Late 2015 imac 21.5 SSD

[Nighttraine12]

Hi all, I was wondering if you guys could help me out. I have an imac, late 2015, and not knowing what I know now I bought it with the base 5400 rpm 1 tb hard drive. I was wondering if you guys knew of any problem running the imac from an external ssd drive and using the built in drive as a back up. The mac works great after it gets up and running but with 5 user accounts it is a bit slow on start up. I also was wondering if you could recommend a drive or what I should look for in one that I buy. We use this computer as the main family machine but a 500gb drive is a good option.

Thanks for the help,

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

With the 2011 model I did that for a couple of years using a Silicon Power Thunderbolt drive with no problems whatsoever other than updates from Apple always went to the interior drive first, then the external. Simply clone over the operating system etc., and in System Preferences > Startup Disk select the external as the boot drive.
SSD
I used TB as that Mac only had USB2. You could also go with a USB3 hook up.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I was wondering if you guys knew of any problem running the imac from an external ssd drive and using the built in drive as a back up."

This is EXACTLY what you should do.

I've been running a late-2012 Mac Mini this way since January 2013 -- going on 5 years.
It boots quickly and runs great. After all this time -- NO problems using an externally-mounted USB3 SSD as the boot drive.

I've partitioned the INTERNAL 5400rpm drive on the Mini into several partitions.
I use the first one as a "cloned backup" of the external boot SSD.
The other partitions are for things like music, media, etc.

You will have to re-educate your family about the concept of "more than one drive on the desktop", but (for me) that's as trivial as it gets. I keep 7 volumes mounted in front of me at all times. I know where things are.

Use a piece of Velcro to secure the boot SSD up behind the iMac (back of the stand is a good place).

Again, doing what you propose is post 1 above is the "way to go".
It will "liven up" the iMac better than new, and give it a few more years of good life.

 

[Nighttraine12]

"I was wondering if you guys knew of any problem running the imac from an external ssd drive and using the built in drive as a back up."

This is EXACTLY what you should do.

I've been running a late-2012 Mac Mini this way since January 2013 -- going on 5 years.
It boots quickly and runs great. After all this time -- NO problems using an externally-mounted USB3 SSD as the boot drive.

I've partitioned the INTERNAL 5400rpm drive on the Mini into several partitions.
I use the first one as a "cloned backup" of the external boot SSD.
The other partitions are for things like music, media, etc.

You will have to re-educate your family about the concept of "more than one drive on the desktop", but (for me) that's as trivial as it gets. I keep 7 volumes mounted in front of me at all times. I know where things are.

Use a piece of Velcro to secure the boot SSD up behind the iMac (back of the stand is a good place).

Again, doing what you propose is post 1 above is the "way to go".
It will "liven up" the iMac better than new, and give it a few more years of good life.

[doublepost=1500261647][/doublepost]Thanks guys for the response. I went to get my new ssd drive at my local Best Buy and came home with a new iMac(late 2015 27 inch 5k Retina) for $1300.00 out the Door. It was about $580.00 off the original price due to the newer model coming out, and I could not resist. While it does not have a SSD, it is much faster with the 7200 rpm drive. So my 21.5 iMac will be on eBay soon and the ssd won't be needed. At the price I got the new iMac, I am very happy.

Again, thanks for the response

 

[dantracht]

[doublepost=1500261647][/doublepost]Thanks guys for the response. I went to get my new ssd drive at my local Best Buy and came home with a new iMac(late 2015 27 inch 5k Retina) for $1300.00 out the Door. It was about $580.00 off the original price due to the newer model coming out, and I could not resist. While it does not have a SSD, it is much faster with the 7200 rpm drive. So my 21.5 iMac will be on eBay soon and the ssd won't be needed. At the price I got the new iMac, I am very happy.

Again, thanks for the response

Just picked up the same one, enjoy!!

 

[jlseattle]

Hi all, I was wondering if you guys could help me out. I have an imac, late 2015, and not knowing what I know now I bought it with the base 5400 rpm 1 tb hard drive. I was wondering if you guys knew of any problem running the imac from an external ssd drive and using the built in drive as a back up. The mac works great after it gets up and running but with 5 user accounts it is a bit slow on start up. I also was wondering if you could recommend a drive or what I should look for in one that I buy. We use this computer as the main family machine but a 500gb drive is a good option.

Thanks for the help,

I'm so sorry to hear about that purchase decision. I did that a few weeks ago and luckily learned my lesson. Returned and getting an SSD iMac. If an option, you could sell your imac. The drive speeds are slow with 5400, a bit faster with USB-C via external SSD, but fastest with the internal SSD. But if not an option and you want to keep your system running then the external works. I'm just glad I'm doubled down to the SSD. I really hope they go with a base model that just has SSD and internal 5400 rpm hard drive isn't an option.