Changing HDD to SSD in an iMac

For a friend; I volunteered to change the hard disk to an ssd in a 2012 iMac. Well, doesn't sound too difficult, does it? I mean, how difficult can it be?

First, there is the getting in to the thing in the first place. It involved delicate prying of the screen away from the back, using guitar picks and a scalpel (very, very gently) to cut through the glue. It fought back, so I did what most people do and went to Youtube for guidance. The main thing seemed to be get it warm with a hair dryer. So, being a very hot May Day, I left the thing out in the sun for three hours to get nice and toasty inside and out.

This got me to the point where the scalpel and guitar picks started to work, and a suction cup gently pulling the front eventually got it to give way ..

So the next step is to fit the SSD in the hole where the old HD was. Now, the old HDD looks like this:

.. and the new one is too small. 

So it's off to Amazon to order up a converter. The first one wasn't the right style to fit into an iMac despite all of the promises on the web site, so I had to have another go. I also ordered up the sticky strips designed to work in an iMac to put the thing back together again. 

All done .. restoring from a Time Machine backup, only took 12 hours for 2TB of data. That has to be quite fast, but clearly benefiting from the fusion drive it was coming from as well. 

Look, Heidi - I have 27 Inches Of Loveliness in the Lab! - if only temporarily ...