iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K Display Hard Drive Replacement

[Moltuae]

I don't usually touch Apple products (if I can help it) so I have close-to-zero experience with this stuff.
However, a friend has begged me to swap out his HDD for an SSD, because he's frightened he might break the screen. Stupidly I agreed to help

So, I am armed with the 'pizza cutter' tool to remove the adhesive (what the hell is wrong with using screws, Apple!!??), the replacement adhesive strips, the temp sensor (build into a short M/F SATA cable), the new SSD and the following guide:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+Retina+5K+Display+Hard+Drive+Replacement/30522

I understand that the screen is fragile and that I need to proceed VERY carefully. But, once the screen is removed and disconnected, the physical drive swap looks fairly straightforward ...

Is there anything else I should be aware of?

He tells me he needs nothing on the old drive, so the plan is to install the new SSD 'as is' (ie unformatted and uninitialised). If I remember correctly (form one or two past Apple experiences), I just need to get the thing online and it will download and re-install the OS. Is that correct?

 

[Markverhyden]

It's very straight forward, especially thanks to iFixit. One thing I do with anything that uses adhesives like that is apply heat. Got nice hot air gun several years ago. But a good quality hair drier will also do. Applied to the glass edge as well as the side. You can use pillows to support it so it's level. I also have a mess of CC cards saved over time for things like this. Once I start getting separation I'll use two cards to keep it separated.

But pay close attention to hooking the screen cables back up. Customer gave me his old iMac since I thought it needed a logic board so we bought him a new one. Turns out it was the drive causing the problems. Afters swapping the drive it took me several tries to get the cables properly seated.

 

[Moltuae]

Thanks Mark

 

[timeshifter]

I partially damaged a video cable once doing an upgrade. I think it flexed or bent. Worked but occasionally there'd be artifacts on screen (hard to describe), it was very faint. Had to order a cable, take it all apart and luckily it all worked, i.e. I didn't damage the connector on the logic board.

Note that this was on the pre-glued on screens, so it wasn't as much of a hassle as it could have been.

 

[Moltuae]

I'll be taking extra care with the cables.

Am I right in assuming that I don't need to prepare the new SSD drive in any way? I just need to get the thing online afterwards and it'll download and install the OS, right?

 

[overburnz]

First you just need to use the something to do the same as this:

then just use the pizza cutter around the display, do it multiple time until you feel little to no resistance, then use a black stick to help you removing the display, use it to cut the remaining pieces of VHB and carefully open the display and then disconnect the LVDS cable and the LCD Temperature cable (on the middle right) and finally the power cable on the left, completly open the display and remove the lower VHB strips from the outside to the inside (when putting the new VHB be sure that the microphone isn't in the chin, some models do, if so just don't put any VHB there.

For those models you don't need the SSD temperature sensor is not needed.
If you need anymore help/hints just tag me

 

[Computer Bloke]

Am I right in assuming that I don't need to prepare the new SSD drive in any way?

Yes, but...

He tells me he needs nothing on the old drive

Customers always lie deceive themselves about this. The fastest and safest way to get him up and running is to make a backup using Time Machine before you do anything, then restore from that onto the new SSD as part of the initial macOS setup. It gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card if anything goes horribly wrong and it's the Right Thing To Do.

 

[overburnz]

Customers always lie deceive themselves about this. The fastest and safest way to get him up and running is to make a backup using Time Machine before you do anything, then restore from that onto the new SSD as part of the initial macOS setup. It gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card if anything goes horribly wrong and it's the Right Thing To Do.

or he could install a fresh copy and after, if needed, connect the old HD and use "Migration Assistant" and copy whatever information/settings/software from the old HD that the customer needs

 

[Computer Bloke]

or he could install a fresh copy and after, if needed, connect the old HD and use "Migration Assistant" and copy whatever information/settings/software from the old HD that the customer needs

That sounds an awful lot like twice as much work to me, but whatever floats your boat...

 

[overburnz]

That sounds an awful lot like twice as much work to me, but whatever floats your boat...

your option:
step 1 - do time machine (need extra HD)
step 2 - remove HD and install SSD
step 3 - install mac os and copy data (if needed)

my option:

step 1 - remove HD and install SSD
step 2 - install mac os and copy data (if needed)

 

[Markverhyden]

Am I right in assuming that I don't need to prepare the new SSD drive in any way? I just need to get the thing online afterwards and it'll download and install the OS, right?

Any Apple machine that shipped with 10.7, which this would be one of them, or better has the recovery partition function built into BIOS. So when you boot Command + R it will go into Recovery Mode so you can do an install over the Internet. But you do have to partition the drive before you can do the install. It can take quite a while to download depending on many things. That's why I have installers on sticks because it's quicker. Also, sometimes, you have to provide an Apple account. Don't use your's, use the customers. You might want to take the time as well to build your own sticks.

 

[timeshifter]

You might want to take the time as well to build your own sticks.

Or ISOs for an iODD. There's a thread about converting Mac installers in this section.

Also, one thing I've run into once or twice is that the Mac can't see the drive and format it once it's all buttoned up. To fix I had to take the drive out and connect it to another Mac and format it. Then put it back in and the installer could see it.

 

[overburnz]

Or ISOs for an iODD. There's a thread about converting Mac installers in this section.

Also, one thing I've run into once or twice is that the Mac can't see the drive and format it once it's all buttoned up. To fix I had to take the drive out and connect it to another Mac and format it. Then put it back in and the installer could see it.

That’s not right, when booting up the installer you have four options, one of them being disk utility, where you can format the HD before installing

Edit:

 

[timeshifter]

That’s not right, when booting up the installer you have four options, one of them being disk utility, where you can format the HD before installing

Edit:

You misunderstood me. I’ve installed macOS many many times over the years. I know how to use Disk Utility and format the drive before running the install. In the handful of cases I am talking about, the drive does not show up in Disk Utility, so I can’t click on it and format it.

 

[overburnz]

You misunderstood me. I’ve installed macOS many many times over the years. I know how to use Disk Utility and format the drive before running the install. In the handful of cases I am talking about, the drive does not show up in Disk Utility, so I can’t click on it and format it.

Ok, is it in APFS and you’re trying to install a previous version of Mac OS?

 

[Moltuae]

Yes, but...



Customers always lie deceive themselves about this. The fastest and safest way to get him up and running is to make a backup using Time Machine before you do anything, then restore from that onto the new SSD as part of the initial macOS setup. It gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card if anything goes horribly wrong and it's the Right Thing To Do.

It's ok, he's not your average customer. I would agree that most end users don't really know what they want or have little understanding of where their data is stored but this guy's quite technically adept. If he says he needs nothing on the existing drive, I have no reason to believe otherwise. In fact he's more than capable of doing the job himself, but he's afraid that he might break something so he asked me to do it. While I don't generally touch Macs, I have the tools and decades of experience as an electronics design/repair engineer, so I'm less likely to break something than he is.

He's asked me to bin the old 1TB HDD and create a factory-fresh OS installation on the SSD. So I plan to open it up, swap the drives, stick the screen back on and re-install the OS (or I may give it back to him at that point and let him re-install the OS himself).

Any Apple machine that shipped with 10.7, which this would be one of them, or better has the recovery partition function built into BIOS. So when you boot Command + R it will go into Recovery Mode so you can do an install over the Internet. But you do have to partition the drive before you can do the install. It can take quite a while to download depending on many things. That's why I have installers on sticks because it's quicker. Also, sometimes, you have to provide an Apple account. Don't use your's, use the customers. You might want to take the time as well to build your own sticks.

I don't plan on touching another Apple product any time soon so it's probably not worth it for me to make USB installers.

I really just needed to confirm that (before I stick the screen back on) I will be able to re-install the OS somehow, without the need to initialise, format or clone the drive beforehand. I don't want to have to remove the screen again if I can help it!



One question: He hasn't left the keyboard with me. Can I use a regular USB keyboard somehow to get into recovery mode?

 

[timeshifter]

Ok, is it in APFS and you’re trying to install a previous version of Mac OS?

First of all I’m referring to jobs long ago completed. I was installing brand new SSDs that have never been opened, installed, connected, etc, they were blank, had never been partitioned or formatted.

 

[14049752]

First of all I’m referring to jobs long ago completed. I was installing brand new SSDs that have never been opened, installed, connected, etc, they were blank, had never been partitioned or formatted.

Apple changed disk utility so that unformatted, third party drives would not show up. I don't know the whole details of the change, just that I dealt with that often. You could run the diskutil in command line to format the drives. Alternatively, you could have connected via target disk mode and formatted that way, using a second machine (avoiding taking the drive back out)

 

[geranium]

I second what timeshifter and 14049752 have mentioned about unformatted drives not always showing up after connecting to SATA.

I would connect the new SSD to the current running machine via USB adapter and install the fresh OS on it before it gets inside the machine. You can boot from it externally to check it and ensure that it will boot once connected internally.

 

[Moltuae]

I would connect the new SSD to the current running machine via USB adapter and install the fresh OS on it before it gets inside the machine. You can boot from it externally to check it and ensure that it will boot once connected internally.

Thanks. What's the best way to do that? Is there a built-in utility or do I need to install something?