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Tommy c

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2012
404
237
Pocono PA
I need to say this thing is beautiful! The screen is just amazing. There are 2 things I want to ask. The resolution is so good, I can't read the font well lol. It's small and right now I'm about arms length from the screen as I'v read to do.

There is no way to make the font bigger, is there? I thought id never have this problem with a screen.

Second thing is, is it worth buying a small SSD drive using thunderbolt 2 port for booting up programs? This has a 1TB 7200RPM standard drive. It's pretty good, but Like the response of my MacBook Air with it's SSD.

I could not afford the 27 with a SSD. I thought maybe I can do this, if it's really worth it. Again, I LOVE this machine! The 4k video is incredible.
 
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I need to say this thing is beautiful! The screen is just amazing. There are 2 things I want to ask. The resolution is so good, I can't read the font well lol. It's small and right now I'm about arms length from the screen as I'v read to do.

There is no way to make the font bigger, is there? I thought id never have this problem with a screen.

Second thing is, is it worth buying a small SSD drive using thunderbolt 2 port for booting up programs? This has a 1TB 7200RPM standard drive. It's pretty good, but Like the response of my MacBook Air with it's SSD.

I could not afford the 27 with a SSD. I thought maybe I can do this, if it's really worth it. Again, I LOVE this machine!
Under system preferences, select Displays, change from "Default For Display" to scaled, then select a lower resolution. This will scale everything larger on your display.

As far as an SSD. I know a lot of people that are perfectly happy with the 1TB Fusion drive. It really comes down to how much you are storing on your drive, and how often you access it. If you only ever use ~200GB, a 1TB Fusion drive will likely work perfectly fine.

An external SSD is cheap option as well though. Just get like a Samsung T5 to boot from, then use the internal drive for Time Machine backups...
 
Under system preferences, select Displays, change from "Default For Display" to scaled, then select a lower resolution. This will scale everything larger on your display.

As far as an SSD. I know a lot of people that are perfectly happy with the 1TB Fusion drive. It really comes down to how much you are storing on your drive, and how often you access it. If you only ever use ~200GB, a 1TB Fusion drive will likely work perfectly fine.

An external SSD is cheap option as well though. Just get like a Samsung T5 to boot from, then use the internal drive for Time Machine backups...

I appreciate your response. I'll go and check it out. As far as the fusion drive, I know what that is, but thought that this Mac can't be updated with a new HD? I guess I'm wrong then. I don't mind a small SSD with about 256GB. That should still give me some performance.

I've never done this stuff, so I will look into all of this.
 
I appreciate your response. I'll go and check it out. As far as the fusion drive, I know what that is, but thought that this Mac can't be updated with a new HD? I guess I'm wrong then. I don't mind a small SSD with about 256GB. That should still give me some performance.

I've never done this stuff, so I will look into all of this.
technically you could replace the internal drive. I wouldn’t recommend it though.

The Samsung T5 is an external USB 3.1 SSD that is very small for reasonable performance and price. A lot of people are buying them to boot iMacs from, as they are a relatively easy upgrade in performance from a 1TB fusion drive, you just have a tiny external drive hanging off the back.
 
technically you could replace the internal drive. I wouldn’t recommend it though.

The Samsung T5 is an external USB 3.1 SSD that is very small for reasonable performance and price. A lot of people are buying them to boot iMacs from, as they are a relatively easy upgrade in performance from a 1TB fusion drive, you just have a tiny external drive hanging off the back.

Hi,

Ok, I'm confused about something. You are saying that this computer has a fusion drive? Thats a small part SSD and standard hard drive correct? The specs on this did not indicate a fusion drive was installed. If that is true, I'm fine with that for now.

Also, your recommending this Samsung drive that is USB 3.1 over the Thunderbolt 2 drive? I will go look at it in a few.

Thanks,
Tommy
[doublepost=1535513042][/doublepost]I have 32gig of ram also if that makes a difference.
 
Hi,

Ok, I'm confused about something. You are saying that this computer has a fusion drive? Thats a small part SSD and standard hard drive correct? The specs on this did not indicate a fusion drive was installed. If that is true, I'm fine with that for now.

Also, your recommending this Samsung drive that is USB 3.1 over the Thunderbolt 2 drive? I will go look at it in a few.

Thanks,
Tommy
[doublepost=1535513042][/doublepost]I have 32gig of ram also if that makes a difference.

If you are using iMac 5k 2015 base model, than it’s possible you have 1TB 7200rpm HDD. But for 2017 models ,all iMac 5k have fusion drive.
 
What I can think of, and as a thing I personally do, is to install SwitchResX - it's a purchase not a free download - I do believe there's a trial. Go to www.madrau.com

It's a preference pane and not an app as you might have in your Applications folder. It stays in System Preferences.

In the menubar if everything is correctly installed you'll find a monitor icon that is a long menu of screen resolutions. Choose the one named "2304 x 1296 HiDPI"

I too have a 27" inch Retina iMac - late 2015 model.
 
Second thing is, is it worth buying a small SSD drive using thunderbolt 2 port for booting up programs? This has a 1TB 7200RPM standard drive. It's pretty good, but Like the response of my MacBook Air with it's SSD.
I had run my iMac off a USB Samsung T3 SSD for a long time, and the overall increase in performance was noticeable.

I'm back on my Fusion drive, and I have a 2 TB Fusion drive so my SSD portion of the Fusion drive is larger then yours, I'm stating this because on boot up, I'm not seeing any major slow downs, its using apps like office that can take a long time.
 
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If you are using iMac 5k 2015 base model, than it’s possible you have 1TB 7200rpm HDD. But for 2017 models ,all iMac 5k have fusion drive.

Hi,

I deff have a regular HD. I looked it up in the about my Mac. So, as the other person said About getting the Samsung USB SSD. I'll check it out. I need to fix my MacBook Pro first.
 
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Hi,

I deff have a regular HD. I looked it up in the about my Mac. So, as the other person said About getting the Samsung USB SSD. I'll check it out. I need to fix my MacBook Pro first.

I’ll also buy the 512gb T5 samsung SSD, because my portion of ssd is smaller (2017 model) and I couldn’t configure iMac with ssd here in my country ( there is no official apple store).
 
OP:

You don't need thunderbolt.
The Samsung USB3 t5 SSD is "all you need".
The iMac will boot and run much more quickly with it.
I predict you will be VERY pleased with the performance.

TIP:
You DON'T have to buy a 1tb SSD.
512gb is "big enough", and actually you'd do just fine with the 256gb t5.

Set it up with the OS, apps, and your account.
Leave "large libraries of stuff", such as movies, music and pics on the INTERNAL drive.
They "don't need the speed", and they'll run just fine from the internal drive.
 
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OP:

You don't need thunderbolt.
The Samsung USB3 t5 SSD is "all you need".
The iMac will boot and run much more quickly with it.
I predict you will be VERY pleased with the performance.

TIP:
You DON'T have to buy a 1tb SSD.
512gb is "big enough", and actually you'd do just fine with the 256gb t5.

Set it up with the OS, apps, and your account.
Leave "large libraries of stuff", such as movies, music and pics on the INTERNAL drive.
They "don't need the speed", and they'll run just fine from the internal drive.
I Highly appreciate this very much. Ill probably just get a 256. Is it easy to configure? I've never done this kind of work before.

Is there a how too here on Macrumors?
 
OP:

You need to tell us something.
Do this:
1. Click ONE TIME on the icon for your internal hard drive.
2. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up get info
3. Take note of the "used" space in get info -- will read like this:
(xx.xxGB on disk).
4. Let us know what that number is.

Once we have this info, we'll tell you how to proceed.
 
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OP:

You need to tell us something.
Do this:
1. Click ONE TIME on the icon for your internal hard drive.
2. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up get info
3. Take note of the "used" space in get info -- will read like this:
(xx.xxGB on disk).
4. Let us know what that number is.

Once we have this info, we'll tell you how to proceed.

It's 935 of 991GB left. Very little has been used so far.
 
The great thing about Retina iMacs is that when you lower the resolution it simply changes the UI scaling factor so you get the same quality at what you would perceive to be a lower resolution (for the 5K iMac, the default UI scaling factor is set to 2x). If you ever need to actually change the resolution of the display and not just alter the size of the UI, simply hold down the Option key when you press the Scaled radio button in Display preferences. You'll see a wider selection of resolutions to choose from with "(low resolution)" marked on the relevant options that actually change the resolution of the display.
 
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OP wrote:
"It's 935 of 991GB left. Very little has been used so far."

So.. you've used up about 55gb.

In that case, you can use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper) to do a "straight clone" from your internal drive to the new external USB3 SSD.

I recommend CCC because it will clone the recovery partition, too.

Just get ahold of CCC (again, it's FREE to download and use for 30 days).
Then, do this:
1. Connect the new SSD
2. Use Disk Utility to erase it to "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled"
3. Quit DU and open CCC
4. Accept all of CCC's "default settings" for now
5. Select the source (internal) to be on the left. Put the target (SSD) to its right
6. Let CCC do its thing. If CCC asks if you want to clone the recovery partition as well, YES, let it do so.
7. It will take a little while.
8. When CCC is done, quit CCC and open system preferences.
9. In "startup disk", click the lock and enter your password. Then select the SSD to be the boot drive.
10. Now power down -- ALL THE WAY OFF
11. Press the power on button. Do you get a good boot from the SSD? Be aware that it will look EXACTLY LIKE THE INTERNAL DRIVE, because it's a "clone".
12. Just to be sure, go to "about this mac" and see if you are really booting from the SSD.

If all this works, you're done.

PRINT OUT this message and keep it for reference. Check it off as you go along.
 
OP wrote:
"It's 935 of 991GB left. Very little has been used so far."

So.. you've used up about 55gb.

In that case, you can use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper) to do a "straight clone" from your internal drive to the new external USB3 SSD.

I recommend CCC because it will clone the recovery partition, too.

Just get ahold of CCC (again, it's FREE to download and use for 30 days).
Then, do this:
1. Connect the new SSD
2. Use Disk Utility to erase it to "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled"
3. Quit DU and open CCC
4. Accept all of CCC's "default settings" for now
5. Select the source (internal) to be on the left. Put the target (SSD) to its right
6. Let CCC do its thing. If CCC asks if you want to clone the recovery partition as well, YES, let it do so.
7. It will take a little while.
8. When CCC is done, quit CCC and open system preferences.
9. In "startup disk", click the lock and enter your password. Then select the SSD to be the boot drive.
10. Now power down -- ALL THE WAY OFF
11. Press the power on button. Do you get a good boot from the SSD? Be aware that it will look EXACTLY LIKE THE INTERNAL DRIVE, because it's a "clone".
12. Just to be sure, go to "about this mac" and see if you are really booting from the SSD.

If all this works, you're done.

PRINT OUT this message and keep it for reference. Check it off as you go along.

Ok,
I'm going to do all this. I appreciate it very much. I wanted to ask about knowing for sure my MBP is dead with that Radeaongate. It won't boot up period unless I do the 3 key thing. But it only tries to boot up while holding the keys down. As soon as I let them go, it turns off suddenly.

Thanks,
Tommy
 
OP wrote:
"It's 935 of 991GB left. Very little has been used so far."

So.. you've used up about 55gb.

In that case, you can use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper) to do a "straight clone" from your internal drive to the new external USB3 SSD.

I recommend CCC because it will clone the recovery partition, too.

Just get ahold of CCC (again, it's FREE to download and use for 30 days).
Then, do this:
1. Connect the new SSD
2. Use Disk Utility to erase it to "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled"
3. Quit DU and open CCC
4. Accept all of CCC's "default settings" for now
5. Select the source (internal) to be on the left. Put the target (SSD) to its right
6. Let CCC do its thing. If CCC asks if you want to clone the recovery partition as well, YES, let it do so.
7. It will take a little while.
8. When CCC is done, quit CCC and open system preferences.
9. In "startup disk", click the lock and enter your password. Then select the SSD to be the boot drive.
10. Now power down -- ALL THE WAY OFF
11. Press the power on button. Do you get a good boot from the SSD? Be aware that it will look EXACTLY LIKE THE INTERNAL DRIVE, because it's a "clone".
12. Just to be sure, go to "about this mac" and see if you are really booting from the SSD.

If all this works, you're done.

PRINT OUT this message and keep it for reference. Check it off as you go along.

I did everything set by step. The SSD is not in the disk utility. It's just on my desktop. I named it that when it erased it. What am I missing here?
[doublepost=1535830197][/doublepost]
Screen Shot 2018-09-01 at 2.29.03 PM.png

[doublepost=1535831134][/doublepost]Screen Shot 2018-09-01 at 2.44.58 PM.png
[doublepost=1535831897][/doublepost]I erased the SSD to do it again and I got this message last time but ignored it. This was not part of the instructions to go ahead still, so I did. Is this a problem?
 

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Ok, well There was a setting that was wrong and I did figure it out. It take about 21 seconds to load up when the bar appears after the apple logo. I assume thats pretty good.

My MacBook Air loads up in about 11 seconds.
[doublepost=1535853066][/doublepost]Here are tests from the SSD. Seems pretty good for not having thunderbolt 3 or USB 3.1. My MacBook Air is about 4 times this 1600. But I expect it from a built in SSD.

I thanks everyone for their help on this.
 

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OP:

The speed setting you posted above:
Reads: 429
Writes: 418

... are right up there "at the limits of what you can get" when booting from an external SSD connected via USB. You really can't do any better. And that's a good thing.

I think you'll find "the difference" from the slow internal drive VERY pleasing!
 
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OP:

The speed setting you posted above:
Reads: 429
Writes: 418

... are right up there "at the limits of what you can get" when booting from an external SSD connected via USB. You really can't do any better. And that's a good thing.

I think you'll find "the difference" from the slow internal drive VERY pleasing!

I very much appreciate it! This is a very nice setup!
 
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