Mid 2010 iMac - running out of room - options?

[qwimjim]

I have a mid 2010 iMac with a 1TB WD HD, I'm running out of room.. what are my options?

1. External hard drive for media files.. too slow?

2. Swap hard drive with 2TB 7200rpm drive.. i read the stock drives have special firmware that control the fan speed, etc.. so that you can't swap drives?

3. replace superdrive with 512GB SSD, boot off that, use original 1TB drive for media..? or does the mid 2010 imac have an unused 2nd sata port for SSD?

 

[GGJstudios]

1. External hard drive for media files.. too slow?

No, not too slow at all. Like many others, I stream music and movies from external drives with zero problems. It's the simplest solution without having to open up your iMac.

 

[flopticalcube]

External drives don't have to be slow. A FW800 drive will pretty much keep up with any 5400RPM drive and is WAY more than is needed to stream media.

 

[WindyCity7]

Nas

You may want to consider biting the bullet on a NAS (Network-Attached Storage). A lot of them now have gigabit ethernet ports which will accommodate very quick transfer, but be prepared to spend a dime or two. For a decent configuration in a RAID setup, you're looking at $600-1000...but plenty of storage.

 

[TopB]

I have a 2010 and I went with an external Firewire 800, 2TB and relocated my Itunes Media folder to it based on instructions on this forum, works great. (Saved me 31 GB of space)

I also back it up to a server on my home network as needed. (i.e. when I purchased something)

 

[qwimjim]

cool i guess i'll just buy an external drive and put my itunes library on there

 

[david19801]

Delete some files?

 

[26139]

Yep...

I have multiple external drives connected to a Mac Mini that's used for backup computing and AppleTV storage.

Buffering via my local network takes 2-5 seconds.

Mix of USB and firewire drives.

Speed should work just fine for you, too.

 

[phoenixsan]

I will go with....

A external FireWire HDD. The biggest you can afford. Speed will not be an issue. Also, you dont have to meedle with your iMac. Relocate media stuff to that external HDD