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New iMac SSD questions

K

ks-man

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2007
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I'm considering a new iMac to replace my early 2009 that seems to be failing. I'm looking at the entry level 27" model and am debating which hard drive to get. It seems that most people recommend an SSD even over the 2TB fusion. Assuming I go with the SSD I'm trying to decide if 256gb will be enough or if I need to go up to 512gb. I really won't be storing very much on the computer hard drive. I use dropbox to keep all my computers in sync so I'd guess I'd like to have about 75-100gb of Dropbox data stored on the PC. I also will use this mac for my music library which is currently about 125gb.

Is it a bad idea to keep my itunes library on an external hard drive? I can get a WD 1tb my passport for about $60 which is a lot cheaper than the extra $200 to go from 256 to 512 ssd. Also, how much should the Mac OS and a standard amount of applications take up? Basically how much space will be left for data?

Thanks.
 
It might be ok TODAY if you put some of your data on an external, but 256gb is going to require some data management effort, and will start feeling very cramped in a year or two. Personally 512gb is the smallest I would consider because in a few years either you, or the person you want to sell it to is going to want more than 256gb.
 
Everyone has different needs. My 2014 27" iMac has a 256GB SSD and it was always less than half filled. I keep all my data on external RAID via Thunderbolt. My 2017 27" iMac has a 512 GB SSD drive and has 424 GB free! Again I use Thunderbolt external storage. Someone once told me a computer is not a storage device, it is a computing device and only keep working information on the internal drive.

Note: When I ordered my 2017 iMac the 256 SSD option was not available in the US.
 
I bought the 2017 iMac 27" with 256 GB SSD as I think the price upgrade for the 512 GB is outrageous. To upgrade from 1 TB Fusion to 256 GB SSD it cost me about 800 DKK (≈ $127) and 512 GB would cost me thee times that. It would have been nice with 512 GB but 256 GB has served me well since I bought a rMBP 15" in 2012 and then sold it and bought a 2016 Macbook 12" with same storage. Now I have that Macbook and an iMac with 256 GB both in sync using 50 GB iCloud Drive for Documents etc.
If I need anymore storage I will add an external harddrive (maybe even an SSD) and will live happily ever after :p

I stream all my media so I cannot really speak about that as I use Spotify, Netflix and HBO, therefore, do not need to store a lot of media. I do not see it as a problem for you to put your media on an external harddrive. Al though, 256 GB SSD may be insufficient in 5 years, so will the computer itself at least IMHO. As there will probably be a new design with slimmer bezels etc. etc. within those next 5 years, I will probably want to upgrade at some point. Then perhaps I will upgrade to a larger BTO SSD or hopefully SSDs have become cheaper and larger SSDs are used as standard harddrives :D
Either way I think 256 GB is plenty sufficient for me doing mostly Office work, little PS editing, little gaming, couple of movie downloads and general websurfing etc.
 
RUQRU said:
Everyone has different needs. My 2014 27" iMac has a 256GB SSD and it was always less than half filled. I keep all my data on external RAID via Thunderbolt. My 2017 27" iMac has a 512 GB SSD drive and has 424 GB free! Again I use Thunderbolt external storage. Someone once told me a computer is not a storage device, it is a computing device and only keep working information on the internal drive.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have a 512GB SSD on my 2017 iMac but for 3 and a half years I booted my previous Late 2013 iMac from a 512GB SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure that was split evenly between macOS and BootCamp and I never went over half the 256GB for the Mac. All of my music/photos/backup are on external drives.

Now the 512GB Thunderbolt external is exclusively for BootCamp. It's nice having the extra internal SSD real estate on the iMac though. Now I keep a Windows 10 and Mint Linux VM on the internal SSD for the speed and am still using less then 300 of the total 512GB.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. Can anybody comment on running my iTunes library on an external drive? Can I do that safely or is it asking for trouble? If I can do that I think the 256gb is more than enough for me. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
ks-man said:
Thanks for all the replies. Can anybody comment on running my iTunes library on an external drive? Can I do that safely or is it asking for trouble? If I can do that I think the 256gb is more than enough for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...


I have my massive audiobook library on a secondary hard drive. It should work fine. The only problem is that if you get your audiobooks over time from non-audible/typical sources, iTunes is becoming less reliable when MacOS or iTunes upgrades over time.

You will not lose your data or music or audiobooks, but you may lose a carefully cultivated library if something goes wrong. I liken it a bookstore being knocked over by a tornado and you have to refile and shelve everything again.

It is good to back up externals as well. SSDs should be cheaper. And at the very least, Thunderbolt with 2 actual ports for daisy-chaining should be affordable. As a result, USB 3.0 took over, and now that is obsolete with USB-C.

Apple needs to make actual computers again. Modular, expandable, etc. And not upgrade operating systems so much with so much bloatware. iTunes has become a joke, doing way too much. And the Apple Music system is just confusing and iTunes no longer manages music or audiobooks you own.

Apple should develop a real Cloud system that can archive all you data -- up to 8 Terabytes say. And have it be neutral, not in the music playing program, and allow all devices to back up and restore from it.

Make it easy and based on archival mostly. People can always buy fast SSDs for fast work, but get a good archiving system since mechanical drives do not last.
 
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