2017 21.5" iMac external ssd

[Bar Zehavi]

hi!
i bought the 2017 21.5" iMac about a year ago.. it was a bit slow than what i expected but it did what i needed it to do (music producer and an audio engineer )
but as i progressed as an audio engineer i upgraded to a better DAW (Pro Tools) and i have added a lot of 3rd-party plugins along the way , which obv means it requires a whole lot from my iMac than it did when i first purchased it.
after i have done some research i found that the best solution is to add an external ssd..

a few question about it :

1. how exactly do i do it ?

2. do i need something else aside from the external ssd ?

3.what ssd would u recommend for my needs? size etc

Thanks !

 

[BigBoy2018]

There are several affordable USB 3 enclosures for 2.5 inch SSD's such as this one (I have two of them): https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-Alum...id=1542629978&sr=8-9&keywords=usb+c+enclosure

Then I would recommend a 1TB SSD such as the Crucial MX 500, which is down to an incredibly affordable $139
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX50...3&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=crucial+ssd+1tb&psc=1


The SSD will be plenty fast, but it will not saturate the USB C bandwidth, so those together will be a HUGE upgrade, and for well less than $200 total.

 

[Bar Zehavi]

ok man thank you !
and how do i do the whole thing?

 

[BigBoy2018]

ok man thank you !
and how do i do the whole thing?

Just put the ssd inside the external case case, plug it in, the drive will show up in disk utility. Format it, and thats it.
Obviously you can then install mac os on it and make it your boot disk.