Hey all, I am not very Mac Savvy and could use some advice. I just received a few iMac Pros. The company I got them from removed the hard drives which came from the machine. So now, I am trying to figure out if I can use these machines. Can I get replacement apple SSDs from eBay for example and get them to work? I hear that these devices are very specific to their components. Thanks for help!
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac Pro (2017)
Besides E-Bay which I personally do not trust.
I see some used 2017 iMac Pro SSD sets at a vendor called Part Haven.
However I wouldn't get my hopes up to high just yet. Those iMac's, are tightly tied to the original owners Apple ID and could be total boat anchors, if the company did not properly prepare them before yanking out the SSDs.
see > What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support
You are correct that the iMac Pro uses a special SSD. On a self-repair site whose links usually get zapped here, I found that the iMac Pro used "raw flash modules" that do not have a built-in PCIe/NVMe controller. The controller is a separate component on the logic board.
I agree with den.thed: the iMac Pro had a T2 security chip and, if the computers were not properly prepared for resale, you have several elegant stage props that your community theatre might need.
Note that the iMac Pro is one of the Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip. That means that, like Apple Silicon Macs, it encrypts and decrypts the contents of its internal SSD in real time, using dedicated hardware.
While the flash memory making up the SSD is on modules, these are not standard SSDs. They are custom-made raw flash modules. So you need to find modules that are made specifically for an iMac Pro. Once you install them, you then have the job of getting the encryption keys in the T2 chip, and the contents of the flash modules, in sync.
On a M2 Ultra Mac Pro, this requires the use of a second Mac running Apple Configurator 2, and a USB-C cable. I do not know what is involved with an iMac Pro, but I would expect that there might be some requirement like this – and that it would be a good idea to research it before becoming too deeply involved in this project.
👍
Another option, is to part them out.
Sell the displays, power supplies, RAM, fan units, etc.. and put the money towards buying a new iMac or Mac mini.
Is it possible to install a replacement SSD in iMac Pro 2017?
