Old 2008 iMac external SSD upgrade

If I put a Samsung Electronics MZ-7PD128BW 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 128GB SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive in a Acomdata Tango Pro Firewire 800 2.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure, and boot my early 2008 iMac on it, will it improve speeds? Currently the hard drive is running at around 30MB/s. Will the SSD and the 2.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure work together?

Using a external SSD on that old a machine is a waste of time. The reason for getting an SSD is to improve performance, using FW as the connection will be a bottleneck. If you want to make the 2008 work well, install an internal SSD.

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2008 Uni MBP SSD upgrade

Hi all,
I have been having a hard time finding a consolidated answer to a fairly direct question. I have shuffled through a ton of videos and cannot find a comprehensive solution for my particular situation.
I have a 2008 uni MBP and a new 512 GB SSD I'd like to install. I am running Lion 10.7.3. I completely understand how to physically install the new SSD. No questions -- there are 1000s of youtube videos on how to do this. My problem is this: I do not want to buy an external case for my new drive to make this work. I just want to clone my HDD, install the SSD, and transfer the data. Is there a way to do this?
I have read that with Lion, upgrading to an SSD is much more complex than it was before, due to the recovery partition that Lion places on your drive during install.
I have a bootable Lion install USB stick.
I am having a hard time grasping exactly what to do here, I just want to port my entire system, settings, files, and all, from a clone of my old drive to a newly installed, fresh and clean, SSD. The information I am finding online is making this seem like a **** of a chore, and I don't see why it should be.
Thanks in advance for any help you could provide.

Okay, I'll buy the enclosure if that's in fact what I need, but what about the Lion partition? Also, I've read there are some concerns about the initial formatting of the drive that can lead to a brick. Should I just treat it like any other drive and do the usual disk utility erase and select the typical mac os journaled setting?
Thanks for the advice, wheel - Not looking to start a war, I truly appreciate your help. Fact is, I got pumped about upgrading to ssd and didn't do my full due diligence regarding the upgrade. It seemed simple from the research I did prior to purchase, but after digging around, I'm just getting a lot of conflicting advice is all.
Thanks,
Ribcage

Fix for vertical lines and screen freeze on 2008 iMac after Yosemite upgrade?

Mavericks was running slow with iPhoto. Did the Yosemite upgrade. Vertical lines on screen before everything freezes except mouse. Mouse continues to respond but nothing else, so forced to power off. Tried a revert to Mavericks but that seemed to tick it off (made things worse). Read 3 year old threads that graphics drivers may be at fault, but not sure how to remedy that. Any ideas?

Hi wokingmac,
If you are having an issue with your iMac display not responding appropriately, I would suggest that you troubleshoot using the steps in this article -
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays - Apple Support
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Macbook Pro 2008, is a SSD Upgrade possible?

Hi, I have a 2008 Pro 17". I was wondering if there was a possible SSD Harddrive upgrade that was possible for this model? Thanks!

You can do either. I put my SSDs in the Data Doubler bracket and left the HDD where it was. I've done this in two of my notebooks. It really doesn't make any difference where you put the SSD. My reasoning was that leaving the HDD where it was meant less changes and less risk of causing a problem. I'm not sure what the reasoning is for putting the SSD where the HDD is now located. But that is a question you can ask of the OWC tech support.
BTW, I did not buy the bracket from a different vendor. OWC provides excellent products, good prices, and outstanding service. They are worth paying more. They include toolkits and have excellent video tutorials you can refer to for installation help.

2008 iMac needs upgrade, but to what?

My trusty early 2008 24" iMac 8,1 (Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.06 GHz) started out rather dicey in terms of reliability (replaced the hard drive TWICE, replaced a dying fan, replaced the defective optical/CD-DVD drive, all under AppleCare, thankfully) but after those repairs, it has performed well in the years since. However, having maxed out the RAM at the paltry 4GB it supposedly will recognize and trying to keep even 30GB of free space on the paltry 500GB stock hard drive by tossing out as much unneeded stuff as possible and loading up external drives for backups and redundant backups, I am getting really tired of seeing that spinning beach ball every time I try to do the simplest file task and heaven forbid I try to open anything else when I have Photoshop CS5 running!
Clearly, I have reached the limit of this machine's capability to run the most recent (10.9.5 at the moment) Mac OS and despite the fact that there is nothing technically wrong with the hardware, I really can't use it in this condition any longer. With no way to upgrade the RAM and no way to (easily) upgrade the internal hard drive, and having had a good six or so years out of it since upgrading to it from my old G5, I am considering just getting a new Mac instead.
But each time I try to press the "submit order" on a $2700 refurbished low end Mac Pro in the Apple Store, I get visions of parting with nearly three grand and losing my display and my Facetime camera as well as having the need to purchase replacements for both (and probably the optical drive as well, but those are now gone in the iMacs too, I understand) and change my mind and go back and look at the deals on the new iMacs instead. But in order to make sure I have no future problems like I had with this one (the fact that all the components that might fail are so hard to get to, jammed into a big laptop case makes me miss my G5 tower's easy-open side hatch) I want to get as much RAM and as fast/reliable storage technology as possible, so I don't know if I should pay extra for the fusion drive (that still has a spinning drive sealed in there somewhere) or an i7 processor over the stock i5 or just bite the bullet and get the Pro that may end up not costing much more after tricking out the iMac to the max and if so, could I use my old 2008 iMac as a monitor for it?
Any help deciding would be welcome, thanks.

Yes, I found out that I can, indeed, upgrade to 6GB by replacing one of the 2GB modules with a 4GB (wish I had known that when I originally upgraded the two 1GB modules in the first place) despite the official word I was aware of that 4GB was all that would be recognized.
I also backed up, erased, reformatted, clean installed Mavericks and apps and kept large music, photo, iMovie libraries off the main hard drive to give the puny 500GB drive more room to work and all that seems to have made the computer more usable for me to keep it for at least a few more years, rather than pay big bucks to upgrade to the newest hardware (and lose my internal optical drive in the process).
Thanks for the suggestions and responses!

New iMac 2.93GHz vs. old (2008) refurbished 3.06 GHz

Hello,
I’m debating buying either a new iMac 2.93GHz, 4GB ram, 640GB HD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory; or a refurbished (2008) iMac 3.06GHz, upgrade to 4GB ram, 500GB HD, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB memory.
I’ll be using it mostly for Final Cut Studio and Photoshop. Does the video memory make much of a difference? According to Macworld the new 2.93 is slightly faster than the old 3.06 overall. http://www.macworld.com/article/139322/2009/03/imacs_2009.html I am not sure there’s much of a difference between the two besides the hard drive and video memory. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

You could use the daisy chain method. I don't think performance would suffer, since the camera is not connected and active most of the time.
Also, you could get a FireWire 800 hub, like this one
http://www.unibrain.com/Products/p1394/FR800.htm
I don't see too many FireWire 800 hubs on the market compared to FireWire 400 hubs, but now that the new Macs have FireWire 800 only (and only one port), I'll bet there will be other products soon.
I like using a hub (or the daisy chain port) for FireWire devices that I connect and disconnect regularly. It saves on wear and tear of the direct port on the iMac. And hot-plugging with FireWire has been known to +blow out+ the port (at least with FireWire 400). I'm sure its uncommon, but it did happen to the front port on my Power Mac G5. Fortunately, it was repaired under AppleCare, but now I connect things like my old iPod and video camera to a FireWire 400 hub. My FireWire external drive is connected directly, because I hardly ever disconnect it. And if I need to do so, I power off the iMac first. USB does not seem to have this type of issue.

I bought a laptop Macbook a year ago (January). It had Snow Leopard on it, but somehow the 8.x iPhoto. I just upgraded it and my my 2008 iMac to Lion. The old computer has iPhoto 9.x on it. Do I have to buy iPhoto for the newer laptop?

I bought a laptop Macbook a year ago (January). It had Snow Leopard on it, but somehow the 8.x iPhoto. I just upgraded it and my my 2008 iMac to Lion. The old computer has iPhoto 9.x on it. So I am wondering why it says I have to buy the upgrade for a newer computer? Any ideas? I want to sync my photos with all my devices (Macbook, iPad, iPhone) through the cloud.

Not if you purchased it from the App Store. But if it's part of the iLife boxed set, then you have to repurchase. But you can purchase on the App Store which then lets you install it on as many computers as you own.

SSD Upgrade to Late 2008 MBP, Plus Windows 8 Install

Hi guys,
I have a 15", late 2008 MBP that was a beast in it's time, but has started to show it's age, especially due to my aging hard drive. I've read great things about performance improvement through installing an SSD, and so I want to perform this upgrade. Also, while I do have my computer backed up through Time Machine, I'd rather just be proactive on replacing my hard drive before it fails on me (which will definitely happen at some point). Here's some more detailed specs for my computer:
CPU: 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4 GB of 1067 MHz DDR 3
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512 MB
Note about the GPU: This comp has the dual graphics chips, but I've been always using the "high-performance" one, which is what is listed above (the other one is a GeForce 9400M).
OS: Most current version of Mavericks (OSX 10.9.2)
In looking up SSD's, I've found that people that have had laptops with similar specs to mine have had success with the Crucial M500 SSDs.
After I get my drive all figured out, I want to use Boot Camp to install Windows 8 on the SSD. Currently, I do not have any Windows installations on my computer. My computer is not supported for Windows 8 installation through Boot Camp, despite the fact that hardware-wise, it is compatable with Windows 8. However, I have found discussions that are pretty standard on how to get Windows 8 installed on my computer.
-So, my first question is: Was my research good for this given SSD for my computer? It seems like Samsung makes the best SSDs, but I haven't found any evidence that it would be really compatable with my computer.
-My second question: Given that I will have just installed an SSD, will Windows 8 installation be doable? This is probably the most important question for me, because if it's not possible, then I'd rather just buy Windows 7 right off the bat and install that in boot camp instead.
-My third question: If I can get Windows up and running, how does my computer's double graphics chip configuration work in Windows? I'd want to make sure that Windows is using the more powerful of the chips and not the less powerful one.
-My fourth question: My computer has gone from Leopard to Snow Leopard to Mavericks, and I never performed a "clean install" for any of these OS upgrades. If I clone my HD to the SSD, would it be beneficial for me to run a Mavericks clean install, and then pull all my necessary data off my backup drive?
Sorry for the long-winded post, and I know much of it is demonstrated elsewhere. I have found many discussions involving SSD upgrades, and getting Windows 8 on a late 2008 MBP, but I haven't found anything that has shown both being done. Both seem easy to do, but I just don't know if doing both in tandem is going to cause a bunch of problems. Has anyone out there done this, and can anyone offer me any advice on how to make this process any smoother? I really like doing this upgrade now, because if I run into Windows issues, or other issues on the SSD, I could still just boot from my old hard drive and use my computer. Thanks everyone!

beestmode,
I have a Mid 2010 MacBook Pro, and I put a Samsung 840 PRO SSD into mine. Where did you find evidence that this model SSD would not work in your MacBook Pro? (The SSD which you’ve installed has a good reputation, so you should have no reason to regret your choice.)
Windows 8 via Boot Camp will not be possible with your model MacBook Pro. In Boot Camp, you could install up to Windows 7, either 32-bit or 64-bit. A virtualizer such as Parallels Desktop or VirtualBox could allow you to install Windows 8, but virtualizers have their own sets of positives and negatives.
Since I have a 13-inch model with only one GPU, I don’t know how your dual GPUs would be handled on the Windows side.
When I’d installed my SSD, I did a clean installation of Mavericks onto it, keeping Snow Leopard on my old internal disk, and putting it into an external enclosure.

How do I transfer data from an old Powerbook G4 w/non working screen to my 2008 iMac. I want to save my photo collection.

I have an old G4 Powerbook that has suddenly lost it's screen. It just flickers at times. I want to get the iPhoto data with lots of pictures out of the G4 and onto my 2008 iMac. I have no idea how to network these two and it is complicated by the loss of screen on the laptop. I know the laptop is up and running after I TURN IT ON BECAUSE WHEN THE SCREEN DOES IT'S FLICKER ON AND OFF BIT I CAN SEE THE DESK TOP. HOWEVER, THESE FLICKERS ARE SO BRIEF I CANNOT PERFORM any TASKS (woops) on the laptop. Help???

I will post my experience just in case someone else has this problem. John was right about the Firewire cable being the 800 9 pin job for both my PB G4 (2003 version) and my iMac (2008 version). Even though there was no screen to look at on the PB I was able to get into the target disk mode by first hooking up the firewire cable to my iMac and then the PB, then, holding down the "T" key on the PB I started it up. The iMac was already up and running.
It took several seconds but eventually a target disc icon for my PB showed up on the desktop of my iMac. Double clicking on the icon let me have access to all that was in the PB.
Sort of and here is where it got dicey. My PB and iMac do not run the same OSX versions, the PB being pretty old. Additionaly the cause of my concern was my wife's photos stored in some obscure location on the PB and using an old version of iPhoto which did not mesh at all with my iMac version.
After a bit of poking about and trying different work arounds I got lucky and a info box poped up saying that the data needed to be upgraded to be read by my newer version of iPhoto. Long storey short I went down this path and got everything transfered to the iMac. Just not sure how I got on that path, but I did.

Running dead iMac from external SSD?

After watching a video on how to install an SSD in my early 2008 iMac, I bought an external USB enclosure and opted to simply boot off it, using my iMac's internal drive as a backup. This has worked great for more than a year. But last week, after 5 years of yeoman service, the internal drive died. The iMac still boots up fine off the external SSD. I would just like to know if there's any reason I shouldn't continue to use the iMac in this fashion. Any comments or advice appreciated.

Just tried to boot the newly cloned external SSD. Pressed the option key on startup to bring up the startup disk icons. Just got a gray screen. Did a hard shutdown, disconnected the two SSD's. Waited. Reconnected everything. Tried again. This time one SSD icon of the two came up but nothing happened when I clicked on it. Shut down again. Zapped the PRAM. Booted again. This time I got both SSD icons. Yay. But the cursor wouldn't move nor would the arrow keys do anything. Boo. This time I disconnected the SSD's and pulled the power cord from the back of the iMac. Waited a few minutes then reconnected. Booted again. Again got the single icon and the frozen cursor. I had the feeling that the dead (or almost dead) internal hard drive was somehow getting in the way of the startup process. I disconnected one of the SSD's and the remaining one booted fine. I re-connected the second one. It mounted. I opened up the Startup Disk Pref Pane. Only one of the SSD's showed up so I selected the one there. I re-booted & voila. All is sweetness and light. I think I'm going to have to open up the box and disconnect the comatose HD so I don't have to do this dance anymore.

Problem with Early 2008 iMac upgrade to Corsair 2x2b memory kit

I am upgrading my Early 2008 iMac 20-inch model to have 4 gb memory.
My memory choice is Corsair Memory VS4GSDSKIT800D2 4 GB Kit (2x2GB) PC2-6400 800Mhz 200-pin DDR2 SODIMM Dual Channel Laptop Memory
More model information here:
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Based on Apple's documentation here:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1759
You can use any Small-Outline dual inline memory modules (SO-DIMMS) that meets all of these criteria:
PC2-6400
Unbuffered
Nonparity
200-pin
800 MHz
DDR2 SDRAM
I think there should be no hardware compatibility issue here.
I installed following the instructions from Apple.com as well. Except I find it odd that there wasn't a very clear "click" sound to indicate a proper installment during the process. I take the old memories out and simply pushed the new chips into the compartment without doing anything else. Put everything back, connect the power cord and press the power button.
After I upgrade the memory, either the machine won't turn on, or it will beep with a warning sound forever unless I turn the power off.
I wonder if I should get a refund, change to either Kingston or Crucial's memory or it is for some other reason.
I didn't have such issue with upgrading my macbook with Kingston's chips, so maybe iMac doesn't support Corsair well?
Also, I heard around here that my machine seems to support 6gb memory instead of 4gb. Is there a brand requirement like I have to get Crucial or OWC's chips to acccomplish it? Source: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/Intel_Core_2_Duo_PC2-6400

ttback wrote:
I was worried to break anything if I push too hard. It seemed like pushing the same way with original chips had no issues. It is certainly not as easy as the macbook for the clip part.
Sometime the blades on after market modules are slightly thicker and they needs a little more force to be fully seated in the slots.
ttback wrote:
Do you think there would be any drawback if I change my upgrade plan to 6gb from OWC?
That's totally up to you? Check with the seller, because most online sellers will want to charge a restocking and shipping.

Is there a way to run a external ssd with my mid 2011 iMac hdd in a raid configuration and basically have a fusion drive

is there a way to run a external ssd with my mid 2011 iMac hdd in a raid configuration and basically have a fusion drive

A Fusion Drive is not a RAID; it's a CoreStorage logical volume group. While it's technically possible to do as you suggest, there would be little or no benefit from it.

I'd like to know how can i connect my old iMac tiger with new one iMac lion. I wanna use the old one for external disk to collect files from there to new one.

I'd like to know how can i connect my old iMac tiger with new one iMac lion. I wanna use the old one for external disk to collect files from there to new one.

Hi mshields1162,
Great question, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
First, you may want to choose to have the sidebar displayed for familiarity:
iTunes 11: Frequently used features
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5649
Afterwards, your device should be displayed if connected:
We'll want to click on it, and choose the Music tab at the top. Let's make sure "Sync Music" is checked:
Afterwards, you'll have the option to sync either the entire music library (for your first iPod), or "Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres" (for the secondary device). Upon selecting this option, four larger option boxes will appear allowing you to pick and choose what content will be synced. For audiobooks, you may need to do the above in the "Books" section. For a visual instruction on how to do this, see the following:
iTunes 10: Sync to your iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/VI72
Thanks,
Matt M.

On 2011 iMac, External Altec Lansing speakers no longer work after upgrading to Mountain Lion. They DO work on a lenovo machine but not my imac

On 2011 iMac, External Altec Lansing speakers no longer work after upgrading to Mountain Lion.
They DO work on a lenovo machine but not my iMac. reset Pram - no luck. took speakers from wife's desktop, they
do not work when jack plugged into my iMac - Sys Prefs "SOUND" only lists "internal speakers/ built in" as available options.
I used my altec lansing speakers on 3 macs including this one for 5-6 years.....now with Mountian Lion I can only get internal speakers???
Ideas? Any/All help would be greatly appreciated - been going nuts with this for 2 days now.

Hi,
When you start Messages fro the first time you are asked for an Apple ID
When this is verified and entered it appears in Messages Menu > Preference > Accounts and is Enabled.
The App should have also picked on on those iChat Accounst you had before.
These should be Enabled if they were when you last used iChat.
Exactly which "Accounts" are logged in can be seen in Message Menu > Accounts and will include the iMessage "Account" and Bonjour.
In the Window menu you will see CMD +0 for the Messages window and CMD+1 for the "Buddies" window which is a combined list at this stage.
Go to the Preferences > General Section and Untick the "Collect all accounts into one list".
This will give you separate iChat type Buddy lists.
You can check if that account/Buddy list is set to Invisible or if in the Preferences > Accounts > Security you have settings that will block some people from seeing you as On line.
You are saying Buddies can see you as On Line which implies they are still sending to your AIM based Names (@Mac.com is a valid AIM Screen Name)
I am not sure from your post if you are trying to iMessage their email IDs thinking they are Apple IDs and that they are using Messages as well.
There is no Buddy list for iMessages side
No-one can tell you are "On Line" until they have your details in the "To" spot in Messages with the correct iMessaged contact info (iPhone Number or Apple ID)
Obviously an Apple ID can be an email or look like one.
In some cases they are also valid AIM Screen Names as well.
In the case or the @mac.com name you may have linked this Apple ID to iMessages as well.
11:31 PM Saturday; August 11, 2012
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I have an early 2008 iMac running iOs 10.5.8. I need to upgrade to at least iOs 10.6 snow leopard in order to install the driver for a new HP Office Jet Pro 8610 printer. How do I go about doing this, and which version of 10.6 would be best?

I have an early 2008 iMac running iOs 10.5.8.It has a 2.8 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo. I need to upgrade to at least iOs 10.6 Snow Leopard in order to install the driver for a new HP OfficeJetPro 8610 printer. Which version of 10.6 would be the best for this Mac and how do I go about upgrading?

Click here and buy the DVD.
(115929)

Old 2008 iMac external SSD upgrade

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