iMac 21.5″ and 27″ Dual Hard Drive Kits!

Note: We are in the process of merging the iFixit.com and iFixit.org blogs, so please bear with us. This post is a product announcement from Miro, our Director of Technical Communication, for a kit that lets you install a second drive into your Mid 2011 iMac. Adding an SSD to your Mac can help extend the life of the device and greatly speed up its performance. -Elizabeth

Our most-recent iMac 21.5″ teardown revealed an interesting tidbit: unused mounting points that were curiously in the shape of a 2.5″ hard drive. After a bit of investigating, we found that all Mid 2011 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs can accept an additional hard drive, regardless of whether or not Apple will let you outfit your machine with a second drive.

However, all was not peaches and roses. We also found that although some iMacs may have mounting holes for hard drive brackets, others don’t. Which is unacceptable! Users should be able to upgrade their iMacs to dual drives if the functionality is there.

Enter the 21.5″ iMac and 27″ iMac Dual Hard Drive kits. These self-install kits work on all Mid 2011 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs. (If you’re unsure of which model you have, definitely ID your Mac before purchasing a kit.) You’ll be able to install OS X on an SSD for lightning fast startup times, while still being able to use your original hard drive for mass storage (and your optical drive for spinning those CDs).

Each kit comes with:

SATA power cable
SATA data cable
Custom-cut 3M VHB double-sided mounting tape
Two Heavy-duty Suction Cups
26 Piece Bit Driver Kit
Spudger

We’ve combined all the components you need and set the price at $69.95. And you’ll be able to use the clearest, bestest instructions on the planet to perform this install—for free. Check out the 21.5″ iMac and 27″ iMac dual hard drive installation manuals to get a feel for the install process; the instructions are as clear as can be, but the procedure is still pretty involved since you have remove the LCD to get inside.