Hard Drive Swap: iMac (20" 2008) with SSD <-> iMac (24" Early 2009) with spinner
As noted above, my 14yo son is going to start using my old 24" iMac. To make it work as best as possible, I’m going to put an SSD in it, and increase its RAM. To accomplish this, I brought home my dad’s dying 20" iMac with backlight problems, as it has a 512GB SSD. Am also hoping to use its RAM in the 24" iMac.
The 24" iMac has its original 640GB 7200rpm drive, which is of no value to me, so I’m just going to pop it into the 20", so that when I sell/gift it, it will be as complete a system as it can be.
Half way through the job: both the 20" and 24" iMacs are opened up on my dining room table. 2 big fridge magnets covered in carefully laid out screws, LCDs, bezels, and glass panels scattered around… AND - then I run out of compressed air. D’OH! The 20" is disgusting! 24" not so bad, but still needing a clean.
So off to Office Works for more air-in-a-can. Only $13! Should have got a couple of them! Paid $30 at EB Games for my last can.
24" iMac is now finished without issues - My son is very much the Cat that got the Cream - very pleased to have his first “real” computer, instead of just an iPad, or the 12" Lenovo ThinkPad he uses for school. Can hear him now talking to his friends on Discord saying “I’ve got a computer; it’s a Mac”.
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Reformatted the 640GB 7200rpm drive, installed 10.11, and put it into the 20". Put it all back together. Turned it on - and - The screen lights up for about a second, then goes black. HDD is spinning up fine, and after a while I hear the Mac OS X Instal voice-over asking if I need help setting the computer up for the first time - so it’s working, just not the screen - vis-a-vis what dad told me sometimes happens. Tried restarting, zap the PRAM - same result. Also then spotted the foam for the HDD temp sensor sitting on the table… and the screen looks awful. Dust underneath.
Tried it again… put the foam on the HDD, double checked the cables going to the display, but nothing obvious. Guessing as such it’s the backlight – if you shine a light on the screen when it’s powered up, you can see the LCD is working.
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I’m going to play RAM musical chairs…
20" has {2GB}
24" has {2GB} & {2GB}
MBP has {4GB} & {1GB}
When I’m finished, it will be:
20" with {1GB}
24" with {4GB} & {2GB}
MBP with {2GB} & {2GB}
This will increase the 24" iMac from 4GB to 6GB, and decrease the MBP from 5GB to 4GB. The 20" will retain minimum required to be functional.
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Ah - well - turns out the 20" uses different RAM - DDR2, not DDR3. So, it still has 2GB… the MBP has 3GB, and 24" has 6GB.
And the 20" - I can see the LCD if I shine a light on the screen - so guessing that means the back lights have both died now, instead of just the bottom strip.
Oh well. I’ve offered it to a local charity that give computers to kids in need… they’ve said they’ll take it, so hopefully it will find a good home; or be recycled properly.
Now… I’m just waiting on the ATA / SATA adapter for my Cube.
