I have a somber announcement.
After today, "This Old iMac" will be no more.
Why? Because after I got my iMac back from OWC, the only way I can call my computer "Old" is by hewing to the strictest of definitions. With new solid state drives and new RAM, "She may not look like much. But she's got it where it counts, kid."
After a lot of back and forth with the OWC technicians about how to configure my three SSDs (I went with a custom RAID setup, something that they don't usually do; but is technically possible), my upgraded iMac, my original hard drive and RAM, and a new external hard drive enclosure and card reader headed back to Florida. My old hard drive is destined for the enclosure and will serve as a Time Machine drive once I'm satisfied I don't need the data. As for the RAM, if this had been a normal upgrade, I actually could have sold it to OWC (a note, OWC provided parts and labor for this upgrade so I could evaluate their service). But you're not here to listen to me ramble on about the carved off pieces of my computer that they sent home like so many kidney stones in a glass jar, you want to hear about the iMac.
In a couple of words? It screams.
Boot time has improved even more than the sub-30 second boot time I saw when I was using an external SSD. Which isn't all that surprising, because as fast as the read/write times were from the LaCie and Samsung drives...
...the Mercury Electra internal drives that OWC used for the upgrade threaten to break the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Test.
OWC did a perfect job transplanting my system from the old hard drive to the new SSDs. When everything launched, it was exactly as if I'd never sent the Mac away to begin with (other than the mind-numbing speed, of course). I had to reauthorize a couple of programs and iTunes purchases made under an old account; but that would have been the same for any new system.
As far as space goes, after DaisyDisk tore through drive analysis in a couple of seconds, it confirmed that I don't just have a little room to play with for keeping OS X and my storage-hungry programs happy, I have Julie-Andrews-spinning-on-a mountain-top-vista kind of space (Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are the new drives, because I'm a huge '80s geek).
And that dragon, Photos? Slayed. Between the fast drives and the 32 GB of RAM, it takes maybe 10 seconds for Photos to load to the point where I can start actively working. Clicking through the library, checking folders, editing pictures, all of it is available to me as I click it. No more spinning beach ball of doom whenever I want to do something other than look at my Photo library.
OWC's Turnkey service did a fantastic job. They took a few days longer than the 3-day turnaround advertised; but as I mentioned, I was a picky customer asking for custom solutions. The fact that they researched and then honored my request rather than immediately dismissing me says a lot for the quality of their technicians. The one minor issue that came up was an internal drive that wasn't configured when I first booted the iMac. That was quickly fixed when OWC called me the day after I received my upgraded computer to see how things were going. They walked me through finding my rogue drive and mounting it in El Capitan, no sweat.
As I mentioned, OWC allowed me to upgrade my five-year-old iMac to a system that has performance specs in line with a current top-of-the-line system for a fraction of the cost. If I'd done the upgrade myself using their comprehensive videos and upgrade kits, the total cost would have been even less.
Of course, now that my iMac has everything I could ask for (except maybe a Retina Screen...but for that'll I'll have to wait for a new system), what is there for me to tinker with? Luckily, I've got a few ideas. Keep watching my page for a new article in the coming weeks where I take the plunge back into Windows!
