Help me with my geriatirc iMac

[MartyStickle]

Mid 2011 27 in. iMac with 12 gig ram and a 1 TB platter drive.

Currently using 212 Gig on the internal drive. I have 2 external platters. One is a 3 TB time machine back up and the other is a 1 TB drive with photos and music. The 1 tb drive is also backed up on time machine and the photos are also in iCloud.

Computer is a bit slow at times and I get beach balls on occasion. I'd like to do a SSD, but I will not open the machine by myself. Local authorized mac shop will put in a drive for about $400. Seems high to me. What about using an external drive as a boot drive and keeping the internal platter for data? If that's a good idea, what kind of drive should I buy? Where? I've looked at OWC of course and also elsewhere, but I really don't understand what I'm looking at.

Any suggestions sincerely appreciated.

[ka jowct]

I think your machine has USB2, so a FW option might be better for an external SSD. OWC sells some small enclosures that have the option to run them with an AC adapter, which is probably preferable if the new drive is going to be the main boot drive. One is aluminum (Elite Pro Mini, I think) and one is transparent. I have both enclosures. Both should also have USB 3 so that you can also use them in the future on USB 3 with a more recent system.

I have SSDs from Crucial and Sandisk in use. No complaints.

[jdc]

$400? LOL. What that really means is "we dont want to do it, so make it so expensive he wont come back" =)

Theres a small speedup using an SSD externally on your iMac, but USB 2 is limiting because of the port speed. Although FW800 might be slighty faster -- it is limiting because of price.

My advice would be to add the SSD via USB and give it a try. You have gone this long with what you have and still saying its "only slow at times" so Im assuming any speed boost would be welcome.

For about $130 -- OWCs neptune is fine: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3D7N500S/ With a USB case: https://eshop.macsales.com/search/OWCES2.5BU3

If you are on a budget (who isnt?) -- you can get the same setup for $75... from amazon (I have this drive as a portable backup)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BD3...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4JXDXF/ref...il_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01N4JXDXF

[Carnos Jax]

Haven’t read your whole post....but an SSD in a FW800 casewoukd imprivevyoyr situation eminently. I’ll post later with the specifics of my setup (both enclose and SSD came from OWC....VERY happy with the solution).

[RAMd®d]

My advice would be to add the SSD via USB and give it a try. You have gone this long with what you have and still saying its "only slow at times" so Im assuming any speed boost would be welcome.


This is solid advice.

I did the same thing on older iMacs (encluding a test on my venerable G5, with an external USB SSD, and it made a noticeable difference. Not a speed demon, but a pleasant improvement, particularly in booting up and shutting down. And the G5 is easy enough to open and install an SSD internally.

I have no desire to open any other iMac to swap in an SSD. So now I have a Late 2015 with a Fusion Drive and USB3 and that's good enough for me.

[Grateful11]

Same iMac here. I ordered this and my son and I installed it in less than 30 minutes, it was a piece of cake.
Now it starts up in about 10 seconds. Everything is a night and ay difference. My old internal HD was failing.
I have plenty of external drives for storage, I only use the SSD for the OS.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20...IM09HE250/

[rz]

Yet another reason I'll never own another iMac. I got one (used) briefly after deciding to part with my G5 tower. The fact that I'd have to open it up just to upgrade anything did not sit well. Shortly after, I saw a deal on a 2008 Mac Pro (this was 2009), and sold the iMac for what I paid for it. Have since graduated to a 2012 Mac Pro. I've upgraded it by putting in a better graphics card, a PCI card that holds an SSD to boot from, a USB 3 card, and 5 spinning drives for data. I'm waiting to see what the rumored Mac Mini Pro will allow as far as updating...

[Gareth]

MartyStickle wrote:
Mid 2011 27 in. iMac with 12 gig ram and a 1 TB platter drive.

Local authorized mac shop will put in a drive for about $400.

Did that include the cost of a drive or SSD? Just went through this with my Mom's iMac (also a 27" 2011). Hard drive was dying and the local shop wanted $300 to replace it (which I assume included a new 1TB hard drive, but didn't ask), and this is in Hawaii.

Since my dad gets pretty good FedEx rates, I had her ship it to me on the mainland and I put in an SSD and swapped the hard drive for an 8TB to use as a backup and shipped it back. Installing the SSD in addition to the hard drive is more involved. Simply swapping the hard drive for an SSD in a 3.5" bracket wouldn't be too hard, but it is intimidating removing the glass and LCD if you're not used to that. Plus the hassle of trying to get all the dust out when replacing the glass.

I will say, the internal SSD makes this iMac really snappy compared to the old hard drive!

[jdc]

rz wrote:
Yet another reason I'll never own another iMac.

If you buy it expecting to upgrade the internals, then you arent using it right. =)

I know you said you didnt want to do the internal, but Its not that hard to get into. 2011 iMac glass removal can be done with your fingertips. And getting dust on it? Dont do it in a dusty room. The glass removal part, on a scale from 1-10, is a 1.

rz wrote:
I'm waiting to see what the rumored Mac Mini Pro will allow as far as updating...

Sadly, you (and many others) are gonna be disappointed. I hope Im wrong. But prob not.

Vast amounts of internal HDD storage for a mac is long gone. The largest "drive" you can get internally in a Mac is the 4 TB flash drive in the MBP and iMac Pro -- @ $3000. The same $3000 could get you 30 4TB HDDs. or 120 TB of storage =)

[Bill in NC]

SSD via external USB 2.0 will be fine.