Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SSD solution?

patseguin

patseguin

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 28, 2003
1,685
503
I have an older iMac core i7 27" with 2TB HD. Might be 2008? That sound right?

Anyways, those specs to me still sound great and I can't justify a new iMac except maybe for faster graphics. Anyways, can anyone recommend a good external SSD solution for running booting and running MacOS X? I would then use the internal 2TB drive for larger apps and data.
 
GimmeSlack12

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
Your iMac is newer than a 2008. Look up the specs in the System Information application.

Anyway, you should reverse your approach. Install an SSD internally and use an large external HDD. I am not sure how many external SSD's there are out there, anything you do use should be an eSATA drive to get the most performance out of the SSD. If you use an SSD with USB 2.0 you will basically be wasting your money since USB is much slower than what an SSD is capable of. And if you haven't already, max out your RAM.
 
patseguin

patseguin

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 28, 2003
1,685
503
GimmeSlack12 said:
Your iMac is newer than a 2008. Look up the specs in the System Information application.

Anyway, you should reverse your approach. Install an SSD internally and use an large external HDD. I am not sure how many external SSD's there are out there, anything you do use should be an eSATA drive to get the most performance out of the SSD. If you use an SSD with USB 2.0 you will basically be wasting your money since USB is much slower than what an SSD is capable of. And if you haven't already, max out your RAM.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea actually. I thought the internal drive in the iMac wasn't replaceable (the case not openable). I have an internal Corsair SSD right here that I can use and I already have some external drives. Is USB or Firewire better?
 
S

Stetrain

macrumors 68040
Feb 6, 2009
3,550
20
patseguin

patseguin

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 28, 2003
1,685
503
B

bbydon

macrumors 6502a
May 18, 2005
587
94
ATL
If you have a late 2009 imac it does not have thunderbolt so you would have to use firewire 800, which will be slower than the internal hard drive.
 
phoenixsan

phoenixsan

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2012
1,342
2
I will go....

with a external FireWire 800 enclosure for the ssd. Install it internally can be tricky....

:):apple:
 
GimmeSlack12

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
patseguin said:
Ack, looks like a pain in the neck. I wonder if an external enclosure for the SSD and booting off it might be a better idea. It's not like a PC case where I can take the side off with 2 screws. ;-)
Click to expand...

It actually looks worse than it is. I've changed out out drives on many iMacs and to be honest it only takes about 10 minutes (a little longer if you haven't done it before).

If you have another person around to hold the monitor you don't have to both with unplugging and taking it out.
 
patseguin

patseguin

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 28, 2003
1,685
503
GimmeSlack12 said:
It actually looks worse than it is. I've changed out out drives on many iMacs and to be honest it only takes about 10 minutes (a little longer if you haven't done it before).

If you have another person around to hold the monitor you don't have to both with unplugging and taking it out.
Click to expand...

I'll take a look when I get home and decide if I want to do it. I know the SSD will add tremendous speed but I'm afraid a USB 2 or FW hard drive for larger apps and data might be too slow. Thoughts?
 
N

Nandifix

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2012
343
0
patseguin said:
I'll take a look when I get home and decide if I want to do it. I know the SSD will add tremendous speed but I'm afraid a USB 2 or FW hard drive for larger apps and data might be too slow. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
you would have to use FireWire. Ideally you should have an iMac with thunderbolt as the speeds are so much faster an are the same as internal drive.
 
GimmeSlack12

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
patseguin said:
I'll take a look when I get home and decide if I want to do it. I know the SSD will add tremendous speed but I'm afraid a USB 2 or FW hard drive for larger apps and data might be too slow. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I use my internal Samsung 830 128gb SSD for all of my applications and documents. All of my media libraries are on my network storage (Synology NAS) and never have any speed problems, unless the drive has gone to sleep and I have to wait 15 seconds for it to spin up. Mind you, an USB or FW external would most likely be faster than my NAS for throughput.

The general approach with using an SSD is put your system and all applications on the it, and keep big libraries on externals. These days you could get a 256gb SSD for what I paid for mine originally ($170).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom