OWC SSD Upgrade Bundle, 1.0TB 6G SSD, Drive Converter Bracket, Digital Thermal Sensor Cable, Install Tools, (OWCK27IM12HE1TB), for 2012-2015 iMacs

I have to admit from the outset that I am a technical fool. This is fully proved by me purchasing the OWC SSD Upgrade Bundle in the first instance! I own a 27” iMac late 2013 and noticed how the impressive speeds have slowed down over the years. I am seriously waiting for Apple to bring out a new larger screened all in one iMac. However, not knowing when and even if this will happen I thought I would attempt to upgrade the iMac both as a project but more so as a challenge to occupy me. I watched endless videos on various sites but especially on OWC’s own site. These were wonderfully informative and gave me the confidence to do the upgrade. Having purchased this via the US Amazon site, as it wasn’t available in the UK, the kit arrived in no time at all, which impressed me no end. What deterred me from attempting to do this immediately was that the description of the install process being described as ‘Difficult’. I opened the box and immediately got cold feet. I doubted myself and so returned to watching the install videos. The more I watched the more confident I felt that I should send the kit back!! But having come this far I knew there was no going back. So a week after the kit arrived. I did the first brave thing and inserted the adhesive cutter wheel into the computer. Again, in my mind, I replayed the videos. Breaking the seal was easier than I imagined and the screen separated from the main body of the iMac with considerable ease. I disconnected the 2 cables and stood and marvelled at the sheer beauty of the internal workings of the iMac. Before doing anything else I cleaned the inside of the iMac and all of the old residue adhesive. Before removing the hard drive I ensured the hard drive contents were transferred fully to the new SSD. This took about 5 hours using a reputable Carbon Copy Cloner site. I then set about removing the hard drive. Having every tool I needed to hand thanks to the kit was a huge help and increased my sense of confidence. The drive was easily removed and the I assembled the SSD into the new adaptor bracket and replaced the nodules/screws from the hard drive surround to the new adaptor frame. Inserted this into place connected it applying the heat sensor and reconnected the screen leads and tested it by powering it up. It was a magical moment when everything worked. I immediately noticed the speed improvements. I now set about adding the adhesive strips. These are straightforward to apply and again there are videos which cover these. I carefully followed the advice OWC give and left the Mac to bond. After 8 hours I reconnected the iMac and it was perfect. A job brilliantly done even if I say so myself. After a few hours of using the iMac I noticed the upper part of the screen had separated from the main body. Even though I purchased this kit from Amazon US, I notified OWC Customer Support of this issue and their response was first rate. They immediately dispatched replacement adhesive strips, which arrived two weeks later and again after thoroughly removing the residue of the old adhesive I then reapplied the strips. Some two weeks later everything continues to be impressively brilliant. The responsive and the Read/Write speeds are staggering. I suspect that I have given my iMac a new lease of life for a fraction of the cost than if I were to have had this SSD professionally installed. Even if I say it myself, I deserve a pat on the back for challenging my lack of technical know how and increasing my skills set whilst achieving an end result that I am truly proud of. I cannot recommend more highly the OWC SSD Upgrade Bundle. It comes with everything you need and the support both online from the install videos and when I needed human support was outstanding. Despite the adhesion issue, I am giving this 5 stars, as despite the sealant failing the first time, the support response was so brilliant that I feel OWC went above and beyond to ensure I was one very happy International customer. Indeed it’s a pity that OWC hasn’t a UK presence. I have shared my experiences with friends and have highly recommended OWC products as the ones to rely on. Thank you OWC.

You'll need to buy an adapter to plug the new drive into a USB slot on the back of iMac so you can clone the drive. I recommend watching several videos on how to upgrade it before ordering. The kit has quality contents. I had some difficulty in two areas, not the fault of this kit. When I cut the seal on the screen, it fell away so easily, it yanked a ribbon cable from the logic board, damaging the cable end. Fortunately, replacements are under $20 on Amazon. Use extra care and you'll be fine. Another issue was cloning the disk. It migrated all my data but not the OS. I had used CC Cloner software for this, perhaps if I had used the Mac utility, it would have been completed on the first try. My solution was to do an OS download/install right over the data. It took a couple of hours but everything works great now. Being a late 2015 iMac and now a legacy model, this was a relatively inexpensive upgrade for boot speed and operating speed. It boots fully in under 30 seconds vs 90 seconds. I also upgraded my RAM to 32GB. Simple and inexpensive.

Our 2013 iMac has been working fine but knowing all hard drives fail, I decided to change it out on my schedule. The kit arrived 2 days early and, with the installation video running, I proceeded slowly and carefully. Since it is my wife's Mac and she keeps the business books on it, she was a bit nervous. I actually had three backups! Installing the SSD was the easiest part of the process. Having all the needed tools supplied by OWC helped immensely. Positioning the tapes required steadier hands than mine so my wife successfully did the honors. We hooked everything up with the system open, formatted the drive for APFS and connected to the internet. Check the owcdigital link for formatting options. CMD-Option-R at startup got me to the proper menu. The latest Mojave downloaded and installed without issue. I had made a SuperDuper copy of the original HDD and used the migration assistant to migrate from that to the SSD. Once I saw everything was migrated, it was time to close it up. After taking off the tape covers, did one last check and found the (really tiny) LCD connector was not properly seated. It was hard for these 75 y-o eyes to see this so my wife was again pressed into duty. Everything now worked, we closed it up and everything works. As others have reported, the SSD makes boot and app loading much faster. This was probably the most intense and satisfying computer upgrade I ever did. Great sense of accomplishment and success in no small matter due to the great kit and instructions from OWC. The only thing I would have liked was a second set of tape. I put some down incorrectly. it seems fine but the perfectionist in me would have redone it if I had a couple of extra pieces. I am sure OWC would have provided them but I wanted to get it done. Perfectionist and impatient don't go together well :)

This kit will allow you to repair certain models of iMac with dead or dying hard drives. Do not buy this kit if you are not already competent at electronic repair. While the process is not particularly complicated, it does involve plugging and unplugging a couple of small and somewhat delicate connectors. It also requires very careful replacement of the sealant strips that hold the display together. Finally, if you have a Fusion drive in your iMac, that will no longer function - you can reformat the existing SSD drive as a second drive to accompany your new SSD 1TB drive. So hopefully you won’t start on this until you’ve made some kind of complete backup using time machine or other proven method. In my case my computer still failed afterward, but not all wast lost - - I got a USB C SATA drive case from Amazon for $19.95 and threw the new drive in there. That took about 10 seconds (literally) and I now have a great and fast 1TB external drive.

Kit came with everything needed. Best upgrade done by far. Like a new machine. Definitely do the extra step of cleaning the old surfaces on both side with a cloth and rubbing alcohol. We put the adhesive strips on the comp frame and used the plastic tool to make sure they had good contact and left them sit for 30min before installing the monitor. And also after the monitor was in used masking tape to hold it in place for a couple days so it’s good and set. No issues so far.

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Worked like a charm and great online instructions that make things clear and easy to Suction tool a bit loose at times.

Le kit est complet avec tous les outils requis. Excellent rapport qualité prix.

So I did a thing!! My Imac was on the verge of dying due to a failing hard drive and came across OWC for their SSD conversion. So many Imac users do this sort of DIY for their computing needs so I jumped the fence and bought their kit. Shipping was quick (thanks amazon) and I got it for a steal (179 CAD). Installation was pretty straight forward. Just follow their videos on youtube and next thing you know my Imac is as good as new (faster too!) No more lags and slow processing. If you are looking to convert yours to an SSD, this is the kit you need. (Check model compatibility) 🙂🙂🙂 Also add some RAM while you're at it. It makes a whole lot of difference in speed, and post processing photos. The adhesive is great to be honest but make sure that you clean the glass side for adhesion or it will not stick.