9229 cable for the temperature sensor. I used a 2TB drive so I did not have to worry storage or adding a second drive.
Great video You seem to have all the same mindset I have when going into this project. I have a question on the OS portion, I have installed the new SSD, now I had a failed hard drive previously so I did not have the opportunity to download the OS from that drive. What website are you using to install the OS the the flash drive? I do have a friend that would let me use his MacBook Air but would like to know how to do it the way you did. Anything would help.
According to the service manual, you can put a jumper on the HDD thermal sensor header to disable it. This mac was available in an only SSD configuration and those models have that jumpered ( shorted ). ( Page 207 of the service manual for this iMac ). Also, iMacs are perfectly capable of booting from an external drive, so shove the old drive in a usb enclosure and boot from it to perform the install and leave your mums mac alone .
@@MacintoshMen Perhaps, this jumper is mentioned in several places throughout the apple service manual specifically for the CTO SSD only version of this mac. Its part number is ( 593-1342A 2710f ) but it is a simple wire loop with no associated electronics ( no resistors etc ). It may be possibe that the machine is detecting which SSD header the drive is located on and when not finding it on the SSD designated channel is just ramping the fans. That seems a little excessive though, even for apple .
@@leeroylokko I just use the application.. not sure if you can enable it with a command.. I believe if you do it with a command it will reset to default setting on every reboot.. but I am not sure..
Finally ! So glad you did it ! You will see its a breeze for early 2010s Mac ! Maybe you'll surprise yourself using it again as a somewhat daily driver machine !
@@MacintoshMen I've got a mid 2010 imac (11,2) Is this what you have? I want to upgrade to SSD. I've been using it stock for 9 years! That's pretty incredible. Does it matter what SSD I get? How can I find what max CPU i can upgrade to? It sounds like they wont allow any higher versions of mac os than Sierra, is that right? Thanks for you help
@@anonymous_friend My iMac is a 11,3 to be specific. It came with an i3. The maximum CPU you can upgrade it with is a i7 870 2,93 GHz. It's a bit of an undertaking, we did a video on it. The maximum OS is High Sierra (10.13). You also can't patch it to run Mojave because the GPUs do not support metal, so you would have no graphics acceleration. For the SSD, any normal 2,5" SSD will do. Note though that you will have to install a Fan control program after the upgrade. Or you buy a expensive adapter (which I don't reccomend). I still use this iMac for video editing and it still works great. Crazy, considering it's age.
I have a 2008 Mac book that won’t update to a newer operating system so I can connect it to my iPhone for music purposes. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
Maybe try running Windows in a Virtual Machine and install iTunes there. It's the simplest way. If you want a newer OS, find out what exact model it is, because Early 2008 and Late 2008 Macbooks support different OSes natively.
i know this wasn't a tutorial but it helped my cheap and inexperienced ass figure out how to turn this machine into what i want. have you found yourself needing to upgrade the SSD to match the old HDD's 1TB? i have a crappy 2TB external for documents and movies so i don't see the need for installing dual drives but it's my only computer atm and after a cpu and gpu upgrade, i would like to run windows in order to play slightly beefy games i can't access while away from my ps4. what size do you recommend springing for?
I'd say now that SSD prices have come down a 1 TB would be a good option. If you don't feel like spending that much, a 750 GB or 512 GB should be fine too, but I would not go lower than that. You never know if you need more space and I suppose you don't want to tear down the iMac again because of that.
The bracket was where the original iMac HD was mounted. I actually strongly recommend you don't do it like I did (tape it), you can just get a cheap 3.5" to 2.5" hard drive adapter, it will be a much better setup this way.
So using the SSD fan control will regulate the speed (manually) .... I wonder if you have to open that program all the time you wake your computer or will stay on where you left it.
No, you don't have to set it all the time. "SSD Fan Control" for example launches in the background and sets the fan speed every time you start up the iMac. You only have to do it once.
Hey I just want to double check that between your SSD upgrade in 2019 and now, the SSD Fan Control app is still giving you a good result in controlling the computer's temperature. I'm a little hesitate with leaving the sensor hanging in the cavity as it seems like it's not actually measuring anything. Thanks for the great video!
Actually you don't have to worry about this sensor because SSDs don't get that hot. The fan control program works just fine still (I'm currently running Mojave).
@@MacintoshMen I read somewhere that leaving the sensor open will affect other circuits down the road because they are connected in a series. Not sure how true that is given that many people are using it just fine. I'm planning to get a cheap optical temperature sensor, about $5 and stick it on the SSD just for the ease of mind. Is Mojave working better than high Sierra? I'm trying to figure out which os is the best to upgrade to.
SSDs don’t have that connector. And unless you have the original hard drive it will spin anyway full speed. But you can use the fan control program to make it slow down
Ended up tossing in a ssd after hd crashed (& of course my luck external time machine drive decided it wont mount). Did bootable usb high sierra install, went great. Day later fans running loud, and it shut down restarted & issue since trying to load. Installed sata power y splitter cable, fans quiet but won’t load. Usb reinstall stalls b4 language selection appears? Diag says all is fine. Suggestions appreciated? Thnx in advance.
@@MacintoshMen Had an error code trying internet recovery- something about only for 2012 models & newer. Took the drive and hooked it up externally on a 2011 21.5 iMac, reinstalled H.S., boots & loads up off the drive no issues. Progress bar then white screen on mine still. Thinking gpu, but haven't pulled off the monitor and checked the light booting up yet. $125/yr software recovery worked awesome though, got everything off my glitches external time machine backup :) One spot of sunshine lol
@@mymido4322 That's great. My vid card decided to die day after all up and running. Will be looking for a gtx chip & flashing it at some point. Meantime got a m1 mini.
Hi, do you happen to know if the EMC 2389 also has that sata connector in the back of the MoBo? i would like a dual ssd/2,5 shdd and keep the OD, I am gathering all the parts i will use to upgrade my imac (already found a K2100M GPU and a NOS i7 870S cpu,just saving for the driver to do it all in one shot)
Thanks for the great video. I’m trying to upgrade my 2010 21.5 inch iMac. Can u please tell me what SSD drive would be the best value? Love your mounting solution. What kind of tape is it? The tape won’t melt? Thank you for your reply
Don't mount it like I did, get a proper 3,5" to 2,5" drive adapter haha. In terms of value, all SSDs have gotten pretty cheap nowadys, I recommend getting something more quality like SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, etc. Don't go for no name China SSDs.
What is the speed of writing and reading you getting with this ssd? I just installed on mine one 2010 27" a 1t MX500 and i get 265 on both while on with factory 1t hhd i was getting around 130 ish in writing and reading, i'm a bit disappointed as i was expecting way more speed out of it.
I don't know for catalina but if you want to run Mojave on there, you have to disable the "legacy video support" in dosdude1's mojave patcher during install, then it will work. But still a very annoying process because you have to do it on a different machine since you won't be able to see something on your upgraded metal capable GPU. For me it's just too much hassle.
Hello, my friend, have u used a bootable usb to install the high Sierra? u make the bootable usb through apple website? I'm trying to install via cmd+r but after te installation, it happens a question mark folder, do u know what can I do?
The motherboard just needs to be loosened to get the SATA cable in for the second SDD ... cause what's better than one SSD in an old iMac ... two ... ;-). Have a play with a 2012+ iMac where you need to pull it completely apart to get to the 128GB M2 SSD for the Fusion Drive.
I just installed a 2TB Samsung SSD in my dad's 2010 27" Imac. I didnt want to bother with removing the motherboard. I used an optical drive temperature sensor i got for $10 . apple oem 922-9229. Everything works great. Now I have to fix my brothers broken fusion on his 2013 27" Imac.
Removed the glass and unscrwed the screws which hold the screen in place. Then disconnect all the cables. Check out the guide on iFixit, it's pretty nicely explained.
Actually u can just install macOS on usb 3.0 external ssd, like i did. Working fine till today, U can watch it on my youtube channel. ruclips.net/video/Q2Q-BeqYoNk/видео.html
@@andrimulyadi6665 Whilst USB3 is a nice option when available, the iMac 2010 doesn't have any USB3 ports. You need at least a 2012 model for that. It has USB2.0 and FW800 ports. So putting a SSD in the Mac is going to be the best option followed by booting off FW800 followed by booting off USB2.0. If you go down the external route you can get enclosures that have both FW800 and USB3.0 so when getting a new Mac the drive can be used as a USB3 external.
@@andrimulyadi6665 installed on USB3 external then plug back into iMac USB2 so the boot time a bit slower, iMac come with thunderbolt is a useless hardware 😡!
So I was able to successfully install a Xeon L3426 into my 21.5 inch 2010 iMac this Xeon is a hyper threaded quad core it has a lower draw (TDP) then the i3 and i5 and is a 45nm which is on par with the i7 so it just plugs right in thought about this Mac does read it as a 1.86 ghz i3 but it uses and detects all 4 core in geekbench and system reports cpu-list.com/lga-1156-cpu-list/
I was looking for a solution for my 2010 iMac. but others are so complicated so I stopped trying. glad I found yours. will give a try. thanks so much!
I'm glad I could be helpful
You need to move the motherboard only if you want to use the second SATA connector for the SSD that is behind the motherboard. That is useful if you want to leave the HD or install 2 SSDs.
this is exactly what I was going to ask! I'm not comfortable messing with the motherboard at all so I'm relieved.
@@mustyshagcarpet Not sure if you did the upgrade yet. I just did it myself. Take your time and you will be fine. Get a 2.5 to 3.5 housing for your ssd and apple 922-9229 cable for the temperature sensor. I used a 2TB drive so I did not have to worry storage or adding a second drive.
@@ligershark I did it but I just installed SSD Fan Control and stuck the drive in using 3M. Cheaper and easier to remove.
Great video You seem to have all the same mindset I have when going into this project. I have a question on the OS portion, I have installed the new SSD, now I had a failed hard drive previously so I did not have the opportunity to download the OS from that drive. What website are you using to install the OS the the flash drive? I do have a friend that would let me use his MacBook Air but would like to know how to do it the way you did. Anything would help.
According to the service manual, you can put a jumper on the HDD thermal sensor header to disable it. This mac was available in an only SSD configuration and those models have that jumpered ( shorted ). ( Page 207 of the service manual for this iMac ). Also, iMacs are perfectly capable of booting from an external drive, so shove the old drive in a usb enclosure and boot from it to perform the install and leave your mums mac alone .
I actually tried this jumper method, either I did something wrong or it doesn't work.
@@MacintoshMen Perhaps, this jumper is mentioned in several places throughout the apple service manual specifically for the CTO SSD only version of this mac. Its part number is ( 593-1342A 2710f ) but it is a simple wire loop with no associated electronics ( no resistors etc ). It may be possibe that the machine is detecting which SSD header the drive is located on and when not finding it on the SSD designated channel is just ramping the fans. That seems a little excessive though, even for apple .
don't forget to install trim enabler.. otherwise your ssd will not live long :)
should i use the trimforce command or should i use the programm ?
@@leeroylokko I just use the application.. not sure if you can enable it with a command.. I believe if you do it with a command it will reset to default setting on every reboot.. but I am not sure..
Finally ! So glad you did it ! You will see its a breeze for early 2010s Mac ! Maybe you'll surprise yourself using it again as a somewhat daily driver machine !
So far it is a blast to use, but it will get even better with the CPU upgrade we will do to it later this month.
@@MacintoshMen I've got a mid 2010 imac (11,2) Is this what you have? I want to upgrade to SSD. I've been using it stock for 9 years! That's pretty incredible. Does it matter what SSD I get? How can I find what max CPU i can upgrade to? It sounds like they wont allow any higher versions of mac os than Sierra, is that right? Thanks for you help
@@anonymous_friend My iMac is a 11,3 to be specific. It came with an i3. The maximum CPU you can upgrade it with is a i7 870 2,93 GHz. It's a bit of an undertaking, we did a video on it. The maximum OS is High Sierra (10.13). You also can't patch it to run Mojave because the GPUs do not support metal, so you would have no graphics acceleration. For the SSD, any normal 2,5" SSD will do. Note though that you will have to install a Fan control program after the upgrade. Or you buy a expensive adapter (which I don't reccomend). I still use this iMac for video editing and it still works great. Crazy, considering it's age.
Nice videos with good pace and info :)
Thanks a lot
I have a 2008 Mac book that won’t update to a newer operating system so I can connect it to my iPhone for music purposes. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
Maybe try running Windows in a Virtual Machine and install iTunes there. It's the simplest way. If you want a newer OS, find out what exact model it is, because Early 2008 and Late 2008 Macbooks support different OSes natively.
i know this wasn't a tutorial but it helped my cheap and inexperienced ass figure out how to turn this machine into what i want.
have you found yourself needing to upgrade the SSD to match the old HDD's 1TB?
i have a crappy 2TB external for documents and movies so i don't see the need for installing dual drives but it's my only computer atm and after a cpu and gpu upgrade, i would like to run windows in order to play slightly beefy games i can't access while away from my ps4. what size do you recommend springing for?
I'd say now that SSD prices have come down a 1 TB would be a good option. If you don't feel like spending that much, a 750 GB or 512 GB should be fine too, but I would not go lower than that. You never know if you need more space and I suppose you don't want to tear down the iMac again because of that.
Thank you for the video. Where did you get the mounting bracket from that you taped the SSD to please?
The bracket was where the original iMac HD was mounted. I actually strongly recommend you don't do it like I did (tape it), you can just get a cheap 3.5" to 2.5" hard drive adapter, it will be a much better setup this way.
How did you managed to upgrade to Mojave? I could only update up to H.Sierra. :/ (iMac Mid 2010)
I used DosDude1's Mojave Patcher.
i’m planning to upgrade to an ssd on this exact same imac, would any kind of SATA ssd work with it or will the connectors will be different? Thanks!
Yes, any SATA SSD will work.
So using the SSD fan control will regulate the speed (manually) .... I wonder if you have to open that program all the time you wake your computer or will stay on where you left it.
No, you don't have to set it all the time. "SSD Fan Control" for example launches in the background and sets the fan speed every time you start up the iMac. You only have to do it once.
Hey I just want to double check that between your SSD upgrade in 2019 and now, the SSD Fan Control app is still giving you a good result in controlling the computer's temperature. I'm a little hesitate with leaving the sensor hanging in the cavity as it seems like it's not actually measuring anything. Thanks for the great video!
Actually you don't have to worry about this sensor because SSDs don't get that hot. The fan control program works just fine still (I'm currently running Mojave).
@@MacintoshMen I read somewhere that leaving the sensor open will affect other circuits down the road because they are connected in a series. Not sure how true that is given that many people are using it just fine. I'm planning to get a cheap optical temperature sensor, about $5 and stick it on the SSD just for the ease of mind.
Is Mojave working better than high Sierra? I'm trying to figure out which os is the best to upgrade to.
you forgot the temperature sensor so the fan wont keep spinning like crazy
SSDs don’t have that connector. And unless you have the original hard drive it will spin anyway full speed. But you can use the fan control program to make it slow down
Ended up tossing in a ssd after hd crashed (& of course my luck external time machine drive decided it wont mount). Did bootable usb high sierra install, went great. Day later fans running loud, and it shut down restarted & issue since trying to load. Installed sata power y splitter cable, fans quiet but won’t load. Usb reinstall stalls b4 language selection appears? Diag says all is fine. Suggestions appreciated? Thnx in advance.
Have you tried installing from internet recovery? Maybe sth is wrong with your installer USB
@@MacintoshMen Had an error code trying internet recovery- something about only for 2012 models & newer. Took the drive and hooked it up externally on a 2011 21.5 iMac, reinstalled H.S., boots & loads up off the drive no issues. Progress bar then white screen on mine still. Thinking gpu, but haven't pulled off the monitor and checked the light booting up yet. $125/yr software recovery worked awesome though, got everything off my glitches external time machine backup :) One spot of sunshine lol
@@chill_as_fk I did my recovery with Wifi and it work on Imac 2010👍
@@mymido4322 That's great. My vid card decided to die day after all up and running. Will be looking for a gtx chip & flashing it at some point. Meantime got a m1 mini.
Hi, do you happen to know if the EMC 2389 also has that sata connector in the back of the MoBo? i would like a dual ssd/2,5 shdd and keep the OD, I am gathering all the parts i will use to upgrade my imac (already found a K2100M GPU and a NOS i7 870S cpu,just saving for the driver to do it all in one shot)
It should have it in the back, yes.
You should have just installed the OS directly to the ssd.
Thanks for the great video. I’m trying to upgrade my 2010 21.5 inch iMac. Can u please tell me what SSD drive would be the best value? Love your mounting solution. What kind of tape is it? The tape won’t melt? Thank you for your reply
Don't mount it like I did, get a proper 3,5" to 2,5" drive adapter haha. In terms of value, all SSDs have gotten pretty cheap nowadys, I recommend getting something more quality like SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, etc. Don't go for no name China SSDs.
What is the speed of writing and reading you getting with this ssd? I just installed on mine one 2010 27" a 1t MX500 and i get 265 on both while on with factory 1t hhd i was getting around 130 ish in writing and reading, i'm a bit disappointed as i was expecting way more speed out of it.
Awesome! How about upgrading the OS further (up until the latest Catalina update)? I guess there are ways to force update.
I don't know for catalina but if you want to run Mojave on there, you have to disable the "legacy video support" in dosdude1's mojave patcher during install, then it will work. But still a very annoying process because you have to do it on a different machine since you won't be able to see something on your upgraded metal capable GPU. For me it's just too much hassle.
Hello, my friend, have u used a bootable usb to install the high Sierra? u make the bootable usb through apple website? I'm trying to install via cmd+r but after te installation, it happens a question mark folder, do u know what can I do?
You have to format it with os extended
The motherboard just needs to be loosened to get the SATA cable in for the second SDD ... cause what's better than one SSD in an old iMac ... two ... ;-). Have a play with a 2012+ iMac where you need to pull it completely apart to get to the 128GB M2 SSD for the Fusion Drive.
I just installed a 2TB Samsung SSD in my dad's 2010 27" Imac. I didnt want to bother with removing the motherboard. I used an optical drive temperature sensor i got for $10 . apple oem 922-9229. Everything works great. Now I have to fix my brothers broken fusion on his 2013 27" Imac.
what format have u used? AFPS or Mac OS EXTENDED (journaling)?
how did you remove the screen?
Removed the glass and unscrwed the screws which hold the screen in place. Then disconnect all the cables. Check out the guide on iFixit, it's pretty nicely explained.
Actually u can just install macOS on usb 3.0 external ssd, like i did. Working fine till today,
U can watch it on my youtube channel.
ruclips.net/video/Q2Q-BeqYoNk/видео.html
@@andrimulyadi6665 Whilst USB3 is a nice option when available, the iMac 2010 doesn't have any USB3 ports. You need at least a 2012 model for that. It has USB2.0 and FW800 ports. So putting a SSD in the Mac is going to be the best option followed by booting off FW800 followed by booting off USB2.0. If you go down the external route you can get enclosures that have both FW800 and USB3.0 so when getting a new Mac the drive can be used as a USB3 external.
@@andrimulyadi6665 installed on USB3 external then plug back into iMac USB2 so the boot time a bit slower, iMac come with thunderbolt is a useless hardware 😡!
So, you set the software once and forget?
Yes, that's all you have to do
@@MacintoshMen Thanks, I have 10x 21.5" 2010/2011 iMacs that I need to upgrade the storage with an SSD.
SSD!!
Yeah finally it was about time
So I was able to successfully install a Xeon L3426 into my 21.5 inch 2010 iMac this Xeon is a hyper threaded quad core it has a lower draw (TDP) then the i3 and i5 and is a 45nm which is on par with the i7 so it just plugs right in thought about this Mac does read it as a 1.86 ghz i3 but it uses and detects all 4 core in geekbench and system reports
cpu-list.com/lga-1156-cpu-list/
Nonsense!!