Chosen Solution

Hello everyone, My iMac mid 2011 27” makes a ticking sound when starting up, this takes about 10 seconds. When booted I get the message that my HDD cannot be found. It probably broke down after 11 years. I also have a Crucial SSD with my OS installed (High Sierra) from which it boots, so I can still use the computer. Info from this Crucial SSD: M4-CT256M4SSD2 with the SATA protocol. I have the following questions:

  1. I had already placed iMac Intel 27" Mid 2011 Dual Hard Drive Kit in my shopping cart, but is this what I need? Will this kit fit on a new 3,5” SSD + on my current SSD?
  2. Which SSD would you recommend? My Crucial M4 is now also 10 years old. I can imagine there are better/faster SSDs out there. I would then opt to use the new SSD as a boot drive and the Crucial M4 as storage.
  3. If I were to open my iMac anyway, do you have any tips on things I could replace right away? For example, my fan has been making quite a lot of noise recently, or is it because my HDD is broken? Many thanks in advance for your feedback

I’m a bit confused, you state you have a dual drive config now (HDD & SSD) at this point the HDD has failed. So you need to replace the HDD either with another HDD or upgrade to a SSD. As we don’t know the size of the the HDD as well as the Crucial SSD it will be hard to tell you which way to go as well as what sized drive and if you are thinking of replacing the Crucial drive what to put in its place. Keep in mind HDD’s are still cheaper than SSD’s more so when you get into the larger sizes. As an example my 2011 27” iMac has a 2TB HDD and a 500GB SSD. I set this up quite a few years ago and for many this is still a good setup. Using the SSD as the boot drive, hosting the apps and keeping about 1/3 unused so the OS and apps have breathing room for Virtual RAM, caching and scratch space. The HDD is where I have my media files (PodCasts & Music) as well as my creative work catalog (I use a 2013 MacPro for the heavy work) So if you go with a SSD to replace your current HDD you’ll need an adapter frame as well as a special sensor cable. This is the needed kit iMac Intel 21.5" and 27" (Mid 2011) SSD Upgrade Kit or stick with a HDD. I like the 3.5” Seagate BarraCuda SSHD for SSD’s I like Samsung but Crucial drives are good as well. Your fan is likely just loaded up with dust so its not running true. Get a small soft paint brush and a can of can’ed air to dust out your system. Make sure you clean the blades and the heat sink fins with the brush and then use short blasts of air to blow away the junk.