Upgrading the iMac
With the parts finally in my hands and armed with the OWC video, I set about upgrading the iMac. I must mention that the quality of the video is very good. I had it running on my laptop while I worked on the iMac. I paused the video every now and then while I worked. Many people fear the process of opening an iMac. That really, was the least of my worries. It is not such a delicate process once you understand how it is done. The major challenge for me, was disconnecting the various cable contacts within the computer. Broadly speaking, there are three types of contacts inside the iMac. Ones that are just slipped in and out; ones with a latch and a minuscule one with a tiny latch. The usual method is to tug at the cable to pull them out. Not ever having done the sort of work, I did wonder how much pressure was too much pressure. Some of the cables like the AC Inlet Cable, seem to be able to take quite a bit of pressure. Some appear to be so delicate that I was hesitant to even touch them. The cables leading from the Power Supply to the back of the Logic Board was a major challenge (because the instructions were incorrect). The OWC video instruction mentions. “… by squeezing the small tab and sliding the connector out of the socket.” I actually had to take out the entire Logic Board along with the Power Supply module, to look under the Logic Board. It appeared that one needed to pull the tab and then slide the connector out. In any case there is so little space to do that, by reaching under the Logic Board. There must be another way to do it. The rest of it was only careful application and a singular determination to complete the project successfully.
Closing The iMac
Closing the iMac was every bit as tricky as the opening of the machine was. I must mention here that the original Apple adhesive strips Appeared to be of better quality than the ones that came with the OWC Kit. There is also a little bit of a confusion as to positioning of strips 4L and 4R and why their face-up colour should be different. Do also note that positioning the screen at a slant (so that one can make the final two cable connections), before closing the iMac and aligning it flush with the base near the Apple Logo is a bit of a challenge. That final process needs a fair amount of care. The assistance of a second person to hold the screen up while you make the final reconnections, will be helpful.
Installing the Operating System, Migrating Software and Data to new SSD
Migrating the applications and data on the old Drive to the new SSD is a piece of cake, thanks to Apple’s Migration Assistant. Here, I must commend the ease with which the whole process can be handled. The time involved depends on the speed of one’s Internet connection and the amount of data on the old Drive. It took me only 30 minutes to install the Operating System. It took me about 2 hours and 45 minutes to migrate my data.
Read the whole story on my Blog: https://www.coromandel.co/en/technology-the-saga-of-upgrading-an-imac/