Name: OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011)
SKU: OWCDIYIMACHDD11
Price: 49.5 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.80 (71 reviews)

OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit including tools for all iMac 2011 Models

Required for any drive installed into the main drive bay.

Eliminate fan noise and maintain correct system fan control when upgrading your 2011 iMac.

The only iMac HDD upgrade option on the market certified to pass the Apple Hardware Test.

Fixes firmware incompatibility issues with third party hard drives.

Engineered in-house and backed by OWC's award-winning customer support.

Already have all the tools necessary to perform this upgrade?

You can purchase the sensor cable separately here.

Improve Performance and Capacity. Upgrade Your iMac with Confidence.

OWC's in-line solution is the only hardware digital thermal sensor on the market allowing a third-party SATA drive to be installed in your iMac. A convenient, plug-and-play cable, the In-line Digital Thermal Sensor eliminates fan noise and maintains proper system fan control through the iMac's System Management Controller. This innovative device is designed specifically for the iMac, requires no software hacks and ensures compatibility with Apple's built-in diagnostic processes.

Using an OWC Internal HDD DIY Kit (sold separately), replace your iMac's original hard drive with up to an 8.0TB hard drive or a lighting fast SSD with a NewerTech Adaptadrive, for dramatic upgrades in storage capacity or data speed while maintaining the original system's fan and diagnostic performance.

Note: Before attempting to perform this installation, please watch the OWC Install Videos below to determine your ability to perform this complex upgrade.

OWC assumes no responsibility for damage that may occur during the install. Technical support for this DIY product consists only of the OWC Install Video.

Have OWC Upgrade Your iMac

While OWC encourages the DIY philosophy, this is a very difficult upgrade that requires advanced skills. If you are not fully confident in your ability to upgrade the drive in your 2009-2010 iMac after watching the OWC Install Video, you can have OWC upgrade your iMac where our certified technicians will expertly upgrade your iMac and ship it back to you.

Already have the tools? Then purchase just the OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor.

Install Videos

Includes

(1) OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor Cable
(2) OWC 2-1/4" Suction Cup
(1) Torx T10S Driver
(1) Torx T8S Driver
(1) Nylon Pry Tool (Spudger)
(1) Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloth

NOTE: This kit contains consumable and/or one time use components and therefore is non-refundable if opened. If you have any concerns about your ability to perform the upgrade, you can return the unopened kit for a refund.

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

iMac (21.5-inch Late 2011)

(August, 2011)

Model ID: iMac12,1

3.1GHz i3

Detailed specs

Install Videos

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011)

(May, 2011)

Model ID: iMac12,1

2.5GHz i5, 2.7GHz i5, 2.8GHz i7

Detailed specs

Install Videos

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 4.8 / 5 69 out of 71 (97%) reviewers would recommend this product

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Verified Buyer

Reviewer: temprakneeoh Location: ottawa, canada Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Even though the task was rated as Advanced October 18, 2017 it was fairly straightforward with the tools provided while the video played on the ipad. i took my time and was quite careful and my drive replacement took around an hour (or less)

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2017). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: oogie Location: Edmonton Canada Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 5/5 Silence of the computer October 17, 2017 This product delivered everything that was promised and now my iMac is working super duper with the new 512 SSD drive

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: woodmeister

Rating: 5/5 Made upgrading iMac a snap October 9, 2017 I had been hesitant for quite a long time in replacing the HDD in my iMac and finally decided to bite the bullet and get this kit.

It had everything needed and the very informative video made the swap a snap. The "pizza cutter" tool used to pop the tape is a great idea. The previous methods always had me nervous for fear of inserting a pick or card into the iMac too far. The new tool made things a snap and a few passes with it got things part, without the fear of breaking something.

Kudos to the folks at OWC/MacSales! Everything is back together and working like it was before, without reverting to some software fan solution!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2017). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Deano Location: Santa Clara, CA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Easy to install once computer is opened October 8, 2017 It was easy to attach to the disk drive, connect to power and connect sensor to circuit board. Install Video was very useful. Not sure if it is working properly and was reluctant to open up the machine again. Decided to install some free fan control software to monitor temperatures and adjust fan speed if necessary.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Response from MacSales.com, Call Center November 9, 2017 I'm very sorry if you had any concerns on whether the cable was working properly or not. We would be happy to assist you in confirming that everything is working properly, as we have had a lot of success with these temperature sensors. Feel free to contact us at 1-800-275-4576 and we'll be happy to help!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Fiskfarm Location: NE TN Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 MacSales Makes Weekend Techs Geniuses! October 5, 2017 I purchased an i5 iMac on eBay and the drive failed SMART criteria so after I got a 40.00 rebate toward a drive (I absolutely love our eBay community) I started looking for hard drives and soon discovered MacSales as THE SOLUTION to not only replacing the hard drive with ANY drive out there but also introduced me to the hidden SATA plug tucked away on the back of the mother board. Who knew? So of course I was not going to go all the way in there without supercharging my new purchase. Dollars were limited so I went for the 60GB SSD kit and the MacSales HD adapter cable and of course their great tool kits and a 2 TB Enterprise drive off eBay. Add to that their amazing vids that don't leave you hanging when it comes time to reassemble i.e. no "just reverse the previous take apart" but rather a screw by screw reassembly, and you cannot go wrong. I installed Sierra and all my apps on the SSD and had 40GB left over and I now have a 2TB internal hard drive for file and picture storage and the optical drive still intact. Result? one screaming editing machine for under 400.00 total. You guys are tech gods in my book!

I would recommend this item to a friend! Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: DJC1 Location: Chevy Chase, MD Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 easy October 4, 2017 I purchased a replacement hard drive for my iMac, OWC told me which one. The kit had everything I needed, and following the instructional video made it so easy. Everything just as described in the video. Very thorough. Product (HDD and installation kit) very well priced, delivered immediately, installed in a snap and work flawlessly. Wish I had another computer that needed an upgrade, I would come back to OWC in a snap.

I would recommend this item to a friend! Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Aussie1 Location: Australia Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 5-6 months

Rating: 5/5 Always fits perfectly and WORKS! October 3, 2017 You can always rely on OWC Mac RAM working perfectly with your Mac. Excellent help videos too!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: tonyL Location: AZ Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Easy change September 27, 2017 Watch the video! Changed my failing HD to a 2tb, back up and running in 40 min.

This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Arnell Location: Sacramento, CA

Rating: 5/5 Great Little Kit September 12, 2017 I have previously used tools that I had already had. I was doing a remote repair where I need these specific tools, so I ordered it with alongside the parts I needed for the repair. Although you can do with what you have, this simply made things easier. If you don't have these in your arsenal of tools, I would actually not recommend this. They are made of good quality materials and will most likely last for some time. I would recommend the larger toolsets that they offer. If you already a set of tech tools, but don't have these specific tools, then yes, I recommend this.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: DCBA Location: Austin, TX Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 3-4 months

Rating: 5/5 Easy Disk Drive upgrade with perfect instructions September 10, 2017 The kit arrived in perfect condition. The online video instructions were perfect. We had the upgraded disk installed in record time. Everything just worked perfectly as it should. Very pleased with the results.

I would recommend this item to a friend! Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: JDubs Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Works like a charm September 3, 2017 Upgraded to an SSD in my mid-2010 iMac. No thermo sensor on the Crucial SSD so the fan ran at 100% all the time. Added this product, easy to install and the machine is now perfect. Fan runs at the normal speed.

This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: MaBi Location: Sweden Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great kit with excellent video tutorial! August 31, 2017 Drive bay adapter is very accurate and fits very well inside the iMac and with the SSD drive! Adhesive strips also very, and then i mean perfect in fitting and easy to attatch to iMac body frame. Did the installation myself and completed in about 45 minutes thanks to the very informative video tutorial. Did not buy the adhesive cutting tool, but i recommend it. I used a grind down guitar pick and that worked just fine too! Again! A great kit with perfect fitting, recommend to anyone who needs to replace their iMac internal drive!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2017). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: 2get Location: Glenview Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent service August 20, 2017 Works as expected

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: PondFrog Location: Coastal Maine Age: Over 65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Product fits the need August 1, 2017 Great example of a product that slides into a needy place: what do you do when you put in a non-Apple-supported drive and want thermal control. Works as advertised.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Winks Location: Metairie, Louisiana Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Thrilled with my new SSD hard drive. July 23, 2017 Thank you so much for the help your staff provided in choosing the correct hard drive for my Apple computer. The hard drive was delivered in a reasonable amount of time, and in perfect condition. Everyone I talked with were friendly and knowledable. I would highly recommend MacSales for any computer concerns.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: martinthenewguy Location: Bratislava, Slovakia Age: 25-34 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Works as expected. July 13, 2017 Not much else to say - it does work as expected.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2017). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: AaronL Location: Manville, NJ Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 No more high speed spinning fans! July 12, 2017 Just what I needed. My fans were spinning high after replacing the hard drive in an iMac and didn't know what to do until found this thermal adapter. Did the trick! Thanks!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: AaronL Location: Manville, NJ Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Thank you for making this! July 12, 2017 Just have to say "Thank you!" for making this product. I did not know what to do about the fan noise when I replaced the hard drive out of my iMac with an aftermarket one and then I found this. Works great! Excellent solution!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: LonghornOh1 Location: USA Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Late 2013 27" iMac June 21, 2017 Thanks for the videos on how to perform the upgrade using this kit. I was able to perform a HD to SSD upgrade on my iMac using this kit and the 2.5" to 3.5" drive enclosure since the iMac came with a 3.5" drive. The thermal sensor is nice, since after reading other people's experiences showed that after installation their fans were running at full speed when the SSD gets warm/hot. Overall very pleased with the kit, didn't need anything aside from what came in the package and the drive enclosure. I found the amount of replacement tape between the screen and the back of the computer was enough where some people complained that the amount of tape was cutting it close. I have quite a few extra sticks of the tape left over and packed away for hopefully a rainy day that never comes. So far so good, thanks for offering this kit for people who are DIY'ers!

This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2017). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: GerLech Location: Switzerland Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 easy to install with the video instructions June 19, 2017 This HD, together with added memory, gave my old iMac a new life and it is now running like a young gun! The tutorial video is very well done (I would not try without it); it takes about 1(2 hour and I strongly suggest to do it with 2 people.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: RobbSF81 Location: San Francisco, CA Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Never thought I'd be able to fix the fan issue... June 11, 2017 When I learned about the heat sensor issue on my model of iMacs being built onto the HD, I figured I was screwed. I had to replace the original HD. It failed. and they don't sell that special factory installed HD. I'd been dealing with the fans constantly on for the last year. Randomly I looked on OWC for some memory for another machine and I saw the kit with the 3rd party sensor and an explanation of the problem. I had just a couple months ago learned about why the fans didn't shut off. I ordered it, quick and easy instal (if you know how to get into your mac, luckily my model is easy) and problem fixed. fantastic. anyone who has the iMac with this issue, this is it. this fixes that fan issue. its like a new computer.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: dysamoria Location: Coplay, PA Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Solved the usual problem with an iMac 2011 bought on eBay May 31, 2017 I bought a 2011 iMac on eBay and discovered the hard drive fan was disconnected to "fix" the fan problem caused by upgrading the HDD with a 3rd-party drive. This sensor from OWC solved the problem. The seller apparently had not known his employee had left the iMac that way and he refunded me the cost and some labor. He was a decent and reasonable eBay seller but OWC is the hero here for making these iMacs serviceable outside Apple. Without OWC, Apple products would be less valuable and more problematic. It's bad that OWC has to correct Apple's various design choice shortcomings but I'm glad that they do.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: jtrujilloj Location: Bogota, Colombia Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Easy shopping, problem solved May 23, 2017 It was really easy to purchase the part I need to update my Mac. It was sent on time, so I had to wait just a few days.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: ifank Location: Austria Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Shipment to Europe/27" iMac11,3 SSD upgrade May 9, 2017 Shipment via US Postal Service: First Class Mail International Package arrived in 7 business days (+2 days processing at OWC) ahead of scheduled arrival (8-14 business days). Excellent packaging with exterior seal, sensor cable protected in anti-static shielding bag. Great video showing all relevant steps and giving the right hints. I have installed a 2TB Samsung 850 Evo SSD (MZ-75E2T0), fan is controlled as it should be, it spins inaudibly but with changing speed on lowest levels depending on heat dissipation. This was the main reason why I have bought the OWC sensor solution - I did not want to rely neither on software and static or manually adjustable fan speed (ie, guessing) nor on bridging the original sensor cable, which would eliminate completely the heat control in the hard drive area of the iMac. I did not use a 3.5" to 2.5" frame, I simply fastened the SSD with one screw (lower diameter) on the right hand screw of the mounting bracket and double-faced adhesive tape on the other side of the SSD. Additionally I attached a wooden spacer on the rear-facing side of the SSD. The 2010 iMac is now unbelievably fast (additionally I did a RAM upgrade to 16GB and macOS Sierra clean install beforehand as external drive via a SATA-USB adapter), for example my 500GB Aperture library (> 40k photos) is loading and viewable without delays or glitches. I have activated TRIM for the SSD with trimforce enable-command, so far without problems. I think this iMac is now fit for at least the next 5 years.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2009 - 2010). Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: ChrisMB Location: New Zealand Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 A working iMac May 6, 2017 This is an awesome product - I received it today and, having upgraded the hard disk a few weeks back - the fan would go nuts after about 30 minutes. 3 hours in, it's silent and working beautifully. Thanks OWC for an effective solution that doesn't require software to overrule the OS. A happy customer in NZ!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011). Customer Videos:

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