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Hello In this iMac Intel 21.5" Retina 4K Display (2015) it has an APPLE SSD SM0256G fitted, I think this is a PCI Express card - google is bit vague. Assuming that it is I would like to fit a large SSD - a Samsung 850 Pro 1TB - into the SATA hard drive bay inside the Mac. Is this possible? Also, I would like to replace the existing SM0256G with a larger drive, such as the Samsung 960 PRO M.2-2280 512GB PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive, Or is it a proprietary connector? Thanks Karl
Let’s see if we can clear some things up. Apple uses a custom blade SSD in their systems so you really can’t use just any SSD that looks similar. You didn’t tell us if you have a HD installed already, so you may need to review your hardware using the ‘About This Mac’ > System Report to see what you have. If you don’t then you’ll need to get a cable harness and the rubber boot that supports the drive. At which point you could install a 2.5" SATA SSD. As for upgrading the current blade drive I would leave your current SSD alone. It’s a PCIe 2.0 AHCI 250 GB drive which is ideal as the boot drive & host your apps. Update (11/25/2017) Karl heres the IFIXIT guide you’ll need to follow: iMac Intel 21.5" Retina 4K Display Logic Board Replacement as you’ll need to get to the back side of the logic board to plug in the SATA cable. Jump down to Step63. Its a bit too tight to do blindly. Make sure you use the correct tools to take the display off as you can damage it quite easily. Here’s the parts you’ll need: iMac 21.5" Hard Drive Power & Data Cable - Apple P/N 923-00565iMac 21.5" Hard Drive Cradle Kit - Apple P/N 076-00090
