Chosen Solution
I have a 27" i7 iMac that I bought close to two months ago, and I would like to replace the internal HDD with an SSD, and I have a 2.5" to 3.5" form factor converter. The only thing I have noticed is that there is nowhere on the SSD to plug in the Thermal Sensor Connector. Do I just ignore it? Can I? This is the SSD that I ordered: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as… I am currently booting off that SSD, which is connected via USB 2.0, and I believe that it’s being bottlenecked by USB 2.0.
OWC now has a cable with heat sensor that is designed to take care of this problem. It works with iMac because the Mac system and hardware doesn’t know that it isn’t an Apple drive. OS updates will not affect this setup. I purchased my cable and drive adapter for a 27" mid 2011 iMac. I wanted to replace my standard internal HD with an SSD. I have an e-SATA to lightning drive bay that will hold both 2.5 " and 3.5 " drives i use for backups and storage. I inserted the new SSD into the dock and formatted it using disc utility. I then used Carbon Copy Cloner. I then rebooted iMac to the SSD to make shure it was a successful install. I booted up without any problem. Really darn fast load up and apps just cruise. Then i shut off iMac and begin the drive switch. I watched their install video 2 times then replaced drives as instructed. No problem with the install process. Cable hooked up and sensor placed on the SSD. Reassembled and fired that puppy up and it worked. No worry about speeding fans or other controlling software. No fear of Apple updates messing with it. This new cable for this is sold only by OWC as they have the sole rights to this cable and they make it themselves. The drive adapter is $35 which you need no matter what and their propritary cable $15. Worth every darn cent! Update (05/14/2016) Runs at normal speed. The best thing i ever did to this iMac. I have placed SSD in 12 Mackbook Pro’s and 7 IMac’s and all have worked just great.
Following these instructions, I simply replaced my HDD with an SSD. iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 and 2374 Hard Drive Replacement I simply diconnected the cable that normally connects between the HDD temp sensor socket on the main logic board and the HDD from the HDD, but leaving it plugged into the logic board. I then stripped a CAT5 cable and cut a short wire out of one of the pairs and made a U shape and ran it in and out of the end of the cable that plugs into the HDD temp sensor location. I then put some electrical tape over it and left it coiled up inside. My iMac now has an SSD in place of the HDD, and the fans are quiet. Apparently this is how how Apple does it with models that come only with an SSD.
I purchased https://www.applecomponents.com/items/00… which is a Optical Drive Temp Sensor, and it works.. tape it to the HDD just to the upper right of the sata plug on the back of the drive.. on the black aluminum; middle of the drive.(according to seagate, thats the optimal place for a temp sensor) and voila.. the answer.. How I came to this conclusion was, I originally took the optical drive thermal sensor from my ODD and put it on the HDD thinking this should work.. well the HDD temp and fans work perfectly.. and the ODD fan is at full blast.. so I tried to contact APPLE for the replacement ODD temp sensor.. Mistake.. and then I found the Link above.. and used it as a replacement.. TADA!!!
I had the same jet-engine-fan problem after an OWC SSD upgrade. ODD fan was going 4000rpm. I used http://exirion.net/ssdfanctrl/ and it worked instantly.
Hi, Is the jumping cable and using the software alternative just as good as buying a whole new temp sensor cable? Thanks
Thanks for the info everyone, I will try out your recommendations: -Use Icy Box enclosure -Short the thermostat if needed -Use free ssdfanctrl software if fans run fast. I have to say I have bricked (killed) a few iMacs trying to upgrade to an SSD. Anyone else have the same experience or even a cure as to what the cause of death was :-) Thanks Big B
Just like to say…..if you leave it up to the system in order to adjust fan speed according to temp…..your GPU will overheat…..and are way worse off….thermal sensors are great so “I” can monitor my temps….fans full speed unless just everyday tasks…full blast even for playing video….imagine letting your engine wear out, because fan optimization was best and your electric radiator fan lasted a lot longer….fans are easy and cheap
if you are replacing your old HDD with SSD and you don’t want your fan to be noisy, just take off your old HDD control board from the top of HDD (6 small screws), plug in the temperature sensor cable and stick the board on top of your new SSD with double sided tape. если вы меняете ваш старый HDD на SSD и не хотите что бы он шумно работал из за отсутствия датчика температуры, то снимите плату с верху вашего старого HDD диска , подсоедините к ней оставшийся шлейф температурного датчика и приклейте эту плату поверх нового SSD.
is Dan selling the converters? is this his promo thread to sell them? The converters seem to perform the same function as the jumped terminal. Does anyone have specifics on jumping the terminal?
I have the same iMac 27" i7 mid-2011 and it is new to me, refurbished, with an extended 2 yr. warranty. When purchased, according to the specs only had a 1 tb HDD. The NICE surprise is it also shows a 256gb Apple SSD TS256C installed (along with 8gb < 16 gb RAM and 1gb <2gb RAM on the video card - all surprise upgrades from Mac of all Trades! ISSUE IS: On both hard drives it shows Link Speed = 6 Gigabit Negotiated Link Speed = 3 gigabit NOW… could this be reconfigured through a software solution, to run as fast as it should?? Update (01.08.2018) Again- On both hard drives it shows: Link Speed = 6 Gigabit HOWEVER it shows a Negotiated Link Speed = 3 gigabit …So clearly if two out of the three cables are supplying 6 GP/S And the link speed reads an initial 6 GP/S on both HDD and SSD…. It would appear that they each have the proper port for that part of the configuration ( if one of them was in the optical Port, a starting link speed of 3GP/S, not 6, would show as the link speed)
- then there must be a different answer (possibly SOFTWARE configuration answer)?
Funnily enough, I swapped out the HD for an SSD and my fans aren’t going crazy and appear to be working normal (some airflow out the bottom of the iMac) without the thermal cable or software. I’m doing some heavy production work and the fans kick on after a n hour or so, but turn off once I’m done. I think I’ll wait and see what happens. Edit: I just realized this is a really old thread.. maybe iMacs are smarter now-a-days.
Sorry for the late post, but I have a quick fix. You just need a dremel like tool and some scissors. There are 4 connectors on the adapter but only 2 are required. I just cut it in half to get rid of that.
After you’re left with 2 connectors, use a dremil on the open side where the connectors are. Just make a small enough incision to give breathing room for second connector (black wire in my case). After that the connectors should be a tight squeeze but just push it on the bottom row of pins(right 2 pin, not the left) on the HDD. My fans have been running at a quiet speed for the last hour.
See the attached photos and feel free to ask any questions. Instructions are a bit confusing but photos should help show what I did. Side note: Grey wire should be on the top once the drive is installed.
