Chosen Solution
Hey guys, I’m about to upgrade my iMac 21,5“ Intel 2,7 GHz (late 2012) to a 500 GB SSD. It would be most preferable to keep the 1 TB HDD that currently holds the OS X as internal hard drive for storage purposes. On the iFixit website I’ve stumbled upon the „iMac 21,5“ and 27“ Dual Hard drive Kits“. However, these are meant for iMac 2011 only as far as I understand? Is it possible at all to upgrade a 2012 iMac 21,5“ to a dual hard drive? If so, does the aforementioned Kit work for the 2012 iMac as well and can I just apply the 2011 iMac instructions? Thanks a lot for your support! Your website and the whole DIY project is brilliant! Kind regards Simon
Sorry Simon, the dual drive kits you are pointing to are not suitable for the newer ‘Thin Series’ iMac’s. Your system does have a second drive port its just setup for a blade SSD unit but I must warn you this is a very big undertaking to add the SSD. Follow this IFIXIT guide: iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2544 SSD Replacement. You’ll need to buy the correct SSD unit and you will need the special tools to pull the display off and replacement adhesive tape strips to remount the display. If this is your first time opening an iMac I would recommend leaving this to someone with more experience.
I have a follow up question for this string. I am trying to do the same upgrade, ie add memory 16G, and a 250G-500G SSD drive but keep my 1T fusion drive. Can I do both? Have the SSD be the boot drive and the Fusion a second internal drive. First, is it physically possible. I assume the SSD has to fit next to the RAM under the processor board. Second, how do I move all the software and boot to the SSD and use the Fusion for photos, movies etc. I have a 13,1 late 2012 imac with 1T Fusion and 8 G ram, 2.9 HZ processor.
