SSD Question; Adding More ?

[Robert4]

Hello,

If I buy an iMac with a 500 GB
SSD drive, how hard would it be
to add e.g. an additional mechanical external HD if the SSD is not enough ?

Doable ?
Easy ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[MarkC426]

You can add any HDD or SSD externally to a Mac, connected via TB or USB.
There is probably nothing easier......

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Hello,

If I buy an iMac with a 500 GB
SSD drive, how hard would it be
to add e.g. an additional mechanical external HD if the SSD is not enough ?

Doable ?
Easy ?

Thanks,
Bob

Completely agree with @MarkC426 here. Just buy any external USB SSD or mechanical hard drive and plug it in your iMac. It can not get easier than that. You'll probably have to format it first in the correct format (exFat if you also want to exchange data with a Windows computer or APFS if you only want to use it with your Mac). This is done with Disk utility. Just Google how to do that.
BTW this is not unique to the iMac, you can attach external USB drives this easy to any computer (be it Windows or Mac) provided they have an USB connection of course.

 

[Ruggy]

Works extremely well depending on the enclosure. Some controllers work better than others but you can even boot off a good SSD and you'll hardly notice the difference.
Also don't forget if you just want to save files an SD card is incredibly cheap small, fast, almost unbreakable and you can get a USB-C card reader for less than $10 which is the same size as a thumb drive.
128gb SD probably card costs about $20 which is perfectly adequate for files and you might even have one in a camera or other device. So easy to carry and they work even if you put them through the wash or one of your kids uses them for a bit of gardening.

 

[Fishrrman]

Get a Samsung t7 USB3.1 gen2 external SSD.

Then, just plug it in, format it (APFS), and use it.