Name: OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" & 21.5" iMac (2011)
Brand: OWC
SKU: OWCDIYIMACHDD11
Price: 44.75 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.81 (73 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
Compatibility
RATINGS

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 71 out of 73 (97%) reviewers would recommend this product

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Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Murfreesboro, TN Age: Over 65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 SSD adapter for iMac 2010... July 24, 2016 Thanks to all at OWC for finding new ways to to help older Macs to keep up with the ever changing tech advances. This device simply plugs in to the drive and power supply. It monitors the heat build up in the drive and controls the cooling fan. Without out this there is nothing to keep the fan from running full out. And it's really loud.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: London, UK Age: 25-34 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Works 100% as advertised but unnecessary. July 23, 2016 This is a great product, but there is another - cheaper - solution to your problem. Rather than buy what is quite expensive for what it does, just buy another LCD sensor cable, plug it into the socket for the HDD sensor on the MLB and and stick the sensor to the new HDD with Kapton tape. I wish I had thought of this before ordering this sensor cable rather than while I was installing the sensor cable, but there you go. I paid probably about triple for this, but it works and isn't unreasonably priced.

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

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Los Angeles, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent product for iMac HDD upgrade July 22, 2016 Excellent product and easy to install (after you open the iMac). The only real solution for replacing the stock hard drive in an iMac. Works perfectly with an SSD upgrade, replacing the original stock hard drive. No fan issues at all. This thermal sensor is not necessary when installing an SSD in a 27" iMac in the secondary location behind the optical drive. It is only required when replacing the original stock hard drive.

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

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 5/5 Worth all the effort! July 6, 2016 It seems a bit scary from the instructional video but it is really not that difficult. It's worth the price and the effort. Now disk space is no longer a constant issue for me anymore.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC Complete Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Mid 2019).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Works great June 13, 2016 I used this to upgrade a 2009 iMac to an SSD - it works perfectly and prevents the fan from running constantly, an elegant solution to a frustrating problem.

One bit of advice to anyone attempting this upgrade on a 2009 iMac would be to partition and format the new drive on a Mac before trying to install it. Until I did that the installer for the original OS (10.6.x I believe) would not recognize the new drive. Once the original OSX version is on the new SSD I downloaded and upgraded to the latest and greatest El Capitan, no problems. The 2009 iMac now boots up to the desktop in around 10 seconds and has no problems loading advanced flash/html5 websites, as it did before.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: maple ridge, bc Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Made my iMac better than when it came out of the box. June 2, 2016 Don't hesitate. If you need this, get this.

So simple, so straightforward, even a blind monkey can do it.

Thanks OWC for everything you've done. My iMac is like or maybe even better than it was when I bought it. Starts in less than 30 secs, very quiet. I'm very happy.

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).

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 5/5 Works very well June 1, 2016 This product works very well, easy to install. My only issue is it would be nice if OWC would give you a break in the price if you bought in multiples, without having to become a dealer in their products. Other than that they do have great, well made products.

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).

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor

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

Rating: 5/5 Does the job May 23, 2016 This makes connecting the SSD to the iMac possible. Don't install an SSD without one.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous

Rating: 5/5 Perfect! May 14, 2016 Works just as described and no problems with install.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Los Angeles, CA Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Updated late 2009 27" iMac to SSD May 7, 2016 I purchased this kit along with the: NewerTech AdaptaDrive 2.5" to 3.5" Drive Converter Bracket and the 480GB Mercury Electra 3G 2.5-inch 7mm SATA 3.0Gb/s Solid-State Drive. It wasn't 100% clear to me that I could replace the HDD in my iMac with a SSD, but a call to OWC confirmed that it was. The process was involved as you have to dismantle the front glass and screen and whatnot, but it was definitely doable. After installing the SSD and putting all of the parts back together, I plugged the machine in and... "B-O-N-G!" Super quick now. It seems just as fast as the new iMacs, though it not used for any majorly intensive work like video production or motion graphics. Word to the wise, if you are going to replace anything else, like a DVD or Blu-ray drive, do it while it is open.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Latvia Age: 25-34 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 5/5 Great support, ssd upgrade worked May 1, 2016 I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from OWC In-line Digital Thermal Sensor for 27" iMac (Late 2012 - Current).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Houston, TX Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 AWESOME!!! April 30, 2016 I was at a loss when I installed my new hard drive into my iMac. I saw the wire for the thermal sensor but didn't know where to plug it in. I searched the internet and there was lots of "get arounds" but no sure fire fixes. This definitely did the trick. I spoken to Apple techs on the phone and they always recommend checking out OWC. They never seem to fail me. I'm a happy camper now without the jet engine fan noise in the background.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Kaneohe, HI Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Gave new life to my old iMac April 30, 2016 Adobe Phototshop/Lightroom CC 2016 update requiring 16GB to operate rendered my older iMac unable to handle the load. The addition of 16.0GB (4x 4GB) PC-8500 DDR3 kit for all Apple iMac 21.5" and 27" Models (Oct/2009) gave my machine new life and saved me from spending $4000 to buy a replacement. Way to go OWC!

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Parts for a successful upgrade April 23, 2016 All the bits in the kit were helpful and made the upgrade a success. I did have a little trouble with the suction cups, but was able to remove the glass without damage. I used a OWC mount, purchased separately, to mount a Samsung 850 Evo SSD instead of a HDD. I followed a video for the upgrade and had no problems following along.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: NJ Age: 35-44 Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Easy Instal of Needed Upgrade April 18, 2016 Replaced stock HDD with 1 TB SDD in my Late 2009 27 inc iMac using this kit. Be aware you also need to purchase the 3.5 to 2.5 inchNewerTech AdaptaDrive to mount the SDD into the iMac separately, as it is not included in this install kit. Installation was smooth; only nervous part was detaching the backlight power cable, as that is attached rather tight. After completing this upgrade, there is a significant improvement in performance of my Mac, easily advice 4 years of effective use to it.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Ann Arbor, MI Age: 18-24 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Easy to use April 18, 2016 The adapter was very easy to install and works like a charm!

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Providence, RI Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 3-4 months

Rating: 4/5 Great kit April 14, 2016 Everything you need, and it all works. The only issue is there are no instructions on where to place the temp sensor on an SSD...

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: France Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 Piece of Cake ;-) April 4, 2016 In combination with your install video, mounting the new hard drive was exactly how it s explained... No Error possible thanks for that from France

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).

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 5/5 Works great - like having a new computer! March 27, 2016 I purchased a 2TB WD Black HDD to replace the 500GB drive in my mid-2011 iMac that was almost at capacity. The new drive has 4X the space, 4X the cache size and spins at 7200 RPM vs 5400. The difference is astounding - it's almost like having a new computer! Opening the iMac was challenging but it didn't take that long. I had my 11 year old son hold the display so I didn't have to remove the main display cable (which I heard was a real pain to remove / replace) - I only had to remove the 2 cables on the left side of the display, was able to get at the old drive, remove and replace. This is an EXCELLENT product and works as advertised.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Oceanside, ca Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 3-4 months

Rating: 5/5 Exactly as advertised March 25, 2016 With a little trepidation, I decided to replace the OEM hard drive on a mid 2011 21.5" iMac and replace it with a 480G SSD from OWC. I watched the installation video a couple times to get myself oriented before actually doing the work. The video was perfect. The supplied tools worked well. I did not have issues with the suction cups as others have noted. From start to finish was just under an hour--I was in no rush. The hardest part was reconnecting the smallest cables. I would recommend this to my friends. For a couple hundred bucks (this kit and SSD), the life of the machine has been extended and the speed difference booting and opening programs is phenomenal.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: San Jose, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Worked out very well March 21, 2016 My late 2009 iMac's internal drive had started to develop issues, and the system had become very slow to boot and start applications. Rather than wait for the disk errors to increase, and the drive to fail at an inconvenient moment, I wanted to be proactive and replace the HD with another 2TB internal drive. I was aware of the generic HD compatibility issues with this model of iMac, and had found my way to OWC (Macsales) based on some online recommendations regarding the inline temperature sensor solution OWC had available to address that issue.... I really didn't want to have to rely on software to run in order to stop the fans running unnecessarily fast/loud.

The kit arrived quickly, and I made sure to review the OWC installation video a number of times to make sure I was completely familiar with the process. After backing up my important data to an external HD - to supplement the time machine backup I also have... I'd rather have more than one recovery source for treasured data), the disassembly process went well. Having a good adjustable desk lamp (or someone there with a flashlight shining on the connectors as you work on each) is very helpful. The only cable that seemed a little risky to me was the display connector, which has pretty fragile side levers in my experience. Still, all was well getting the various connectors/cables off, and the 27" display unit out.

The rest of the process was very easy, in my experience. While I was in there I had also opted to replace the optical drive (my original one was having problems reading CD's, and while dust on the lens was a likely culprit (6 years of constant use could do that), I preferred to take the proactive route in the hope of avoiding having to crack the iMac open again any time soon...). Both HD and Optical Drive installs were simple to do, following the instructional videos on the OWC site. I also used Google to find a couple of other how-to videos, to get different angles on the same process... although that wasn't really needed.

The kit I received also included a small gold flexible cable/connector that I wasn't expecting to find in there, and wasn't sure what purpose it had... none in my case. This turned out to be an SSD connector or some sort, but not a part that was needed for my internal HD swap. Just put that to one side, and follow the video instructions.

One thing I did while taking it all apart was to take pictures of each connector/cable before disconnecting them. Then, I had a close-up reference to check when re-connecting, to be totally sure each was plugged in the right way round, etc. Not needed in the end, but nice to have if you prefer to triple check something before powering up.

The system powered up without issue, and I was able to successfully install a fresh copy of El Capitan from a USB drive installer I'd created. The only unnerving part of that was an install count-down that stuck at "1 second remaining" for 5-10 minutes (seemed like an eternity), but that install step finally did whatever it was doing under the hood and the system rebooted on the new HD/OS perfectly. Apparently this "hang" / delay at the end of the install process is a well known issue.

I opted to install a Toshiba 2TB Hybrid HD (8GB of SSD storage cache within the 2TB HD, where frequently accessed blocks/files are stored for faster access). All I can say is that the system now boots -significantly- faster with this new HD, and applications are similarly faster to load. How much of this difference is due to the new Hybrid drive, fresh/clean OS install, or the very marginal state of the HD it replaced, is tough to say.

Very happy with the value and quality of this kit, and the instructional install video provided. The alternative is dropping $2-3k on a replacement iMac, so the cost of this kit and a new HD (<$150 all-in) seemed worth trying. It feels like a new Mac now, and I'm hoping to get a year or two more use for this relatively small investment.

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).

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Tenerife Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Great product easy to follow. March 18, 2016 Thanks for a great and complete solution to change my hard disk in my imac. I live in the Canary Islands ant to get this sort of product locally is nearly impossible. The kit arrived in the mail in less than a week. Your Youtube video on how to open the iMac and change the HHD are perfect.

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).

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 5/5 Great product ! March 10, 2016 This product works perfectly! No more fan noise and my iMac is back to normal !!! Highly recommended!

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).

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 4/5 Great kit for upgrade, except the suction cups March 4, 2016 I upgraded my Late 2009 i7 iMac 27" to and SSD using this set. The videos were very helpful and and the thermal sensor works as well as I'd hoped with zero fan issues.

The only disappointment was the suction cups for removing/carrying the glass. When I attached them, the first one would slide off before I could finish attaching the second one. And the second one didn't stay on, either. I ended up using the spudger from the toolkit to separate the glass along the top.

Tip: After you've removed the LCD panel, you can store the glass on it to protect the panel and reduce chances of lint/etc.

I contacted customer support about the problem with the suction cups and was told that they'd previously had some bad ones in stock and that they should have been cleaned out by now, but that they would investigate. I had already completed the drive upgrade by that point, so didn't bother asking for a replacement.

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).

Verified Buyer

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

Rating: 5/5 so far it's perfect March 1, 2016 Excellently does what it has to.

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).

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