Reemplazo de Disco duro de iMac Intel 21.5" Retina 4K Display (2017)

Instead of using the wedge, I placed the iMac faced up with the top side (web cam) facing me while I ran the pizza roller around. It worked out great!

“All iMacs also come with a traditional hard drive” mine doesn’t!! it’s HDD bay is completely empty, no SATA cable or anything. I guess I’ll have to upgrade the PCIe SSD instead.

There is no replacement glass for this model, it is part of the LCD and impossible to remove or replace- the entire LCD has to be replaced unfortunately if the glass is cracked or damaged. You will have to Google search for a replacement. Also be careful with some of the lock tight tork screws as I broke one of my screw mounts taking one out.

I used this service wedge but also found it a very tight fit. The same stabilization can be achieved by using a big rolled up towel.

While this is a good instruction guide, I recommend to also look at OWC’s instruction video about drive installation, before starting the exercise. Those install videos are very detailed and useful.

Main advice: TAKE YOUR TIME with the pizza roller.

Make several passes, until you really feel like there's no more sticker in the way. Stay away from the camera though (approx. 1inch / 2.5cm on both sides). This will reduce the work left with the plastic card. Adhesive is really on the edge of the screen so there is absolutely no need to go any further than the recommended 1cm / 3/8inch depth.

Where are the sensitive parts?

Facing your iMac, imagine you're looking at a watch. There are antennas on 1, 2 and 4 o'clock. Do not insert any metal piece there (nor anywhere else, btw). Other than that AND the screen cables underneath the camera, not much danger.

This part of the exercise should be done with extreme patience. I took my sweet time with the opening tool, rolling it through the entire panel and enclosure gap over and over again, until I was very sure no parts were sticking together anymore. And when I thought I was I done, I decided to do it over again.

You can "warm up" the adhesive before try to cut it with the tool using a hair dryer. Heat the edges for about a minute, keep moving it so you don't cause stress in the glass. Also the above note.. use the tool and then the cards. Do not use a guitar pick or other objects as the thickness will cause you to break the front glass, which is a bonded part of the display (expensive).

You can add a SATA SSD if you already have a PCIe SSD Factory?

The key thing is to never put any force on the opening tool when working through the tape. Just roll it back and forth with ease.

@ifixit The next batch of cards you create should have a line printed on the card 3/8” in from the edges. Would make a nice reference.

Here’s where OWC provides glass removal suction cups, which is a better solution than plastic cards.

The suction cups help to easily lift the glass panel, without risking the damaging of any internal wiring that the plastic cards could cause.

Better to remove stand wedge at this point? Can’t see from pics

This step should be done with extreme caution and care, as this step 19 is not described in great detail (sorry, author).

The first (most outward) cable will slide out by gently pulling it by its tabs. The second (inner) cable is more tricky, as the locking lever must be moved backward first, before gently pulling backward on the cable connector. The angled tweezers are useful here, to help lift that locking lever, because fingers are too big for this.

be VERY careful and SLOW...take your time. These displays crack VERY easily when removing and they'll spider web on you. I've done probably 20 or so of these and cracked 3 being super careful.....ugh.

I found the best way to unplug this display power cable was to use my right hand, and the fingernails of my index finger and thumb to grab the ends of the tabs on either side of the connector, squeeze, and pull the connector out gently.

For this particular cable, take a good look before pulling on anything. Plug is locked on its socket with a bracket. You can lift this bracket by holding the small, flat black plastic handle that is attached to it. If you're struggling to grab it, use the end of the pizza roller handle to lift it, or the tweezers. Cable then comes off by pulling parallel to the main board.

A little bit of hot air (eg. hair dryer) will help soften the adhesive. Use a piece of cardboard or equivalent if you want to avoid blowing hot air towards the electronics.

Be careful to remove absolutely everything - any remainder will create a bump and prevent your screen from sticking back to the frame when reassembling.

buongiorno, l'imac del 2019, non monta alcuna ssd, ma monta una m2 direttamente sulla scheda madre!

pertanto nella guida andrebbe aggiunto il cavo sata con sensore temperatura da aggiungere sulla scheda madre, per poter collegare un nuovo hd ssd altrimenti rimarrete come me bloccati con un imac aperto e non assemblato, in attesa di ricevere il cavo acquistato su internet da amazon o terze parti.

vi consiglio inoltre di aggiungere una foto reale del ò'imac 2019 nella guida in cui manca l'ssd, renderà subito la problematica che avranno in molti!

where is the guide for the follow up ?

installing a new hard disk and closing the screen back up.

The SSD was a HUGE performance boost over the 5400rpm drive my iMac came with. If you’re pulling your hair out because Lightroom has become excruciatingly slow, upgrade your hard drive to SSD. You will not be disappointed.

The kit has everything you need. Follow these instructions carefully and you’ll be fine.

Huge improvement! It’s like a new machine. Highly recommended upgrade.

Take care with the adhesive strips, and don’t forget to set new SSD as the boot disk (System Preferences, Startup Disk) after you’ve tested its bootable.

It is also possible install the bumpers after getting the drive cable attached. This gives you more room to work with the cable and drive.

The hardest part was to plug the connector into the new SSD. I loose the two screws of the adjacent (left) speaker and move it just enough to have sufficient space to introduce my fingers to push the conector into the SSD. Left the replace of the rubber bumpers after reconnect the SSD, is easy to handle without it.

I bought Samsung QVO 1TB SSD and now the fan is blasting fast and loud. So if these don’t use the thermal cables then what seems to be triggering the high temp? Obviously it’s the hard drive but could it be that the drive was cloned? I’m kinda stumped, I know I can control with software but some of you are saying it should run normal after install. Thanks for the info.

The step-by-step guide was awesome and easy to follow. As others have commented, getting the SATA connector onto the SSD is tricky but not impossible. Just pull back the rubber bumpers long enough to reach the connector, then flip them back into place before seating the drive. One comment for my machine (late 2015 21.5”): There is no mic hole for my model, so while I was a little confused at the instructions on reinstalling the adhesive, the drive replacement went like a dream. And I saved myself the $120 labor the local Mac shop wanted to charge me.

This is the least accurately described step (sorry, author). While removal is easy, inserting the new drive in its place is a bit tricky. The key here, is to insert the new drive with its rubber bumpers back in its space, so that it is fully seated down in its place *before* the connector can be re-attached. Once it is seated in place, use the flat end of the spudger to gently manoeuver the connector back into place until it is firmly connected to the drive.

Reassembling the iMac is not simply following these instructions in reverse order (sorry, author).

Before embarking on the home stretch, it is very important to carefully study the guide about the Adhesive Strips Replacement (iMac Intel 21.5" Retina 4K Display (2017) Adhesive Strips Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide), as this a tedious and time consuming process. Perfect alignment of those adhesive strips takes some concentration, because you will want to have your display panel back nice and tight and fully aligned with the case. Once all strips are in place, the 2 display connectors need to be gently reattached to the motherboard, before closing up the panel. I took my sweet time for that step, and thankfully have a perfectly aligned display panel back in place looking no different from the factory fit.

Here’s the rest of the information you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xDJ28Oe...

I got a 4 TB Seagate Barracuda HDD as a replacement for a client. (Going for capacity over speed.) Does anyone know if it will fit? It’s definitely fatter than the other HDD/SSDs I’ve installed before.

This iFixit tool (iFixit Opening Tool) will be your best friend when it's time to install your new 2.5" hard drive. Simply hook the tool to the back top corner of the iMac SATA adapter, connect your hard drive loosely to the SATA ports and use the tool to pull the SATA adapter forward into the hard drive.

Please update the end of this guide, pointing the customer to the guide for replacing the display adhesive strips. You provide a single kit for this procedure, and the customer has to figure out that they must follow two independent guides, in order to successfully complete the installation.