Users using their Macs with external SSD as primary disk?

[heraldo_jones]

Hi everyone. I've seen that it's possible to use an external hard drive as the primary disk for a MAC. I would like to know how many of you use this system, if it's completely reliable, and what type of enclosure you use (particularly interested in TB4 enclosures). My main concern is precisely about disconnections, either randomly due to complete incompatibility of the enclosure, or because other TB4 devices are being used that may cause instability when sharing the connection with an additional port. In my daily use, I would always have a UAD Apollo audio interface connected. I would also like to know if any of you use this system with the drive connected to an external hub like those from Caldigit or OWC. Bests.

 

[Jack Neill]

I booted my 2017 15" pro off a 1TB Nvme in an Acasis enclosure and it worked fine. It actually was faster R/Ws than the internal. I also boot my 2013 iMac off another NVMe enclosure via TB1 and it also works great.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I have my home folder on an external drive. The os and apps on on the internal. It’s a crucial x8 1tb attached via a caldigit element. Never had a disconnection prob, but it’s a desktop system so the connections are permanent.

 

[Tagbert]

We had a 2012 iMac where the hard drive was failing. Added an Samsung T5 external SSD directly connected to one of the thunderbolt ports and booted off of that for couple more years until replacing it with a newer machine altogether. The SSD worked well. Never had a problem with disconnection. It was powered by the thunderbolt connection.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Plenty of people do it with USB SSD successfully. For choice I would use an external Thunderbolt drive. As well as being faster, MacOS sees TB externals as more equivalent to an internal. TRIM and SMART are supported by default, although neither is essential.

 

[heraldo_jones]

Plenty of people do it with USB SSD successfully. For choice I would use an external Thunderbolt drive. As well as being faster, MacOS sees TB externals as more equivalent to an internal. TRIM and SMART are supported by default, although neither is essential.

Really great to know. I already have a Samsung T7 2tb but would love to use a 4tb nvme with a TB4 enclosure.

 

[Boyd01]

I booted my 2012 quad Mini from a 1tb USB Samsung T3 SSD for several years, did a lot of video and audio with Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro - no problems. Don't think I'd want to do that today though, for one thing, the speed difference between internal/external is much greater now.

 

[NoBoMac]

Don't think I'd want to do that today though, for one thing, the speed difference between internal/external is much greater now.

True, for most folks.

I've setup my mother's 2012 iMac to run off a Samsung 730 in an enclosure. Boots faster than the internal and is sufficient for her basic use-case (email, sign into bank account, play solitaire).

 

[paulare67x]

Really great to know. I already have a Samsung T7 2tb but would love to use a 4tb nvme with a TB4 enclosure.

ext ssd pretty well known and used as boot/sys many times- old mbp pro I installed ssd ...imac ext ssd i boot from t5 or one machine t7 for the other most recognized improvement boot up .....the other not so speedy stuff has to do with network page browser conflicts etc the usual stuff......

 

[paulare67x]

owc fixit etc lots of videos on how too;s youtube

 

[Fishrrman]

I booted and ran my 2012 Mini for SIX YEARS from an SSD in an external USB3/SATA dock. From the first moment I took it out of the box.

It's still booting and running from an external SSD (as my "second Mac" on "the back table")...

 

[ovbacon]

I run my my 2015 iMac 5k from a Qwiizlab M.2 NVMe and SATA External Enclosure with a Leven JPS600 2TB PCIe 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 ssd. Startup is a bit slower than the internal one did but when on it runs smooth. And I just updated it to 12.6.6 without any problems.

 

[Tdude96]

Hi everyone. I've seen that it's possible to use an external hard drive as the primary disk for a MAC. I would like to know how many of you use this system, if it's completely reliable, and what type of enclosure you use (particularly interested in TB4 enclosures). My main concern is precisely about disconnections, either randomly due to complete incompatibility of the enclosure, or because other TB4 devices are being used that may cause instability when sharing the connection with an additional port. In my daily use, I would always have a UAD Apollo audio interface connected. I would also like to know if any of you use this system with the drive connected to an external hub like those from Caldigit or OWC. Bests.

I use an external OWC TB drive on a 2017 27" iMac (TB3). It serves as my main drive and works beautifully, I've had no disconnection issues, even when my cat gets into the mood to play with cables. It's extremely fast (near-spec r/w speeds) and I've never experienced any data loss, inability to address the drive on power-up, or similar.

However, I can't classify it as "completely reliable." While I can't point to anything specifically about the external drive that causes it, I have had a couple instances where I've had to reinstall the operating system though as-mentioned I've experienced no data loss or other issues. That's two (couple hours to fix) instances of downtime in the ~430 days since installation. I've found no particular cause and it might not be drive related. I have 64 GB of 3rd party RAM installed and run the machine hard 24/7. Either of those could be reasons it periodically has issues, although both of those were true in the 5 years before I started using the external drive, and I never had that particular issue in that time.