External SSD

You would be better off having an internal SSD and using the 1TB HDD as an external drive. I wouldn't recommend booting and running from an external drive, as the connection isn't guaranteed not to be broken.

dspalton said:

Thanks for the reply, its much appreciated

Not too confident taking the iMac apart thats all

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If you're happy with the current performance, don't mess with it. If you really want the performance bump from the SSD, there are online guides to show you how to replace it, or you may find a friend or repair shop who would do it for you. Be aware that performing any modification that Apple didn't intend could void your warranty.

dspalton said:

Sounds good mate. Just wondered how much i would notice the difference?

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The performance boost from going from a HDD to a SSD is quite noticeable. Any operation that involves reading or writing to the drive will be significantly faster with a SSD. Boot up time is dramatically improved, etc. Once you start using a SSD, you won't ever want to go back to HDDs, as they will be maddeningly slow, by comparison.

If you want a simple example, reboot your iMac and measure the time from requesting the reboot to logging in and all your icons, menu bar, dock, etc. to be fully up and ready for use. Then post that number. I'll do the same on my MBP with SSD. It won't be exact, as logging in will take different times and we will have different startup processes, but it will give you a general idea of the difference.

dspalton said:

1minute and 39Seconds

Dave

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28 seconds

28 seconds! i regret not getting ssd or at least a fusion drive.

like the OP, i am also considering booting from an external ssd.
my plan is to get an Inatek enclosure and adding a samsung 840 evo 250gb ssd.

anyone see any problems with that configuration?

Would you use a Thunderbolt SSD for backups or would you use usb3 SSD. Any recommendations as to which brand to buy

furbzv1 said:

28 seconds! i regret not getting ssd or at least a fusion drive.

like the OP, i am also considering booting from an external ssd.
my plan is to get an Inatek enclosure and adding a samsung 840 evo 250gb ssd.

anyone see any problems with that configuration?

Click to expand...

I use the Inatek with Crucial mx100 512gb ssd which has been working well as external storage, but I don't use it as a boot.

dspalton said:

Hi Everyone
I got a Late 2013 iMax 21incher with the 1TB hard drive and 8GB Ram
There is nothing wrong with the speed at all, but would an external SSD Drive help in the similar way to the overall speed the same as my MbA?

IE if i had a 140-256GB SSD running externally and put the apps and OS on there, and just used my 1TB drive purely for storage, would i see a noticeable boot up and running speed increase?

Thanks

Dave

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Hi Dave,

How did you get on using this method?

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furbzv1 said:

28 seconds! i regret not getting ssd or at least a fusion drive.

like the OP, i am also considering booting from an external ssd.
my plan is to get an Inatek enclosure and adding a samsung 840 evo 250gb ssd.

anyone see any problems with that configuration?

Click to expand...

This is the setup I'm going for - have you installed it yet? How are you getting on?

dspalton said:

Hi Gazmo,
Ive not completed it yet. Funds instead are being diverted to getting a 3D printer lol

Dave

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Ah no problem Dave, I will be doing the same setup on Friday so will let you know what it's like!

Gaz.

I ran my mid-2011 iMac OS and apps on an external SSD via Thunderbolt for a couple years (until I mustered up the guts to install it internally) and the speed bump is significant, even running externally. Take a look at the Speed Tests:

Internal HDD:



Thunderbolt External SSD:



Internal SSD:

I have just run a couple of speed tests on mine since installing OS X on my new external Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I should point out the Mac is brand new today so doesn't have a lot of data in there at all. I should point out the external SSD is connected by USB 3.0.

Computer Spec:



Internal HDD 1TB



External SSD - Samsung Pro 840 SSD 256GB

So it seems USB 3.0 connected to an external SSD has better performance than Thunderbolt. Is that right?

bassjunky said:

So it seems USB 3.0 connected to an external SSD has better performance than Thunderbolt. Is that right?

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I believe Thundrbolt is the better option but its more expensive to do. I wouldn't compare my results with the ones above as we have a totally different spec'd machines.

USB 3.0 seems to be marginally faster than Thunderbolt in benchmarks. I doubt it is noticeably faster in actual usage. Thunderbolt is definitely preferable for the ability to enable TRIM and run firmware updates, etc.

These are benchmarks for my Samsung 840 EVO in both USB and TB enclosures. I am actually using the drive in the TB enclosure.

Inateck FEU3NS-1E UASP USB 3.0 enclosure:
]

Delock 42490 Thunderbolt Enclosure:

SaSaSushi said:

USB 3.0 seems to be marginally faster than Thunderbolt in benchmarks. I doubt it is noticeably faster in actual usage. Thunderbolt is definitely preferable for the ability to enable TRIM and run firmware updates, etc.

These are benchmarks for my Samsung 840 EVO in both USB and TB enclosures. I am actually using the drive in the TB enclosure.

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I think your TB enclosure is a tad slow... I'm using an Intel 730 SSD in an OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro and get almost 500MB/sec read speeds compared to 400MB/sec in an OWC USB 3.0 enclosure.