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Maybe you can find a used case/enclosure on eBay with a FW800 interface. I still have a 2010 iMac that is barely usable these days even with an SSD, but I've been booting it from a 500GB SSD for the last 10 years, and I did it by putting the SSD in an old enclosure with FW800.
The case I haveeven has a couple of FW400 ports that have come in handy to import footage from tape-based DV and HDV camcorders.
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I also have a 2010 iMac (thr one in the thread a few below) that has a swapped ssd internal drive and it does ok, although it's becoming problematical because of the os not the hardware necessarily.
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Spiff,
This isn't a worthwhile expenditure in either time or money unless it is just to connect an external SSD to one of the USB ports. Anything more than that should be put towards a replacement machine. You don't need a lot of horse power or a big screen to run one as a music server. You can get an iMac that is new enough to run far more modern software and do the job well for less than $100.00.
Start with connecting an external SSD to a USB port on the existing machine. Use the external drive as a boot drive and for music storage. See how it works. If it doesn't cut it, purchase a 21" iMac from OWC.
Even the model in that link would be more than sufficient to handle the tasks of a music server. Move the external drive from the existing iMac to the new iMac.
Or, go for a Mini and couple it to a basic display:
Move the existing drive to the Mini.
Either way, try an external SSD as a boot drive and music storage drive for the existing iMac first. If it doesn't get one of the replacement options and move the drive to it. Do the reconfiguration and you're back in business.
Another alternative is to forget using a Mac as a music server. These days, there are lots of ways to have music playing in the background or into headphones. A bluetooth speaker with storage. An old iPhone sending music to headphones or a bluetooth speaker or headphones. Streaming via a homepod, echo or similar device, etc.
Robert
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Spiff,
There are USB to Firewire 800 cables readily available on Amazon. You'd just need to use a USB to USB-C adapter to connect it to a drive that has USB-C. You can get a cable and adapter for about $20.00. However, these cables may not pass power. They may pass just data. That'll be an issue with a bus-powered external drive of any kind.
Robert
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Anonymouse,
The issue is the adapters and whether or not they'll pass through power to a bus-powered device. That and consider the purpose of the task. For now, if he wants usability and the lowest price.
A bus-powered USB SSD connected to the USB 2 port will get the existing machine operational at minimal cost. However, he is facing the issue of the age of the machine and software incompatibilities. This is an insurmountable problem.
$139 for the iMac in my link would get him a machine that will do the job of a music server well and be a noticeable improvement over a 2011 and it's ready to go out of the box. The mini coupled to a display will do nicely, too. Both have sufficient RAM and storage to handle the tasks of a music server.
Both have USB 3 ports. So, if he wanted to switch to an external SSD as a boot drive and enjoy a noticeable improvement on the internal drive, he can do so easily. An external SSD connected to a USB 3 port works very nicely even if it's a 2.5" SATA based SSD.
Robert
