Swapping SSD from MBP to iMac

[Twaize]

I'm soon receiving a used iMac, and want to exchange the built-in HDD with the third party SSD I installed in my MBP several years ago. I've previously put the SSD in an old Mac Mini, and that worked flawlessly despite a different dGPU (AMD vs nVidia). The difficulties of changing the HDD in a 2013 iMac aside, will it work to just drop in the SSD?

Thank you

 

[Fishrrman]

Which iMac?
Why not just leave the SSD in the MacBook, and get another for the iMac?

Depending on whether the iMac has USB3 or not, the fastest, easiest way to increase its performance is to plug in an EXTERNAL SSD, then set it up to become the boot drive.

 

[Twaize]

Which iMac?
Why not just leave the SSD in the MacBook, and get another for the iMac?

Depending on whether the iMac has USB3 or not, the fastest, easiest way to increase its performance is to plug in an EXTERNAL SSD, then set it up to become the boot drive.

I won't need the MBP anymore, it's just been on my desk for years now, so getting a new SSD is an unnecessary expense for me. The iMac (late 2013 27") supports USB 3.0, but surely an internal drive is faster.

Thank you for taking the time to reply .

 

[Fishrrman]

"The iMac (late 2013 27") supports USB 3.0, but surely an internal drive is faster."

An SSD connected via USB3 (in an enclosure that supports UASP) will yield 80-85% the speed of the same drive connected to the internal SATA bus.

Almost "too little to tell the difference" in most situations.

Unless you're completely confident that you can open the Mac and do the job without breaking anything inside, "the external solution" is easier...

 

[Twaize]

"The iMac (late 2013 27") supports USB 3.0, but surely an internal drive is faster."

An SSD connected via USB3 (in an enclosure that supports UASP) will yield 80-85% the speed of the same drive connected to the internal SATA bus.

Almost "too little to tell the difference" in most situations.

Unless you're completely confident that you can open the Mac and do the job without breaking anything inside, "the external solution" is easier...

Sorry for the slow reply, I've been testing out things. I got a USB 3.0 enclosure that supports UASP (thought only SATA 2.0 not 3.0), and booted the iMac from my SSD in the enclosure. (after decrypting the drive, and updating the iMac to 10.13 so it could read APFS). It ran very poorly (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test agreed), sadly, so I'll be attempting the swap it for the internal drive, once the necessary parts arrive.

Thank you very much for your help and feedback .

 

[mbosse]

Sorry for the slow reply, I've been testing out things. I got a USB 3.0 enclosure that supports UASP (thought only SATA 2.0 not 3.0), and booted the iMac from my SSD in the enclosure. (after decrypting the drive, and updating the iMac to 10.13 so it could read APFS). It ran very poorly (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test agreed), sadly, so I'll be attempting the swap it for the internal drive, once the necessary parts arrive.

Thank you very much for your help and feedback .

That's your problem, I guess. I also would go for an internal SSD. Magnus

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"It ran very poorly (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test agreed), sadly, so I'll be attempting the swap it for the internal drive, once the necessary parts arrive."

Something's wrong.
Did you use a USB3-capable cable (it can make difference).
Are you sure the enclosure you bought was USB3 with UASP?
You should see reads of 420-430mbps, writes will vary but should be around 350mbps.

Post the speeds you got using BlackMagic.

 

[mbosse]

...You should see reads of 420-430mbps, writes will vary but should be around 350mbps...

Not if its supports only SATA-2, as the OP stated above.

 

[Twaize]

That's your problem, I guess. I also would go for an internal SSD. Magnus

Not if its supports only SATA-2, as the OP stated above.

My SSD benchmarked way below would SATA 2.0 should be able to achieve, it's not the bottleneck.

OP wrote:
"It ran very poorly (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test agreed), sadly, so I'll be attempting the swap it for the internal drive, once the necessary parts arrive."

Something's wrong.
Did you use a USB3-capable cable (it can make difference).
Are you sure the enclosure you bought was USB3 with UASP?
You should see reads of 420-430mbps, writes will vary but should be around 350mbps.

Post the speeds you got using BlackMagic.

See the attached image, both figures are less than half of what I get with the drive as internal.
Yes, USB 3.0 and UASP. I've ordered the necessary parts from iFixit now, and I look forward to the experience .

 

[mbosse]

My SSD benchmarked way below would SATA 2.0 should be able to achieve, it's not the bottleneck.

See the attached image, both figures are less than half of what I get with the drive as internal.
Yes, USB 3.0 and UASP. I've ordered the necessary parts from iFixit now, and I look forward to the experience .

That is what I think is to be expected for a USB-connected SATA-2 SSD.

 

[Fishrrman]

Hmmm... if it's an older -SSD itself- that is only SATA II, the USB3 enclosure with UASP isn't going to help with the speed. Get a -new- SSD and things will go considerably faster.