3rd Party SSD drives for old iMac?

Hardware
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So my old iMac is an iMac Intel (21.5-inch, Late 2013)
21.5" /750M/3.1QC/2x8GB/1TB/W L K B
3.1 Ghz Intel Core i7 16 GB Ram 1TB disk Model A1418 Part # ZOPE 0005A

I want to replace the internal rotating hard drive with a 2TB one.

From previous experience Apple HW imay or may not run with various 3rd party drives (BTDT trying to replace internal drives on laptiops and never could get them to work because Apple crippled th system to disallow it)

So…

What would be a good SSD drive I could put internally in this old of a machine that will work well?

2

No personal experience with the iMac, but iFixit includes the Crucial MX500 in their upgrade kits. MacSales specs the Aura Pro X2 in theirs.

1 Like
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In years past I upgraded two MacBook Pros with MacSales/OWC Aura SSDs. They worked great.

2 Likes
4

I used an OWC SSD replacement in my 2015 MacBook Pro, and wound up returning it due to kernel panics. Having said that, their customer support was great, and they didn’t hassle me about refunding the ~$600.

5

OWC will sell you a quality SSD to install it in your iMac. They also have the VHB strips to seal your display t the enclosure. Watch the OWC or ifixit.com videos before starting this process. I have done this swap multiple times.

Since your iMac should have come with a 2.5" 5400rpm HD… should be an easy swap. If it is a Fusion setup, things could be tricky. Apple did not make the Fusion setup to work with 2 SSD’s.

If you don’t go with OWC… I will second Chris’s suggestion of Crucial MX series. Next choice is Samsung EVO series. I have had very bad luck with SanDisk drives in the past.