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I posted previously about being unhappy with the performance of my iMac and most people recommended an SSD upgrade. I currently have a 500gb conventional hard drive of which half is being used. So my questions are:
1) which SSD to buy?
2) install internal or external?
3) if external, which case should I put it in and with what interface? I have usb2 and firewire800.
The OWC Electra 480 (almost the capacity of my current drive) is $500 which is out of my league. The next step down is 240gb for $239 which works pricewise but I'd really have to work to keep my startup drive in that small of a space.
Suggestions welcome.
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what can you concievably move to the external drive? you can just repurpose your 500 GB into an enclosure.
large iTunes library? That's where I'd look first.
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iTunes is already on a Drobo. I'm going to do some deep cleaning later tonight and see how slim I can get it. 68gb for iphoto is probably the easiest way to save space.
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which model imac do you have?
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2011, 2.5ghz intel core i5, 16gb of ram.
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i'm not quite sure if you can mount both the ssd and the hd internally by your description but you could potentially install them both and use it as a fusion drive.
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If it's the 27" model you should be able to mount it internally without removing the HD. I did this a month ago using a kit from our forum sponsor.
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Go external first via FW 800. Don't listen to anyone who says you won't see a benefit- they have not personally experienced it.
I don't know about the adapter. The Mini Stack looks like a good value-- do you really need the software bundle?
The only SSD I've had has been the Sandisk Extreme 128 GB (I'm booting my 2009 mini from one and my 2010 iMac from the other.) I've been thrilled with them for a year now.
Both are only about half full, and I have more than apps and OS on them.
On my iMac I've been fighting to keep total files at 900 GB or below for a few years now.
I can walk you through how to split up your files when you have it in hand.
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I have the 21.5" iMac. I didn't know size was important, haha, or I would have included that in the post about the computer's spec's. Thanks for all the info so far. I'm leaning pretty hard towards an external as I probably will replace this computer within two years. I am unsure about the interface of the external case. Firewire seems like the best solution for my current computer. Everything will probably have changed within the next two years anyway. Now all that's left is to "do it" I think.
