Elgato TB SSD as boot drive?

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cperry2

macrumors regular

Original poster

• Jan 31, 2012

• #1

Hi all

I've got an imac with a 7200rpm as the SSD option was a bit rich for my blood, but performing the upgrade myself also looks like a huge pain. So I found the Elgato SSD very intriguing:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5330/...sd-bus-powered-120240gb-available-in-february

I'll probably still be waiting a year or two for prices to come down, but my question is, will it perform like an internal drive with SATA III speeds?

If so, sounds like a fantastic upgrade in due time...

 

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blevins321

macrumors 68030

• Jan 31, 2012

• #2

You can buy a 3rd party SSD and have an Apple-certified repair shop do the upgrade for you. I had this done on a previous iMac. They'll charge $50-80 for it.

 

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kipj77

macrumors newbie

• Jan 31, 2012

• #3

_

 

Last edited: Jan 19, 2026

Mal

macrumors 603

• Jan 31, 2012

• #4

Yes, a Thunderbolt external should perform as well as an internal drive, in theory. It can handle the 6Gb/s speeds according to the specs. Of course, as another poster noted, there is some risk with an external boot drive (unplugging, mostly), but that can be minimized. It's not horribly difficult to do the upgrade, but if you're not comfortable working with that type of electronics, don't do it yourself. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding someone who can do it for you, if you choose to go internal, though.

jW

 

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SimonMTL

macrumors newbie

• Jan 31, 2012

• #5

kipj77 said:

It literally boots up in 15 seconds. So worth it.

Click to expand...

I have thought about going the SSD way, but I don't access programs all that often, just wake my iMac and keep going with the apps opened already in full screen mode. I don't boot my iMac very often; only when being forced to reboot after installing a new software update. It's on 24/7 (run a website off of it).

So, then what is the use?? I guess no real reason for me anyway.