IMac G4, is SSD drive worth using in it?

Basically I'm wondering if there would be any benefit using an SSD over a mechanical drive. I have a Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM and a ocz agility 3. Besides the difference in sound, would both of these perform the same?

Hi, if you can find a compatable SSD and SATA->IDE adapter, you would notice a small speed increase, less in 10.4.11 than 10.5.8, & much of the increase will be eaten up by the slow Bus speed, most noticeable would be Boot times likely.

Similar Messages

IMac 2011 Spring - SSD Drive - Shipping

I want to buy my new iMac with a SSD Drive, but, if i click it, ship goes from 4 days to 4-6 weeks? How can it be? I have to wait 6 weeks!? For only an SSD?

Luxamor wrote:
When I called Apple and asked why there was a 4-6 week delay caused by an SSD order, the rep said it was because they had to install a different type of motherboard (?) . So I ordered the 2 TB drive and decided to take advantage of the future Thunderbolt capabilities instead.
I just talked to a rep that said the same, but when I asked why, he said because the SSD was like a Macbook Air, it's built into the motherboard!!!
Is this a good thing? I'm not so sure! what if it fails when out of warranty, omg, the repair cost would be through the roof! Plus upgradability would be completely shot in the foot!
ARRGgg!!! The rep I talked to was with the business group division, not sure if that would make any difference on validity of his statement.
Can anyone confirm this? If so I may well cancel and get the standard w/o and look to upgrade it later.

Why is my iMac Start up SSD Drive filling up without any use?

I noticed yesterday that my main boot drive, my SSD drive, on my iMac was seriously depleting in memory without me doing anything or downloading anything either so much so that but 10pm last night it was saying my start up drive was full. I ran Disk Utility on the drive and it said I had a problem and should run in Recovery HD so rebooted the computer and ran it, it said it had fixed permissions so thought all was okay but after rebooting again the memory is still running down!
I also tried erasing the disk and using Time Machine as a back up from a previous time, this had no effect. I thought it could be a Snow Leopard update that came in yesterday but that doesn't seem to be the problem as I have used a back up from before I updated...
I'm literally watching the 'Used' numbers from the Get Info on my SSD drive go up infront of my eyes every few seconds.
Any help would be much appriciated!

In your Mountain Lion's Time Machine settings, you are now allowed to designate not just one only, but multiple Time Machine backup drives, though you don't have to. I'm wondering if possibly your TM settings are backing up one of your internal hard drives both to your external hard drive AND to the internal SSD drive. You might want to check to see if that is the case, and if so, change it.
Hope this helps

Switching from MBP to iMac with 2nd SSD drive

Hi, all.
I'm thinking of the possibility of upgrading my 2007 MBP to an iMac running Logic 9. What's impressed me is the BTO option with the quad-core models where they add a second SSD drive for the OS plus the 1 or 2 TB hard drive at 7200 rpm. I currently have a Glyph hard drive for samples, audio and backups. I know it's expensive and many people aren't using SSD's, but would that be a good way to go if I put all my samples (BFD2, Omnisphere, Trilian, etc.) on the 7200 rpm hard drive and backup stuff to my Glyph? This would free up my Firewire bus for the Duet so that I can put the Glyph on a USB port to backup stuff.
I'd like an answer ASAP on this, please.
Thanks,
Damian.
Message was edited by: D Smithy

Sounds solid to me. If the Glyph was connected on a firewire port that is. This would free up the bandwith that way but actually it is hardly an issue with the Duet considering the limited inputs. But using the Glyph as a backup for your projects is good wise idea anyway.

IMac 2011 additional ssd drive ! HELP!

Do you know how if i can add vortex 3 ssd drive as aditional hd to my 2011 imac? how can i do it?

Have a read here
http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/70013/How+to+add+one+or+two+SSDs+without+inte rfering+with+fan+issues
Stefan

I have tried many times to install a SSD drive by using optical drive tray, my MBP is early 2011, intel serise 6, checked on webpage, and someone say SSD could be installed on HDD drive, I guess it could be solved by driver, anyone good idea?

Hi, MBP friends, any ideas for this problem? I tried hard and checked the hardware we have, and it hardly to say the problem from hardware, instead I am thinking it could be solved by driver update, or someone who is good on computer language that could help with the problem.
My computer is early 2011, with intel serise 6 and sata 3 acceptable. I dont know why the opitical drive can not support ssd drive instead.
need help, I really dont want to put my SSD driver to HDD driver, and move HDD driver to optical driver.

well, i have got information from website, and it says it will be harmful to hdd driver set in optical area coz there is no vibration protection function.
i have checked the system, and it says the sata speed is the same 6G and chip intel series 6. it should be the same speed, right?
I am thinking that the chip is the same and mortherboard is the same, the cable is similar as well, why it doesnt work? driver issue? OSX issue? or software issue? firmware?
or simply to say, if i am trying to setup two ssd driver into MBP, it has to be one in opitcal driver area. how could work?
thanks... still in puzzle.
right now, i have reinstall the osx into ssd by usb external, and install it back with opitcal tray, however, when i turn on the computer, the system can not be logged in from SSD, and computer can not read SSD driver, and it says it must be formatted or push out.

Using 2 Partitions on SSD Drive - Snow Leopard & Leopard

We have split our APPLE SSD TS128A into two partitions. We then installed Snow Leopard on one partition and booted from it successfully. Then we inserted our Leopard disc to install Leopard on the other partition. To our surprise the Leopard disc (upon restart) would only produce a grey screen followed by a black screen/power down. If we booted up holding down option we could see the Leopard disc and select it for mounting but we still had the same result.
Next we gave up on a clean Leopard install and cloned a previous Leopard OS from an external hard drive to the second partition of our SSD drive. Using SuperDuper everything copied over successfully but the volume would not boot successfully. Again we got a grey screen followed by a quick black screen / power down.
We are wondering if this a problem with this SSD drive as we have cloned many times in the past from computer to computer and never had a problem like this.
We have also preciously run Leopard on this SSD drive while the drive had only one partition.
Also, yes our Leopard install disc is fine. We have used it on other machines. Also, yes we have enough room on each partition for each OS installation.
We partitioned using GUID and each partition/volume is Mac Extended Journaled

Apple doesn't program any Macs not to allow an earlier version of the OS to be used. However, a Mac cannot not successfully boot from an OS that does not include appropriate drivers for its hardware components, & quite often more recent Macs have upgraded hardware that are not supported by the drivers shipped with older versions of the OS.
For this reason, the OS +installer package+ checks the hardware of the Mac targeted for the OS install & compares it to a list of what it can support. If the Mac isn't on that list, it will refuse to install the OS. For the same reason, if you bypass the installer, like by using a clone of the HD of a different Mac with an older OS version on it, it generally will not successfully boot a Mac with newer hardware.
Note that the hardware differences can & usually do include things other than just the CPU or graphics processor. Check /System/Library/Extensions, which is the home of the drivers (as well as other extensions) & note that things like the System Management Controller (SMC) & various input/output (IO) devices each have drivers that correspond to subsystems typically implemented with different hardware on different Macs.
And to answer a question this might raise: no, generally speaking you can't mix & match drivers from different versions of the OS & expect stable results. This is largely due to the interrelationship between drivers: some have dependencies on others (especially among the IO ones) so a mismatch can cause problems, up to & including kernel panics.

Editing on an OS/Applications SSD Drive?

I know that with hard drives you are always supposed to edit video on a drive separate from your OS/applications drive. I just got a new iMac with a SSD drive that I am using for the OS and applications. Can I edit 1920x1080 video direclty on this SSD drive OR should I still do this on a separate drive?
Thanks.

This is geared toward a different market, but there's lots of useful information about optimizing your system here:
http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/solutions/broadcasting/pdfs/Adobe-Hardware-Perfo rmance-Whitepaper.pdf

Buying a new iMac - can you use an external SSD drive as boot drive?

Here is the question: Can you attach an external SSD and use that as your boot drive accompanying an iMac? This way all the Apple warranties stay valid but I am not saddled with the expense of the Apple installed SSD price?
Now for some background ...
I am looking to buy a new iMac replacing my loved but woefully underpowered Mac Mini. In a perfect world I would like the following set-up based on how today's iMacs can be configured:
Processor: 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory: 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB
Hard Drive: 1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5
Optical Drive: 8x double-layer SuperDrive
The problem is I'd rather not spend $3200+. I would imagine most people plug something similar in and then begin to ID must vs. nice to haves. So, here are my must haves:
Memory: Minimum 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB (I was thinking of starting with minimum and then purchase the right RAM and installing myself)
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 1GB
Hard Drive: 256GB Solid State Drive
I like to work the graphics side and have a media library of almost 1TB (uploading, downloading, converting, editing, etc.). With my existing setup I have 3+TB of external storage but again, am suffering massively in the horsepower department as it takes hours for me to do what I believe a new iMac can help me accomplish in a fraction of that time. This is not my profession so while I looked at the towers I still need this computer to serve as a family computer as well. Appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
Cheers,
-Jim

Ok this is great as we are progressing through.
So yes it can be done but there's the caveat of the "pipes" once you go external. The only option for an external SSD Drive with thunderbolt that I know of is LaCie's 240 GB version ... Priced at $800.
I think what I will need to do is suck it up. The new MacBooks have the core technology I'd like but we really want the larger screen.
Last question - should I wait/when might we expect an updated line of iMacs? In a few months or not for a while? That answer may provide some direction if it is anticipated to be sooner vs later.
Thank you!

[Guide] Install and run Windows 7/8 from an external drive without using bootcamp (works for late 2012 iMacs with 3TB drive)

This is a copy of a post from my blog, you can also Read it on my blog...
Introduction
After I received my new iMac with a 3 TB Fusion Drive, I was disappointed when I realized that Bootcamp was not running on this model and prevented me from installing Windows on it. I wanted to take advantage of the powerful iMac hardware to play games but I couldn't.
There are a few ways of working around this limitation, but I found most of them quite complex and most of the time they required formatting the internal hard drive or repartitioning it and go for a brand new installation of Mac OS X. I was not comfortable with that.
But there is another way, and that is to install Windows on an external hard drive, using either USB or Thunderbolt. Personally I used a Lacie Rugged 1 TB drive that has both USB3 and Thunderbolt connectors. Both work very well.
This guide may interest you if:
You have an internal hard drive of more than 2TB and you can't run bootcamp at all (like late 2012 iMacs with a 3TB drive)
You have limited space or you don't want to dedicate disk space on your internal hard disk drive to a Windows installation
What this guide will make you do:
It will make you erase all your data from your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install Windows on your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install bootcamp drivers
What this will not make you do:
It will not make you modify anything on your internal Mac hard drive
It will not make you use or install the bootcamp assistant
It will not activate the Preference Pane for the default boot drive. You have to boot by pressing the ALT key to manually select your boot drive each tome you want to boot Windows.
What you'll need
An external hard drive with a USB3 and/or Thunderbolt connector. This drive will be formatted so ensure you saved your files before going further. You can use either an SSD drive or a classic hard drive.
A Windows 7 or 8 install DVD or ISO (check whether to install 32 or 64 bits versions based on your Bootcamp drivers) and the corresponding Windows serial number.
One of the following:
Mac OS X with a Windows 7 or 8 Virtual Machine (use VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop for example. Note: VMWare Fusion seems to have some issues with Thunderbolt and USB3. Plug your drive to a USB2 enclosure or hub to work around this -it worked for me-, or use another VM software) → Read the important note below
A PC running Windows 7 or 8 → Read the important note below
Windows AIK (free) running on your Virtual Machine or on your PC, or just the imagex.exe file (the rest of the Windows AIK package is not needed)
Download imagex.exe
Download Windows AIK (this download and installation is not required if you have already downloaded imagex.exe)
Bootcamp drivers for your Mac. You can get these either by running bootcamp from your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Bootcamp) or, if like me you have a 3TB drive and can't run bootcamp at all, use the direct download links here.
A USB stick to store your bootcamp drivers
IMPORTANT: If your Mac has a 64 bits processor, your Windows Virtual Machine on OSX, your Windows installation on your PC and your Windows DVD/ISO must also be in 64 bits!
Step by Step guide
Step 1: Get the install.wim file
If you have a Windows ISO file:
Mount the ISO
If you're on OS X: double click on the ISO file
If you're on on Windows 7: Use a software like Virtual Clone Drive (free)
If you're on Windows 8: double click on the ISO file
Open the mounted drive, then go to the "sources" folder and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
If you have a Windows DVD: open the "sources" folder on the DVD and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
IMPORTANT: If instead of a "install.wim" file, you have "install.esd", you can not continue this step by step guide. And an ESD file can not be converted into a WIM file. So you must get a version of the Windows installation DVD/ISO that has an install.wim file.
Step 2: Clean, partition and format your external hard drive
On your Windows installation or virtual machine, plug in your external hard drive (can be plugged using USB2, USB3 or Thunderbolt at this stage)
Open the command prompt in administrator mode (cmd.exe). To run it in administrator mode, right click on cmd.exe > Run as admin.
Type the following and hit enter to open the disk partitioner utility:
diskpartType the following and hit enter to list your drives:
list disk
This will display a list of disks mounted on your computer or virtual machine. Make sure your drive is listed here before you continue.Identify the disk ID of your external hard drive. Replace # by your real external disk ID in the command below:
select disk #Clean all partitions by typing the following (warning: this will erase all data from your external drive!):
clean
Create the boot parition by typing the following followed by the enter key:
create partition primary size=350
This will create a 350MB partition on your external driveFormat the partition in FAT32 by typing the following:
format fs=fat32 quick
Set this partition to active by typing:
active
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter B in our example. If B is already used on your PC, replace B by any other available letter:
assign letter=b
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Create the Windows installation partition using all the remaining space available on the external drive by typing the following:
create partition primary
Format the new partition in NTFS:
format fs=ntfs quick
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter O in our example. If O is already used on your PC, replace O by any other available letter:
assign letter=o
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Exit the disk partitioner utility by typing:
exit
Step 3: Deploy the Windows installation image
Still using the command prompt in admin mode (you didn't close it, did you? ), locate the imagex.exe file mentioned in the "What you'll need" section and access its folder. In our example, we have put this file in C:\imagex\imagex.exe
Type the following and hit enter (remember to replace o: with the letter you have chosen in the previous step):
imagex.exe /apply C:\wim\install.wim 1 o:
This will take some time. The Windows installation image is being deployed to your external driveOnce done, type the following to create the boot section (remember to replace o: and b: with the letters you've chosen in the previous step):
o:\windows\system32\bcdboot o:\windows /f ALL /s b:
If you get an error message saying that you can't run this program on your PC, then most probably you are running on a 32 bits installation of windows and you're trying to deploy a 64 bits install. This means you did not read the important notes in the beginning of this guide
If you get an error message on the options that can be used with the BCDBOOT command, then it's because you're installing Windows 7, and the /f option is not supported. If that is the case, remove /f ALL from the command and retry.
Step 4: Boot from your external drive and install Windows
Plug in your external drive:
If you've done all the previous steps from a Windows PC, unplug your external drive from your PC and plug it to your Mac, either on a USB3 or a Thunderbolt port.
If you've done all the previous steps from your Mac using a Virtual Machine, ensure the external drive is plugged in to a USB3 or Thunderbolt port. Using USB2 should also work but you'll get very poor performance so I don't recommend doing that.
Reboot your Mac and once the bootup sound is over, immediately press the ALT (option) key and release it only when the boot drives selection screen appears. If you did not get the boot drives selection screen, reboot and try again. The timing to press the ALT (option) key is quite short. It must not be too early or too late.
On the boot selection screen, choose "Windows" using the arrow keys on your keyboard, then press enter.
The Windows installation starts. Follow the on-screen instructions as normal. The installation program will restart your computer one or 2 times. Don't forget to press ALT (option) right after the bootup sound, and boot on Windows again each time to continue the installation.
Step 5: Install bootcamp drivers
Once the Windows installation is complete, plug in the USB stick where you stored the bootcamp drivers (see "what you'll need" section), open it and right click on "setup.exe" and select "Run as admin". Follow the on-screen instructions.If you have an error saying that you can't run this program on this PC, obviously you have installed a 32 bits version of Windows and the bootcamp drivers for your Mac are made for a 64 bits version. You have to restart the whole guide and make sure to get a 64 bits version of Windows this time!
Once the bootcamp drivers are all installed, reboot and press ALT (option) after the bootup sound to boot on Windows again. And Voilà, you have Windows installed on your USB3/Thunderbolt drive running on your Mac.
Now each time you want to boot on Windows, press and hold the ALT (option) key after the startup sound and select "Windows", then press Enter.

Hi i'm trying to follow your guide, I installed windows 8 on bootcamp to do it planning to remove it after the operation is done, but i get stuck at part 3: every command i give to imagex i get a pop-up ftom windws asking how do I want to open this kind of file install.wim and imagex does nothing, what do i have to do to stop those pop-ups?

How do I install an ssd drive in a iMac?

I have 2 iMacs. One is 21" 2007 the other is 27" 2009. Can either accept a 120GB SSD drive? How do I intstall it and make it my primary drive?

Yes, but it means some disassembly so you should search Google for articles on it.
For all Macs you set the startup drive using the Startup Disk preferences. Obviously, you must have installed OS X on a device to make it bootable.

Upgraded my 2009 iMac with ssd drive

Hello
I wanted to share my experience with upgrading my late 2009 iMac replacing the DVD drive with a 240GB SSD drive and upgrading the hard drive to a 3TB hard drive. Back a year ago I upgraded the factory 1TB with a seagate 2TB which was the main internal drive holding the osx. With needing more room I discovered the seagate 3TB also had the necessary heat sensor connector, so I knew that 3TB drive would work. Adding the 240GB SSD was a last minute decision. Plus, I seldom use the factory standard DVD drive and discovered that my LG brand USB dvd drive actually works when attached to the iMac. Operates just like the factory DVD drive.
So having done an upgrade before on this machine, I was not too concerned, but have to add that all did not go well this time.
Alter removing the screen and all the screws, then while carefully unplugging all the wires attached to the monitor, that one plug labeled LCD TEMP, that tiny little plug, broke at the circuit board. I was not using too much pressure and suspect the stress on these delicate connections had reached the limit. Both from the previous upgrade, and now another. The plug was simply stressed and ready to give way.
Maybe this plug was defective, I don't know, but the snap-in plug pulled the top of the black plastic circuit board connector off, exposing the two copper connector prongs. Not only that, but the two copper prongs that were now exposed were curled upward. Making re-attachment of the plug near impossible. So I figured maybe i could re-attach the tiny LCD TEMP plug back onto the exposed prongs and then electrical tape over to hold in-place. But first I had to somehow get the curl out of the two copper connector prongs for the plug to connect.
Well, while using a small screw driver to try to flatten out the curled copper prongs, one copper prong exceeded its stress level and broke off. Could not take the stress of being bent and messed with. Everything inside these machines are extremely delicate, as everyone knows only too well that has ever opened up their imac.
And now, a broken LCD TEMP circuit board connector. What to do, what to do?
Kill two birds with one stone.....
But first I wondered if this LCD TEMP sensor would keep the system from operating, so I put the machine back together, half way together, and powered it up.
The machine came to life, however, the CPU fan was running crazy fast 3800 and noisy as ****.
Googling this, I came across another person that had the same LCD TEMP cable break, and saying their CPU fan went crazy in the same way.
So I realized somehow the system needed this LCD TEMP connector, connected.
What to do, what to do?
I ran over to radio shack and bought the lowest wattage soldering iron they sold.
Now, this killing two birds with one stone part...
I had to somehow solder two new wires onto the spot where this LCD TEMP board connector attached to the circut board.
No easy task since there was only a hair-lines space between the two circuit board connectors. I had to somehow achieve the impossible.
And while at it, killing off the second bird, I could replace this LCD TEMP wire itself with new much longer wire set, making this disassemble - reassemble thing much easier.
Well I pulled it off.
I was able to solder two new wires to the spots on the circuit board where this LCD TEMP connector sits.
Without bleeding solder onto the partner connector just a hairs-line spaced between.
Then I patched in this new and longer pair of wires from the circuit board LCD TEMP to the monitor LCD TEMP sensor.
And finally, replaced the DVD drive with the new 240GB SSD drive, slapped the machine back together half way just enough to power it up, cloned the osx hard drive to the SSD drive, "option-restart" the machine and booted from the new SSD drive, everything working as it should.
I even dismounted the orginal internal hard drive holding the osx, and ran the system to ensure everything worked, which it did.
Next, tore the iMac back down, replaced the 2TB hard drive with a new 3TB hard drive, and for a final time slapped the system back together.
Everything is operating perfect,
Naturally, had to format the new 3TB hard drive, and will move all my iTunes media back to that new drive I had temporally stored on an external USB drive.
Fans are all running at normal speeds.
System is once again silent when running.
And this is the last and final time I will ever upgrade this particular machine sober.
Just some advice, this is some of the unforeseen mishaps that can occur when upgrading any iMac.
And this could have ended in disaster.
Luckily however, I had just enough luck and experience to get thru the hurdles, now I have a better, bigger, faster iMac.
Like they say, this self upgrading is not for the faint of heart.
For awhile I seen myself listing this on eBay as a dead 27" late 2009 iMac for sale for parts.
Not the case, well at least not the case this time....

Congratulations on not panicing and stating it like it is. Clearly upgrading the internals of an iMac is not for the faint of heart, I plan on keeping your post if for no other reason to show others why a do-it-yourself on an iMac is a pretty foolish thing to undertake.

Can I install two regular (non SSD) drives on an iMac?

I noticed that you can configure an iMac to come with one regular hard drive and one SSD drive. I was wondering if you could install two regular drives instead? I would like to use one hard drive as a back up drive but in order for that to work they both would need to be about the same capacity.

There simply isn't enough room for two regular sized (3.5 inches) harddisks.
The SSD has a size of 2.5 inches and for that there seems to be enough room for that size.
iFixit has done a teardown of the 27" iMac http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Teardown/1236/1
Stefan

Is there a way to retrofit thunderbolt to a late 2009/early 2010 27" iMac. Alternatively, can a SSD drive be installed in place of the standard HD

My internal macintosh HD died and I want to use an SSD drive if possible. I either want to replace the internal HD or boot to an external SSD drive if possible. I would have to connect with FW800 since I am lacking thunderbolt on my iMac. Would FW800 allow my the benefits of an external SSD?
Thanks
Jim

No, on both counts. FW800 will not support the speed of SSDs. It barely supports the speed of very fast hard drives. But it beats USB 2.0.

How to use Time Capsule after intalling an SSD drive.

I'll ty to be specific.
I have an iMac with an HDD drive. It was plugged to a Time Capsule which was doing the backup.
I installed an SSD drive which will be used as an Application drive alongside the HDD drive as a data drive.
I now have a blank SSD drive into which I'll install the Maverick.
I now have to keep doing the backup on the Time Capsule through Time Machine of both drives.
How do I do that considering:
1) The Time Machine is already housing the HDD backup up to the point I installed the SSD.
2) The SSD will be my new boot drive.
3) I need to update the Time Capsule backup of the old HDD.
4) I need it to start the backup of the new SDD.
Thanks a lot.

TC is a network attached storage device (NAS). It connects via ethernet (recommended if you need the bandwidth for importing video). Under AirPort Utility -> Disks -> Enable file sharing. It should show up in Finder as a folder under Shared.

IMac G4, is SSD drive worth using in it?

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