iMac 27" Late 2015 A1419 4K - SLOW Fusion hard drive replacement with new internal SSD, MUCH FASTER!

[@scottadams1119]

Two suggestions for those that follow. First, CLEAN the internals! Use a vacuum with a soft brush attachment to remove as much dust from the components, the housing and fan as possible. You'll want to avoid any static electrical discharger so be VERY careful not to touch the logic board itself with the vacuum. Use canned air to blow out any residual dust. Your Mac will run cooler when it's clean. Second, remove the backing of the new screen adhesive first and attach it to the case. Then, after you've tested everything to make sure it's working normally, remove the screen-side adhesive's backing and carefully reattach the screen. Note that the screen is *very* fragile so put as little pressure on the it as possible, both when removing it and replacing it, and never, ever lean on it. A very nice and well-done video. 👍

[@cecilsays-legalmindsetcant1339]

As someone else mentioned, is there any issue w/ fans when making a HDD to SSD upgrade? I've seen tutorials in the past mention the fans either never come on & it overheats or it never shuts off & make constant noise

[@guidogi8259]

@@cecilsays-legalmindsetcant1339 i've heard someone saying to add a thermal something to avoid problem with the fan

[@spacecadet2172]

@@cecilsays-legalmindsetcant1339 Yes, this is a botched upgrade. First of all they didn't even split the fusion drive logical group, so the size is all messed up in System Info and it's going to cause tons of problems. Second, they didn't install the proper temp sensor on the HD, which will make the fans constantly run at full blast 24/7 (VERY noisy). This person really doesn't know WTH they're doing. They can't even get their camera lens to focus on the screen properly.

[@daktarioskarvannederhosen2568]

PLEASE U WILL PRESS AND HOLD POWER BUTTON >15SEC AFTER WALL POWER HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED. THIS WILL HELPING TO DRAIN REMAINING ZAPPO ENERGY RESIDING IN COMPUTORISATION UNIT

[@daktarioskarvannederhosen2568]

@@spacecadet2172 there are problems, straight from The Apple, regarding improper divisionality representation of their so-called 'fusion drive'. please you will make us video to show how to repair this situation. thankees

[@azy83]

after racking my brain as to why it was running slow and running into a thread on the apple forums suggesting that big sur was too bloatted for the older imacs and reverting back to older os still didnt resolve the issue (hours wasted) This method worked like a charm. thank you so much for the step by step guide

[@darrelhampton572]

I followed these instructions on my slow 2015 iMac with fusion drive and it works perfectly. Thank you so much.

[@VanLuciMoret]

Is it really a lot faster when using programs?

[@darrelhampton572]

@@VanLuciMoret everything is faster

[@darrelhampton572]

@@VanLuciMoret its like having a brand new machine without buying a brand new machine

[@glasgood9907]

I purchased the 1TB crucial ssd and hdd adapter and adhesive strips from your link and followed your video and have successfully upgraded my late 2015 27” Retina iMac. Excellent guide, like how you supported the lcd screen against the wall. Very logical guide thank you 🙏

[@krisokumu6935]

Thanks so much for this. I bought two of these imacs for my business, didn't open them for a few months and then saw how terribly slow they run. Apple wouldn't accept return even though one had just been opened and the other was still boxed. I thought about changing the drive to SSD, glad to see this video and will get right to it. Thank you thank you!

[@VanLuciMoret]

Did you do it? Did it really made a noticeable change when working on your programs? I'm thinking on doing this with my 2017 5K Imac, but wouldn't do it if it's not noticeable faster when using programs...

[@doffydonquixte]

@@VanLuciMoretany luck?

[@MISTERABZ786]

Used this video to upgrade my 27 inch late 2015 iMac - I was being quoted between £80 to £150! - Thank you

[@mariusbjonness]

Ah, the essence of KZbin, a to-the-point, Crystal clear, no bullshit explanatory video. Red Five, I'm going in!

[@mariusbjonness]

I am glad to conclude that the step-by-step instructions found in this video worked well, and I now have a fresh late 2015 iMac install with El Capitan (10.11.6), which I will upgrade to Monterey (12) from 2021. Hopefully this setup can work until Apple releases their new iMac series later this year (I hope). Upon clean installing after HD swap, I encountered a problem getting past a terms and condition page. For that I found this workaround: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKjOmWWMf6p2ftE Thanks Andrew!

[@andrefelixstudio2833]

Placing the box was a brilliant idea, nicely done!

[@albertbrooklyn]

Your videos are quite clear and useful, and after watching them I have upgraded my 2010 and 2012 iMacs' with internal SSDs'. The only thing to be aware of, if you were running Microsoft Office it will require that you buy another license. Though, given these upgraded models are "extra" machines I just use Apple software......Pages and Numbers as needed.

[@DaniaBeech]

EXCELLENT!! I'll be doing this exact thing within the next couple days. Appreciate your calm, soothing presentation. I'm confident I can accomplish this easily now. Thank you!

[@boerboel7777]

Thank you Andrew, excellent video. But you left out some critical bits which seriously tripped me up. Most will want to upgrade the slow mechanical drive which is a member of the Fusion logical drive. Your video has the Fusion drive already split into 2 and you're not using the onboard PCIe SSD. My scenario was this - identical Mac to this one in video, with 128Gb SSD and 1Tb mechanical drive, both presented as a SINGLE Fusion drive. I wanted to replace the 1TB mechanical drive with a 1TB SSD and keep the onboard SSD as well. So I followed the steps, attached a 1Tb Samsung SSD via USB and used CCC to clone the Fusion drive to the Samsung. Removed the old mechanical drive, installed Samsung and system failed to boot (of course, Fusion drive now broken!). Booted with CMD + R to recovery, and ran "diskutil resetFusion" from within Terminal but it kicked up an error ("did not recognize verb resetFusion"). It was loading from the (old) recovery partition which is still MacOSX, Big Sur + Monterey is MacOS11 so command won't work. Here's how I sorted it: Put the old drive back, system booted OK thankfully. This allowed me to download Monterey installer. Next I created a bootable USB stick (min 16Gb). Removed old disk, put in new, booted the Mac (with LAN/WiFi disconnected, NB!) into Recovery, this forced it to boot from USB containing new MacOS11. Next I ran Terminal and again "diskutil resetFusion" which now worked! It wiped both Fusion member drives then created a new logical Fusion drive. It said "Note: you have two solid-state drives, this is nonstandard but OK". Once the ResetFusion command completed, exit Terminal then ran Install Monterey from the bootable USB which installed perfectly. Critical to this is that you have a Time Machine backup to restore from, *clone will NOT work* unless you mount it as a 3rd disk to an already booting system then manually copy your data back. So cloning was a waste of time. Also, a) do clean the inside while the screen is off and b) *never ever put the tape on immediately* - always test first, put the screen back on *without the tape* to make sure the system is booting & working OK. Hope this helps someone.

[@AlistairJC]

Thanks boerboel777! I have the same late 2015 iMac bought with a 1TB Fusion Drive which like you appears as just one drive. I’ve been doing some research on this and keep coming across splitting the Fusion Drive up in Terminal before swapping out the mechanical drive. I’ve found several articles all with different Terminal instructions on how to do this (seems to change over time for different OSs). Looks like you didn’t do this and just reset the the Fusion Drive after booting from the USB installer with the new Drive in place. You say the clone did not work but do you think it helped reset the Fusion Drive as it was repairing the two drives it was looking for? I’m keen to give this a go but a little apprehensive around the added Fusion Drive complications. Cheers

[@boerboel7777]

@@AlistairJC You're right, I did reset the Fusion drive (running the command in Terminal after booting with USB) but this trashed the data on both drives. A Fusion drive seems to be a primitive version of RAID. So, with RAID you have an array of multiple physical drives combined in a single virtual drive. Apple's Fusion drive works the same way - it takes the small SSD and whatever other drive you have, then merges both into one virtual drive (VD). When it does this, it creates a hash of both drives' serial numbers and writes an encrypted signature to the new Fusion VD. So if you change one of the drives, the VD signature becomes invalid and MUST be recreated from scratch. This process completely wipes the contents of those drives, hencewhy the clone didn't work. Cloning had zero effect on the Fusion Drive because it only clones the content of one member drive, and nothing will work without a valid VD sig. So the only way to do this job properly is to make a Time Machine backup of your drive before you do anything. Then do the drive replacement along with ResetFusion commands and proceed to install MacOS. During installation it will offer you the chance to restore from TM - say yes and its job done. The other option is to ignore the Fusion setup and install directly to the new drive like the video shows. This leaves the small SSD hanging about in your machine and is IMHO a bit sloppy. Can't store much data on that drive and it will keep getting in the way. The only time I'd do it this way is if the small SSD is old, dog slow or dodgy - if it fails, the whole Fusion VD fails. Oh, and be super careful with the screen! 3rd party replacement tape not sticky enough so they fall off and crack - happened with this exact same Mac 2 weeks later, new screen cost US$400 :(

[@AlistairJC]

@@boerboel7777 Thanks for the detail, really helpful! I understand regarding the cloning not working. The Fusion Drive seems like more of a hinderance the further I look at doing this. I am tempted to swap the drive and just leave the PCIe blade formatted and unused, guess that’s personal preference. However, I reckon if I do that I won’t be able to use Time Machine to restore from as it’ll be a Time Machine back up of the original Fusion Drive setup I’m guessing. Unless Time Machine doesn’t care about this…. I could use the migration function for the old drive perhaps with a SATA to USB3 adapter, but I’m not sure all the files would be there due to how the original Fusion Drive balances the files between the two original drives like you say. If that doesn’t work I’m at a fresh install on a Mac with no files I guess. What was the importance of booting it not connected to WiFi/LAN in your original comment, just to ensure it boots from the USB installer? Thanks for the heads up on the screen, I’ve been looking at full kits from OWC. I hope the new screen from apple came with better tape! Thanks again

[@boerboel7777]

@@AlistairJC Hi Ali. You can get rid of the M.2 PCIe drive but that involves removing the motherboard to reach it, quite a mission. Or you can get an M.2 SSD drive and replace the old one, which gives you much better throughput than the SATA ones. Not sure about Mac but on Windows one can "hide" a drive which is not in use. As for Time Machine, good news is that it doesn't care where it gets restored to so that's not an issue at all. It will restore to whatever drive you install. When I ran the CC Clone, I was able to attach that cloned drive via USB and see the data on it but as you say, it may not be as reliable or quick / efficient as TM. Regarding booting: yes exactly. If I booted with LAN cable connected, it by default loaded the MacOSX bootloader even though I had a USB boot disk containing the newer OS11. You need OS11 to run the ResetFusion command, on OSX it didn't recognise the command. So forcing it to be offline will make it boot off the newer USB bootloader and enable you to run ResetFusion successfully. OWC tape is better than most, but still nowhere near as good as the OEM Mac tape is impossible to get now. So make sure to clean thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol on both the screen as well as metal chassis before you apply the new tape. The problem is this - the tape isn't as sticky, the Mac's heat loosens the tape over time and if the display is tilted forward & down, the screen will come crashing off due to gravity. I've seen horror stories of people being hit in the head, shards of glass flying everywhere not to mention $400 replacement costs...some guys now use 3M tape, very strong but removing the fragile screen becomes even more dangerous. Good luck!

[@AlistairJC]

@@boerboel7777 Hi Boerboel, yeah I’ve seen that that is an option and like you say looks a mission, certainly for me anyway so I won’t be attempting that! If I was to go to the trouble to remove it I’d most probably would just replace that one as well. Perhaps you can hide it in macOS somewhere but not essential! That’s great news on the Time Machine, I’ll go down that route then. Understood, that makes sense to just have Monterey on the bootable USB and like you say use the rest fusion from there, then just install Monterey straight to the new SSD. OWC seemed a pretty reputable place to get the kit from but thanks for the heads up on that, I don’t fancy having to deal with that falling off! I thought it might be related to the heat. I’ll make sure to clean it off as best I can to give it the best possible chance. I guess if it’s $400 from apple they fit it with the proper tape!? Yeah 3M tape seems overkill and you’re not getting that off (if you need to) without breaking the screen! Thanks again for all the detail!

[@daktarioskarvannederhosen2568]

fusion drive was placed in pre 2013 imacs as well.

[@ywwonglp]

No extra thermo sensor needed after changing to new SSD?

[@KevinLonghurst-v4x]

I’ve just completed this and the SSD on boot has come up with contact Apple support!!

[@clivewuest8529]

Hi Andrew. Very informative video and very clearly explained, however I have a couple of queries if you can help. I too have a late 2015 27 imac with a fusion drive running Monteray and would like to upgrade the internal drive to SSD, however there seems to be confliting advise online as to whether you can do this because of the fusion element will only work with a mechanical hard drive. Yes doesn't make sense to me, but I don't want to open my machine up only to find it doesn't work. I noticed when you opened up your "about this Mac" / 'Storage" tab it showed a hard drive and a seperate flash storage drive, where as my only shows a 1TB Fusion Drive. Is there a reason for this Did Apple modify something or was it changed in Monteray. Your advice would be appreciated Thanks Clive

[@truthteller50]

I think this is the FIRST video I've found that shows the hard drives AFTER the install. Looks like you confirmed what I guessed - the PCI flash storage just shows up as a separate drive that can be used. Is that correct? I bought a 460GB drive to put in place of the original 128GB.

[@brianbishop1094]

A no nonsense tuition thank you

[@AlexSwan]

Hey mate on my late 2015 27" iMac the 1TB fusion drive got split and only the SSD is still showing up. I opened my iMac as per your video and behold, the hard drive bay is completely empty. There is literally no hard drive to see anywhere? Woot!

[@andrewgjkgjk]

Ditch the SATA entirely (take it out and leave it out!) and simply replace the existing mSATA Apple connector SSD with an NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD + M.2 to Apple 12+16 connector adapter. You'll get 2-4x the performance of the SATA SSD solution, and it's often cheaper too. That said, you have to take out more screws and cables to get to the SSD connector on the back of the motherboard. Works great!

[@GameboyZoneRocks]

Is there a video for installing M.2 SSD? Also is there a data cable for M.2 so we can clone it?

[@MrChicanoRadio]

Great video but I'm surprised you didn't address the dust issue on and around the fan. Otherwise great video!

[@dancheetham2452]

Because this guy is a lazy technician. Didn't bother removing the screen, why would he dust out the fan? also don't see any esd precautions being taken.

[@SPTSuperSprinter156]

@@dancheetham2452 there is a difference between being lazy and working smarter. Though I personally would have taken the opportunity to clean the inside.

[@RNMUSIK]

@@dancheetham2452 how do you know he did not clean the internals? Not removing the screen was intelligent it was not necessary to remove the whole screen. There were advantages to not removing the screen. The video was well explained and executed.

[@renantcheng5755]

Great informative video. My Fusion hdd just failed, and came to YT for help. I noticed that you ended up with 2 separate SSD drives instead of a Fusion drive, will this pose any issues when I try to restore from my Time Machine backup? Should I install the OS on the on board SSD or the new SSD drive? thank you

[@demef758]

The PCIe SSD is much faster than the SATA-linked SSD (i.e., "old hard drive"). Install the OS on the PCIe SSD.

[@ivansbacon]

I have read that you need a SATA cable adapter with a temperature sensor to keep the fans from running up high. ??

[@richardsun6215]

Did you forget to use a in-Line Digital Thermal Sensor SATA cable adapter? Or is there no need for one? What about the fan noise after your upgrade? Thank you for your video.

[@hardlines2635]

A tech guy told me these sensor cables are a scam, he’s taken one apart and the two attached to the sensor do nothing.

[@TreasonsBeta]

I have a late 2015 27" iMac running Mojave. The internal drive is failing, so any attempt to touch any of the files or letting it just run for more than a minute results in it freezing up as it tries doing background tasks. I recently bought a internal SSD and formatted it on a company mac with APSF as recommended. But when I tried to utilize it on my iMac, it wouldn't let me modify the drive in a recovery mode boot (command R). I could see it, but it wouldn't let me install an OS. To get it to be editable in Recovery, I had to reformat it again in Mac OS Exended Journal back on the company computer. But, when I did an OS install in Recovery back on my computer, it would eventually go to a black screen with an endless white circle loading screen. So I restarted it into the startup manager (alt/option) and there it was. I selected the newly installed drive, it gave me the prohibited screen. Oh the anger. After fussing with this thing for over a week, I did a command-shift-R and it seems to have worked. It took me through creating a profile. At first I slightly panicked thinking I overwrote the original drive but in my frustration, I unplugged the new drive in the external casing and the screen went black. Not my brightest moment but that was proof it was loading off that drive. I'm no tech person but I thought I'd share with anyone else trying to do this without being able to utilize disk utility on a normal boot or a correctly functioning computer.

[@Andytizer]

You have to upgrade your internal drive to Catalina first so that your iMac firmware can recognise the APFS drive.

[@clivewuest8529]

Hi Andrew. This is a great video and very clear. One query I have, I have noticed on a couple of other videos from other channels that they also instal a thermal sensor that sticks on the back of the hard drive so that the fan doesn't keep running all the time. It seems to be an cable and sensor that fits inline to the SATA cable. You didn't mention this. Is this necessary? Many thanks. Clive

[@Andytizer]

This isn't necessary, you can install fan control software instead.

[@sammieseoul5544]

hopefully you get this.. how is the adhesive holding up after a year? The OWC brand seems problematic and need to ensure I get reliable ones.

[@Andytizer]

The adhesive isn’t that important, a small strip of tape can hold the entire screen together.

[@epochatari3602]

Thanks for the detailed walk through. I have a 2014 27" with failed fusion drive, so i wondered if the internal components differ much from the 2015 model when it comes to following your walkthrough? Videos like this are so useful for self repair which is such a rewarding process. I'm looking to just discard the failed drive and put in a ssd. Would there be any other steps seeing as i don't care about the drive that failed or recovering data ? ( most of the data was backed up)

[@Artyzann]

Great video and very clear to understand the steps. I'm considering upgrading my late 2014 5K retina. I followed your initial steps to look at the Fusion Drive SSD to HD allocation and all that shows on my mac (in the storage tab) is details for the Macintosh HD 1.12 TB fusion drive. There doesn't seem to be a separation of the details for SDD-flash & HD (30 seconds into your video). Is this an issue or am I missing something?

[@Andytizer]

It could be that this is one of those single unit Fusion drives instead of the separate ones used in later Macs.

[@eliang87]

@@Andytizer does this video still apply to those macs then?

[@saltwaterwizard]

Hi Andrew, great video, very thorough. My late 2014 iMac shows only one drive in the "Storage" section of "about my mac" (re: first 30 seconds of your video). If I clone my drive and replace the HDD with the new SSD, do I need to do anything with the PCIe 128gb drive in advance before doing the procedure? Does it matter that it will still contain some fragmented old data from the "fusion" aspect? Do I need to break that software link before physically breaking it and replacing the HDD w/ the SSD?

[@Andytizer]

When you install the new SSD and you are in the recovery drive, you can just use Disk Utility to wipe the 128GB SSD and that hsould take care of it.

[@RobertSkinn]

Very clear and useful video. Thanks Andrew. Can the SSD be smaller than the original 1Tb drive? i.e Fusion 1Tb drive cloned to 500Gb SSD? Thanks

[@Andytizer]

Yes as long as your original Fusion drive is consuming less than 500GB space.

[@charliesretrocomputing]

This video is amazing! Will this tutorial work on the 21.5" version of this Mac? (as long as I buy smaller adhesive strips)

[@VanLuciMoret]

Thank you for showing us how to do this, I have a 2017 5K iMac that is horribly slow, it takes a long time to reboot. Can I replace the HD with an SSD? Do you have a recommendation on what SSD to use? I would like a 1TB. Thank you in advance! You Sr have earned my subscription! (Just an idea... you could also leave the parts needed to do this with different iMac models, to get more referrals! like mine iMac18,3 (iMac 27-Inch "Core i5" 3.4 (5K, Mid-2017) MNE92LL/A ) A1419

[@Andytizer]

Yes all the same parts will work: iMac adhesives for A1419 (The Tech Doctor): geni.us/imac-a1419adhesives SSD - Crucial BX500 2TB: geni.us/crucialbx5002TB Sabrent USB adapter for SATA: geni.us/sabrentusb-2-5inch Sabrent 2.5 to 3.5 inch adapter: geni.us/mountingkit-ssd You can switch the 2TB SSD with the 1TB if you want in the same Amazon entry depending on your country.

[@VanLuciMoret]

@@Andytizer Does it really makes a big difference on speed? I installed 48 GB memory, but after I start the computer and after I logged in I can't open any programs right away it takes over a minute to do that, do you think this will help with that? Thanks again.

[@Andytizer]

@@VanLuciMoret yes it’ll make a huge difference, RAM has nothing to do with startup speed.

[@VanLuciMoret]

@@Andytizer Thank you Andrew, hopefully after upgrade I will be able to start using any program on my iMac before the 5 minutes I have to wait now. ... LOL.

[@garyfalosparisis9039]

Hello there! Excellent video and explanation! I have the exact same computer and I have a question, if I opt to do the upgrade via an external 1 TB SSD (this iMac offers only USB 3.0 ports) how much "worse" the upgrade will be compared to what you did. I mean will I still get a noticeable improvement compared to the internal 1 TB HDD (7,500 rpm) currently installed in the iMac? I would never attempt to do what you did on my own, and the price of the repair shop is 270 euros in total (the work plus the new SSD). I am on a big dilemma so I would appreciate your advice! Thanks in advance!

[@Andytizer]

Basically a SATA SSD like the one I used runs about 500MB/s and the USB 3.0 interface caps around 600MB/s and SATA3 (internal) is around 750MB/s. In theory SATA3 runs faster but it’s kind of irrelevant because the SSD won’t ever reach the max speed. However USB 3.0 might have more latency and be slower, which can be mitigated by the UASP type drive. Basically I would just use the external SSD method (I have another video on my channel) and if for some reason you’re not happy you can always ask someone to install the SSD you bought internally. Both methods offer ‘enough’ speed - much better than the original HDD which was total rubbish. At the end of the day these 2017 iMacs are superseded by the new M1 iMacs and their transfer speeds are insane eg 2500MB/s however will most users notice? Not likely!

[@garyfalosparisis9039]

@@Andytizer Thanks so much!

[@6GSF]

ive done both and they are both considerably better than a spinning HDD and as this chap points out the fusion drive is useless and failed after the warranty ran out. my next task is to try and replace the 128mac PCI card with a 2tb . However I do get a random reboot issue with SSD drives , I did not with Big Sur but I do with Monterey. My research tells me its with hibernate not working properly and causing kernel crashes, there is a sudo command to use in terminal to alleviate this - it worked on my mac but id prefer to know how to get the latest firmware so I don't have to use terminal commands. good luck, oh the other way to speed up the mac is more RAM

[@kencritlindemann]

Great video. I have the same late 2015 A1419 but with the Samsung Blade Fusion drive ONLY and it has gone bad. There is no sata cable in mine and I want to install an SSD as you have. Do you have a video for sata cable installation? Worst case, I have to install a replacement Samsung MZ-KPV1T00/0A6 blade which is close to impossible to find.

[@demef758]

1) why are you so wedded to the failing Samsung Blade drive? Replace it with a Samsung drive. 2) eBay is your friend. You'll find your needed cables and drive mounting hardware there.

[@balajimehsana9486]

Nice clean explain video.👍. Do you suggest upgrade of i5 3.3 processor of A1419 27 inch imac mid 2015?

[@PierreFarrugia]

I have an iMac with fusion drive, Late 2013 EMC 2639, Model A1419, so I can just change the HD only with an SSD like yours ?

[@MarkWell808]

Hi Andrew. great video done everything but am struggling with the first two leads you disconnect in the video. I got the new drive in display cable back on but can't seem to get the cable to the left of it back on, any way to explain that would be great, I am new to this! Thanks

[@carlmurray8144]

Great tutorial! Just used it! 👍🏾

[@paulcamalin5236]

I am a bit puzzled by this video. OS is installed on the small SSD before replacement. How are you cloning two drives to one drive because you are not replacing the smaller SSD. Let me put it this way. You cannot just take out the HDD and replace it with SSD. You have to use some terminal commands first to split the drives, then replace the drive and then use the fusion command to fuse them again. If you don't split them first it can damage your system beyond repair. I have not found a good updated source to tell me how to split them. If you know of any let me know. thanks!

[@boerboel7777]

Paul I've just done this and after a lot of struggling managed to sort it. My scenario was this - identical Mac to this one in video, with 128Gb SSD and 1Tb mechanical drive, both presented as a *SINGLE* Fusion drive. So I followed the steps, attached a 1Tb Samsung SSD via USB and used CCC to clone the Fusion drive to the Samsung. (Cloning was a waste of time it turns out). Removed the old mechanical drive, installed Samsung and system failed to boot (of course, Fusion drive now broken). Booted with CMD + R to recovery, and ran *diskutil resetFusion* but it kicked up an error ("did not recognize verb resetFusion"). It was loading from the (old) recovery partition which is still MacOSX, Big Sur + Monterey is MacOS11 so command won't work. I put the old drive back, system booted OK thankfully. This allowed me to download Monterey installer. Next I created a bootable USB stick (min 16Gb). Removed old disk, put in new, booted the Mac with LAN *disconnected* into Recovery, this forced it to boot from USB containing new MacOS11. Next I ran terminal and again "diskutil resetFusion" which now worked! It wiped *both* drives then created a new logical Fusion drive. It said "Note: you have two solid-state drives, this is nonstandard but OK". Once the ResetFusion command completed, I exited then ran Install Monterey from the bootable USB which installed perfectly.

[@paulcamalin5236]

@@boerboel7777 I don't know who came up with this ridiculous fusion drive. It is prone to failure and can't be trusted. My solution was easier and much more reliable. I got rid of 128GB SSD drive and the mechanical drive. I replaced 128GB SSD with 1TB SSD and replaced the mechanical drive with 2tb SSD. Now I have two drives in my Mac. No worries and plenty of space.

[@boerboel7777]

@@paulcamalin5236 Crazy but it actually made sense at the time - SSD's were super expensive so merging them with an IDE drive gave you performance and capacity. To this day, gaming rigs still get configured with both, but not in this hybrid Fusion config - strictly separate! You're 100% right, its a recipe for disaster. Even Intel had their Optane technology which was the exact same idea. Well done on replacing the M.2 drive, I was cagey doing that - read somewhere that the newer Macs refuse to work with anything not "official Apple OEM" due to firmware restrictions and the M1 / M2 silicon being the worst culprits.

[@gerthendriks]

​@@paulcamalin5236Do you still know what ssd you used as blade ssd? Owc or other like Samsung with adapter to Apple connector?

[@mylegsasleep1934]

When you boot up iMac after the SSD install, does it automatically boot normally from the SSD or could there be additional steps to tell the iMac to boot from the ssd?

[@mylegsasleep1934]

Excellent tutorial. Question- what is the maximum amount of RAM the late 2015 iMac will take? Will it take 64GB?

[@designthinkingwithgian]

Yes

[@porphyrio1]

Thanks for the great instructional video Andrew. I have a 27" iMac Late 2015 but only HDD, not fusion drive config. Would simply swapping the HDD with SSD as according to your instruction work? System is making fluttering sound from time to time, I think when hot, so it needs a clean from dust, a fan check and replacement HDD. Thanks.

[@Andytizer]

Yes you can just change the hard drive, should work fine. Give it a good clean!

[@GoneFuzzy]

Thanks for the clear tutorial and all the links, I'm gonna be brave and do this as my slow mac is starting to annoy me but they don't do such large screens anymore :( Can I do a carbon copy onto a bigger SSD? My current mac is 1T, can I clone it to 2T or would it not work?

[@BradMacPro]

I would have taken the opportunity to fully clean the dust out especially that fan assembly could have used it.

[@WilliamBarrow]

Question: why can’t the NVMe that made up the “cache” part of the old fusion drive be used for an OS install and boot drive?

[@MIN_Tech]

this video is really awesome! i have a question about 2020 imac which has T2 chip connected. what do you think 2020 imac? does this work 2020 imac with T2 chip? I mean I want to upgrade SSD ;; by the way, thanks for sharing the video. you already have my sub. this is first time to leave commend.

[@wayneharrison9222]

Fantastic detailed presentation, it certainly removed any anxiety that I had to do the same exercise. I noticed that you didn't utilise a thermal sensor as I have seen used in other SSD upgrade KZbin videos, any reason for this? Also could I just upgrade the NVMe SSD drive to 1TB only and remove the other storage drives? Thanks

[@Andytizer]

Upgrading the NVMe requires more disassembly, I don't think it's worth doing, a SATA SSD is sufficient. Also modern macOS will read the SMART thermal data direct from the SSD so a thermal sensor cable isn't required.

[@wayneharrison9222]

@@Andytizer Thanks Andy, most appreciated. I performed the entire procedure today without issue, and gave you a mention on Amazon for the review of the tech Doctor adhesive strips.

[@youknownuno]

I don't have a SATA-usb cable, is it possible to format the ssd when it's already inside and wired to the imac?

[@suzannewaters6114]

Hi Andrew...I have a Retina 5k 27in late2015 iMac 32 Gb 1867 DDR3 and 3.3GHz quad core intel core i5 processor. It has AMD Radeon R9 M395 2G graphics. There is 1.79TB Available of 2.12TB on the fusion HD. I keep getting the beach ball when working in Adobe CC Illustrator/Photoshop. I assume its the processor that needs upgraded?? Can an SSD be installed on this Mac? If so, is 2TB sufficient? Thanks

[@GameboyZoneRocks]

Installing an SSD removed the beach ball?

[@jamiehithere]

Do you need a temp sensor for the SSD? Thanks

[@pigknickers2975]

I was expecting the megafanturbo but it didn't happen? Would like to know why.....

[@Stokey_73]

Superb clear and to the point guidance. Feel confident I can take this upgrade task on following expert guidance from you

[@msmith8982]

thx a lot. the first vid oin the whole fkn internet who explains what happens with the old fusion SSD. So i can Clone my imac fusionfail tomorrow. thx

[@Acruxni]

Andrew thanks Do I finally can do the cloning one a Fusion Drive (the used I purchased has 1 fusion but in your video the PCIe is not used) or I have to do the process as Boerboel wrote below? Since I will defuse the PCIe should I install the os on the PCIe or the new 1TB ssd with restore bootable usb?

[@wendalls53]

Love your vid very clear and consise well done. I have a 2015 27 inch imac 2tb hardrive 5k retina 4GHz Quad Core intel core i7 32 gig memory 2gb amd radeon graphics. Its not really slow, I can't get a definitive answer from anyone locally I live in Australia Victoria Bairnsdale do you think it is worthwhile having 2tb ssd installed, I have been huming and haring for 12 months. Or should I purchase the new 24 inch imac upgraded to the max. I would not do this myself as I am not happy to remove screen. Look forward to your opinion. Or perhaps external ssd Cheers Wendy

[@holco10]

What to doo when you have also a bootcamp partition?

[@zemekiel]

Will this method work if you are running Open Core boot loader?

[@rpennon6912]

GREAT TUTORIAL! Thanks

[@mohammedalzahrani7171]

Whete to get the 3.5 inch bracket from? Does it come with the SSD or the installation kit?

[@Andytizer]

Hi thanks I forgot to put it into my description, link is here: geni.us/mountingkit-ssd

[@FirebrandVOCALS]

Thanks man!

[@oscarchd]

i'm having the same issue, not sure if it's hdd or the nvme.ssd issue, is it a good idea to replace the nvme.ssd? or just replace the hdd with 2.5" ssd? is there a speed gain for the nvme.ssd?

[@dancheetham2452]

Go to the Apple store or Authorized provider. They will be able to tell which one has failed.

[@Kaptan_Gezer]

would it be not enough building only a 1/2 TB M2.SSD ?

[@mylegsasleep1934]

When you install the SSD and turn the iMac on for the first time again, what do I need to do to not see a “?” Please advise what I need to do to boot from SSD please

[@pcnotpc]

When you power on your Mac, hold down Option key. That gives you the option to boot from a different disk/drive/thumb drive.

[@guitarriffsnlicks1399]

I have my machine apart , I used disk utility by pressing power plus r then choosing disk utility and restore, all seemed to fine after a few hours it said it had finished, I th3m rebooted using power and option buttons and chose my new sod to boot to, all went well, booted fine was a lot faster even from the usb. Shut it down, disconnected sad, r3moved the glue on the Mac changed the drive all went fine, haven’t glued back down as I was going to test it ,tried rebooting apple said that the operating system was the wrong one for this machine, so I’m about to reinstall fresh copy of Monterey , I think I will lose every thing else, but I can copy that back over at a later date from old hard drive, also the link for the tapes I didn’t notice there were two types 21 and 27 so becareful wh3n ordering got to wait til tomorrow to see if I’ve ordered the right ones this time

[@navaidsheikh]

doesn’t it need the OWC thermal sensor ?

[@GameboyZoneRocks]

ANy insight on this?

[@navaidsheikh]

@@GameboyZoneRocks I installed it myself. No need to install any sensor or other connector. Just install SSD itself

[@GameboyZoneRocks]

@@navaidsheikh - So the instructions in this video was everything required to upgrade for SSD (if not, please let me know what you did differently)? Did you have any fan noise/heating issues since SSD upgrade?

[@zeetrain9625]

I have seen videos where I can simply add an external ssd drive and run it that way, so I don't have to remove anything but clone it? What are your thoughts on that?

[@graysongerni]

My reasoning for looking this up was on some iMacs using this method you are not bottlenecked by USB 2.0 speed

[@demef758]

That would work, but the late-2015 iMac only has TB2 (10 Gbps). It's still fast, but not as fast as a TB3-equipped iMac (2017 model).

[@yomesubo]

Hi this is useful to Imac 27 Retina 5k late 2015?

[@rossdonald5026]

Excellent presentation. Thnx

[@alwul8192]

What about the temperature cable on the HDD?

[@chrisdaniels4674]

Mine went even turn on anymore. So installing blank drive? Idk

[@CO8848_2]

Ok, but if you put a 2.5" into the Sata port, isn't it at Sata speed which means you could simply plug it in through the USB 3 port in the back, saving all the risks of opening the display?

[@Andytizer]

Sure you can see my tutorial here kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3OThIiZeKaAn8k

[@AFVetteran]

I wish I could get Carbon Copy Cleaner to work. I just keep getting errors every time I try to clone my drive. It will start and then error out during the process, never completing it.

[@davebuttig1350]

I have a mid-2015 iMac. Am I safe to assume it's the same process? Also, where did you get the tool kit and prefit two sided tape?

[@Andytizer]

Links to the products are in the description, good luck!

[@dancheetham2452]

Same process. Don't recommend using third party adhesives. Go to Apple store or Authorized service provider.

[@demef758]

Look up OWC's video on how to upgrade the mid-2015. Much more thorough than you see here.

[@dividedbytimestudios]

What was the sabrent usb adapter for?

[@6GSF]

hi what about the boot firmware 9ive a prob with some SSD drives I've used where I get random reboots to do with hibernation so I've run a sudo commend to turn off the auto hibernation , but is there a way to update the firmware on old macs many thanks

[@soportexX3]

Simplemente excelente, muy profesional

[@MrAlan1828]

Reason why it doesn't work well is because your fusion partitions are broken, should be a Fusion drive and one partition. 3.128 TB it should read. with a 128gb cache its fast and storage for its days of High Sierra but you are running Big Sur..... Anyways still enjoy your content

[@kicikmiew7106]

is fusion drive worth to change to ssd to improve apps loading speed?

[@Andytizer]

Yes huge performance difference.

[@myusrn]

I'm upgrading 27" late 2012 to ssd, currently attached using external usb to sata iii cable. When I open screen using $10 amazon tool + new tape kit can I avoid needing an expensive sata inline thermal sensor cable? Can I avoid a 3.5" to 2.5" adapter tray and instead just zip tie the new 2.5" ssd into place?

[@Andytizer]

Yes to both, if the SMART sensor doesn’t detect the temp you can use software to control the fans.

[@myusrn]

​@@Andytizer Thanks for the response, sounds promising. When you say "SMART sensor" are you referring to the expensive "OWC in-Line Digital Thermal Sensor HDD Upgrade Cable for iMac 2012"? If so what i'm hearing you say is that if i don't purchase that then i'm going to need to use software to control fans . . . any recommended software based on personal experience? Also i've used opencore legacy patcher to upgrade to Monterey and i'm wondering does the latest release have any additional intelligence to recognize when the oem hdd has been changed out for an ssd and therefore doesn't need to worry about monitoring storage temperature and/or running fan to keep storage cool.

[@yewtang7070]

Andrew, i followed your steps with care. However, my display does not work after changing to a SSD. I swapped it back to the original HHD to check and the display still does not work. Seems like it has lost connection to the display. I can see inside there is two LED lights on. Could you advise me what did i do wrong? Appreciate your thoughts.

[@Andytizer]

Sounds like you either damaged the cable or shorted the board or didn't attach the cable correctly, double check!

[@yewtang7070]

@@Andytizer thanks. I think I take it into a computer guys to check…..

[@justgivemethetruth]

Oh God ... not kidding, but it has lasted 7 years so far ... but now my drive is making these terrible annoying squeaking sounds every key-press or mouse-click. Thanks for this life-saving video! Except I just looked and my system internal drive is listed as a APPLE SSD SM0256G Media??? Is that a hybrid drive or not? If it is not my hard drive that is making these noises ... what else could be? I was thinking it could not be the fan because it starts and stops so abruptly? But I have also never heard of a hard drive squeaking either?

[@Ixiapcp]

It’s not the speaker cable by the way it’s the power button cable

[@sickboysikotic]

Clones successfully but when booted up it has a folder and doesn’t boot

[@kwanghonggoh6591]

anyone facing the same issue?

[@sickboysikotic]

@@kwanghonggoh6591 i actually got mine working. I’m not sure how I got that error. What I was not understanding when I did this is that in the end I needed to set the new ssd as the boot drive like on a pc but did not know at the time.

[@hornplayer1228]

WARNING: Monterey bricks your intel Mac with a Firmware upgrade that means you can never run it on anything older than Big Sur. I was happily running Big Sur with an external USB High Sierra SSD available as well for using my 32Bit legacy applications on my Mid 2017 Kaby Lake iMac. After a PCIE and SATA upgrade I installed and booted from Monterey and then dumped it to go back to Big Sur and found that everything below Big Sur gave the error message "this OS is too old to run on this computer". Monterey Also killed the bluetooth side of the wifi card. Wifi still works thank goodness. A Bluetooth dongle now takes up one of the USB slots.

[@TheViettan28]

using opencore patcher, you can install Monterey on old iMac. For example, I can instal MacOS 12.6 on my 2009 iMac

[@MegaSelby]

There should be a thermal sensor

[@viddaroshinns8258]

will this work on late 2015 retina 5k imac. 4TB fusion drive?

[@Andytizer]

Sure yes however SSD will be a lot faster.

[@apistosig4173]

Perfect Soultion - Max Out the RAM, insert SSD and Install Linux Mint - Mint runs and performs flawlessly and you'll no longer be a Mac hostage. Perfect means to re birth / re purpose an Imac

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Hi. I plan to use the Sintech ST-NGFF2013-C adapter (it's like a flat bed truck) to upgrade the 128GB Apple Blade with a M.2 Teamgroup M.2 NVME 1TB that has this dimensions: 80(L) x 22(W) x 3.8(H) mm Would that M.2 NVME SSD fit and be ok? Also, do I need to buy the plastic cutting wheel. I have a guiar pick and old credit cards. Thank you. God bless, Rev. 21:4

[@Andytizer]

Yes this should work however it’s harder to get to the SSD as it requires taking out the logic board. However I advise using a standard 2.5 inch SSD to replace the HDD. It’s cheaper, it’s far easier to access. Also the adapters like Sintech- I’ve had to replace a few of the over the years and it’s far easier to do on a MacBook. However on an iMac it requires a full disassembly.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

@@Andytizer Thanks. I've disassembled Macs before. I plan to remove the hard drive and the 128Gb factory blade/stick SSD used by the Fusion drive. I only plan to upgrade it to 1TB NVME SSD which is enough space for me. But in accessing to remove the 2TB hard drive (I will repurpose later as a kind of games installation for Boot Camp maybe), do I need to remove the heatsink from the CPU (thus needing to put new thermal paste on it)? Thank you.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

@@Andytizer (I now plan to use a 1TB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro M.2 NVME SSD. It's thermal is up to 70C vs. Teamgroup's thermals is up to 80C, I wonder if the heat would be an issue?)

[@SevenDeMagnus]

@@Andytizer I see, your Sintech adapters, what happened to them, in your experience over the years by the way? Do they die after a year or two (how long did it die in your case?)

[@Andytizer]

@@SevenDeMagnus ​To remove the HDD it's just the steps in the video. I'm not 100% sure of the SSD removal steps. And yes you can use a guitar pick to remove adhesive just don't crack the glass and don't cut the webcam cable. I don't have the numbers for SinTech adapters, I have installed probably 30 of these over the years, and I've had 3 need replacing after 1-2 years (that I know of).

[@CHATHK]

I have 2017 Model and it’s so damn slow, does this work? Sl

[@Andytizer]

Yep this'll work for that model too, it'll work on any iMac 2012-2020.

[@jffm503]

I have a question that could probably earn me some insults (for the long explanation), but I presume I could not be the only one who can be in a situation like I'm going to describe. Due to a new job I've got, I own that exact iMac model shown in the video. I have no PC and right now I have a very tight budget. I want to upgrade right now to an SSD (right now I have a 240gb SATA SSD) as the company that I'm going to work for has an ongoing BYOD (bring your own device) campaign, seems there was some trust issues with prior employees. My iMac right now is very laggy and It's almost impossible to do anything in there (Firefox takes around 4-5 minutes to fully run). Due to my current location, Colombia, it's almost impossible to obtain the adhesives to re paste the screen with the iMac body (in Mercadolibre, there are some guys who's selling it but they are far from where I'm living and they have doubtful reputation), so I have to order them whether is through Amazon, OWC, etc. But, the problem is that shipping will take some time (around 20 days to 1-2 months). As I want to resolve this performance issue right away, is there a temporary solution to keep the screen stick to the iMac like Tesa tapes or any other solution while I get the right adhesives? Or, should I wait for the adhesives instead? I'll gonna use InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop, Word and LibreOffice. I'm sorry for that long explanation, but I had to give some context so any of you can understand the reason of why I could ask for something that is obviously risky. Thanks in advance.

[@Andytizer]

Adhesives are optional, you could use a strip of tape and it’ll hold together fine!

[@Mangold108]

Nice but … 15 minutes and not disk Speedtest ?

[@SevenDeMagnus]

New subscriber here.

[@jeremyallen3845]

Crazy question, can you fuse the two SSD together?

[@demef758]

Sure, but why bother?

[@daktarioskarvannederhosen2568]

THE SSD CAN AND WILL EVENTUALLY NOT BE ANY LONGER REWRITEABLE AND IT WILL ZAP OUT WITHOUT WARNINGMENT.

[@arthurverlaine6434]

Hi, compliments on the video. I'm watching many and I'm not sure about something. I have an Imac Retina 21,5 late 2015 and the HDD failed. I'm currently buying a Samsung EVO 1TB SSD. After that I will restore the fusion drive and try to resurrect the computer. Is this the right process? I'm reading and hearing about this "In-Line Digital Termal Sensor" or else the fan will go insane. Do I have to buy that cable too or I'll be ok by just attaching the new SSD to the 2,5 SATA port and restoring the fusion to new default?

[@Andytizer]

From my experience the fan issue could be fixed using fan control software. Also it think that Mac takes the temp from the SSD SMART sensor. I never buy temp sensors, waste of money on old hardware.

[@arthurverlaine6434]

@@Andytizer Oh ok, so this SSD model (SAMSUNG EVO SSD) has the Thermal Sensor integrated? I can't find the info. If yes, I think that there should be no issues. Thanks for your reply

[@HanifAliBaluch]

Hi there, Thanks for the great effort, but you did a couple of things not professionally, I mean those steps could be more tedious. 1st. You didn't tell us you missed with your Fusion Drive system and that is always bad in the eyes of apple. 2nd. you're suppose to clear all strips, keeping those two bottom strips won't work for us. 3rd. you installed first two straps very badly. and others were quite good; the upper plastics of the adhesive wouldn't go before those are installed on the machine. And very interestingly you didnot clean the machine at all. Hehehehe.

[@chrisdaniels4674]

This is the one I have. Paid more for the flash

[@jacobkinielsen]

TIP for easy future access: instead of adhesive strips simply put on a couple of small pieces of clear tape (on the outside of the rim) to keep the display in place.

[@davebuttig1350]

One more thing. Removing the glass really freaks me out. How easy is it to crack the screen?

[@Andytizer]

I've done a dozen of these now and never cracked the glass from opening it, just make sure to thoroughly use the cutting wheel to cut the adhesive and go slowly.

[@dancheetham2452]

Make sure the glass is not compromised before attempting removal. Not fun when it cracks more!

[@annsophiefans1472]

Yr a brave brave individual! But my HDD became so cripplingly slow, that I will have to do this --- or, toss the iMac back into the ocean to be recycled....

[@Rufer56]

Before looking at videos like this I had a slow but valuable iMac 27" late 2015 ... Now I have a useless no value brick!😮‍💨