the mid-2011 IMAX are gorgeous and this
one has an i5 processor which is super
fast but the one thing that I think is
holding this computer back is its hard
drive once you've experienced the speed
of an SSD it is very hard to go back to
an old-fashioned spinning hard drive but
the good news is I have a way to take
care of that hi I'm MJ with iFixit and
today I'm going to show you how to
install an SSD in a mid-2011 iMac using
our dual hard drive kit this video is a
great overview of the process but the
repair is lengthy so I absolutely insist
that you follow the step-by-step
instructions in the repair guide on our
site when you are doing your repair we
will link to it down in the description
to make that very easy for you it's also
worth noting that the kit that I'm going
to use only works with the 21 and a half
inch version of the mid 2011 iMac but we
do have a 27 inch version of the kit
available so when you order yours make
sure you order the appropriate kit that
all being said let's take a look at what
the kit includes for the repair a custom
SATA power cable a SATA data cable a 26
piece bit driver kit custom cut 3m
mounting tape a plastic spudger and a
pair of heavy duty section cups there
are also a couple of things that I'd
recommend that aren't included with the
kit but are super helpful the first one
is a can of Omni cleans and a microfiber
cloth for cleaning all the dust and
fingerprints off the glass before you
reinstall it a screw tray for organizing
all of the teeny tiny screws that you're
going to remove from the computer during
the repair and an ESD wrist strap to
prevent all that potentially damaging
static charge from affecting your
computer sensitive parts during the
repair now that I've got everything
together I can get started on my repair
by laying the computer down because the
first thing we're going to do is remove
the glass removing the glass is actually
easier than you might imagine
you're going to take your two section
cups and apply them to the two top
corners of the computer
with the suction cup supplied we're
going to lift the glass up and slide it
off and it's really important that when
you're lifting up you're only lifting up
near the top of this computer because
there are some clips down here and we
don't want to break them so we're going
to lift it up and then slide it off the
bottom it comes off pretty easily now
we're going to put this aside and you
want to make sure you put it somewhere
safe so it's not going to fall over and
get broken or anything and maybe if
you're going to lay it flat put like a
towel or something underneath it because
you don't want to scratch it okay with
that safe and secure the next thing
we're going to do is remove all the Torx
screws that are holding the LCD in place
so with all of those screws out we can
actually lift the LCD up and off the
computer but you don't want to do it too
quickly because it's still connected to
the logic board via a few ribbon cables
so no quick movements just lift slowly
and you can disconnect them as you see
them
ah
so with all those cables disconnected we
can actually remove the LCD by pulling
it towards the top of the computer and
you want to be mindful not to get caught
in any cables that might be snagged
underneath and just like you put the
glass in a very safe location you're
going to do the same thing with the LCD
because you do not want to break it so
make sure you put it somewhere where
it's not going to fall over or get
broken and with that off we get our
first real glimpse inside the Mac and
it's actually pretty cool the next thing
we're going to do is take out the
optical drive and that's held in place
by a few more Torx screws and some
cables so I'll get to work on this
once the optical drive is out we can get
to work on the optical drive fan and
that's only held in place by one screw
and it's sitting on a few pins so I'll
go ahead and take the screw out first
with that screw out we can start to lift
the optical drive fan off of the pins
beta on the lift to force boolean
because it's still connected to the
logic board via cable so once it's off
the pins you can disconnect the cable
now that the fan is out there are a lot
of cables to disconnect from the logic
board so you're going to get your
spudger and your fingernails ready for a
workout
now that all of those cables are
disconnected we can get started on the
screws that are holding the logic board
and the power supply in place
now that we have all of the screws for
the logic board out we can get to work
on removing the power supply which is
held in place by a few more screws and a
few more cables so with all those screws
out and the cables disconnected we can
put the power supply aside and finally
get to installing our second hard drive
now the first step to this is going to
be lifting the logic board up and
slightly out of the computer but not all
the way because it's still connected via
some cables underneath we just need
enough room that this logic board will
clear the bottom front face of the
computer and I find that this is easiest
to do if I stand the computer back up on
its foot like normal now that I've got
the iMac situated the way I want to I'm
going to start to lift the logic board
up and out of the computer being mindful
not to tug on any of the cables that
it's still connected to once I've got
enough wiggle room I'm going to connect
our two new cables to their sockets on
the other side of the logic board
with those two cables connected it's
time to receive the logic board and when
we're doing that we want to make sure to
route those two new cables through this
little notch that's cut in the plastic
pressure wall also it's helpful to kind
of tape all those little cables out of
the way that way you don't smash them
when you're resetting the logic board
the second hard drive is going to go
underneath the optical drive and it's
going to be held in place by the custom
cut pieces of 3m tape so one little
piece of tape per corner should be
sufficient once you've got a piece of
mounting tape on each corner you can
connect the power and data cables and
remove the backing from the mounting
tape and press your hard drive into
place and just like that my SSD is
installed and ready to go now all that's
left for me to do is reassemble my Mac
and to do that I'm just going to follow
the repair guide instructions in Reverse
one thing you don't want to forget is to
clean off the glass before you winds
reinstall it with the omni cleans and a
microfiber cloth there is nothing worse
than putting your Mac all the way back
together and realizing you've trapped a
bunch of fingerprints and dust inside
for all the latest tear downs and repair
videos make sure you are subscribed to
our youtube channel follow us on Twitter
at I fix it and like us on Facebook and
if you have any repair requests or
repair related questions you can email
them to ask I fix it at ifixit.com
thanks for watching and happy repairing