Name: OWC DIY Internal SSD Add-On Kit for all 27" Apple iMac (Mid 2011) - Just add your own SSD!
SKU: OWCDIYIM27SSD11
Price: 36.79 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.90 (49 reviews)

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OWC DIY Internal SSD Add-On Kit for all 27" Apple iMac (Mid 2011)

iMac to SSD SATA 6Gb/s data & power cable, 2 suction cups for the outer glass removal, thermal safe adhesive mounting set, OWC Microfiber Pro Cleaning Cloth, and tools

Already have all the tools necessary to perform this upgrade?

You can purchase the cable and mounting set separately here.

Add a 3G or 6G Solid State Drive (sold separately) to your hard drive only equipped iMac to experience faster booting, near instant application launches and data transfer speeds up to 559MB/s!

Before attempting to perform this installation, please watch the following instructional video in its entirety to determine your ability to perform this complex procedure. OWC assumes no responsibility for damage that may occur during the install. Technical support for this DIY product consists only of the installation video.

Turnkey Upgrade Installation Program

While OWC encourages the DIY philosophy, this is a very difficult install that requires advanced skills. If, after watching the how-to video, you are not fully confident of your ability to add an SSD to your 2011 27-inch iMac, you can choose to have OWC "Do It For You" via our Turnkey Upgrade Installation Program.

Highlights:

Add a 3G or 6G Solid State Drive (sold separately) to your hard drive only equipped iMac
Experience faster booting
Near instant application launches
Data transfer speeds up to 559MB/s!

Install Video

Includes

(1) iMac to SSD SATA 6Gb/s data & power cable
(2) Suction cups for the outer glass removal
(1) Thermal safe adhesive mounting set
(1) OWC Torx T10S Driver
(1) OWC Torx T6S Driver
(1) Newertech Phillips PH02
(1) Nylon Pry Tool
(1) OWC Microfiber Pro Cleaning Cloth

NOTE: This kit contains consumable and/or one time use components and therefore is not covered by any warranty. If you have any concerns about your ability to perform the upgrade, you can return the unopened kit for a refund. The 14-Piece Toolkit (except for nylon pry tool and Microfiber Pro cleaning cloth) included with this kit are covered by a 1 Year NewerTech Product Limited Warranty.

Gallery

This kit is compatible with... Learn how to find your Mac's model ID

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011)

(May, 2011)

Model ID: iMac12,2

2.7GHz i5, 3.1GHz i5, 3.4GHz i7

Detailed specs

Install Videos

Customer Ratings

Write a Review 4.9 / 5 48 out of 49 (98%) reviewers would recommend this product

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Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Ft Lauderdale Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Required tools to install a SSD in iMac 27" December 15, 2014 I used these tools to install a SSD into my iMac. They are absolutely necessary. I also used the video owc publishes to know how to use the tools.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Blacksburg, VA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Best way to speed up your system! November 17, 2014 Thanks to OWC's excellent upgrade kit and detailed instructional video, I was able to upgrade my 2011 iMac with an OWC 480GB 6G SSD. Installation was a bit of work, but I had the iMac back together in about an hour and a half. I followed instructions to combine the 1 TB hard drive with the 480GB SSD into a Fusion Drive. Everything works perfectly and now my "old" iMac is much, much faster. OWC really does rock!!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous

Rating: 5/5 Better than expected November 10, 2014 This kit was better quality than I expected and allowed me to complete the drive changes easily. It was the first time I had done this and while some of the connectors are very small, everything went back together smoothly.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Sweden Age: 18-24 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Nice and easy October 24, 2014 The kit made it easy to install a SSD in my iMac.

Greetings from Sweden!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Az Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Kit contained all necessary parts for job October 18, 2014 Kit arrived in timely fashion. Kit was complete and training video from OWC showed detailed MOP for installing the SSD. Ran into one problem that was resolved by me notching out a place to run the cables under the optical drive. Other than that everything went as planned. I would recommend this product.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Huntsville, Alabama Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 5/5 Everything You Need September 26, 2014 I had visions of getting the drive and not having the necessary equipment needed for the installation. The kit provided everything I needed. I found it helpful that the kits were specific to the particular item that I was installing.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Patience Is the Key! September 20, 2014 All I really needed were the suction cups, but nonetheless, This kit did what it needs to do. I watched the DIY tutorial first, then went through the steps as shown. It had a difficulty scale of 5/5, I believe. Patience was the key for me. The hardest part was getting the little connectors disconnected. The first one took about ten minutes. I gave up a few times but hung in there. Overall, it took me about two hours to complete. Honestly, time flew by. If you don't have tools or know what you're doing and you want to diy, then order this and watch the video a few times while your awaiting its arrival to your doorstep.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Vancouver, Canada Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 Takes time, but not that difficult September 10, 2014 Took about 45min to an hour for the complete install from start to finish. Following along with the YouTube video was very helpful.

There are quite a few screws to remove and connectors to unplug, but if you lay the parts out carefully and just take your time with the upgrade, the job is very straightforward.

It's worth it in every way and makes an older HD-based system perform like new. If you haven't done it yet, highly recommended (I shouldn't have waited so long).

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: South Italy

Rating: 5/5 Greate product and great outcome! July 25, 2014 I've used these tools to add an ssd disk to my mid 2011 27" iMac: the outcome has been really greatm, now my iMac is faster then ever! It boots in 15 secs! With the given tools it has been not too complicated to tear it down and ri-assemble it! Greate product!

Cheers Dodo

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Woodbury, MN Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great iMac toolkit June 23, 2014 Replaced the HD and added an SSD to my iMac, couldn't have done it without this toolkit and OWC videos. Customer for life.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: South California Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 5/5 27 inch upgrade June 5, 2014 I sent my 27" iMac to their shop and they did their magic. Everything went very well, quick turn around. One thing dropped in the crack, they were going to buy the RAM they took out but didn't. On the quality side the three phillips head screws for Ram access are all but un useable. I t would not have been an issue but I needed to re-seat the RAM after shipping and I had to drill two of them out. Called to try an get new screws and I guess that is the one item that is un-obtanion on an iMac, all late model iMacs. Beth the girl that I always seamed to contact was great, I mean really grate which give them a 6 out of 5 in my book for service but the guilty of the work I have to ding them a half point, screws and a chip in the glass, but I am Happy.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Cherkassy, Ukraine Age: 18-24 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Good stuff June 3, 2014 I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Sutter Creek, CA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Just what you need to upgrade your 2010 iMac May 17, 2014 This kit contains everything you need to complete your upgrade on your 2010 iMac. I got exactly what I wanted and OWC did a great job explaining what the kit was for.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Minnesota Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Worked as expected. May 4, 2014 I was a little intimidated about tearing open my 2011 iMac. The videos and tools made it manageable, and the new SSD makes the machine blazing fast. Opening up an iMac is not for the faint of heart, but with a little patience it's not a problem. I'm happy!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Norway Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Great product April 3, 2014 I just fininshed my upgrade! Bought a 500gb samsung laptop kit, and used the included usb connector with SuperDuper to clone my existing os to the drive, so no installation needed and everything just the way it was after install.

The kit was excellent. Everything I needed with clear instructions in the video on this website. The majority of the work is pretty simple and the video was not needed much, but I appreciated the very detailed instructions when I did need them.

- The tool kit is solid, well worth having around. - This is a lot easier than it looks. I finished the job in about an hour, including sawing a small hole for the hard drive cable. - Get a nice microfibre cloth designed for windows. Most grocery stores carry these, and you will need them. - The speed is just amazing. Photoshop opens insanely fast, boot is just a few seconds, the annoyingly slow System Preferences app is now lightning fast. Its a new computer, basicly.

Got a small scare when the iMac refused to boot, but turned out the ram I installed at the same time refused to cooperate with the original ram. I've never been this happy to see faulty ram:)

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 very satisfying results March 13, 2014 This upgrade has made my iMac unbelievably fast. So, it's definitely worth it.

However, the install itself is definitely not for the faint of heart. It took me a solid 3 hours. The connectors are tough to disconnect. (I found it easier to use the clamps than the spudger, but worried about squishing the plastic.)

The OWC video is great. I used it in conjunction with the iFixit manual and found them complementary. I liked laying the machine flat a la iFixit, but many of the steps, like keeping the airport card connected, were better from the OWC.

The screw driver kit is cheap, but gets the job done.

So, in closing, I'm not sure how you can evaluate whether you can do this. I've poked around computers for a while, including a 2007 iMac and this was definitely harder. That being said, the instructions online are clear and true to form. Plus, I have an unbelievable sense of satisfaction!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Fukuoka Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 It s not that hard! January 31, 2014 After upgraded several POWERBOOK and MACBOOKPRO in the past, i felt confident enough to do it with my iMac. It was actually quite easy, at least not very difficult. Just make a clean environment to work, avoid dust, be patient. The tutorial video is excellent, it s a perfect step-by-step. it took me 2hours to do everything.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Hendrik Ido Ambacht, The Netherlands Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Everything you need to place an ssd in your iMac June 24, 2013 Excellent kit with good quality cable. I used this kit together with the disk replacement kit to make a fusion drive with a 256GB SSD and 2.5 inch WD 750GB disks. Silence and speeds up your iMac signifantly. Great stuff!

If you ship to the Netherlands expect to pay 20 euro extra for customs. Maybe using DHL or UPS is cheaper at the end of the line.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Western Australia Age: 25-34 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Easy way to install an SSD without paying Apple! February 4, 2013 Added a OWC 480GB Mercury EXTREME™ Pro 6G SSD to my iMac. Having everything in the one kit was awesome. The instruction video was the best, it covered every step from beginning to end and also things to watch out for so that you don't damage your iMac. I had the video playing on my laptop whilst performing the steps. Before opening the iMac I placed it on a anti-static mat and also left the power plug in, but with the switch off, so that the iMac was still earthed. I also had an anti-static strap that connected me to the mat. Maybe over the top but no static discharge was gonna come from me! One thing to note is that the connectors were harder to remove then shown on the video, in the end I used my finger nails to pull the clips out instead of the tweezers. Got the whole process done successfully in just over an hour.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Stephens City, VA Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Everything you need to add an SSD (except the SSD of course) January 9, 2013 Added a 500 gb Samsung 840 SSD to my iMac. Everything needed was in the kit, and the installation video was great. Some of the internal connector plugs are harder to remove than the video suggests. My iMac is also one without the channel to get the cables under the optical drive. If you have the same issue, keep watching the video and read the text on how to run the cables in this case. I watched the video all the way through a couple times before I did the install and somehow missed that. Using the adapted technique in the video, everything installed just fine.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: DMAC Location: NW CT Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent Kit, Excellent Install Video December 10, 2012 I installed the a Mercury Extreme Pro SSD into my 2011 27' iMac without problem. The kit had everything necessary for the install, and the instructional video was simply amazing. I had the video on a laptop PC and stopped it at every step along the way so I could double check everything, especially during the "put back together" phase.

The install was fairly easy. Although as a previous poster mentioned, some of the connections were slightly harder to pull apart than shown in the video. The kit's metal tweezers were adequate but would slip off some of the plugs when trying to unplug them. I was worried about damaging the wires when that occurred, so I used the included plastic pry sticks to work the connector apart. That was easier than using the tweezers in some cases.

Overall, if you take your time, and are gentle and patient, this is not that difficult. It took me about three hours, but I worked slowly and double checked everything.

The iMac now is WICKED FAST... Even the internet is faster. I don't know why that is because I didn't think the Hard Drive was used that much during internet use. Anyway, I'm real happy with the outcome.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Breadwild Location: Wheaton, IL Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 It is possible to "do it yourself" December 1, 2012 I had a lot of confidence going into this because I had this complete kit and the extremely helpful, and all important video (so glad I saved my original carton).

Like the first reviewer, the tweezers/connector combo was dicey. Should have used some small needle nose pliers.

The only tricky, or hard to understand part, was the routing of the new cables. The video is not completely clear at first, so I recommend you watch this part of the video all the way to the install of the old optical. That way you get a clearer idea of how the cables should lie. I found it best to do a cursory routing of the cables, and then after the new drive is in place, tweak the placement and orientation. Especially important is running the new cables right up and along the black cable behind the motherboard so that the motherboard can go back into place without forcing it.

Took me 2 hours, but a lot of that was re-watching parts of the video to make sure I didn't screw it up.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: NCMacGuy Location: Franklin, NC Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 Success! July 19, 2012 A comprehensive kit with all the tools needed to install an SSD or replace the HDD in an iMac.

After watching the video of the replacement procedure I decided that I could handle the installation myself and save some money.

The only difficulty I encountered was removing some of the connectors during the installation process. The tweezers in the kit seemed to be a little "flimsy" and I had some problems grasping the connectors without the tweezers slipping off the connector. The connectors did not come off as easily for me as they did in the video!

I also wish the Torx screwdrivers were magnetized to hold the screws that went in the narrow channel around the display. The use of the tweezers to locate the screws was hard for me.

So it took a lot longer than an hour, but in the end I replaced the existing 1TB HDD with a 3TB HDD, and installed the new SSD. The changes were well worth the effort and expense, and the performance of my iMac is now greatly improved.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: ivan Location: Italy Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 the product and very good July 16, 2012 I would recommend this item to a friend!

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OWC Special Offer Available

OWC DIY Internal SSD Add-On Kit for all 27" Apple iMac (Mid 2011) iMac to SSD SATA 6Gb/s data & power cable, 2 suction cups for the outer glass removal, thermal safe adhesive mounting set, OWC Microfiber Pro Cleaning Cloth, and tools

Includes

Gallery

Customer Ratings

OWC DIY Internal SSD Add-On Kit for all 27" Apple iMac (Mid 2011)

iMac to SSD SATA 6Gb/s data & power cable, 2 suction cups for the outer glass removal, thermal safe adhesive mounting set, OWC Microfiber Pro Cleaning Cloth, and tools