something in the water folks... lots of hardware issues in the pub this week. For me it was the "Fusion Drive" on my late 2013 iMac. Fusion Drive means big 3TB traditional hard drive and a little 128GB SSD blade pretending to be one big 3TB drive inside your pretty aluminum and glass shell. So when that hard drive goes out... you have your choice. Replace the big drive with another one and try to make another fusion drive (which will probably have problems) or join the rest of the 21st century and buy an SSD drive. But wait - there's more choices! You can also upgrade the SSD blade (with a proprietary connector thank$$). I decided to go full Frankenstein. To get to the blade SSD, you're basically removing everything but some cables. Mid-teardown: Full teardown: I swapped the 128GB blade SSD with a 512GB SSD out of a macbook air I salvaged a while ago (hiding on the back of the logic board): In the end, I was successful: But oh man... a couple hairy moments. I now have a 512GB OS Drive and a 2TB SATA SSD data drive. It's rippin fast. I'm glad I got to do it. It's not quite as scary as several people online want to make it sound. I wish you all similar successes with your hardware woes.
Dude mad props. I have avoided "fusion" drives like the goddamn plague for all the reasons you list. I also got spinny platters in my Mac Mini because if it shelled you can always just replace it right? WERRRRONGGGGGGGGG 'cuz Apple uses a proprietary bios now because fuck you, that's why, so now I have a mac Mini whose soul lives on a USB 3 drive. Because apple, last I checked, wanted $550 for a 1TB spinny platter fujitsu with their proprietary bullshit BIOS on it.
the machine? it's ok. It was pipe hittin' 7 years ago... and still no slouch by today's standards - I mean it's got a quad core i7, and a decent 4GB graphics card. The new SSDs gave it a rebirth (even if it was forced). It's no gaming rig - but it runs final cut for me, logic for the kid, and.... basic computing stuff for the other 97 people in the house.
it's the third iMac I've opened... but definitely the most invasive of repairs. they REALLY don't want the lay people inside of this thing. I mean... the screen is GLUED ON. at least the previous versions used magnets and/or screws. This thing is just weird. But once I got my mind wrapped around the adhesives, the rest is all just screws and ribbon cables (about a billion each) edit: if any of your repair averse apple friends want to send me their gear instead of trashing it... I'm always open for donations