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Is it possible to update 2017 iMac 27" 5k with NMVe m.2 SSD using m.2 to Apple PCIe adapter? I used to use SM951 AHCI in Mac Pro 5.1, 6.1, all Retina and Air 2013-2015 but what about NVMe once? Have anyone tried?
First you may want to look at this Vid: 2017 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display Unboxing and Teardown jump to the 10:00 time point which shows the PCIe SSD Apple is using. It’s very different from the M.2 SSD’s. Apple’s PCIe NVMe SSD’s use a custom device driver so while you might be able to get the adapter and NVMe SSD to physically fit it won’t be recognized by the OS. While I haven’t tried anything in this new iMac I can tell you I’ve tried the newer MacBook Pro retina series which has a 2 lane NVMe SSD and it didn’t work.
Upgrading an 2017 iMac 27" with an off the shelf NMVe m.2 SSD + M.2 Apple PCIe adapter is definitely possible. I am amazed how much confusion information is on the internet about this topic. Even from OWC, which only wants to sell a SATA upgrade kit for the 2017 iMac. So I thought, try and find it out. I did my 2017 iMac with a EVO 970 NVMe SSD + Sintech M.2 NVMe to Apple PCEe adapter. I only recommend the Sintech adapters, others are known to have issues. I used: https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-M-2-PCIe-… I have some images on instagram where I did my upgrade.: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs0loRDga6c/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs06bPLAz1p/ I am happy I did it and got rid of the FusionDrive setup. As a note, if you plan to replace the SATA drive with an SSD, which I also did then “No” you do not need the overpriced and useless thermal Sensor from OWC either. I recommend the regular EVO not the EVO Plus or EVO Pro. If you still insist on using the non standard EVO then Samsung released an firmware update for the EVO Plus that fixes issues on Mac, you need to upgrade it first using a PC before putting the drive in your Mac.
I installed a Samsung 970 EVO 2TB M.2 in my mid-2017 27” 5k iMac and it works great with 4x NMVe speeds. You can use the adapters from the MacBook Air etc… with your 5k mid-2017 iMac … and you will get NVMe 4x speeds with a 4x lane drive . Physically the adapters are the same (different protocols ACHI vs NVMe with same pinout). I haven’t seen this posted anywhere, but the newer sockets on this logic board have an extended shield that can easily shorts to the adapter header. I confirmed with my multimeter. This can short out the power rails and most of the PCIE bus! This would help explain why some people have issues (failure to start and crashing). I used Kapton tape (electrical tape works also, but is not as clean). You want to cover the soldered header pins on the adapter socket on the mating side but obviously not the gold plated card edge pins. See attachment.
Samsung has updated firmare for the SSD 970 Evo Plus PCIe NVMe, this is the direct link. Now it works on Macs https://www.globalmac.cl/SSD-Samsung-970… Best Regards! Alex
Here is my experience with this upgrade. Hope it helps. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ima…
I recently upgraded my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) from a 2TB internal to a Corsair MP400 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 x4 M.2 SSD. I got a tech guy to do it (they supplied the adaptor) and, well, it took way longer than expected, he named the new SSD HD some weird-ass name, and reinstalling and restoring from TimeMachine has been a nightmare, but that’s not why I am here. Is there any way I can use the now removed 2TB SSD as an external? Are there any caddies available that could connect utilising hi-speed throughputs (I have no idea what I am saying here)? Basically, I have no idea what sort of connections are hi-speed anymore (USB 3, C, Lightning, Thunder, etc, etc) and was just wondering what the correct terminology is to search for something to connect this incredibly small SSD into my Mac.
Yeah, it’s pretty stupid replacing it and then asking to connect it back expecting PCMie speeds. Like, why didn’t I just try and connect the 4TB SSD via this method? I know right?
Spanish: Hola! Yo compre un Samsung 980 pro lo instale con el adaptador corto verde y el disco no fue reconocido, en un iMac 27” de 2014 (late) recién leí todo y estimo que fue o por el adaptador o por no darle formato o clonar el disco anterior y copiar el sistema al nuevo. Me podrán ayudar? English: Hello! I bought a Samsung 980 pro and installed it with the short green adapter and the disk was not recognized, in an iMac 27” from 2014 (late) I just read everything and I estimate that it was either because of the adapter or because I did not format or clone the disk old and copy the system to the new one. can you help me?
