Imac 2011,DIY Fusion.

malk

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Hi there,
finally got round to sort out my Imac, which is the 2011, i5, 20gb RAM, using DIY fusion with a 2TB HDD and a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD.

Thought id put some pics up of the process, and to mention a right result i had at the end which i wasnt expecting!!
Good old Disk utility helping me right out.
Im just waiting for the Time machine back up to sort itself out, then ill put up some pics i took of the process, and hopefully it might be of some help(getting screen off, using optibay caddy ).

At the end of the process, i was all geared up to use terminal, to type in the command line to create one logical volume using the 2tb HDD and the 250GB SSD.
But, as the SSD had failed, and i had just replaced it without wiping any data from the 2TB HDD that was still inside the Imac, when i booted using cmnd r, i went to diskutility to see if both drives were there, and being seen by OSX, it had the words FUSION, in red writing, .
I had never seen this before, so i clicked on the red writing, it then had a pop up window, stating that the 2TB HDD had been part of a Fusion set up, and as there is another drive(samsung SSD), would it like to fix the fusion , to create a logical volume, !!
i , of course agreed, clicked yes, and low and behold, in about 5 seconds, OSX had created and fixed my DIY fusion!!!2.250TB of Fusion goodness.
No terminal commands needed!!
How cool is that!!
Pics to follow...(im restoring over wifi, so its going to take ages..)
 
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Ok imac ready
 
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got the bag the imac came inside ready for the screen..
 
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arrow to use as a suction cup to get the plastic front off from the magnets
 
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screws surrounded by the strong magnets
 
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once undone grip with tweasers or i had to use scissors
 
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tricky cable under the screen, pinch and pull
 
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screen off, thats the 2tb hdd with the brown connection from owc to tegulate the temperature.
 
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thats the caddy with the samsung ssd inside that is suppossed to be fried.
 
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screen inside imac wrapper
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Put ipright in imac box out of the way
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Screws for caddy undone
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Temp sensor removed off caddy, and metal tape undone
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Lifted out be carefull of the sata connection, its tight.
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No caddy!! Could just velcro ssd in..
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Dust!!
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Caddy out
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Ssd out, ready to go
 

Attachments

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New one in
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Reconnect
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all screwed in
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Cd drive thermal cable attached
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Screen back on reconnected
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Fix fusion...
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Restoring
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Another pic of owc thermal snsor cable plugged in to hdd.
 
To be honest, it IS a pain to do, but looking back, it is a quite easy job, and it is just literally, undoing screws, and reconnecting.
the hardest and longest part was keeping dust from the unprotected screen, that took about 15mins on imac, to get dust free.(ocd peeps will love it!!)

This SSD im using is a Samsung 840, normal, not EVO, and the speed has dropped slightly, but only on black magic speed test,- real world, startup from off, is about 15-20 secs, apps alomost instant.
If you can , even on a Macbook, do the fusion thing, big storage for SSD type speeds, for (if you go 2nd hand), ÂŁ70? (ÂŁ40 2TB hdd.ÂŁ45 ssd)
The caddy is 5.99 from fleabay,(which you could leave out, and just velcro in the drive,)
There is another sata connection further down the logic board , i have the cable for that from OWC , to get that going, and have another drive inside, but i think really its for the 27" imacs, as the 21" are a bit too tight.
now the cable, the temp sensor(macbooks not applied here), you could use the app, 75p, but i paid i think ÂŁ35 to get mine from OWC,,,,.its all about what you find you need...
Oh as for the fried samsung SSD pulled out? its now in my Windows 10 desktop, running as fast as you like, as a bootdrive...NO ISSUES!!!????
whats going on there then?
So in a nutshell, aside from running the fusion command, thats all it is, undoing screws....
If youre around swindon, ill help you do it if needed, as it seriously beefs up a 2011,or even 2010 imac, to nearly modern speeds.
Would i do this on the slim models? dont think so, its all about the tape , and could get messy, anyway, unless its a 4k screen, ive no need....
Now, could i swap out this screen for the 4k imac one? would it fit, thats my next plan.
 
Last edited:
Nice write up Malk. Very useful!

However there's another option, you can wait for it to fail and take back to Apple under their repair option for the known graphics issue on the AMD graphics card for the high spec models. Then if they fail to repair it properly they might offer you a new 5k iMac instead!

Honestly, this just happened for a guy I know through work. I diagnosed the failure as being under Apple's repair program. They had it for 2 weeks and despite replacing the AMD card and a few other components, couldn't get it working again. So are replacing with a 5k iMac and as his 2011 was spec'd up he's getting the better graphics and Fusion drive version. He was a bit miffed with the delays repairing it at first. But now, as you can imagine, over the moon. Jammy sod!!!

Say what you like about Apple, but you don't get that kind of customer care with other manufacturers....
 
To be honest, i was really hoping it was one of the recall iMacs, as they would give me a new one !!
But, in my case, the genius did mention , that as the opticaldrive was now gone, it voided any warranty, so i would have to replace parts back in, but for a 4or 5 k imac? No sweat at all!! Mind you, i have seen the new 4k imacs, have no extra sata ports inside, and no optical drive to change to a sata port, so the fusion option would be gone, unless bought with one.
I would think that again apple are crunching on user upgradability.
I think personally, like me on a tight budget the 2010-2011, maybe some early slim imacs, MBP, mac mini are the best, you can get in them and change them.
I wish i had the cash to get a specced up new one, but alas, im skint, so im wishing on a 4k screen!!!
I doubt itll fit, plus itll be alot of moolah!!"
After using the windows pc, for a good few weeks, with HDD, the SSD boost in the imac, and even on the windows one now, is a welcome feeling, its what you want a computer to be like!!(imho).!!
 
I agree about the customer care, a few times ive been to Bristol Apple store, once with my first MBP, and they sorted it out, then, there was my recent visit, again, ran a diagnostic, talked me through why it was happening etc, i was there about 20 mins, just talking about the OS, and how and why it was behaving like it was.
imagine buying a laptop from PC world, and then having difficulties with it,, then asking one of the store staff....im sure there are a few tech minded staff out there, but not round here, they just want to sell you stuff.
Even the phone help bloke, he was really helpfull, talked me through some options i wouldnt have known about.
Does anyone know if the new keyboards and new trackpad work as wired if they are plugged in to the imac?
Ive a new problem!! my bluetooth keeps dropping out!!!
mmmmmm, maybe theres a recall!!
 

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