Compatibility 2TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE4 for iMac 2019 EMC3194

[Australopithicus]

I am upgrading an 2019 iMac 27" 5k model 19.1 with either NVME 2TB Samsung 980 Pro or 2TB WD Black SN770.

I prefer the specs of the Samsung as it has better sustained transfer rate than the WD Black for video files. I have installed the Samsung and it works like a dream. SMART lists all 100% OK. I appreciate that these are both PCIE4 NVME going into a PCIE 3 slot. However buying PCIE 3.0 - when I can find them, is nearly the same cost as PCIE 4 so I opted for building future expansion options perhaps as external SSD drives for a future iMac.

Questions:
1. Are TRIM accumulation times fixed in the Samsung 980 Pro SSD? The Samsung Evo Plus installed easily but was notorious for TRIM delays accumulating over time on the iMac and I do not want to make that mistake.
2. How do I check to judge for myself if trim times are accumulating without waiting 3 months?

All help much appreciated.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I am upgrading an 2019 iMac 27" 5k model 19.1 with either NVME 2TB Samsung 980 Pro or 2TB WD Black SN770.

I prefer the specs of the Samsung as it has better sustained transfer rate than the WD Black for video files. I have installed the Samsung and it works like a dream. SMART lists all 100% OK. I appreciate that these are both PCIE4 NVME going into a PCIE 3 slot. However buying PCIE 3.0 - when I can find them, is nearly the same cost as PCIE 4 so I opted for building future expansion options perhaps as external SSD drives for a future iMac.

Questions:
1. Are TRIM accumulation times fixed in the Samsung 980 Pro SSD? The Samsung Evo Plus installed easily but was notorious for TRIM delays accumulating over time on the iMac and I do not want to make that mistake.
2. How do I check to judge for myself if trim times are accumulating without waiting 3 months?

All help much appreciated.

If you are planning to run MacOS Monterey, Ventura or the upcoming Sonoma, you will do better to NOT choose a Samsung SSD as the boot drive :

Choosing a Compatible NVMe SSD for your macOS Boot Drive

Introduction to NVMe Choices If you have any previous hackintosh experience, you'll know that a limited number of hardware components have native support in macOS. You can't buy just any graphics card and expect it to work. Only certain Broadcom models of Wifi/BT cards have native support etc...

www.tonymacx86.com

Better go with the WD Black.

 

[Australopithicus]

Ok. Interesting that the 2019 iMac uses NVME SSD 128GB Samsung Polaris. That is after the Apple/Samsung court case!

I acknowledge the wisdom of your advice. I shall use the SN 770 but I wish WD would include AES security in their products.
Thank you for the most helpful article.

Many Thanks James Bond.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Ok. Why do you say that 007?
At the moment I have installed the Samsung and am running Ventura. I find no symptoms to indicate any problems which is why I asked about how to check for TRIM accumulation times.

Hi there.

Please don't forget to update your hardware Profile (Left sidebar) to either reflect your Hackintosh or main machine. It's a part of the Site Rules etc. Thank you.

Historically, certain recent generation Samsung SSDs caused very long boot delays, and as you know, this was because of a Trim incompatibility. Generally this is why we recommend WD or others instead.

However, this related to PC Hackintoshes, and might not affect a real iMac in the same way. Your experimentation is actually a good piece of research for others upgrading their genuine iMacs.

 

[Australopithicus]

Hi Utter Disbelief - Great Moniker!
two requests:
1. I read you have transferred part of this thread to another section. I wish to recover the part which discussed Command line code for TRIM recovery. Please direct me.
2. I would happily update my Hardware Profile but cannot figure out how to do it!
Highlighting does not work and I can find no instruction in Profile.
Please advise.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Hi Utter Disbelief - Great Moniker!
two requests:
1. I read you have transferred part of this thread to another section. I wish to recover the part which discussed Command line code for TRIM recovery. Please direct me.
2. I would happily update my Hardware Profile but cannot figure out how to do it!
Highlighting does not work and I can find no instruction in Profile.
Please advise.

Hi there.

1) Sorry, I did not remove anything. Perhaps the site Admins did. I am not sure.

2) Just select the head and shoulders icon in the menu bar, and choose "Account Details".