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External SSD

goosin'

goosin'

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 13, 2014
91
76
California
When I got my Mac mini, I opted for the low end model with 500GB hard drive. Everyone on this website is going crazy over SSD speeds, and I was thinking of replacing the HD with a SSD. The only problem is, I don't want to void the warranty. Is there a way for me to get a USB or Thunderbolt SSD and have OS X and all my files on the drive?
 
Just did that with my Mac mini. Use super duper for cloning the drive. Make sure you have an enclosure that support uasp for max ssd over use 3 speeds.

Good luck!
 
Just get a cheap USB3 drive caddy (I went with Sabrent for~$22) and a std SATA SSD. Plug them in and clone with SuperDuper! Works great.
I went with the 500GB SSD. 250 is a little crowded. Keep your iTunes lib and a backup, or Time Machine on that internal HD.
 
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OP:

A USB3 external drive (or USB3/SATA docking station) will be fine.

MAKE SURE that any drive or dock you buy explicitly states that is has support for UASP (USB attached SCSI protocol). You need this to achieve the full speeds of which USB3 is capable.

Put the drive into the enclosure or dock and initialize it with Disk Utility.

Now use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to "clone" the contents of your internal drive to the external drive.
NOTE: CCC is capable of cloning the recovery partition to the target drive, as well.

When done, go to the Startup Disk preference pane and set the external drive to be your boot drive.

Now, reboot.
This should get you "up and running".

Further piece of advice:
Be aware that by using USB, you will not be able to use TRIM with the drive.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
Your drive and your Mac will run fine without it.

Personal experience:
For more than 2 1/2 years now, I've been booting and running my late 2012 Mini from an SSD mounted in a USB3 docking station. It still runs as fast as it did the first day I booted from it. The lack of TRIM (at least for me) has made NO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE at all!
 
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Was thinking about doing this as well instead of getting more RAM after realizing SSDs are why MacBook Airs are faster than my Mac Mini lol

I don't store too much directly on my computer...what specific external SSD brand or model would you guys recommend? Is there a difference between an internal SSD and an external in terms of performance? Are there any good cheap external SSDs for possibly under $100?
 
batting1000 said:
Was thinking about doing this as well instead of getting more RAM after realizing SSDs are why MacBook Airs are faster than my Mac Mini lol

I don't store too much directly on my computer...what specific external SSD brand or model would you guys recommend? Is there a difference between an internal SSD and an external in terms of performance? Are there any good cheap external SSDs for possibly under $100?
Click to expand...

Take a look at the ¨Crucial Brand¨ at crucial.com.

As I have posted on another thread; I bought the same exact model with the same specs as your MM along with Applecare in August, 2013. I upgraded the RAM on this MM to 16GB last January, however, I have not seen a marked improvement in speed. Also, I should point-out that I am not a power user and this MM more than meets my computer needs!

Although I did not really need another MM but the ¨WANT¨ Feeling for a MM with a SSD was too strong; Last month I bought another Refurbished MM, 2.8 GHz, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD and ¨Wholy Molly¨what a difference in speed Peformance. It appears when I push the Power Button on this MM the EL Capitan Screen Face is in front of me in around 2 Seconds.

I have decided that I will put most of my Computer attention on my new MM and when my Applecare Coverage expires on my öld¨MM in August, 2016, I will have a Internal SSD installed in it.
 
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Fishrrman said:
Further piece of advice:
Be aware that by using USB, you will not be able to use TRIM with the drive.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
Your drive and your Mac will run fine without it.

Personal experience:
For more than 2 1/2 years now, I've been booting and running my late 2012 Mini from an SSD mounted in a USB3 docking station. It still runs as fast as it did the first day I booted from it. The lack of TRIM (at least for me) has made NO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE at all!
Click to expand...
As I think I pointed out in another thread where you shared your experience (or maybe it was someone else), that if you're interested, you might want to investigate/understand WHY it's made no noticeable difference to you, while it can have a very appreciable effect on performance for others... you might not be quite as dismissive about it.

I actually agree that lack of TRIM is not the end of the world for most users (especially if you're new to SSDs), but at the same time, TRIM isn't just some sales pitch - there are very legitimate reasons why it's good to have, particularly for certain usage.
 
I too am looking at jumping aboard the external SSD train with a view to installing the drive internally once I'm happy that everything is running ok

At the moment I've had a look at the crucial 250GB SSDs but I'm confused as to which one to buy as there are five models

One is MSATA and the other 4 are SATA (not sure of the difference between MSATA and SATA)

The model numbers are

CT250MX200SSD3
CT250MX200SSD6
CT250MX200SSD4
CT250MX200SSD1
CT250BX200SSD1

Any advice appreciated
 
M-SATA is (I think) a smaller form factor.

I don't know whether this will fit in a standard 2.5" enclosure or not (I think not).

I would just skip over the M-SATA choice and pick one of the standard form factors.

Mine is an m500, but I believe that's been superseded by a new product number.

I'll take a -guess- and say that if the m100 is still available, it's a decent choice.

You can probably pick any one of them and do fine.
 
About to get a 120GB 850 Evo...Would that be a good size for just having the system on the SSD and files & such on the HDD?

Edit: Ordered it
 
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I bought a new brand called Kingfast off eBay......I bought a small one right now about 60gb for my apps and system only and I bought from it. Run so freaking fast. paid $35 total with a case.

Bestbuy store have 120gb SSD's for $49 check them out. 120gb should be plenty especially if your still going to use the internal drive
 
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Purchased the 850 EVO last night off Amazon and a USB 3.0 case. It comes tomorrow so I'll let you know how it is after I set it all up
 
applelover4u said:
I bought a new brand called Kingfast off eBay......I bought a small one right now about 60gb for my apps and system only and I bought from it. Run so freaking fast. paid $35 total with a case.

Bestbuy store have 120gb SSD's for $49 check them out. $120 should be plenty especially if your still going to use the internal drive
Click to expand...

And yes, I plan to put all the main stuff on the 120 GB SSD so the system is fast and then everything else on on the internal HDD.
 
I got the Inateck USB 3.0 with UASP support & the 120gb Samsung EVO 850. I did a Fusion Drive which is very easy & I think this is just as fast as my Macbook Air. I'm very impressed with the Samsung Evo 850 and think it's one of the best if not the best SSD out there currently.
 
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Just got my 850 Evo and set everything up. Seems to be working really well so far.

My only question thus far is if I should enable TRIM or not. I'm seeing conflicting reports with some people saying to enable it, some saying it's buggy, and others saying it's not a big deal. Thoughts?
 
batting1000 said:
Just got my 850 Evo and set everything up. Seems to be working really well so far.

My only question thus far is if I should enable TRIM or not. I'm seeing conflicting reports with some people saying to enable it, some saying it's buggy, and others saying it's not a big deal. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
TRIM won't work over USB.
 
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batting1000 said:
So is not being able to enable TRIM a legitimate concern or is really not as big of a deal as it's made out to be?
Click to expand...
Nah... don't worry about. Ideally, TRIM is good to have, but it won't hurt anything not having it. The drive has garbage collection in firmware that will mange it okay.
 
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I have been running my 2012 Mac Mini from an external SSD for several months now and decided to put it inside the Mini. Speeds with Blackmagic 300-350 MB/s write 500 read internally, 45-50 write 360 read externally in Usb case. Original 500gb drive now in usb case and is the same speed as it was when inside mini, 85-90 read and write.
 
batting1000 said:
So is not being able to enable TRIM a legitimate concern or is really not as big of a deal as it's made out to be?
Click to expand...
TRIM is a good thing to have, and is a "big deal" for certain usage or if you regularly write a lot of data (e.g. gigabytes) to the SSD. It's not a big deal for most users because most users are just surfing the net and using basic productivity apps where there's not much being written to the SSD and the files are relatively small.

Most users who dismiss TRIM don't understand how SSD's work and what TRIM does (and why it's not the same as Garbage Collection)... they're just going by their own experience based on their own usage (or repeating what others have said), and for many users, they won't notice, and the lack of TRIM doesn't affect performance in the short term.

The easy answer is not to worry about it. An external SSD without TRIM is still way better than a HDD, so whether TRIM is working or not, you're still better off with the SSD.
 
ixxx69 said:
TRIM is a good thing to have, and is a "big deal" for certain usage or if you regularly write a lot of data (e.g. gigabytes) to the SSD. It's not a big deal for most users because most users are just surfing the net and using basic productivity apps where there's not much being written to the SSD and the files are relatively small.

Most users who dismiss TRIM don't understand how SSD's work and what TRIM does (and why it's not the same as Garbage Collection)... they're just going by their own experience based on their own usage (or repeating what others have said), and for many users, they won't notice, and the lack of TRIM doesn't affect performance in the short term.

The easy answer is not to worry about it. An external SSD without TRIM is still way better than a HDD, so whether TRIM is working or not, you're still better off with the SSD.
Click to expand...

I typed sudo trimforce enable into terminal and got the standard TRIM warning...will it still not work even if I say yes to enable it since it's connected externally via USB? Just curious :)
 
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