A separate external boot drive for iMac 2019

[MacAddiction]

Hello. I am being given a slightly used 2019 iMac 3.0GHz 8gB ram with 1TB fusion drive. Without going so far as selling it then getting one with an SSD, I have a couple of questions about using an external SSD boot drive. I’ve researched a good bit but here are the questions.
1. Should the boot drive only have the system software and apps on it? Or is it ok to get one bigger drive for everything?
2. Or Should I buy a second external drive and use the fusion drive for backups, photos and music?
I’ve ordered the 32gb ram upgrade so I know that will help. Thanks in Advance!

 

[Spudlicious]

Given that you didn't choose to have a fusion drive you might possibly find you can live with booting from it, I believe lots of folk still do so reasonably happily.
If you only have one external drive I suggest you think about backup as top priority. I'm a big Carbon Copy fan and totally recommend it.
Getting to the point of your question, I much prefer having all my apps on the boot drive, it just makes sense to me, the natural order of things.
Congrats on being given a nearly new iMac, it never happened to me!

 

[snow755]

I this got a new iMac 2019 my self

 

[MacAddiction]

Given that you didn't choose to have a fusion drive you might possibly find you can live with booting from it, I believe lots of folk still do so reasonably happily.
If you only have one external drive I suggest you think about backup as top priority. I'm a big Carbon Copy fan and totally recommend it.
Getting to the point of your question, I much prefer having all my apps on the boot drive, it just makes sense to me, the natural order of things.
Congrats on being given a nearly new iMac, it never happened to me!

Thanks, Spud! I’m gonna give the fushion drive a try first.

 

[Fishrrman]

If your external SSD is smaller (256gb or less), you could keep on it:
- the OS
- applications
- basic accounts (unless "your stuff" doesn't take up that much room)
- keep "large libraries" (such as music, movies and pics) on the internal drive
What I would do in addition:
I'd partition the internal fusion drive into 2 "pieces". The first will be the same size as the boot SSD. I'd then use a cloning app to create a bootable cloned copy of the SSD (always "ready to go" at a moment's notice). Then I'd use the other partition for general storage.

If your external SSD is "large enough", just keep everything on it.
Use a cloning app (CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to create a bootable cloned backup of your external boot drive on the INTERNAL drive.
Now, you're always backed up with an exact copy within easy reach.

 

[MacAddiction]

If your external SSD is smaller (256gb or less), you could keep on it:
- the OS
- applications
- basic accounts (unless "your stuff" doesn't take up that much room)
- keep "large libraries" (such as music, movies and pics) on the internal drive
What I would do in addition:
I'd partition the internal fusion drive into 2 "pieces". The first will be the same size as the boot SSD. I'd then use a cloning app to create a bootable cloned copy of the SSD (always "ready to go" at a moment's notice). Then I'd use the other partition for general storage.

If your external SSD is "large enough", just keep everything on it.
Use a cloning app (CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to create a bootable cloned backup of your external boot drive on the INTERNAL drive.
Now, you're always backed up with an exact copy within easy reach.

Awesome thoughts, thank you Fishrrmann. I probably went overkill and ordered a LaCie PRO SSD Rugged Thunderbolt 3 1TB drive. Based on your suggestions, it sounds like keeping everything on that drive is the way to go (My current total use is about 500GB for everything). I'll partition the fusion drive into 2 pieces. Now to figure out how to take all the old info from my Macbook Pro and make the new setup with the iMac and external. THANK YOU!

 

[BATman.Berlin]

moving the OS and make it your boot drive is easy. Boot into recovery, select Install Catalina, select the external drive and install the OS on it. it will become your primary boot drive from that moment on and also have a new home folder.

Do not turn on FileVault at that moment.

Moving from you Mac:

shut down the iMac, plug the drive into the MacBook and copy your info from the MacBook into the respective folders in your home drive. Plug the drive back into your iMac and boot it up. Once back into OS, turn on FileVault to encrypt the drive.

I moved from a 2016 MacBook a few weeks ago.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I'll partition the fusion drive into 2 pieces."

You don't need to do this, since the SSD is the same size as the fusion drive.
Just use CCC or SD to "clone over" the contents of the fusion drive to the SSD.
Then, set the SSD to be the regular boot drive.

Now, the internal drive becomes "your backup".
So... you can use CCC or SD to regularly update the internal (as "a clone" of the new SSD -- cloning works BOTH ways).

 

[MacAddiction]

Thanks for the help, all. Turns out that the MAC Gods were smiling upon me and my gift computer ended up being the 2019 3.7ghz i5 with a 2TB Fusion. I'll TAKE IT! I've been running it a couple of days so far with the fusion drive. I was using a 2015 MBP 3.1ghz i7 with a 1TB SSD. I don't notice much speed difference yet, seems to actually be faster.

 

[MacAddiction]

moving the OS and make it your boot drive is easy. Boot into recovery, select Install Catalina, select the external drive and install the OS on it. it will become your primary boot drive from that moment on and also have a new home folder.

Do not turn on FileVault at that moment.

Moving from you Mac:

shut down the iMac, plug the drive into the MacBook and copy your info from the MacBook into the respective folders in your home drive. Plug the drive back into your iMac and boot it up. Once back into OS, turn on FileVault to encrypt the drive.

I moved from a 2016 MacBook a few weeks ago.

Hey Batman. Did you move from a MBP 2016 to an iMac? If so did you decide on an external SSD boot drive?

 

[Fishrrman]

The 2tb fusion drive (with the 128gb SSD portion) should run "faster for longer" than a 1tb model would.

So... I'd just "use it as it is" for now, particularly if it boots and runs perceivably fast.

Worry about "upgrading" to an external SSD later.
For now, go with "what works"...

 

[MacAddiction]

The 2tb fusion drive (with the 128gb SSD portion) should run "faster for longer" than a 1tb model would.

So... I'd just "use it as it is" for now, particularly if it boots and runs perceivably fast.

Worry about "upgrading" to an external SSD later.
For now, go with "what works"...

Fishrrman: Well I got my new Samsung X5 and just had to try it out as the boot drive. Seems faster to me. So........do I need to erase the internal drive or reformat? Moc OS extended (Journaled) or APFS?

 

[Fishrrman]

An X5 probably will be faster than the internal fusion drive!

How I would set it up.
This presumes that the external SSD is large enough to "hold everything" that is currently on your fusion drive.
If it IS NOT large enough, you can still clone things over, but you'll have to be more "selective".

Here we go.

Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days. Doing this costs you nothing.

Before you clone, I recommend that you open disk utility and ERASE the X5.
- IF you are using Mojave or Catalina, erase to APFS with GUID partition format.
- IF you are using High Sierra or older, erase to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format.

Once erased, open CCC.
I would accept CCC's defaults for now (one exception, I would TURN OFF "local snapshots").
Your source drive (fusion drive) goes on the left.
Your target drive (X5) goes in the middle.
IGNORE the scheduling box on the right for now.

If the X5 will hold everything, just click "clone" and follow through.
If CCC asks if you wish to clone the recovery partition, YES, do this too.

If the X5 WILL NOT hold everything, you can pick "some files" from the popup menu.
CCC will then offer you "a checklist" of the entire source volume.
You can manually UNcheck stuff you DON'T want copied over.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CHOOSE.

That's about it.

 

[MacAddiction]

An X5 probably will be faster than the internal fusion drive!

How I would set it up.
This presumes that the external SSD is large enough to "hold everything" that is currently on your fusion drive.
If it IS NOT large enough, you can still clone things over, but you'll have to be more "selective".

Here we go.

Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days. Doing this costs you nothing.

Before you clone, I recommend that you open disk utility and ERASE the X5.
- IF you are using Mojave or Catalina, erase to APFS with GUID partition format.
- IF you are using High Sierra or older, erase to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format.

Once erased, open CCC.
I would accept CCC's defaults for now (one exception, I would TURN OFF "local snapshots").
Your source drive (fusion drive) goes on the left.
Your target drive (X5) goes in the middle.
IGNORE the scheduling box on the right for now.

If the X5 will hold everything, just click "clone" and follow through.
If CCC asks if you wish to clone the recovery partition, YES, do this too.

If the X5 WILL NOT hold everything, you can pick "some files" from the popup menu.
CCC will then offer you "a checklist" of the entire source volume.
You can manually UNcheck stuff you DON'T want copied over.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CHOOSE.

That's about it.

DONE! Thank you, Fishrrman! This X5 seems faster and it's big enough to hold everything PLUS. Now what to do what that fusion drive! I have a Time Machine backup, so that's good. Seems that I need to reinitialize that internal fusion somehow. When I pull it up in disk utility, it has Fusion Drive/Container disk3/ then 2 drives Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data. I'd love to use the internal drive as a time machine backup or to put extra datafiles.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Now what to do what that fusion drive!"

I would just keep it as a "cloned backup" of the X5 (kind of like 180 degrees from what you just did).

Now... if something ever happens to the X5... you have a BOOTABLE internal backup and you can start right back up again.
(but nothing's ever gonna happen to your boot SSD... right?.... RIGHT....?)