Chosen Solution

Hi, I desperately need to speed up my late 2009 iMac, I see that adding a SSD drive does not seem to be possible unless I add it into the optical enclosure. The questions I have are:

  1. Am I correct that I cannot replace the existing WD drive with a SSD?
  2. If I add the SSD using the optical drive kit, can I set this to be the boot device.
  3. Will this improve performance. PS. The existing HDD is a 1TB WDC WD1001FALS-40U9B0. Thanks!

Q3: Hi! I have upgraded my iMac recently. First I had added the memory (4Gb->8Gb). iMac goes little bit faster, but not enough…((( Then I changed DVD with 240Gb SSD. And… I was delighted with increase in speed!!! Itis incredible! It really works! Q1: You can! But u have to solve a little problem with a temperature sensor of HDD. Cause SSD hasnt the sensor (Apples HDD has one!) u cant plug the temperature connector to it. In consequence of this iMac speed up the fan to 100% - its noisy ))) Q2: Sure, u can boot!!!! Notes: I think it is not worth change HDD with SSD! Better way is replacement DVD with SSD and using SSD for system (OS X) and HDD for data. Or u can merge SSD with HDD in the one large logical volume by using Apples Fusion technology. I have done so. And now I have capacious (1T+240Gb) disk like HDD and rapidly one like SSD. I bought very chip usb-box for removed SuperDrive, as a result of this I have a nice external DVD. It is not necessary to buy an optical drive kit. U need only special SATA cable (like in OWC Internal SSD DIY Kit for All Apple 27" iMac 2011 Models) and two pieces of the double sided scotch tape.

You can set the optical SSD to be your boot volume There are many reasons that a machine “slows” down. Depending upon what you’re doing it could be a network issue, a swap/free space issue, a fragmented HD issue, a failing HD issue or an issue I’ve not even mentioned (like an anti-virus. or malware using up resources in the background). Graphic intense applications require a lot of resources and it’s best not to over tax the machine when using them. Many former Windows users don’t realize that clicking the red dot does not quit all applications (only those with single windows like Disk Utility, Calculator, System Preferences) will quit when the red button is clicked. Activity Monitor can tell you which application(s) are using resources. Adding/changing an SSD is not a surefire way to increase computer speed. There is an alternative. If this answer is acceptable please remember to return and mark it accepted.

Don’t listen to anyone who says ‘don’t do it.’ I replaced my optical drive with an OWC 500 GB SSD, and my late 2009 iMac now starts up in 8 seconds! All programs load and run super-fast, and install took 15 minutes, with plenty of advice on youtube. I definitely recommend it.

Did you connect your SSD to the optical’s SATA?