I’ve long been an enthusiastic user of fusion drive. So I own a 5k iMac with a 3TB fusion drive since 3rd June 2015. However, the fusion drive started showing issue just after 2 1/2 years of use. I’ve read enough about bad Fusion Drives to prepare upgrading it to SSD.
The iMac specification is 5K, 27 inch, late 2014. The memory was also DIY upgrade with 32.0GB OWC Memory Upgrade Kit from OWC.com
Items used for this DIY
- ifixit.com Anti-Static Mat / 60 cm x 120 cm
- OWC DIY Upgrade Bundle for 2012 or later 27″ iMac’s factory HDD: 2.0TB OWC Mercury Electra MAX SSD. Includes the NewerTech AdaptaDrive, components and tools to upgrade a 2012 or later 27″ iMac’s factory HDD with a high performance; 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty. (OWCK27IM12HE2TB)
The SSD drive upgrade went well and as plan! However, I have 1 issue. Time Machine Restore failed horribly. Fortunately, all data & work files are stored in my external Raid 5 Thunderbolt storage. After several tries with restore failed, a Clean Install of macOS High Sierra was performed without hesitation.
Since the iMac version I own has only 2 thunderbolt port, the following devices are connected for expansion.
- Sonnet Echo Express SE I Thunderbolt 3 to Full-Height/Half-Length PCIe Card Expansion System and the Tempo™ SATA Pro 6Gb 4-Port eSATA host controller.
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OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock
All equipments are protected by reliable APC UPS.
Gavin Goh Photography 