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Hello! I am contemplating upgrading the IDE HDD on my iMac to an SSD. However, after watching several YouTube videos and reading some online posts, I am beginning to wonder if it's even worth the trouble. It sounds quite challenging to get the OS back on the new SSD. Can anyone provide some guidance on how to do this? I have one of the 17" 1ghz models from 2003 I believe.. My hope is to install Panther so I can continue to run Classic.
Incidentally, that is the only Mac I have.
Posted by: mloret on 2025-12-08 13:29:18 |
I did something similar with my Mac mini G4.
Both of these Macs can boot from an external USB drive. So, my approach would be to use an SSD to USB ATA adapter (eg mSATA to ATA then ATA to USB, for example a 2.5” ATA to USB drive enclosure).
Boot the iMac from your Panther CD and install Panther on your SSD on the USB port: this should be OK.
Copy whatever data you want from the original HD in the iMac.
To prove it works, boot the iMac via external USB (hold Option/Alt down while booting and it should give you the boot picker).
Turn off then..
Install the SSD (eg via the mSATA to ATA adapter) in the iMac.
Boot the iMac via the SSD.
Posted by: Snial on 2025-12-08 13:45:38 |
Thank you for the response. Do you think an mSATA to a USB 3.0 adapter would work?
Posted by: mloret on 2025-12-08 16:01:46 |
Maybe something like this guy?
Posted by: mloret on 2025-12-08 16:12:57 |
It sounds quite challenging to get the OS back on the new SSD. i mean, you could burn the DVD images I linked you before.
Posted by: finkmac on 2025-12-09 15:02:08 |