Is it possible to add an SSD module to an iMac 27" Late 2012 model to create a fusion drive on that?
I have this old iMac 27", model iMac 13,2 (Late 2012).
This computer has a regular hard disk.
I wonder if it is possible to add a SSD disk module to it, to convert the main disk into a fusion drive?
- Is that possible? Is that internal space and connector that can be used?
- What SSD disk, adapters or so, I should buy to do that?
The Fusion drive was an option for the 2012 27" iMac, so there may be space. The iFixit tear-down for your model shows a caddy that holds both a hard drive and SSD: you'll need to read through it to see whether you're comfortable with taking it all apart -- and more importantly, getting it back together.
If you're not comfortable with the task, then you may want to run an external SSD via USB3 or a Thunderbolt dock of some kind. That should still be faster than the internal hard drive.
I concur with the comment that really, SSDs are cheap enough to buy sufficiently large volumes, making Fusion drives an unnecessary complication.
Are you replacing the HDD side of an existing fusion setup? I.e. you already have an apple SSD/NVMe card in the machine already? (E.g. in my Late 2012 iMac 13,2 I had 128GB NVme + 1 TB HDD). If not simple to replace the HDD with SSD for all the speed benefits people have said. However, if it's already in a fusion setup then you need to decide whether to keep it that way or split / unfuse the drives. I replaced my HDD with 1TB SSD, did a High Sierra install to fusion config then upgraded to Mojave and then it all went to hell. Maybe if I unfused first it may have gone better... Good luck!