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I need help figuring out which HDD is okay to use.
I have a fusion setup with the 3TB HDD and its starting to fail.
Id like to replace it with another HDD drive in either 4TB or 6TB.
I want to make sure I get the right drive so the blade drive will reconnect through fusion.
Should I avoid HHD's that are hybrid (like the seagate ones)?
Also the drive is SATA right?
Thanks
Hi jwieoqfe,
Fusion Drive are tricky in setting up the logical configuration, especially with a new drive.
While replacing it with a SATA drive may work, I would recommend just taking it to an Apple Store or AASP for service. Plus, you get a 90 day warranty this way, and you are not risking permanently braking your Mac with an accident.
I never attempt at home self repairs, especially with iMacs. You can find more out here: Mac Repair - Official Apple Support.
Cheers,
Jack
Hi jwieoqfe,
Fusion Drive are tricky in setting up the logical configuration, especially with a new drive.
While replacing it with a SATA drive may work, I would recommend just taking it to an Apple Store or AASP for service. Plus, you get a 90 day warranty this way, and you are not risking permanently braking your Mac with an accident.
I never attempt at home self repairs, especially with iMacs. You can find more out here: Mac Repair - Official Apple Support.
Cheers,
Jack
Do not replace the HD with another HD, get a SSD. Many experienced users recommend the following HDD to SSD kits: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/imac-27-inch/2013-2019
Also, please do not try to do this yourself. Please take the computer to your local independent Apple Authorized Service Provider that knows how. If you don't know of one, please click Apple Authorized Service Provider Locator (AASP) & Genius Appointment to begin finding one. An Apple Store will not do this upgrade for you.
Contact OWC Customer Supporter (MacSales.com) and ask them which of their drives to use and how to install it. The are the premier 3rd party Mac hardware provider and will guide you there the process.
However, I would seriously consider getting an external SSD drive, cloning your boot drive to it and run off of it. That way you will save the cost of having someone do the installation or possible damage to the unit when doing it yourself. As I recall the 2011 was the last year that the screen was held in place by magnets (I had to gut my 2011 iMac before recycling). After that the screens were glued on and it's a pain to get them off and back on. Also when you eventually upgrade to another iMac the external SSD is easily moved to the new Mac and can be used for a clone of the new iMac or as external storage.
The OWC external SSDs are excellent choices:
OWC Envoy Pro EX - Thunderbolt 3
Without knowing what iMac model you have, I am going to have to guess 14.2...
I like Western Digital Black drives, best place to buy is NewEgg...
https://www.newegg.com/black-wd6003fzbx-6tb/p/234-000G-000W5
Make sure you buy from NewEgg, watch the seller carefully...
Careful, some of the iMacs require a Thermal sensor, the original drive had one, the replacement does not.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD12/
But if your going to have the iMac open, I would add memory, and consider a new SSD blade drive...
You probably have two 4 gigabytes chips, the 14.2 supports 8 gigabyte chips, and has four slots, two should be open...
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/imac-27-inch/2013-2019
Some of the other models of iMacs have memory soldered to the board, some have only two slots, careful...
You probably have a 128K blade SSD, a new blade can be found here...
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/imac-27-inch/2013-2019
If you replace the hard drive with an SSD, then buy a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter, it will make life much easier...
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/
The 860 EVO from NewEgg are known to work...
https://www.newegg.com/samsung-860-evo-series-1tb/p/N82E16820147673
I would not reinstall fusion, as the drives are not longer Apple, and problems may occur.
I would install the OS to the blade drive, then the programs and data to the hard drive....
You guys are awesome thank so much.
Its a mid 2014 27inch 5k.
My Ram has been maxed out from new.
I know SSD is the way to go but I just cant afford a 3TB at the moment. Id like to get a 4TB or 6TB. I edit photos so Id really like to keep as much storage as local as possible. I already have a bunch of travel drives that are full and its a pain.
I guess Ill take the recommendation on separating the fusion drive which is 128gb. I need to stick with the apple blade SSD. Im on 10.10 because I dont want to lose the Adobe CS6 master suite. If I upgrade to a new blade I need to be on 10.13.
I believe there are 512gb apple blades on ebay. I wonder if those would work. Any info on which blades I can use with 10.10 would be amazing. Id like to do this one time if possible.
Also if Im separating the fusion and I go with an HDD I may go with a Hybrid Seagate.
I did some research, and you can fusion any two drives...
So you can upgrade the 3 TB platter drive, keep the 128 GB Blade SSD,
and fusion them...
Backup all data first!
https://www.lifewire.com/setting-up-fusion-drive-mac-2260165
Well you can unfused the drive but that is a BAD idea, unless you don't mind living with an extremely slow computer. Save more money until you can afford what you want or begin storing your photos library on a Thunderbolt External Hard Disk.
I dont spend money with apple anymore.
I'm running 20 gigabytes and a 4 terabyte platter on a 12.1 iMac...
Plenty fast for me...
My platter drive is the older version, with 128K cache, newer ones have 256...
2014 iMac 5k, which replacement HDD?
