️ iMac SSD help

[marknorm]

Hi...

Firstly...I'm a 'newbie' to this forum...so apologies for strolling in and immediately asking for help!

So...I have a Late 2012 27" iMac - Mojave, 18GB Ram....but it's painfully slow at times; particularly start up...and I've been advised at looking at getting an SDD....so I have a couple of questions...

- I'm thinking of going external to reduce cost and because I may change my mac in next 2/3 years - so I could re-use SSD. Is there much performance difference between an internal SSD and External SSD?(I have USB 3 and thunderbolt)

- what size SSD do I need? I'm thinking 1TB?

- do you think this SSD is suitable? https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...o-860-2-5-internal-ssd-1-tb-10175895-pdt.html ...or is it overkill?

Thanks in advance for your help...I've been a Mac user since about 2002, so I certainly know my way round a Mac, I'm just no expert at the more 'tech' side.

Thanks all...

Norm

 

[SecuritySteve]

Hey there, no worries about making an account to ask for help. That's how a lot of people start.

What you should do is get an external SSD. The performance difference of an external drive is less than an internal drive, but in practice it is 'good enough' that until you are ready to buy a whole new machine, it will get you by.

I recommend looking into a USB3 external SSD and following this guide to boot from it:

https://notebooks.com/2017/01/18/make-bootable-external-mac-hard-drive/

 

[ThugFreak]

Deleted

 

[marknorm]

Hey there, no worries about making an account to ask for help. That's how a lot of people start.

What you should do is get an external SSD. The performance difference of an external drive is less than an internal drive, but in practice it is 'good enough' that until you are ready to buy a whole new machine, it will get you by.

I recommend looking into a USB3 external SSD and following this guide to boot from it:

https://notebooks.com/2017/01/18/make-bootable-external-mac-hard-drive/

Thanks SSteve...I guess the startup times on mine on so bad at min - I just need something to get it 'back to normal'...ish.
[doublepost=1564464578][/doublepost]

Do you need the more expensive "pro" version?
It's for professional grade audio/video production & photography.
It's supposedly more reliable and a little faster.
Get the regular Samsung Evo 860.

Thanks TF....well I'm a Graphic Designer and work on some pretty big Photoshop files, plus occasionally After Effects.....I was kind of thinking 'get the best I can'....but do you think it's overkill?

 

[marknorm]

Actually....that link is an internal SSD...im thinking this one...?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...-t5-external-ssd-1-tb-black-10170872-pdt.html

 

[ThugFreak]

[doublepost=1564464578][/doublepost]
Thanks TF....well I'm a Graphic Designer and work on some pretty big Photoshop files, plus occasionally After Effects.....I was kind of thinking 'get the best I can'....but do you think it's overkill?

Deleted

 

[ApfelKuchen]

You ask if a 1 TB SSD is the right size without telling us the size of your current drive, or how much of that space is in use. Ultimately, that’s really all that matters.

The considerations for estimating drive capacity haven’t changed much over the years. However, the cost of SSD has made people re-think how much they really need to keep on the internal drive (do some house cleaning, move some files to external HDD and/or into the cloud).

Apple has made it tempting to move mass storage to iCloud (for both iOS and Mac) - the “Optimize Storage” capabilities that have come to more and more traditional space-eating data types (photos, documents and desktop, text message archives, iTunes media, etc.) means that both iOS users and Mac laptop users are managing to keep on-device storage within reasonable bounds while using expensive Flash storage. Desktop Macs are the next frontier - the iCloud settings are already there. If Apple eliminates spinning HDDs from the Mac lineup in the next 2/3 years, entry-level iMacs will have 128 GB Flash, just like entry-level MacBook Air and 13” MacBook Pro today.

 

[marknorm]

You ask if a 1 TB SSD is the right size without telling us the size of your current drive, or how much of that space is in use. Ultimately, that’s really all that matters.

The considerations for estimating drive capacity haven’t changed much over the years. However, the cost of SSD has made people re-think how much they really need to keep on the internal drive (do some house cleaning, move some files to external HDD and/or into the cloud).

Apple has made it tempting to move mass storage to iCloud (for both iOS and Mac) - the “Optimize Storage” capabilities that have come to more and more traditional space-eating data types (photos, documents and desktop, text message archives, iTunes media, etc.) means that both iOS users and Mac laptop users are managing to keep on-device storage within reasonable bounds while using expensive Flash storage. Desktop Macs are the next frontier - the iCloud settings are already there. If Apple eliminates spinning HDDs from the Mac lineup in the next 2/3 years, entry-level iMacs will have 128 GB Flash, just like entry-level MacBook Air and 13” MacBook Pro today.

Yea...I should have given more detail...

My mac gas 1TB storage, of which I have about 380GB free....I store all my work files (images, adobe filles) in 1TB iCloud drive....but start up on my mac is painfully slow. I have tried cleanlymac etc, but some days it can take 15 minutes to get to a 'workable performance'.

When it's up and running its pretty good...its just the times it's not, it's painfully slow!

May be a daft question...but could I use iCloud drive rather than an external SSD....?

thanks

norm

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Your most recent comments suggest that there's more going on besides the inherent slowness of a spinning HDD. "15 minutes to get to a 'workable performance" from startup seems pretty excessive. Have you analyzed the situation with Activity Monitor? There may be unnecessary or outdated startup or login items, for example. There may also be file system damage (run Disk Utility > First Aid).

Now, some of these things may be fixed by cloning your internal drive to a newly-formatted HD; others may not. It of course will depend on what's going on. It's possible that some of the same faults will persist on that external SSD; they just may not be as annoying due to the speed of the SSD.

So my suggestion is to first try to figure out what's going on, before moving to SSD. While you'll benefit from the move to SSD regardless, why not get the most performance available?

 

[Cruz3LT]

Why not just install an internal SSD? You mentioned cost, did you plan on having someone else do it? Overall, it would cost you about $120 and between 1-1 1/2 hours to do it yourself. I just swapped out the HDD on my 2013 27" with a Samsung Evo drive. I was nervous about doing it so I watched a lot of videos about the disassembly of the iMac and found it was easier than I thought. I can link you to everything you would need.

 

[marknorm]

Your most recent comments suggest that there's more going on besides the inherent slowness of a spinning HDD. "15 minutes to get to a 'workable performance" from startup seems pretty excessive. Have you analyzed the situation with Activity Monitor? There may be unnecessary or outdated startup or login items, for example. There may also be file system damage (run Disk Utility > First Aid).

Now, some of these things may be fixed by cloning your internal drive to a newly-formatted HD; others may not. It of course will depend on what's going on. It's possible that some of the same faults will persist on that external SSD; they just may not be as annoying due to the speed of the SSD.

So my suggestion is to first try to figure out what's going on, before moving to SSD. While you'll benefit from the move to SSD regardless, why not get the most performance available?

Thanks...I've tried First aid and nothing reported....and activity monitor doesn't show any serious 'strain' (attached) - although honestly, I don't now what some (plenty) of the items are.

thanks
[doublepost=1564507130][/doublepost]

Why not just install an internal SSD? You mentioned cost, did you plan on having someone else do it? Overall, it would cost you about $120 and between 1-1 1/2 hours to do it yourself. I just swapped out the HDD on my 2013 27" with a Samsung Evo drive. I was nervous about doing it so I watched a lot of videos about the disassembly of the iMac and found it was easier than I thought. I can link you to everything you would need.

Honestly - I'd prefer it internal, but don't really trust myself - and external would be something I could use (time machine for example) should I purchase new mac in next year or so.

thanks

 

[Cruz3LT]

Thanks...I've tried First aid and nothing reported....and activity monitor doesn't show any serious 'strain' (attached) - although honestly, I don't now what some (plenty) of the items are.

thanks
[doublepost=1564507130][/doublepost]


Honestly - I'd prefer it internal, but don't really trust myself - and external would be something I could use (time machine for example) should I purchase new mac in next year or so.

thanks

I understand. I enjoy finding out how things work so I look at it as a challenge, besides, I get to clean out all the dust that was in it which will kill any computer if not cleaned out.

 

[marknorm]

I understand. I enjoy finding out how things work so I look at it as a challenge, besides, I get to clean out all the dust that was in it which will kill any computer if not cleaned out.

yea, get that completely...pal...i just don't trust myself!

 

[Fishrrman]

The late 2012 iMac has USB3, is this correct?

If so, then get an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become the boot drive.
Do this, and things will go MUCH faster.

When you get a new iMac, just unplug the boot SSD and plug it into the new machine during setup. This will make it child's play to "migrate" from the older setup to the new one.

Get something like a Samsung T5 or Sandisk Extreme if you want a "pre-assembled, ready-to-go" external SSD.

If you are a "build it yourself" kinda guy, get a "bare" 2.5" SSD (like the one in the link you posted above), and then get an external USB3 2.5" enclosure. MAKE SURE that the enclosure you get is SPECIFICALLY STATED to support "UASP".

There's no need to break open the iMac you have now -- unless you're absolutely certain you can do the job, things are quite easily broken inside.

Just plug in an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD -- and away you go!

 

[marknorm]

The late 2012 iMac has USB3, is this correct?

If so, then get an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become the boot drive.
Do this, and things will go MUCH faster.

When you get a new iMac, just unplug the boot SSD and plug it into the new machine during setup. This will make it child's play to "migrate" from the older setup to the new one.

Get something like a or Sandisk Extreme if you want a "pre-assembled, ready-to-go" external SSD.

If you are a "build it yourself" kinda guy, get a "bare" 2.5" SSD (like the one in the link you posted above), and then get an external USB3 2.5" enclosure. MAKE SURE that the enclosure you get is SPECIFICALLY STATED to support "UASP".

There's no need to break open the iMac you have now -- unless you're absolutely certain you can do the job, things are quite easily broken inside.

Just plug in an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD -- and away you go!

Hi fishrrman...

yea, I believe it does - https://support.apple.com/kb/sp667?locale=en_GB

and yea, I'm thinking a 1TB Samsung T5...I think external is def the safe way to go - given my mac is a good 7 years old anyway - means I've always got the SSD for a new mac.

thanks

norm