Should I put an SSD in a 2007 iMac?

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Concentric

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 15, 2007
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Hey peeps,

I might get my hands on a 2007 iMac (Core 2 Duo era) so I'm considering popping in an SSD to bring it alive - something like an Intel 330 60GB (SSDSC2CT060A3K5).

I know that technically it would be compatible - I simply remove the SATA hard drive and plug in the SSD.
But is there any reason why it might not be a good idea to put such a modern SSD in a machine with a 5-year old chipset?
Would the chipset know how the handle the SSD correctly?
Anyone have any experience of putting SSDs in older systems?
 
It'll work OK - I've got an SSD in my 2007 MacBook Pro.

The SSD will prob support SATA-III whereas the iMac may only support SATA-II, but this won't stop it from working as SATA-III drives are backwards compatible. The drive won't run at its theoretical maximum transfer speeds, but it will still be dramatically faster than having a magnetic drive.
 
Which version of Mac OS X will you be running on it? You may (or may not) need to enable TRIM support. Just google "Mac OS X TRIM support" to see what I mean.
 
I would be using the latest OSX, if that's possible on the older hardware? :confused: I'm an OSX n00b. I'll be sure to check TRIM, thanks.
 
I'm not sure if it'll be able to run the latest OSX - not because it's not capable but because Apple can be funny about installing their latest software on older machines.
For example my 2007 macbook pro is technically 64 bit capable but Apple don't recognise it as such.
Lion or Snow Leopard should still work - will double check what I have installed when I get home tonight.
 
SSD's are like liquid schwartz to what would normally be a space-Winnebago. If you're not afraid to open up your imac, go for it. I would like to think 10.8 would install normally too.
 
slatfats said:
I'm not sure if it'll be able to run the latest OSX - not because it's not capable but because Apple can be funny about installing their latest software on older machines.
For example my 2007 macbook pro is technically 64 bit capable but Apple don't recognise it as such.
Lion or Snow Leopard should still work - will double check what I have installed when I get home tonight.
Click to expand...

Yes, for example the Mac Mini I'm typing this on is a Core Duo Mac Mini, not a Core 2 Duo Mac Mini. See the difference? That means the last system it can run is Snow Leopard (10.6.8). I overlooked that for a long time, thought I would be able to run 10.7 on it but I couldn't, so you'll need to check the iMac's specs carefully to find out which OS it can run. If I upgraded the CPU to a Core 2 Duo, I could run 10.8, but I don't want to bother. Snow Leopard is only $36 on amazon.

If you can start up the iMac, click the Apple menu, choose About This Mac, and click the "More Info" button. The second line will give you the Model Identifier which is what you want to google for, and the third line will be the Processor Name which will tell you for sure which CPU you have, whether you have Core 2 Duo or Core Duo (or maybe even something else).
 
Thanks for the information on OSX, but that's getting a little off topic.
I'm primarily interested in whether the SSD would work OK with the iMac motherboard (i.e. it's wouldn't be dropped by the chipset or fail to be detected, it wouldn't suffer terrible performance, etc).
I'm fairly sure that it wouldn't but I wanted to check to see if anyone had any input or experience of this situation, before I go spending the money on it.
 
It should work great. It will be night and day speed difference even if it only has SATA-1. It much more likely has SATA II and will be very zippy.
 
Do eet! Even if its SATA 1 its going to be a very noticeable improvement. As reasonable in price SSDs are I can't imagine not having one in a computer with any sort of SATA port.
 
Yes, do it. My 2008 MacBook got a new lease of life with an SSD in it. It is well worth the money.
 
Are you guys forgetting something?! Don't the drive have to be compatible and 2nd It got to have an apple partition so it make it work?
 
aminhamaeelinda said:
Are you guys forgetting something?! Don't the drive have to be compatible and 2nd It got to have an apple partition so it make it work?
Click to expand...

Define what you mean by "compatible". SATA is SATA. Newer Macs use off-the-shelf SSDs like the Samsung 830 line.

Apple partitions are HFS+ Extended/Journaled. Apple's Disk Utility app, as well as the Mac OS X installer, will set up the SSD just fine, and if he wants to do it on a PC beforehand for some damned reason, it's a piss-poor disk utility that won't do it.
 
Thanks for all the replies, looks like we have a consensus towards it being a good idea, so I'll definitely consider it.
 
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