Can you replace a hard drive in a 2015 27 inch iMac?

[filpo]

My dad's iMac is old but still going on and it always takes ages for anything to load on it (cuz its fragmented)

So was wondering if I should add some more ram to it (I know I can I'm just wondering should I add another 8 or get a new 8x2 kit?)

 

Then, I know its stretching a bit, but could I upgrade the hard drive to an SSD? I'm pretty sure its a 2.5 inch mount in the iMac but I don't know for sure. This is mostly because on start up it normally takes around 3 minutes for everything to get working normally 

Alternatively, I could also run some defragmentation software on the iMac so do you guys know of any? Thanks again

[johnno23]

Simple answer yes. 

is it the retina iMAC? if so go here - shouldbe able to drop in a sata SSD and yes to the memory simply get as much as fits. imacs are relatively tolerant so no need to use Apple memory as long as you use the same speed and type. Swapping memory and using a diffrent speed can have firmaware issue is the only thing i ever experienced.

 

[johnno23]

for got to mention..........get yourself some of those thin white cotten gloves as you are handling itmes where greasy fingers are an issue with the dismatle and reassemble process.

[filpo]

1 minute ago, johnno23 said:

Simple answer yes. 

is it the retina iMAC? if so go here - shouldbe able to drop in a sata SSD and yes to the memory simply get as much as fits. imacs are relatively tolerant so no need to use Apple memory as long as you use the same speed and type. Swapping memory and using a diffrent speed can have firmaware issue is the only thing i ever experienced.

 

Good to know about the ram

You sure about the ssd tho? Because I once tried an older iMac hard drive as extra storage but the hard drive just didn't work in my pc. Any reason for that?

Maybe Apple changed something throughout the years

But how would I transfer the files over to the ssd? Just using a pc?

[johnno23]

If using a PC to trranfer the files you have two options

transmac I believe is the name as it allows a PC to read the Mac files. 

Alternative is to use network sharing. you can write to a drive but windows often simply does not on its own without help have an ability to read the files. however they can be pulled back again.

you can also use the internet to download the mac software to the new drive. then use a simple exteranl usb drive bay to connect the old drive and move those files back again.

if you have an external drive already that is usable for your father just format that drive to mac file system and copy everything over and then it is ready to go.

Inserting a new drive into the mac first connect it to the mac and format to mac file system as otherwise it is often unrecognised once in the system if it is the only drive.

And using a mac drive in a PC will not work unless you use a 3rd party app to reformat that drive to be recognised by windows file system

 

 

[filpo]

1 minute ago, johnno23 said:

If using a PC to trranfer the files you have two options

transmac I believe is the name as it allows a PC to read the Mac files. 

Alternative is to use network sharing. you can write to a drive but windows often simply does not on its own without help have an ability to read the files. however they can be pulled back again.

you can also use the internet to download the mac software to the new drive. then use a simple exteranl usb drive bay to connect the old drive and move those files back again.

if you have an external drive already that is usable for your father just format that drive to mac file system and copy everything over and then it is ready to go.

Inserting a new drive into the mac first connect it to the mac and format to mac file system as otherwise it is often unrecognised once in the system

 

 

Good to know, thanks.

Just wondering, since this won't be done instantaneously, do you have any suggestions for mac defragmentation software? Just to make things bearable for now 

[johnno23]

defragging a mac drive is generally not that helpful.

however you can use the disk utlity on the mac iteslf to check file permissions etc.

also within Disk utlity on the mac is a whats termed a first aid unless the naming is changed but it can basically move some files  into more coherent  blocks on the drive which help increase accessability times making it run faster.

I would also ask your father to offload as much as he can to another storage device...USB thumb drives would work well for things as photos etc any music and even video files. those can be safely deleted from the drive giving the internal drive of the imac more room and much of that fragmention is then a non issue.

as you well know file like to be written to a disk wherever ther is space and if a file is large and has to be written over many different sector it slows down the overall speed. moving a lot of file off the drive will help out quite a lot.

 

[filpo]

3 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

I would also ask your father to offload as much as he can to another storage device...USB thumb drives would work well for things as photos etc any music and even video files. those can be safely deleted from the drive giving the internal drive of the imac more room and much of that fragmention is then a non issue.

Good thing we just got a 2tb external hdd from wd then

 

3 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

however you can use the disk utlity on the mac iteslf to check file permissions etc.

also within Disk utlity on the mac is a whats termed a first aid unless the naming is changed but it can basically move some files  into more coherent  blocks on the drive which help increase accessability times making it run faster.

cool thanks again

[Needfuldoer]

30 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

I would also ask your father to offload as much as he can to another storage device...USB thumb drives would work well for things as photos etc any music and even video files. those can be safely deleted from the drive giving the internal drive of the imac more room and much of that fragmention is then a non issue.

Please don't trust USB flash drives with the only copy of files you care about. (Especially if they're irreplaceable like photos.)

 

Always remember the 3-2-1 backup strategy:

3 copies of your files, on

2 different types of media, with

1 copy kept off-site.

[filpo]

Just now, Needfuldoer said:

Please don't trust USB flash drives with the only copy of files you care about.

 

Always remember the 3-2-1 backup strategy:

3 copies of your files, on

2 different types of media, with

1 copy kept off-site.

Ye don't worry we've got a separate clean external hard drive that I'm gonna use for that