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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Q: Original brand hard drive imac 24" 2.4Ghz (EMC 2134)

Q: Original brand hard drive imac 24" 2.4Ghz (EMC 2134)
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chasg
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Aug 4, 2014, 08:12 PM
 
Hi All,

I need to replace the internal HD in my ailing imac that has given me no end of trouble.

Model: aluminum Intel iMac 24" 2.4Ghz (EMC 2134)

I've read that I need to use the same brand of hard drive that was in it originally, but I don't know what it was, as it was replaced by a tech long ago (who I'm sure didn't know it had to be a like for like swap, as this machine has had cooling problems ever since that replacement).

Can anyone tell me, definitively, what brand of hard drive was originally in this model of imac?

Thanks in advance for any insights. I'm hoping that getting the right brand of drive in might be a definitive fix for literally years of problems.

Cheers!

Chas
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Aug 4, 2014, 08:17 PM
 
Any one of many brands grace most iMacs. It's not a brand issue, really, but those infernal heat sensors are.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 4, 2014, 08:43 PM
 
"Infernal" is a most apt word!

ifixit says that the brand is important, as Apple had moved to using the internal heat sensors with these models. I have a new 2TB WD Green drive sitting around, I'd like to put it in, but not if I'm going to continue to have these overheating problems (the imac really does get very hot, and then powers down).

The internal drive has died (it's the third one: the original was too small, the first replacement died, and now the 2nd replacement has died). I've spent lots of ££ and lots and lots of time trying to move to an all-external solution (booting from a FW800 drive), but I hit the last roadblock today, and that is no longer an option.

Any suggestions on how to move forward? If I do put this WD drive inside, anything heat sensor related I need to be extra careful of? (You certainly seem to know about problems that I don't!).
     
akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 12:30 AM
 
chasq,

When I googled "EMC 2134", one of the "hits" I got was this ifixit hard drive installation guide:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+In...placement/8968

It does not say that you need to install the same brand of a hard drive. Also, notice that steps 14, 21 and 22 mention removing a thermal sensor. (The installation certainly looks challenging!).

One has to wonder whether the technician that did the replacement hard drive installation re-connected the thermal sensors correctly. If not, that could explain why you have been having heat issues.

As for identifying the hard drive currently inside your iMac, either Disk Utility, or the freeware program EtreCheck will tell you both the brand and the size of the drive (you can also find out using "About This Mac"). But, if the drive is truly "dead", then you will not be able to identify it until you remove the drive. Again, though, according to ifixit, it makes no difference what brand drive you install.

In any event, good luck!
     
badidea
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Aug 5, 2014, 04:14 AM
 
Originally Posted by akent35 View Post
...As for identifying the hard drive currently inside your iMac, either Disk Utility, or the freeware program EtreCheck will tell you both the brand and the size of the drive (you can also find out using "About This Mac")...
I don't think that Disk Utility or any other tool will be able to tell the brand and size of a hard drive which has been replaced long ago!

@chasg: Why don't you go with an SSD internal plus the FW800 drive external? SSDs shouldn't have a heat problem, right?
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Aug 5, 2014, 09:17 AM
 
I suggest you look into getting an SSD instead: it's really a big, big, big upgrade, trust me, it's worth it. You can get quality 512 GB drives for about $250.
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akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 10:13 AM
 
Originally Posted by badidea View Post
I don't think that Disk Utility or any other tool will be able to tell the brand and size of a hard drive which has been replaced long ago!
I said "As for identifying the hard drive currently inside your iMac, either Disk Utility, or the freeware program EtreCheck will tell you both the brand and the size of the drive (you can also find out using "About This Mac")." Note the word currently.

Do you need glasses?
     
akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 10:15 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I suggest you look into getting an SSD instead: it's really a big, big, big upgrade, trust me, it's worth it. You can get quality 512 GB drives for about $250.
Yes, that would be a worthwhile upgrade. It certainly was for me, when I replaced the slow 1TB 5400 rpm drive that was inside my Mac Mini with a fast Samsung 840 Pro 256 gig SSD. What a difference!
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:01 AM
 
Hi @akent35, thanks for the response, sorry it's taken me so long to get back.

When I was googling around trying to find something else to attempt, I first found this ifixit video, which led me to the same step by step page that you pointed me to (it's a challenging process, but I've done worse :-)) One of the first things she mentions is the brand-specificity issue.

The tech who replaced the drive actually took the iMac back, when I mentioned to him the overheating issue. He had it for over a week, working specifically on the thermal problem, and I had to trust him when it came back that he'd done all he could (but he admitted that there was some unspecified motherboard fault he couldn't address, but I couldn't get more than that from him grr). Perhaps at that time it hadn't trickled down that there was a brand-specific issue (assuming that what the ifixit person says is canon and that there really is one).

And it happens that I do need glasses (gettin' old!), but determining which brand of drive is in the machine presently really isn't necessary, but I appreciate the suggestion. And I assure you the internal drive is dead, it won't even spin up any more.

@badidea and @OreoCookie: an SSD, why didn't I think of that! (how embarrassing). Definitely the way to go (my Mac Pro has 3, including the startup drive, big speedups). I wonder what the approach would be for the thermal sensors in that case (rhetorical question: I'll attach them as directed in the ifixit step by step). I can save quite a bit by going for a 256 gig drive, as the FW800 drive that I was attempting to use as a startup drive is 3TB (my plan was to repurpose it for my machine, if I couldn't get it to work as a startup drive, which I couldn't...again: grr!).

Thanks all for the contributions, much appreciated!

Chas
     
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by chasg View Post
I can save quite a bit by going for a 256 gig drive, as the FW800 drive that I was attempting to use as a startup drive is 3TB (my plan was to repurpose it for my machine, if I couldn't get it to work as a startup drive, which I couldn't...again: grr!).
In my experience, 256 GB is too small … that's the capacity my 13" Retina has. But in any case, that's your chance to upgrade the hard drive of your iMac -- which is not so easy, unfortunately.
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akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by chasg View Post
Hi @akent35, thanks for the response, sorry it's taken me so long to get back.

When I was googling around trying to find something else to attempt, I first found this ifixit video, which led me to the same step by step page that you pointed me to (it's a challenging process, but I've done worse :-)) One of the first things she mentions is the brand-specificity issue.
What's perplexing is that the installation guide itself does not mention the brand/hard drive issue at all. I even first went to ifixit's "main" page for your iMac model, and from there one can select various installation guides, including the one I provided a direct link to. Again, nothing is stated about the brand of hard drive.

Originally Posted by chasg View Post
@badidea and @OreoCookie: an SSD, why didn't I think of that! (how embarrassing). Definitely the way to go (my Mac Pro has 3, including the startup drive, big speedups). I wonder what the approach would be for the thermal sensors in that case (rhetorical question: I'll attach them as directed in the ifixit step by step). I can save quite a bit by going for a 256 gig drive, as the FW800 drive that I was attempting to use as a startup drive is 3TB (my plan was to repurpose it for my machine, if I couldn't get it to work as a startup drive, which I couldn't...again: grr!).
Here are a couple of links that can help you:

iMac Intel 24" EMC 2134 and 2211 SSD Dual Drive Installation - Crucial

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/...+-+tips+needed

Note that last link says that you need a "slower" SSD. Also, here is the "overall" link I got when I googled "SSDs for EMC 2134" (the two links above are on there):

https://www.google.com/search?q=SSDs...x-a&channel=sb
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:27 AM
 
Well, the iMac in question is limping along (a miracle, finally got something working, as of a little while ago) with an old bus-powered 120GB FW800 drive (the unsolved mystery at the moment: it won't boot with AC-powered FW800 drives, thus the 3TB drive being relegated to mere storage). Right now, surprisingly, there is 40GB free on the drive, because all large media (movies, music) are on the house NAS. If I can train the family to use an external drive for all storage, I think that a 256GB SSD will do us.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:29 AM
 
@akent35, just spotted your link-rich reply, many thanks! I'm just on the move now, but I'll have a very good look through before ordering anything. (a "slower" SSD, what's up with that??).
     
akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
In my experience, 256 GB is too small … that's the capacity my 13" Retina has. But in any case, that's your chance to upgrade the hard drive of your iMac -- which is not so easy, unfortunately.
The size of the SSD depends on one's processing needs. If one needs a large number of applications, and instant access to associated data files, then yes, 256 gig would be too small. For myself, I don't need a large number of apps. And, for any large data files that I need to access, getting them from an external drive works for me.

I am typing this on my 2013 13" Mac Book Air, and it came with a 250 gig SSD. As of now, I am using 103 gigs on it. 52 gig of that is in 5 folders that I could move to an external device, as one of those folders contains some movies, and the other 4 are various TV series seasons. For my Mac Mini, I am only using about 80 gig on the Samsung 256 gig SSD that I installed myself last November.

One thing is for sure: any SSD less than 250 gig would be a problem!
     
akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 11:41 AM
 
Originally Posted by chasg View Post
@akent35, just spotted your link-rich reply, many thanks! I'm just on the move now, but I'll have a very good look through before ordering anything. (a "slower" SSD, what's up with that??).
Good question! The link I provided about that specifically states:

"However you must have a drive that is Serial ATA II (3 Gb/s).

A "new" 6Gb/s SATA III drive could have problems freezing and stalling if it does not 'downshift" to the slower read/write speed. Depending upon the size of the SSD you might need a special bracket or adapter."

That of course was one person's answer to a question about putting an SSD inside an iMac EMC 2134. I did not look at any of the other "hits" resulting from the google search.

Also, I do not know which brands of SSDs could do the so called "down shifting", regarding the read/write speeds.

Note also the mention of possibly needing a special bracket or adapter. You might want to see if ifixit has an installation guide for installing an SSD. Also, OWC could be a good source too.
     
badidea
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Aug 5, 2014, 01:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by akent35 View Post
I said "As for identifying the hard drive currently inside your iMac, either Disk Utility, or the freeware program EtreCheck will tell you both the brand and the size of the drive (you can also find out using "About This Mac")." Note the word currently.

Do you need glasses?
Well, it's not my fault that you answer questions nobody asked!
Glasses don't help here either!
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akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 01:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by badidea View Post
Well, it's not my fault that you answer questions nobody asked!
Glasses don't help here either!
Man, I guess you don't know that 1 + 1 =2! The op stated above:

"I've read that I need to use the same brand of hard drive that was in it originally, but I don't know what it was, as it was replaced by a tech long ago (who I'm sure didn't know it had to be a like for like swap, as this machine has had cooling problems ever since that replacement)."

And:

"The internal drive has died (it's the third one: the original was too small, the first replacement died, and now the 2nd replacement has died)."

So, the logical assumption would be that if the technician knew what he was doing, the subsequent hard drive (drives?) would have been the same brand as the original one. This assumes that what the op saw, about requiring the same brand, is accurate.

Also, logically speaking, it would be useful to know what brand is in there currently. If the thermal connectors were re-connected properly by the technician, then there is a possibility that the brand of drive inside the op's imac is deficient in some way.

And, yes, you do need glasses. Also, seems like you cannot follow logic.
     
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Aug 5, 2014, 01:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by chasg View Post
@akent35, just spotted your link-rich reply, many thanks! I'm just on the move now, but I'll have a very good look through before ordering anything. (a "slower" SSD, what's up with that??).
Just get a quality SSD and you'll be fine. My brother put an Intel 330-series SSD into my father's aging Mac mini, and it worked great. Quality brands as far as SSDs go are Intel (530 and S3500 series) and Samsung (840 evo/pro).
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Aug 5, 2014, 02:00 PM
 
<mod voice>Please, guys, keep your spat out of here. </mod voice>
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akent35
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Aug 5, 2014, 02:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Just get a quality SSD and you'll be fine. My brother put an Intel 330-series SSD into my father's aging Mac mini, and it worked great. Quality brands as far as SSDs go are Intel (530 and S3500 series) and Samsung (840 evo/pro).
Well said! The reasons why I chose the Samsung 840 Pro 256 gig SSD were 1) about the fastest read and write speeds, and 2) the numerous excellent reviews I saw (both from Windows and Mac users). An 840 EVO is also an excellent choice.
     
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Aug 5, 2014, 06:00 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I suggest you look into getting an SSD instead: it's really a big, big, big upgrade, trust me, it's worth it. You can get quality 512 GB drives for about $250.
Or a 1TB SSD for about $400.
     
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Aug 5, 2014, 06:42 PM
 
Where did you find a 1 TB SSD for $400?
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Aug 6, 2014, 07:38 AM
 
Some recent deals have had them around there. Right now, Newegg have a couple of TB ones for $470, including the 840evo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...sNav-_-UpTo1TB
     
ghporter
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Aug 6, 2014, 07:43 AM
 
Now I'm interested... Are there still brands of SSDs to avoid? I recall Kingston (I think) getting dissed pretty thoroughly for poor quality in their SSDs.....

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badidea
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Aug 6, 2014, 09:39 AM
 
The 840evo is only $440 at Amazon!

I have no idea if there are any brands to avoid. The market is so cluttered now - even worse than with LCD TVs - that I have no idea what most of the differences are! I think I'll just stick with Samsung or Crucial as long as they get good ratings and have reasonable prices...
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Aug 6, 2014, 10:09 AM
 
410$ at some dealers in Germany (309€ excluding VAT).
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 6, 2014, 10:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by badidea View Post
I have no idea if there are any brands to avoid. The market is so cluttered now
Have a look at Anandtech's July 2014 SSD buyers' guide: they recommend Samsung (both, 850 Pro and 840 Evo), Sandisk, and Crucial. Samsung is listed in every category. If you want to pony up the cash, Intel's new SSDs are also great. Avoid Transcend. Personally, I'd stick to Samsung or Intel.
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Aug 6, 2014, 11:42 AM
 
I think that the recent consolidation on the market has removed a lot of the worst options. Note that the 840 Evo is a bit old now, and the regular 850 should not be too far away.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
akent35
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Aug 6, 2014, 11:51 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Have a look at Anandtech's July 2014 SSD buyers' guide: they recommend Samsung (both, 850 Pro and 840 Evo), Sandisk, and Crucial. Samsung is listed in every category. If you want to pony up the cash, Intel's new SSDs are also great. Avoid Transcend. Personally, I'd stick to Samsung or Intel.
Good information! From what I remember back in October, the 840 Pro was similarly rated very high. Here, though, is a review of the 850 Pro:

Samsung 850 Pro: The best SSD of 2014? [Review]
     
akent35
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Aug 6, 2014, 11:56 AM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
I think that the recent consolidation on the market has removed a lot of the worst options. Note that the 840 Evo is a bit old now, and the regular 850 should not be too far away.
Good to know that. Interestingly, the Samsung 840 Pro is still rather expensive, although somewhat less than the average price of $240 I saw the 256 gig model for back in October, when I purchased mine (got it for only $120 at Best Buy, through price matching, and the use of a Best Buy Rewards certificate).
     
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Aug 6, 2014, 01:44 PM
 
We've got an 850pro on the testing dock right now. The 840evo is 90% of the speed.
     
akent35
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Aug 6, 2014, 01:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by EstaNightshift View Post
We've got an 850pro on the testing dock right now. The 840evo is 90% of the speed.
Great! If possible, could you provide a review, similar to the link to such a review I posted above? That would be very helpful.
     
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Aug 6, 2014, 02:06 PM
 
When the 850pro is done, sure.

We did the 840evo last year:

Review - Samsung 840 Evo 750 GB SATA-3 SSD Review | MacNN
     
akent35
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Aug 6, 2014, 03:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by EstaNightshift View Post
When the 850pro is done, sure.

We did the 840evo last year:

Review - Samsung 840 Evo 750 GB SATA-3 SSD Review | MacNN
That's an EXCELLENT review! It contains quite a bit of useful and informative stuff. Way to go!!!!!!
     
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Aug 7, 2014, 04:58 AM
 
Guys the only iMacs with the stupid temp sensor issue are more recent than this one. You can use any brand HDD in a 24" iMac, the temp sensor has its own cable and is stuck on the outside of the drive so you can transfer it if you replace the drive.
I think its the 2009 models where you are ok if you match the disk brands, the 2011 and newer have proprietary firmware on the drives and no separate temp sensor cable.

In my experience SSDs can cause issues with older Macs but skimming over the thread it seems you've covered this. I had an OCZ SSD that was useless in a 2008 MBP, a 2010 Mac Pro, a 2009 Xserve and a 2010 Mac Mini I tried it in. Worked for a day or two sometimes, then got worse and worse until corrupted entirely.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
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Aug 7, 2014, 05:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Have a look at Anandtech's July 2014 SSD buyers' guide: they recommend Samsung (both, 850 Pro and 840 Evo), Sandisk, and Crucial. Samsung is listed in every category. If you want to pony up the cash, Intel's new SSDs are also great. Avoid Transcend. Personally, I'd stick to Samsung or Intel.
Thanks for the links...and yes, Intel as well probably!
I still don't understand why there are some SSDs out there which cost 5x more but seem to have no advantage at all when compared to other models (not even in reliability) but maybe that's just because those "old" models are still available even though their special features (like reliability) have already been beaten by competitors for a much cheaper price!?
(example: Kingston SSDNow E100 2,5 SSD 400 GB SE100S37&#47;400G)

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
In my experience SSDs can cause issues with older Macs but skimming over the thread it seems you've covered this. I had an OCZ SSD that was useless in a 2008 MBP, a 2010 Mac Pro, a 2009 Xserve and a 2010 Mac Mini I tried it in. Worked for a day or two sometimes, then got worse and worse until corrupted entirely.
Really? I have an OCZ Vertex in a 2007 Mac mini and haven't had any issues so far as far I can tell!
What causes this?
( Last edited by badidea; Aug 7, 2014 at 05:33 AM. Reason: Typo)
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Aug 7, 2014, 07:12 AM
 
Shitty firmware.
     
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Aug 7, 2014, 09:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by badidea View Post
I still don't understand why there are some SSDs out there which cost 5x more but seem to have no advantage at all when compared to other models (not even in reliability)
You linked to an enterprise class SSD which is a very different beast: different controller, different memory, more overprovisioning, etc. Also firmware testing is much more extensive. This last point is not to be underestimated: bugs in the »firmware« (that's really software running on top of the controller) can and have caused data loss. Intel, for instance, is known for testing its firmware thoroughly, so that even though sometimes Intel uses the same controller as some of its competitors (e. g. the ubiquitous Sandforce SF-2281), Intel drives run more reliably.

Ditto for controllers: different controllers are optimized for different kinds of workloads. While especially older or consumer SSD firmwares and controllers were optimized for data throughput, newer and enterprise-class SSD controllers optimize also for performance consistency (the controller has to schedule maintenance tasks which can interfere with regular operations).

Overprovisioning is also a topic: SSDs with a capacity of, say, 480 GB feature more than 480 GB RAM. In most consumer drives, the SSD has 512 GB of actual flash storage, and the »missing« 32 GB are the SSD's overprivisioning. These 32 GB are used primarily for two purposes: (1) If a memory cell is found to be faulty, the SSD controller marks it as bad and uses memory from the overprovisioning to replace it. And (2) the empty space is used for maintenance tasks, improving performance and performance consistency. Consumer drives regularly feature ~7 % overprovisioning while enterprise class drives sport 15 % or more. The Kingston drive you've linked to has 20 % overprovisioning. (For the same reason, people should not fill up their SSD to the brim, because performance eventually degrades.)

There are also other measures which improve reliability of enterprise-class SSDs, but I think you get the idea that enterprise-class SSDs and consumer-class SSDs are different beasts.
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badidea
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Aug 7, 2014, 09:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
You linked to an enterprise class SSD which is a very different beast...
I know that I linked to an enterprise class SSD - I just didn't know what the exact differences were! Thanks for the detailed explanation!
(I guess comparable are Radeon GPUs which I use at home vs FirePro GPUs which I use at work)
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Aug 7, 2014, 10:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by badidea View Post
I know that I linked to an enterprise class SSD - I just didn't know what the exact differences were! Thanks for the detailed explanation!
You're welcome.
Of course, to most consumers the price difference isn't worth it while enterprises are milked. The nice thing is that many of the improvements trickle down to the consumer market.
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Aug 7, 2014, 01:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
In my experience SSDs can cause issues with older Macs but skimming over the thread it seems you've covered this. I had an OCZ SSD that was useless in a 2008 MBP, a 2010 Mac Pro, a 2009 Xserve and a 2010 Mac Mini I tried it in. Worked for a day or two sometimes, then got worse and worse until corrupted entirely.
Wonder if this was partially caused by using a 6 gbs SATA 3 SSD (if you did)? Here is a link that mentions this, at least for an iMac:

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/...+-+tips+needed

I have a newer 2013 Mac Mini, and the Samsung 256 gig 840 Pro that I installed back in November has been working fine. That drive is a 6 gbs SATA 3 SSD.

Also, when I used About This Mac to get information about the SATA/SATA Express entries, for Intel 7 Series Chipset on my Mac Mini, it states for link speed 6 gigabit.

In the same vein, when I did a google search of "SSDs for 2008 Macbook Pro", here is one of the "hits":

Advice on 480 or 512GB SSD for late 2008 Macbook Pro...

For that user, the link speed was 3 gigabit.

So, if one has a somewhat "older" Mac, and is considering an SSD, it would be prudent to see what the link speed is, and that should help in determining the types of SSDs one can use.
( Last edited by akent35; Aug 7, 2014 at 01:40 PM. )
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Aug 7, 2014, 02:31 PM
 
The 2010 Mac Mini has SATA3.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 16, 2014, 09:03 AM
 
Wow, go away for a few days, and come back to a info-dense thread! Thanks very much everyone for the (mostly) relevant discussion and helpful info! :-)

Right, here's what I ended up doing, and the aftermath.

tl:dr: mostly success. Mostly.

I ordered a Samsung 256GB 840 EVO 250GB SSD, and learned how to crack my iMac open. I couldn't find any SATA II-only drives that weren't too small or too expensive, so I took a risk on a drive that should be able to step down from SATA III to II, as necessary. I have a Samsung 840 in my Mac Pro, and it works nicely (though it's SATA III, of course), so I took a punt. Here it is in a sled:



Cracking the iMac wasn't too much of an issue, because of the useful step by step instructions that iFixit offer (I propped up my ipad mini and read them from there). Thanks to many for the pointer @akent35. I didn't buy any suction cups, I just used a suction cup mount I had lying around (it holds a small camera or flash), and I borrowed a GPS suction mount from the car Here it is, open, with the hard drive removed (those thermal sensors are a bit of a pain to deal with: fiddly wires and failing tape).



I'm a professional photographer with a studio full of kit, and one thing that came in really handy were multi-axis articulating arms (aka Manfrotto "magic" arms) and clamps which I used to hold the aluminium bezel and LCD in place once I'd moved them 90 degrees out of the way. This meant I could work on the hard drive without disconnecting either the microphone cable or the LCD cable (MacFixit states that putting this cable back is the hardest part of the repair, so I just avoided the issue). I put a magazine on either side of the LCD so that the clamp wouldn't crack it. Closeup and overview below.




I had several sleds and brackets lying around to convert a 2.5" drive to a 3.5" form factor, so I thought that one of them would easily do. Annoyingly, none of them put the SSD in quite the the right place (the only one that would, the bottom one in the photo, was tapped incorrectly for the side screws. It was an "arrgh" moment, I could have forced the screws in, but ran a real risk there, for obvious reasons). The SATA and power cables of the iMac have almost no slack for positioning, so the SSD needed to be in exactly the right place.



I almost despaired getting the SSD safely in there, and even considered just letting it lie loose. I ended up having to use the "Corsair" sled (into which the SSD is already installed in both of the photos in this post). As you can see, it was too short to screw in both bolts of the heavy plastic clip that the iMac uses to hold it hard drive in place, and only one of the two bolts on the other side had any place to go as well. So, as you can see in the photo below, I screwed in only one side of the clip, and only one of the bolts on the other side (oops, I forgot to take a photo of the drive in place in the iMac). That means the SSD could, conceivably, pivot in place, but this iMac never moves (and no gyroscopic effect of spinning platters), so I'm willing to take the chance.



I took the thermal sensor off the hard drive (which looked like it was installed correctly) and I just had to stick on to the sled holding the SSD (the SSD was installed sled-side up, towards the LCD, in order to get the SATA and power connectors in the right place for attachment). I wasn't sure if I should just take the sensor out (by disconnecting its cable at the source), but I decided to leave it in place.

Putting the iMac back together wasn't hard. I did use some compressed air and a vacuum to clean out the fan as much as possible, and all that dust went, of course, right on the LCD, so then I broke out the lens cleaning equipment and got that spotless before putting the glass back on.

I did format the SSD before installing, but I couldn't get the iMac to start up from my Mavericks USB stick, so I plugged the little FW800 in (the one I'd been running the iMac off of, mentioned in part of this thread), started up from that, and then installed Mavericks. Once that was installed, the iMac started up perfectly! (and very fast, of course).

Very happy at that point, and the external 3TB FW800 drive that I bought earlier (to unsuccessfully use as a startup drive) is going to be the bulk storage drive for this machine. My family just have to get used to not saving anything on the internal drive (all video and music files are on a NAS at this point anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem).

The only issue: the iMac still is overheating and spontaneously shutting down, but it's happening a lot less than it did before. Oh well, the only alternative is full replacement, and I'm not ready to do that yet.

So, the saga isn't over, but I'm happy with how things are now. Thanks, everyone, for all the info and help!

Chas
( Last edited by reader50; Aug 16, 2014 at 12:13 PM. Reason: inlined photos)
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Aug 16, 2014, 10:26 AM
 
Removing the spinning hard drive took a large source of heat out of the computer, but now I'm wondering what's overheating and causing the shutdown.

Can you run this for a while, see what's getting hot?

http://www.bresink.com/osx/0Temperat...r/download.php

Yeah, I know its not in active development, but it works like a champ in Mav.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 16, 2014, 12:13 PM
 
Ooo, that's an excellent idea! I'll install and see what's going on. Thanks!
     
reader50
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Aug 16, 2014, 12:14 PM
 
chasg, I edited your post to embed the photos. If you preferred the original version, say so and I'll put it back.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 16, 2014, 12:29 PM
 
Hey reader50, no worries, looks good. I'm just in the habit of putting image urls in as links :-) Oh, and please forgive the mess, my studio wasn't looking its best!
( Last edited by chasg; Aug 16, 2014 at 12:44 PM. Reason: added "my studio is messy" apology)
     
akent35
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Aug 16, 2014, 01:06 PM
 
Real pleased everything went OK, chasq. I never knew some (maybe quite a few?) SSDs could step down from SATA 3 to SATA 2. As they say, learn something new everyday!

Now if you can just find out why the heat issue is still happening. Hopefully the software recommended by EstaNightshift will help.

Good luck, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 16, 2014, 01:08 PM
 
EstaNightshift, I'm now running Temperature monitor with a full screen video file playing on a loop in VLC (and I'm watching it via VNC on my Mac Pro in my studio).

When I started, the ambient temperature was listed as 23C, and the various components ranged from 29C up to 50C (power supply). There has been a very steady upward trend in temperature for every sensor, and now things are pretty hot, with the hottest being the graphics processor temperature diode (94C, wow), followed by the graphics processor heatsink at 86C and then the graphics processor chip itself at 82C (just noticed that the power supply is at 85C).

The SSD is running at a cool 50C :-)

The machine hasn't shut itself down yet, but this great app has a history feature, so if/when it does shut down, I'll be able to see what temperature everything was.

...

Ok, it's now 7 minutes later, and the app's graph has shown a slight downward trend in temp for many components, with the others remaining steady. The GP diode is 89C, the GP heatsink is 80C, the GP chip is 77C and the power supply is steady at 89C (and the SSD has risen one degree to 51C).

Interesting!

Uh oh, spike in the wireless module's temperature over just a minute: from 52C to 60, and going up. I'm going to turn off wifi and bluetooth and see what happens. Huh, almost instant drop back down to 50C.

And now the problem areas, the three Graphics Processor data points, have all dropped dramatically (10C lower than their former maxes), but the power supply is up to 92C (holding steady there for the last few mins).

I wonder why there is no temperature sensor for the LCD? Seems like it'd be a huge heat generator.

Gonna post this now, I'll only update is there is a significant change.
     
chasg  (op)
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Aug 16, 2014, 01:18 PM
 
Thanks for the good wishes akent35 (and just fyi: it's "chasG", not "Q" :-)

The temperature app is pretty cool, as my last post details. The graph over time is particularly useful, wish I'd known about this before the original hard drive died (just so I could definitely know if it were part of the problem).

I just noticed where you're from. Coincidentally, I was in Kent, England the other day, I didn't know there was one in WA. Those English colonists didn't have a lot of imagination when they went elsewhere, did they (I used to live in Canada, where in an hour I could get to a Windsor, Cambridge, Stratford, Hamilton and a London :-)

Cheers!

Chas
     
 
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