2019 iMac 27" Storage Upgrade help

[beanz690]

Hello everyone!

My 2019 iMac recently ran out of warranty and I am looking at the best options to upgrade my storage. I ordered my imac with 512gb ssd because at the time I read it would be better for speed and future upgrades. I have been struggling with storage and wanted to find a better solution to my old 4tb g-drive external hdd. It makes so much noise and is pretty slow.

I have seen several videos where owners are changing their Fusion drives for SSDs but have not seen any where they upgrade the factory SSD. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?

Thank you in advance!

 

[gilby101]

Changing Fusion drive for SSD: This is replacing the SATA HDD with a SATA SSD. "Relatively" easy - step 26 gets to the HDD.

To replace the factory SSD, read this from ifixit. Just to put you off, it takes to step 60 before the blade SSD can be removed.

To be brutal (and not meaning to be rude): If you do not know about the web site and links above, you are most likely not capable of doing the work without very high risk of damage to your iMac. I now about the links and I wouldn't do it!

I have a 2019 iMac with 512GB SSD. My intention right from the start was 1) to use that for macOS, apps, and high activity user folders, and b) put photos, etc. on an external SSD. I bought a 2TB Samsung T5 SSD for external storage. This or similar is more than adequate for most purposes even if connected to USB-A (5GB/s) ports. I have since bought a second 2TB SSD.

So my advice is to get an external SSD. Samsung 2TB T5 or T7 SSDs are priced pretty well, but there are other good brands. One advantage is that you just plug them in, format APFS and any you go. But, you can also find 2 or 4TB NVMe SSDs and USB-C (10Gb/s USB or Thunderbolt) enclosures - look for advice elsewhere if you want to pursue that.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello everyone!

My 2019 iMac recently ran out of warranty and I am looking at the best options to upgrade my storage. I ordered my imac with 512gb ssd because at the time I read it would be better for speed and future upgrades. I have been struggling with storage and wanted to find a better solution to my old 4tb g-drive external hdd. It makes so much noise and is pretty slow.

I have seen several videos where owners are changing their Fusion drives for SSDs but have not seen any where they upgrade the factory SSD. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?

Thank you in advance!

A Thunderbolt enclosure cost around 100$. Add another nVME blade with capacity of your choice. This will be much easier and safer than chop open your iMac and invite troubles into it.
If you are still fancy the idea of 3000MB/s read/write speed, there are RAID 0 Thunderbolt Enclosure which supports 2 nVME blades, too.

 

[beanz690]

Thank you @gilby101 and @Nguyen Duc Hieu for your replies.

I agree that I would not be capable of opening up the imac myself. I thought I would take it to an authorized apple repair to do the upgrade for me if I chose to go that route. I don't mind getting an enclosure if the speeds are still fast enough. My plan is to do as you said, keep the macos and apps on the internal storage and store everything else on the external drive. But I need the external to be fast because I work with large files and need to be able to edit them off the external drive. With my current setup I have to transfer from the external to the internal drive to be able to edit anything.

Would you be able to recommend a good enclosure and blade ssd? To be honest I don't know the difference between a regular nvme and a blade.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Thank you @gilby101 and @Nguyen Duc Hieu for your replies.

I agree that I would not be capable of opening up the imac myself. I thought I would take it to an authorized apple repair to do the upgrade for me if I chose to go that route. I don't mind getting an enclosure if the speeds are still fast enough. My plan is to do as you said, keep the macos and apps on the internal storage and store everything else on the external drive. But I need the external to be fast because I work with large files and need to be able to edit them off the external drive. With my current setup I have to transfer from the external to the internal drive to be able to edit anything.

Would you be able to recommend a good enclosure and blade ssd? To be honest I don't know the difference between a regular nvme and a blade.

Enclosure:

2 SSDs

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 to Dual NVMe M.2 SSD Tool Free Enclosure (EC-T3DN)

The Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 To NVMe M.2 SSD Tool-Free Dual Enclosure is the perfect solution for your external storage needs! FEATURES: CONVENIENCE: Turn two NVMe SSDs into two independent, fast, reliable, and portable drives! Plug and play, NO drivers needed. DESIGN: Solid aluminum construction fo...

www.amazon.com

1 SSD

OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure for NVMe M.2 SSD

World’s first Thunderbolt certified bus-powered ‘add your own drive' enclosure. History-Making DIY Pocket-Sized Storage Solution While small in stature, the OWC Envoy Express is big news. For the first time ever in the history of Thunderbolt, you can buy a bus-powered Thunderbolt certified enclos...

www.amazon.com

nVME SSD:

SABRENT Rocket Q 4TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive R/W 3200/3000MB/s (SB-RKTQ-4TB)

The Sabrent 4TB ROCKET Q NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High-Performance Solid State Drive (SB-RKTQ-4TB) delivers all the advantages of flash disk technology with PCIe Gen3 x4 interface and it is fully compliant with the standard Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF),commonly-known as M.2.Based on ...

www.amazon.com

SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND Technology (MZ-V7S2T0B/AM)

>For intensive workloads on PCs and workstations, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus delivers ultimate performance powered by Samsung's NVMe SSD leadership. It is upgraded to be faster than the 970 EVO. It maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth for unbeatable computing that meets the needs of the most d...

www.amazon.com

 

[beanz690]

Enclosure:

2 SSDs

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 to Dual NVMe M.2 SSD Tool Free Enclosure (EC-T3DN)

The Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 To NVMe M.2 SSD Tool-Free Dual Enclosure is the perfect solution for your external storage needs! FEATURES: CONVENIENCE: Turn two NVMe SSDs into two independent, fast, reliable, and portable drives! Plug and play, NO drivers needed. DESIGN: Solid aluminum construction fo...

www.amazon.com

1 SSD

OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure for NVMe M.2 SSD

World’s first Thunderbolt certified bus-powered ‘add your own drive' enclosure. History-Making DIY Pocket-Sized Storage Solution While small in stature, the OWC Envoy Express is big news. For the first time ever in the history of Thunderbolt, you can buy a bus-powered Thunderbolt certified enclos...

www.amazon.com

nVME SSD:

SABRENT Rocket Q 4TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive R/W 3200/3000MB/s (SB-RKTQ-4TB)

The Sabrent 4TB ROCKET Q NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High-Performance Solid State Drive (SB-RKTQ-4TB) delivers all the advantages of flash disk technology with PCIe Gen3 x4 interface and it is fully compliant with the standard Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF),commonly-known as M.2.Based on ...

www.amazon.com

SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND Technology (MZ-V7S2T0B/AM)

>For intensive workloads on PCs and workstations, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus delivers ultimate performance powered by Samsung's NVMe SSD leadership. It is upgraded to be faster than the 970 EVO. It maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth for unbeatable computing that meets the needs of the most d...

www.amazon.com

Thank you so much! I think I will go with this option since it seems to be good enough for my use case and not as risky opening up the iMac.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Seconded. I've upgraded the SSD's in a couple hundred of the late model iMacs here at the university, and I'll just say it's risky at first until you've done it enough times. The first ones you do have a high likelihood of going sideways on you. AND, you may get faster speeds than the internal connection by going thunderbolt external anyway. ...as per OWC, though I haven't seen it personally.

...Speaking of OWC, if you can find an old OWC Envoy Pro EX, two Torx 5 bolts hold it together. You can open it up, swap the small Toshiba SSD out for a WD Black high capacity drive and get crazy fast high capacity storage.

 

[beanz690]

Seconded. I've upgraded the SSD's in a couple hundred of the late model iMacs here at the university, and I'll just say it's risky at first until you've done it enough times. The first ones you do have a high likelihood of going sideways on you. AND, you may get faster speeds than the internal connection by going thunderbolt external anyway. ...as per OWC, though I haven't seen it personally.

...Speaking of OWC, if you can find an old OWC Envoy Pro EX, two Torx 5 bolts hold it together. You can open it up, swap the small Toshiba SSD out for a WD Black high capacity drive and get crazy fast high capacity storage.

I really like the form factor of that OWC Envoy, I just saw a few open box on their site but they state up to 1006MB/s2. Is that the one you are referring to?: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ENVPROC2N10U/

 

[gilby101]

I really like the form factor of that OWC Envoy, I just saw a few open box on their site but they state up to 1006MB/s2. Is that the one you are referring to?: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ENVPROC2N10U/

The Envoy Pro is limited to 1000 MB/s by the 10 Gb/s USB 3.2. Envoy Express is Thunderbolt and so is faster. Both use USB-C as the physical connector.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I ran a speedtest of an OWC Envoy Pro EX (the old black one with finned sides, not the new silver one) with a WD Black SN750 2TB ssd in it on my MBP16 (intel) running big sur:

and another plugged into my intel iMac running mojave.

On the imac, the OWC unit with its original Toshiba SSD inside, performs at 1457 write and 2262 read, so it varies a bit, but there are also faster versions of the Envoy now, beyond the old EX model. Still, for the $, worth a look.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

The risk of using the external SSD is losing data because of theft. It's easier just to unplug the enclosure than open the iMac.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

The risk of using the external SSD is losing data because of theft. It's easier just to unplug the enclosure than open the iMac.

I suppose, if someone physically breaks into your house to steal your data, they might also decide to just leave your computer sitting there and steal your external drive instead on the off chance it has something good on it, because it’s easier than just disassembling your imac entirely to remove the ssd?

Thankfully, i don’t have a lot of thieves from ifixit.com in my house lol

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I suppose, if someone physically breaks into your house to steal your data, they might also decide to just leave your computer sitting there and steal your external drive instead on the off chance it has something good on it, because it’s easier than just disassembling your imac entirely to remove the ssd?

Thankfully, i don’t have a lot of thieves from ifixit.com in my house lol

Lucky you. I live in a city with tons of petty thieves like this. Sometime they just stick their hands through the windows, snatch anything within their reach and flee.

Another common case is that the iMac is at the reception of a store, and a thief enters the store as a common customer, snatch anything unwatched, and flee.