Boot Mac OS From External SSD HD Enclosure on Older iMac

[@swinksstuff]

you are a life saver - 2012 hard drive packed it in and this allowed me to get up and running again - still using the spinning hard drive but I will get a SSD in soon, thank you

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for feedback and watching

[@qsam14]

This is exactly what I was looking for! I just recovered my 2011 iMac. It was sitting in a corner collecting dust. I decided to make some use of it as a hobbyist. Currently running 4GB RAM and a 500GB HDD on High Sierra. It’s barely operable. I didn’t want to take my iMac apart to install an internal SSD so this is a great alternative. I’m surprised at the speeds you got. Redditors say that external SSD speeds would still be slow but this proves otherwise!

[@craigneidel]

Yes but you need to use that external enclosure like I did and replace HDD with SSD. It's then very good. Thanks for watching.

[@mikegord]

I did this minus the Thunderbolt enclosure - just an old USB 2 enclosure I had in a draw and a old 120GB SSD. Dramatic improvement in boot and program response times. Hands shake from CHOP in 2003 and 2012 so no iMac surgery for me on my 2009 iMac.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for posting and your experience with that. It helps out people who are trying this. I'm glad is helped. Thanks for watching.

[@mind-numbingtasks1575]

So, I have a mid 2011 27" in which the internal HD failed, then, I stumbled across this video. I have since purchased a Lacie Thunderbolt external 500 GB SSD for $130.00. I installed High Sierra 10.13 from disk on the new drive and I was simply amazed how easy it was and how fast the system runs now. The hardware is still outstanding. Thanks so much for this video because I did not want to do the tear down to install it internally. I realize it would probably work a lot faster installed on the internal bus so might do it later on.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for sharing that it worked for you. Yes, installing internally is not a bad idea if you want to do that but this tends to be easier for sure. Thank you.

[@PeteMOBie1]

Just bought a 27 inch 2011 i5 3.1 GHz Quadcore machine for £136 (included next day delivery via courier). Your video has given me an alternative way to run the iMac from an SSD without the hassle of opening up the mac to replace the conventional hard disk drive. Thanks

[@craigneidel]

Good luck and that's for feedback

[@EGR1985]

Thanks again just finished setting up my 2011 iMac following your guide using the same modded ssd lacie drive and can confirm it's worked wonders running Monterey via OCLP, boot time down from 1 min 20 to 30 seconds and everything just seems a lot quicker. Cheers 👍

[@craigneidel]

Nice, and I'm glad it helped out. Thanks for watching.

[@paulychannel7914]

Great information! I was about to buy a new computer when I stumbled upon your video. My 2011 Imac still works well but is slow..... So.... instead of paying $2000 or more for a new Imac I have managed to procure the lacie thunderbolt enclosure & samsung 860 evo 500gb SSD for AUD $250. I also decided to upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 12gb with 2 new modules ( cost AUD$80) , which I'll do first when they arrive. ... Looking forward to making this all happen when my new parts arrive ! I'm not a computer geek so didn't want to pull the Imac apart just to install a new SSD ! So.... THANKYOU .....saved me a LOT of money & I'll post an update when I've successfully installed everything.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks and good luck with everything. Wish you the best

[@psulion101]

This was just what I was looking for! My 2011 iMac had a hard driver failure (after 12 years of service). After watching your video I picked up the SSD and Lacie external drive you mentioned and after restoring from time machine, I was floored by the performance improvement! Your guidance gave my iMac a whole new life. Seems faster now than what I remember when it was new back in 2011! THANK YOU! 😊

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. That was I think my first video ever or one of them. I now have over 550 so I hope you can sub and find a few more. Thanks again for the feedback and I'm glad it's working good.

[@jamierobertson6969]

I just discovered this video and am in the same position. 2011 iMac dead hard drive. If my hard drive is dead and I can’t boot the iMac up ( I can get to recovery. Mode) would I have to first install the new OS on the new ssd drive using another computer? Or is this something I can do in disk utility. I might even have the original boot disk somewhere as well.

[@ryanransom5101]

Life saving video! I have a 2015 IMac with a badly damaged fusion drive. I’m in the process of rebooting it with the external SSD drive, so hopefully it’ll run like new again.

[@craigneidel]

Good luck. You can use a good external USB 3 drive and be fine. It will give you a good 350 to 450 Mbps and run actually much faster than the fusion drive. Just keep your other drive so you can boot back into that later if you ever need to but I boot off my externals and have been doing it for a few years now.

[@keithrodgers1030]

Great video, I did an upgrade to a 2nd hand late 2009 Imac. Removed the 1TB internal hard drive and replaced it with 1TB ssd. While I had the display out I also removed the dvd data drive and installed a 250gb ssd in that bay. Installed OSX on the smaller drive and partitioned the big drive. Intention is to install windows 10 on one partition when I get chance. Removed the video card and heat sink and rebedded the heat sink too. The machine is fast when I put larger ram chips in it finished the upgrade off. Worth doing if you have the patience.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the upgrades. It sounds like you removed the screen and put this all in internally. It's amazing how fast the older iMacs can be if you just replace the hard disk and ram. I used an external SSD because of the 10 Gbps port on the 2001 model which makes it a bit easier to do because I know removing the glass can be a job. Thanks for your post.

[@keithrodgers1030]

@@craigneidel the biggest fear is breaking the glass because the magnets are powerful. The old hard drives generate a ton of heat, the fans hardly run now. Its worth doing it, do u know about the problem with the video cards ?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, I know the 2010 and 2011s had some issues with the video cards etc. and I think a ton burnt out. I do agree that opening the screen is the best way to upgrade if you can do it. I was just providing an easier way to upgrade to an SSD without the screen removal but fully understand it makes sense to do that if you can swing it.

[@hollywoodheiner6028]

I just upgraded my old 2011 iMac exactly how you described: My SSD is now running 3,2x as fast as my old HD! Thank you so much for this awesome and detailed tutorial!! ❤️

[@craigneidel]

You are welcome and I hope it helped. Yes, they run quite fast after the upgrade. It's like a brand new system.

[@gregallenphoto]

What ssd and enclosure did u use. What are your read write speeds?

[@mrbourru2104]

I got the same equipment and followed the instructions and it worked like a charm! It's really like having a brand new iMac. I even used the 2 TB drive as a secondary drive where I put my iTunes library. Thanks a lot for the video, I really appreciate it. Cheers!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks and im glad the external boot ssd works good. Yes it is as fast as modern imacs for most things. Thanks for watching and please subscribe if you can.

[@christophergribbin3969]

Great tutorial. Just upgraded my 2012 Mac Mini using an external LaCie Thunderbolt SSD and some more ram. Seems like a world of difference.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks chris. Im glad it helped and thanks for watching and supporting the channel. We love the feedback.

[@songkrodubonsathit9860]

Thanks this video is what i searching for two months to find the way to upgrade my 2011 imac very informative and already subscribed your

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the new words and good luck with everything. I hope the video helped you. Thanks for watching.

[@EGR1985]

Thanks for this video was looking for a external solution as didnt fancy opening up the imac to replace the internal drive, just picked 2 of these Lacie drives up for a great price on ebay looking forward to this upgrade

[@craigneidel]

Ok, and good luck with things. Make sure they are the Thunderbolt version of the drives.

[@k.b.woodworker3250]

This is remarkable! This opens many possibilities. I'm going to look at your other video(s) about doing this for a usb3 connection. This way I can have an external drive for my Mac mini 2012. I know you can stack 2 drives internally, but it looks like a tricky business. I can put a new ssd in place of the existing spinning drive and make an external ssd drive using a standard enclosure. Wonderful ideas on your channel, always useful. Thanks.

[@eduardowatkinz]

Another OSX install option to retain current software is to use Carbon Copy Cloner, can be used free for non-commercial use.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the info Eduardo. Yes, I have used that before and it works great. Thanks for watching.

[@sjsu2]

Thanks for this. I have and frequently come across a lot of old legacy Macs without usb 3. Was unsure if the Lacie drive you suggested could be upgraded to an ssd, but seeing is believing.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, the very old thunderbolt connection works if you can find one of the old Lacey drives like I had in the video. And you can replace the drives (then format it).

[@arty19390]

Craig, One of the BEST instructional videos I’ve seen. Found your channel because of problems installing Samsung 860 as external boot and storage. Talked w mfr and apple and other you tube authors.Do you think tats a workable solution. but still no success. What I did pickup was from your great video is to step back from MOHAVE and reinstall another version of SIERRA.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the nice words Arty. I hope it helps you out and thanks for watching. I make videos on all types of things from Apple to investing so if interested I would love to have you as a subscriber. Thanks again and I'm glad it helped you out. No reason to sped so much on an iMac when you can get a pretty quick one using this method.

[@fakingfrench]

Thanks this was extremely helpful! My imac hd was failing and now I can bring it back to life.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks Krystal for watching and the nice words. I hope it can help a few people bring these expensive systems back to life.

[@RajVeer87156]

@@craigneidel great tutorial....i have a question please. I have a mid 2011 21.5 inch iMac, I would like to install Windows 10 on an external ssd/hdd, will this procedure work? Thanks for answering

[@newbeginnings8566]

Excellent, useful video.. I've seen most people velcro these modules to the Imac stand at the back - everything, near and hidden .. Also without the shock rubber mounting is best..

[@craigneidel]

Yes, and thanks for the info. I have a system that I mounted to back and they even sell metal parts that can be mounted back there. Thanks for watching Mark.

[@strangecodes]

I am currently bidding on a LaCie 4TB external rugged Hard Drive. Few hours left. I am going to win it. Then, grab a 1TB internal SATA SSD. Then do this. Then my Mid 2011 iMac will purr like a baby. ;-) great video, thanks!

[@craigneidel]

Make sure it is Thunderbolt 1 (connection type) plus you need to replace the 4TB drive and put in the SSD drive. So there is no need to buy such a large drive. It's just the Thunderbolt connection that matters and then replace with Samsung SSD like I did in video. If you just get the Lacie 4TB and that is a 5400 or 7200 spinning drive it would be slower. Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

I have a video a bit before that one that shows you how to replace the drive and step by step instructions. So make sure you watch that video. It was one of my first videos I made.

[@strangecodes]

@@craigneidel I think it’s thunderbolt 1 but it could be thunderbolt 2, in either case it will give the computer a kick 🦵 anyway man if I do it. Maybe not 5 times faster, but much faster tho.

[@strangecodes]

Unless I’m missing something - can I just buy an ‘enclosure’ with the thunderbolt cable integrated? I thought this LaCie 4TB rugged was one of the only options left. Confirm. Deny?

[@UltraKryptonian]

Great video! I have that same model of iMac and I use it for the majority of my video editing. This would be a worthwhile upgrade for my system and I really appreciate your tutorial. Your teaching technique is great - Not too fast and to the point. Excellent!!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for nice comments. Booting off ssd is night and day difference and you can still boot off spinning drive when you need to. I edit videos on my system 1080 with no dropped frames. Thanks for watching.

[@jonathanbailey5896]

Thank you very much for a very concise and good video. Appreciate your hard work in editing that and I'm pleased you had a good system up and running and also good for the environment.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and the nice words.

[@ricardovarela8547]

Great idea!! I have tried different linux flavors and pretty much it also runs pretty nicely, thanks for the tip on opening the lacie it worked like a charm

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching the channel.

[@fredlavenuta5857]

I tried to do the same thing with my 2008 iMac, patched to run Mac OS 10.14. Booting from an external SSD was slow and disappointing. The USB 2 ports are just too slow. I opened the iMac and installed the SSD and the difference was very satisfying. I do boot my late 2015 iMac (with USB 3.0 ports) from an external USB drive and it works well, very usable.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks. Yes anything older than 2011 imac won't work as USB ports are too slow and no thunderbolt.

[@brucesaxton3625]

Super Craig!!!!!!!!! My Mac lives again!!!!!!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks Bruce. Yes, it works pretty good and load times should really come down. Thanks for posting your experience.

[@stu-pid_66]

Just did this and it works perfect on my late 2013 iMac! Thank you

[@craigneidel]

Great, I hope it helps and thanks for watching. That will make a big difference for sure.

[@paulychannel7914]

OK! Did everything you said to plug in "NEW" samsung SSD drive using the Lacie enclosure .... easy peasy ( thanks to your video), however I decided to use a different method of installing the SSD using DIsk Utility & " recovery mode" on my Imac which worked perfectly by copying the internal hard drive to the external SSD. My 2011 Imac is 3-4 times faster now & boots off the external SSD..... THANKYOU VERY MUCH, !..... coz I was " considering" buying a new Imac ...... Now I don't have to!!!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for sharing the success. Yes, it's easy and you can get the OS back on there a few different ways. My method provides you with basically a new mac and you reload apps ect. I just leave the older drive alone so I can boot back into it if need be but others reformat the older drive etc. Thanks for sharing how you did it and watching. Hope you can sub if not already.

[@paulychannel7914]

@@craigneidel Yes I already subbed! Still can't believe how fast my ( Obsolete , according to Apple) Imac is running now. Bootup used to take 4 minutes to get to an open KZbin page, now its less than 30 seconds. Before I upgraded did a blackmagic speed test on the spinning hard drive & was getting an average of 60 Mbps......... NOW the SSD is running at an average of 350Mbps via the thunderbolt drive! As you probably know it's virtually impossible to find a thunderbolt 1/2 " adapter" ,......so your video was invaluable to me! .....RESPECT!!!

[@craigneidel]

@@paulychannel7914 thanks for feedback and I'm glad it worked out good.

[@MattP-oz6ps]

Put Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) your iMac, this will allow you to run MacOSX Sonoma, and it does not slow down the machine. For your iMac model, its easy to open up and install a new ssd, but for the newer models you have to cut the adhesive all the way around which could fracture the screen. The speed improvement is awesome, I'm curious if you accidentally unplugged the ssd from the thunderbolt if it would corrupt the os.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. Yes, I have used Open Core many times but this is an older video and another way to update the older iMacs. I'm not sure about pulling the cable but I'm guessing it should recover. I think I had a power cut once and it was fine.

[@B_radoncrypto]

Thanks for the video it helped me speed up my Mac big time !!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and for the feedback. I hope it helped.

[@SamM-kq7km]

Thanks so much for sharing! Very information. Subscribed!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks Nikita for watching.

[@zedking5569]

Great video , This will save me the nightmare of replacing the hard disk , I thought I would be using my 2.0 regular USB connector to my SDD but the speed test was like 30 :). then the thunderbolt is a must have.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, if you use that external enclosure with the thunderbolt connection you can get speeds around 350 to 400 Mbps. It's a great solution. You can find them used on eBay for under $100 but you need to look around to find them. Thanks for watching.

[@JohnMHammer]

I enjoyed this video. I like the orange bumper LaCie drives. The tape though, maybe it helps with heat transfer but for swapping the guts like this it’s a PITA, I’d rather have a couple of clamps or bolts. I’d also rather have a standard TB-1 port and an included cable rather than a captive cable, although if you’re moving the drive around a lot it’s a convenience, I guess. One very minor note: LaCie is a French company, it’s the “premium” Seagate brand. LaCie is pronounced “Lah See” with the emphasis on the second syllable. Lacy is the name of my son’s girlfriend.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and sharing the information. Yes, with the older 2011 iMacs the Thunderbolt port is really the only one this will work with so the external ssd is fast enough to boot MacOS. Thanks for watching.

[@GusSilber]

Thank you for your very informative and useful guide!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the nice comments

[@jprpjr33]

Thanks for making this easy!!

[@craigneidel]

You are welcome and thanks for watching and supporting the channel. I hope it helped.

[@davidmorris4245]

Hi Craig. Thanks for your very informative video. I was contemplating installing a new SSD internally but this seems a whole lot easier. 2 questions please? Is Thunderbolt 2 or 3 enclosure ok with a 2010 iMac ie backwards compatible and if I use a larger SSD and clone the whole drive then all my apps/programs will all be on the SSD and will save having to re-install everything and can use as before but a whole lot faster?

[@epulatov]

Hey @Craig Thank you very much for your video! Don't you mind to make video how to use older mac or macbook as secondary display to your primary macbook?

[@craigneidel]

I will look into that for a video topic. Thanks for watching Erkinjon.

[@minorrhoads5318]

Brilliant , very helpful , subscribed . cheers .

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the nice words and sub.

[@nickwilliams6750]

Worked a treat Thank you

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and supporting the channel. I'm glad booting from an external SSD for your iMac worked out. Thanks Nick.

[@neekrusher2085]

Thank you for this video. I will try this option so I can retire my 2009 iMac.

[@craigneidel]

Let us know how it goes. Thanks for watching.

[@connorthompson7020]

How did it go

[@MauiZamoraStudio]

Thank you for sharing this information! All the best to your channel!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks again for the nice words and watching the video on booting from external SSD. I hope it helps.

[@colemanderek2738]

I realize Im pretty off topic but does anyone know a good place to stream new movies online ?

[@demetriushunter1794]

@Coleman Derek Try FlixZone. Just search on google for it :)

[@curtisjuelz2327]

@Coleman Derek i watch on Flixzone. Just google for it :)

[@ssplintergirl]

It would have been cool if they released more stuff that used the thunderbolt 1&2 connection. The fact that it has a higher bandwidth than SATA III out of the box could have had incredible speeds and sweet expansion options. Sucks that shintel doesn't like playing nicely.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it's hard to find anything Thunderbolt 1 right now. If you do it's expensive. I found my Lacie on Ebay and got a good deal.

[@ssplintergirl]

Craig Neidel Yeah I got the exact one because a seller offered one at 2 o’clock in the morning for $75 shipped and taxed. I will say though, does TRIM and S.M.A.R.T. work over thunderbolt? I know it’s basically a pcie connection right? Also, does it cap out at the max 6gp/s or can it get upto 10gb/s as rated by Thunderbolt?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it is basically a direct connection but I have been using my setup for over 1.5 years with no issues. For the speed you should get somewhere like 350 to 425 MBps depending on the drive (SSD) you use (read and write). The actual Thunderbolt connection is capable of 10 gb/s but you really can't even use half of that with a non-NVME drive. So the connection is plenty. The key is making sure you don't try and use the older usb connections as those can't move any data and the Thunderbolt is the only option. Anyhow it's much faster than a spinning drive and should boot up in like 15 seconds. Just remember it will be basically a brand new OS and MAC. You can always boot to your old drive but when you boot to the external SSD it like having a brand new Mac so you need to load programs etc. Thank you.

[@ssplintergirl]

Craig Neidel I used a drive duplication software called “SuperDuper!” to make an exact copy of my HDD to leave off exactly where I started but with a faster SSD. It’s actually kind of funny, in a 2011 imac, you have the main SATA III on the Mother Board, the secondary slave SATA III port on the Motherboard, a thunderbolt 1 port, and a firewire 800 port. Assuming you had a 2tb drive attached on each of them, you could have 8 TB of expansion all running at a minimum max speed of 800mb/s. Edit: reality is often disappointing because practical read write of FW800 is about 80Mb/s.

[@craigneidel]

@@ssplintergirl yes the firewire port is useless for my video and thunderbolt is only way to go. Thanks for sharing.

[@allanthompson9695]

Cool Video. Very useful information. Cheers. I'll check out some more of your vids.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks Allan. Let me know if you want to see any topics and I can cover them in some future videos. Thanks for watch and please subscribe if you haven't as once I get to a 1000 subscribers I'll do a few giveaways for sure.

[@craigneidel]

Yes i think there is a video on that maybe search for it. As long as a soild 10gbps connection to fast ssd i dont see why it wont work. I just cant confirm end speeds with that device. Any ssd and external should work but it comes down to speed

[@johnrutledge7258]

Is there such a thing as an ssd with thunderbolt one already built in? I dont trust my handyman skills but really want to run my 2011 mac via ssd.

[@craigneidel]

Hi John. Yes there are a few out there but replacing the drive on this one is super easy. Here is something similar to what I used - amzn.to/2YQnr4C - replacing the drive takes less than 10 minutes and anybody can do. At the same time there are pre-built options and just make sure it has Thunderbolt 1 - amzn.to/3eP9KbA

[@paulpeters_PBP]

Good afternoon Craig I too followed your very informative video and YES, the results are not short of amazing! Thank you for taking the time to create the post - it's much appreciated. In my case, I used what I had on-hand for the transformation of my late 2012 iMac 27" (running Catalina) with 32GB RAM and only 1GB of VRAM. I downloaded Catalina from the app store and installed on a USB 3 -Samsung SSD T5 2TB unit. I ran BlackMagic on the SSD and I'm seeing speeds in the low 400MB range which is well beyond the what I was seeing on the old / original HD. The only thing I use the iMac for it to run Adobe Creative Cloud (Photography) and as you can imagine, everything was painfully slow on the old HD. Now my question is should I install Creative Cloud and any other apps I use on the boot SSD -- or would you suggest keeping them where they are on the old HD? Paul

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback. When you boot off the SSD apple sees that as a completely new computer. So if you move apps to the SSD it will count as new computer so you might then need to uninstall from old boot drive for licensing reasons. But I run all my apps on the new bootable SSD since they will run much faster for you. I leave the old boot drive operational so you could boot back to it if needed in emergency but normally install all apps on new SSD. It's basically a new computer when you boot off ssd. Hope that helps.

[@paulpeters_PBP]

@@craigneidel Thank you for your speedy reply. I have just installed all the Adobe applications on the new drive -- and not surprisingly, they run so very much quicker - almost like a new computer. Going through your entire process has given a huge boost to an otherwise nearly dead-end machine

[@Photographyandvideo]

Fantastic. Very helpful.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks. I have a few other videos on that topic with examples if you browse my videos. Thanks for watching.

[@Z3CHYD]

I need to do this to my wifes 2012 Imac, pretty sure the hard drive is failing, I get the beach ball of death trying to log in, or just sitting on the desktop, and it just crashes and restarts pretty often. I already installed 32gb of RAM so thats definitely not the limiting factor lol. Also I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking the imac apart, and accidentaly damage something on it, since parts are still expensive for anything Apple related lol

[@craigneidel]

Yes, you can try and boot off the external SSD to fix that issue but it sounds like your other SSD could be having issues.

[@chrisc9300]

Great video, totally worked on my late 2013 IMAC! Thank you! Now how long do you think it will last once the software stops being updated?

[@craigneidel]

As long as your comfortable using it. Thanks for watching.

[@ianoliver3879]

I"m puzzled by the mathematics: why do you refer to yourself in the singular in the video, but in the plural in the blurb?

[@dalang55555]

Great work! With your information, I also swapped a SAMSUNG EVO 870 500GB into the same LaCie Rugged case recently. I tested on my 21.5-inch iMac Mid 2011. The sequential reading speed is about 411MB/s and the sequential writing speed is about 380MB/s or so. But when I replaced the internal HD with the same EVO 870 500GB, both writing and reading speed can reach above 500MB/s (almost to the spec as SAMSUNG "said"). So here comes my question, why the thunderbolt connection cannot reach the same speed as the internal SATA connection? Theoretically, thunderbolt speed should be 10Gb at maximum. So, there is no reason for a thunderbolt-connected external SSD of having a lower speed. Can you give me some explanation for it or is there a way to improve the situation? Thanks a lot! I have watched some of your videos and they are very informative and helpful.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and supporting the channel. The overhead of the external connection (both cable and enclosure) is slowing down the SSD slightly would be my guess. If you can install internally that is best but for people that like an easy solution the external SSD works good and is really going to be fast enough (especially over the spinning drive) for most people. But it's really the cable and enclosure and don't forget that in my example the enclosure initially had a spinning drive in there and we replaced it. So I'm guessing they are not using more expensive parts since they didn't anticipate the procedure. Just a guess though.

[@dalang55555]

@@craigneidel Thank you for your reply. Yes I agree with you that the enclosure (converter chip or board maybe limits the maximum speed. Anyway it is huge speed up from the internal spinning hard drive. BTW, I saw LaCie has a SSD type Rugged one and it said the maximum reading speed is 500MB/s. But the price is sort of expensive (more than 200$). Thank you again!

[@Skandawin78]

Today I did the same thing to my 2013 iMac which I bought for $140 + SSD $21+ enclosure $8

[@craigneidel]

It can really help the older systems. Thanks for watching and good luck with everything.

[@sergiovelasco4282]

Which enclosure and SSD did you purchase? I just bought a 2011 iMac and would like to boot off external ssd. Thanks!

[@Skandawin78]

@@sergiovelasco4282 iDsonix 2.5 inch Hard Drive Enclosure SSD:PNY CS900 500GB

[@yvesn58]

Thanks a lot Craig for sharing. I have an iMac 2013, so I would use a portable SSD with USB connecter. 1- Is it as fast as thunderbolt connection ? 2- Can I transfer all my apps to the new SSD, like Office and Photoshop with a Time Machine back up ? If I keep my data on HDD, how will it open the app (like Excel or Word) from the SSD and not from HDD which is much slower ? Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

No, thunderbolt will be faster on this type of setup. Yes, I think you can use time machine to copy everything back to external drive and then boot off that. I have not tried that myself but heard it is possible to do. If you just create a new Bootable drive (external) it is recommended to install your programs on that drive and then you can keep data on the older drive if you want to. Moving everything but maybe storage that won't be accessed too much is best (to external SSD) if concerned about speed. Thanks for watching.

[@yvesn58]

@@craigneidel USB 3 did the job to boost my iMac with a new SSD drive. I used a portable drive, less expensive. Office license doesn't transfert automatically with Time Machine or a clone with my experience now. I kept large portion of my data on my old HDD and that is applications freshly installed on my new SSD which opens the documents on my old drive - I had concerns that would slow down opening if it was from my old HDD. I copied my data on the new SSD drive to get a cleaner install because I still don't understand how the Mac manage the memory on the hard disk - many Gb purgeable that you can't recover ! Bottom line, apps are opening much faster, especially office suite apps. Boot time dropped from 4 mn or so to 1:15 approximately. Thanks, Craig for the idea. Much simpler and cheaper than opening the machine.

[@Elizabeth-ev6ep]

Great video thanks!!!! Just one question , would it work putting in a samsung 500 gb instead of a 250 gb?

[@craigneidel]

The size of the drive won't matter as long at it is an SSD and you use that Thunderbolt enclosure since the enclosure provides the speed to the SSD. That is the key part. Thanks for watching.

[@Ljcameron96]

Thanks so much, this has saved me so much money and effort. Just a quick question for future reference tho can you do it without the Lacie ? as I've got a spare hdd now.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. No the lacie has the Thunderbolt 1 connection which is required for speed to ssd. So that is needed for it to be fast enough. If you find another thunderbolt 1 external that might work but i only tested the lacie.

[@Ljcameron96]

@@craigneidel Thanks!

[@AnthonyAllioo]

Would you recommend the same ssd drive for a 2013 iMac?

[@craigneidel]

The SSD drive is good but I would use a different enclosure if you have a newer iMac since the 2013 has faster ports (on the 2011 it the only one fast enough was the Thunderbolt 1 port). So you might be able to use the faster USB connections or Thunderbolt 2 and boot from the external drive and get better speeds for less money than the Lacie external. The Samsung is still a good drive for this.

[@skionen1781]

Wow thanks for posting

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching Skione

[@chachreyes2102]

Craig, hey, thanks for the video. Question, will this work for an external SSD (4TB) with a USB 3.0 instead of the Thunderbolt? Or would it defeat the purpose? Thx 🙏

[@craigneidel]

A 2011 imac doesn't have USB 3.0 and it only has Thunderbolt one which is fast enough for this to work. The usb it does have is super slow. So that is really your only option is to use the Thunderbolt if you're using an iMac from 2011 and want to boot from external ssd. Thanks for watching.

[@0664arn]

Question, why do I need to buy the Samsung ssd, can I just use the 1 TB Lacie? maybe I missed something. Thank you

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. You need both the Lacie external enclosure I recommned (because it's thunderbolt 1 and fast enough to use to read the OS on the drive) and the SSD. You need the SSD because the 1 TB drive I took out of the enclosure is a spinning drive which is about 5 times lower than an SSD. So if you want a speed boost on an older system you need both the Lacie external enclosure with that fast connection to the SSD and the fast drive (SSD). If you left in the 1 TB drive that would be a huge bottleneck and would not be any faster than the internal spinning drive. Thanks again Arnold.

[@0664arn]

@@craigneidel Oh ok I got it then I will get a Samsung 860 EVO SSD. is 250 GB enough ? Thank you for you reply

[@craigneidel]

@@0664arn 250 is plenty for os and normal use but you can get any size depending on your use. For example video editing might require more storage.

[@AllThingsCool]

I use hitfilm to edit my videos will installing this ssd make video editing noticeably faster

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback Chuck as it helps the community. I'm glad it helped and thanks for watching my videos. Please subscribe if you have not and I will do my best to make more content on Mac and Apple products.

[@AllThingsCool]

@@craigneidel I dont think you read my comment lol I was asking you a question.

[@craigneidel]

Sorry I read it but thought you said it made it faster. To answer the question it should make it faster but with video editing memory and cpu are maybe more important. But if you have a spinning drive going to an ssd will make all programs load quicker and everything will be snappier. I noticed my video scrubbing as better to. Since I have not used Hitfilm I'm not sure how it is optimized but adding the external ssd won't hurt and should help with the overall experience. Rendering times less so as thats cpu and ram. Thanks Chuck.

[@AllThingsCool]

@@craigneidel ok thanks I went ahead and bought the lacie and the samsung evo 860 1 tb drive hope its gonna be worth it paid 160 for both

[@GOK1970]

What about TRIM on the external drive....needed or will there be a problem after a while? Any experience?

[@craigneidel]

Good Question. The newer drives (SSDS) have quite a bit of endurance built into them and I'm not using Trim on these devices. If you are worried you can pick something like A DC Intel model that might have something like 3000 TB read writes (or more) before you might run into issues. I have personally not seen any issues at all and have a number of these running for over 2 years. Mine are Samsung EVO and QVO drives that might have endurance in the 600 to 800 TB range. Of course buying a quality drive or one made for a datacenter can expand the life of the drive. Thanks for watching.

[@monicatmcg]

Thanks for the great video, Craig. I have a late 2012 iMac and found other videos to add an external SSD (replacement to internal) drive. I wonder if you think the (left-inside HD) could be used as an extra TimeMachine backup drive?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, for sure. If you have a 2012 then you have a USB port that is faster than what's on the 2011 iMac. So you can boot off an external drive that plugs into the USB port instead of using Thunderbolt. That will save you quite a bit of money. After you start booting off the external SSD you can always use the drive inside the iMac for things like TimeMachine etc. It will show up as a drive but just not the boot drive. I normally just leave them alone as then you can always boot back into that drive at any time (I don't erase them). But you can erase or even just leave alone so you can always boot back into it but still store files on it.

[@harishgupta7873]

Hi Thanks for the video. It was very informative. I have a question, could you please help me? I am planning to use external SSD (as shown in video) for my late 2015 21.5" iMac. Could you please suggest what is the best option (thunderbolt/usb enclosure and cable) and how to do it? Regards

[@craigneidel]

Hello Harish. Thanks for watching and the nice comment. I always just say go with the fast port on your mac, the fastest cable to the external ssd, and the fastest SSD you can get. For instance. make sure the external enclosure is 10 Gbps not the 5 Gbps etc. but even if you don't have a port available the 5 Gbps port will still work but top you off in that 500 MB/s range. So you can use any external enclosure on the 2015. On the 2011 iMac in my video I had to use the Thunderbolt 1 port since the other ports are older USB and very slow so the Thunderbolt was the only one I could use.

[@harishgupta7873]

@@craigneidel thanks a lot.

[@aikizoom]

If I don't find a thunderbolt 1 enclosure, could a thunderbolt 3-to-thunderbolt 1-adapter work?

[@craigneidel]

I have not tried that yet. You may be able to find info on google but it cannot cause any bottlenecks or it wont be as fast. Im not sure how those conversion cables work. I may need to test in future. Thanks for watching jonas and supporting the channel.

[@geraldltardif8443]

hi craig. coudnt you just open up your mac and put the ssd in the hd case?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, but you run the risk of breaking the screen or messing something up. If you are comfortable then that is fine also. This is just a quick way to boot from and external drive and allows you to still boot to original internal drive if you wanted to boot back to that at any time. Also, with newer iMacs the screens are glued on so not as easy to take off. This process would work for those two so the video is just an overview of how to do it. It's up to the individual to choose what is best. Thanks for watching Gerald and helping out the community.

[@javierr3515]

Thank you for the video. I have a 2011 iMac and I opened it to change the hdd to an ssd. I think this is a much better solution. Could you run all the time the computer from the external hard drive??? Now I bought a 2017 base model with hdd; what do you sugget for this one?? perhaps boot from external with thunderbolt 3 and ssd nvme?? it could be much easier than openning the display....

[@craigneidel]

The problem if you have a 2011 is you need an external SSD enclosure that is Thunderbolt 1 and there are only a few. So going with an NVME isn't really an option unless you can find a Thunderbolt 1 to NVME enclosure. So about the best you can get with the enclosure I listed in that 400 Mbps but it makes a huge difference for sure in load times and just everyday work. If you can open it up that is best but for those that don't want to then an external SSD can work.

[@AlienFactor]

I loved this video I just bought a iMac 27 inch for $357 from Ebay and that’s what I was worried about? how slow would it be? so I’m so glad I see this video I going to buy the Samsung and rugged!!! Ty 👽👽🙏🏻🛸🖥🤯🙏🏻

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for feedback. Make sure to get thunderbolt version for speed and it will be fast for sure. Look for on ebay as much lower cost for enclosure. Once you do it will be quick. Thanks.

[@AlienFactor]

Craig Neidel When I do purchase this and get ready to do it if I have any questions can I hit you up please!? first time doing this so kind of nervous 😬 lol thanks for getting back

[@craigneidel]

@@AlienFactor i have directions online and if you follow all should be good. Its actually very easy to do. I can answer basic questions if needed but just want to show people what is possible in videos. I cant really troubleshoot all viewers with so many but will do my best to help. This is super easy so trying it has been successful for almost 100 percent. Thanks for watching.

[@AlienFactor]

Craig Neidel yeah your right it’s pretty easy! I have your video I’ll be alright ty

[@craigneidel]

@@AlienFactor if you need anything post it and we can all try to help

[@alanabley525]

Great videos. I cloned everything from my hard drive to a Samsung T7 thru the USB 2.0 port as some videos have shown this to give good speeds but it's slower than my internal drive. If I can get the Thunderbolt enclosure do I move applications to it and do I need to also have my files on it to gain the benefit ? Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

I just noticed I never responded and I wanted to say thanks for the nice words. Good luck with everything.

[@T1000-e7s]

Excellent video, quick question does the ssd drive have to be a Samsung 860 Evo? Thanks for your time

[@craigneidel]

No but same type ssd should work. I just found samsung usually always work great but any ssd to fit enclosure that is ssd should work.

[@T1000-e7s]

@@craigneidel ok, have you seen the Transcend StoreJet 500 1TB Portable SSD it has both USB 3 and thunderbolt connections all in one so need need to purchase two separate devices, what do you think?

[@craigneidel]

@@T1000-e7s i think i saw a video on youtube where they use that so it should work good as long as it has Thunderbolt. I do think they are expensive though. Thanks for watching.

[@charlescortsen2539]

Why not just use a SATA to thunderbolt adapter?

[@craigneidel]

You might be able to do that. Sata is 6 gbps and thunderbolt is 10 but may not make huge difference with sata ssd. Thanks for watching Charles.

[@redditdaily3739]

Do we have to have the exact same items that you suggest? Isn't it possible to go for an external usb ssd and follow the steps?

[@craigneidel]

Yes and no. The reason you need that specific External enclosure is because it has the 10 Gbps port that is required for speed. If you use another enclosure with non-thunderbolt 10 it would not be fast enough to support the OS and reads and writes to the enclosure. So while you can use another enclosure it needs to be Thunderbolt 10 if on a 2011 iMac. If you have a newer iMac with faster ports like USB3 then that would work. As for the SSD itself you can use any SSD drive but I like the Samsung because they seem to be the most compatible with MacOS etc. but I have used other SSD drives and they have worked fine. Thanks for watching and let me know if that helps. Thanks again.

[@redditdaily3739]

@@craigneidel Thanks for the prompt reply. It certainly helps a lot. I have bought my mid 2011 27 Inc iMac just today. It seems fairly fast. I will try this tutorial in the future if the speed doesn't satisfy anymore. Thanks again.

[@roberthughes9773]

why do you need to buy an internal ssd and then use and enclosure? Can't you just buy an external SSD and plug it in?

[@craigneidel]

Hello Robert. You use this specific enclosure that I recommended because it has a Thunderbolt connection that allows up to 10 Gbps in throughput to the external drive. When this external Lacie drives ships it only has a spinning drive inside of it (like a 5400 or 7200 rpm drive). So you need to remove the spinning drive from the enclosure and put in the Samsung SSD into that enclosure so you have an SSD in there (SSDs are way faster). Since the enclosure has a full Thunderbolt 10 Gbps connection you get really fast speeds if you load your OS on the External SSD. If you just plugged in an external drive to say USB2 it can't transfer that fast and you would see speed decreases so using this specific enclosure and replacing with SSD is super important to run MAC os on it. If you just left the spinning hard drive in the external and didn't replace it with an SSD then you would not see any improvements in speed when connecting the external Drive and booting your OS off that. I hope this helps. Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

Hello Jeff. We are actually using a Thunderbolt external Enclosure and inside of that putting in a very reliable Samsung SSD. So I would argue that this SSD is one of the most reliable on the market. It would be the same drive that people put into their computers internally so I don't think the quality will be an issue at all. The main part is making sure the enclosure you use is the high quality Lacie Thunderbolt model so you have a fast connection. The SSD dive you put in that is up to the individual on the quality since they can put in any SSD. I just put in the Samsung because it was one of the highest rated SSDs on the market. So I think the quality and reliability over the internal spinning drive is actually going to me higher.

[@jeffliddiard]

Thank you.

[@randykawasaki]

You can buy TBolt 1 & 2 compatible SSD drives for not much money. In other words, you're right.

[@rudolfharris2378]

Hi Craig, Thanks for your video. It's helpful, but I'm left with a few questions. Firstly, does the thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter not work to attach an external SSD drive with USB-C? I heard that Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 are compatible? I have an iMac 21.5" late 2013 (14,3) and can't be sure if the motherboard installed has a port for the SSD so instead of going in and finding out it doesn't, a friend who has followed your vid advised I do the same. The only issue is getting my hands on one of the Lacie drives you mention. Any thoughts on the adapter and whether you know if the model I have has a port on the motherboard (at the point of purchasing the machine, there was an option of going with a fusion drive, but I'm not sure if that means that the machine just came with the SSD installed or wether it means a different motherboard was installed.) Thanks for any input!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching Rudolf. If you have a 2013 iMac then you have USB 3 ports. If my video I had a 2011 iMac and that only had USB 2 ports. Your USB 3 ports are capable of 5 Gbps (which you divide by 8 coverting bytes to bits) and this port is capable of 625 MBps. Of course there is overhead with the external SSD if you are booting from that but if you install a regular Samsung SSD then you might still be able to get 400 MBps read and writes. So you might just get an external enclosure that has USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) speed and you should get about 80% of the speed of the SSD if you boot off it and that is going to be worlds faster than the internal spinning drive. Plus it would be way easier and cheaper to find a USB 3 (5 Gbps) enclosure than the Thunderbolt 1 Lacie. I recommended that since I have the 2011. So I hope that solves your issue and good luck with your project. Thanks for watching.

[@rudolfharris2378]

@@craigneidel thanks so much. I had thought that much but just wasn't sure. I'll wait and see what happens to the bids I've placed on some LaCie drives and then take your suggested route. Thanks again for replying.

[@rudolfharris2378]

@@craigneidel sorry to bother you again, but do you know what the speed differences are between the external SSD via USB 3 and swapping out the internal HDD for an SSD? Will the internal SSD install yield even faster speeds? And if so, do you know if I'd need to install a thermal sensor?

[@gregallenphoto]

great vid.thanks very helpful. I got a bit obsessed and I attached a ACASIS 40Gbps SSD Enclosure with a NVME SSD to my 2015 imac just to make sure it would read the SSD. it didn't. The Acasis has a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter config which may be the issue. I know the SSD enclosure works on an M1 MBP. I'm sure the cables an adapter are in working order. Any idea what the issue is?

[@craigneidel]

I think you nailed it. The adapter most likely. I would just use something like Samsung t5 and should work fine. It will be way faster.

[@gregallenphoto]

@@craigneidel I have purchase 2 new T3 to T2 adapters and they don't work. Do you think it is a compatability issue?

[@craigneidel]

@@gregallenphoto Like I said the T5 should work but it's hard for me to troubleshoot individual systems as you can imagine since I get hundreds of comments. I haven't tried it on the T3 or T2 (not sure if they have a T2). Just make sure you format the drives correctly and use MacOS extended Journaled (not ATFS) to follow what I did on my 2017. if you don't format the drives from the start they won't work. I have done this successfully on about 7 imacs from 2011 to 2017 so it should work as long as you have a compatible drive. See if you can find a video online of somebody doing this to your exact model and see what they used for the SSD. It should matter but it will help narrow it down for you. I have seen people do it with a t5 per my last comment so I know that should work. In any case if all else fails an external enclosure with a normal 2.5" ssd works too that you build yourself. Just make sure and format SSD. Also check out my video where I did it on a 2017 iMac. I think you watched the one with the 2011 which is quite a bit different than the one you have. Thanks again.

[@gregallenphoto]

@@craigneidel I formatted it ATFS and it worked on the M1 MBP. I'll reformat it and give it a go. I do appreciate the help. I've googled just about everything and purchased too many cables etc trying to get it to work. I'll sort it though. You have a crackin' gig and I appreciate the production quality and your responses.

[@craigneidel]

@@gregallenphoto let me know how it goes. Apfs should work but I used the older file structure on the older machines. With so many variables it's hard to troubleshoot but just make sure external is getting power at boot or it can't read drive until it's too late.

[@jg2965]

This could save me money here. Can I switch from one drive to another. So work is on one, and my photo editing on another?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, they act like two different systems so that would be possible. Only issue now is the 2011s and 2012s are getting older and the OS may not be able to be upgraded to current OS.

[@jg2965]

@@craigneidel I am happy with High Sierra and can use Lightroom on the old system, just speed is an issue. Thanks Craig 🙂

[@craigneidel]

@@jg2965 thanks and good luck.

[@wastedtalentusa]

Awesome video. Thank you so much. I have a question, my iMac is late 2015. Is it really faster and safe to run Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Lightroom, and the whole system through USB 3.0 connection? Is the USB port really that stable? I really want to do this upgrade, but I would like to make sure that an USA connection really can handle everything like the internal connections. Than you so much.

[@craigneidel]

For sure it is. Thanks for watching.

[@Meagain921]

Good tute...thanks .

[@gimbalair]

Same boot as a lot of people, my iMac is bullet proof but showing it’s age. This is perfect for me. Is there a way to choose the start up drive at boot, ie I’ll keep the internal hard for the family and use the external hard drive me me. Be good if we choose at boot up.

[@craigneidel]

You can change the boot drive when closing down the iMac so it boots the the drive you want it to next. If you are using a 2011 iMac then just make sure you use that specific Thunderbolt 1 enclosure and SSD since USB isn't fast enough on 2011s. If you have a 2012 or newer you can use USB instead.

[@wheresdale]

could I use this instead??? SAMSUNG - 1TB T5 PORTABLE SSD THUNDERBOLT 3 WITH T1 ADAPTER??

[@wheresdale]

MU-PA1T0B/WW

[@craigneidel]

Hello Dale. I have not tested the Thunderbolt 3 or if any adapter will work. My guess is it may not if you need to go from Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 1. On the 2011 iMac I really only tested the brand of enclosure I have in the video and the basic way to perform the OS installation on that drive. So I cannot 100% for sure say yes or now but I assume you might have issues. You really need a native Thunderbolt 1 Enclosure and the one I listed is one of the few you can still get but of course you can always try your way and then post if it works (then return stuff if not). If you had an iMac (not 2011) with a newer connection like at least Thunderbolt 2 I think that enclosure would work for sure. I hope this helps. Thank you.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Very well done.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks very much. Happy new year

[@sclogse1]

I'm a little late, but I don't have an Apple ID. I should also ask...can we have a setup where both drives on on the screen, but I started with the new drive, but have access to the apps I picked up over the years on the old drive? Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

You can always boot back into the older drive and if you don't delete or reformat that drive you can always reboot into it and use the older apps as needed.

[@nunofreiredossantos2285]

Hi Craig, sorry to bring up such an old affair but I'd like to know if I could use an external NVME SSD in a Mac mini of 2012, using the Thunderbolt 1 port.

[@craigneidel]

I have not tried that but if you can hook it up then it should work if you format at OS Extended Journaled. But, the 2012's have a faster USB port so you could maybe use something like a Samsung T5 etc. On the 2011 it didn't have the faster USB 2 ports.

[@AlessandroCondorelli]

Hello Craig! What about using the Thunderbolt 1 port on my iMac 27” (Late 2012) instead of one of the 4 USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) ports for connecting an external SSD? Do you think would be faster the Thunderbolt connection over the USB 3.0 one with external SSD Enclosure?

[@craigneidel]

Yes if you get true thunderbolt enclosure it is best and will be fastest way to go. Especially is you use nvme drive but either way it seems thunderbolt is best but if other port is 5gbps that should also work. Thanks for watching

[@AlessandroCondorelli]

Craig Neidel watching your video seems you get around 350 MB/S speed using the Thunderbolt 1 enclosure. Now, I had the chance to try a Samsung SSD EVO 680 in USB enclosure connected to my iMac 27 (Late 2012) through the USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) port and had 420-430 MB/s speed. Seems like iMac USB 3.0 ports are faster than Thunderbolt 1.

[@k.b.woodworker3250]

Are there External Hard Drive enclosures that have thunderbolt 1 or 2 connectors, empty ones without the spinning hard drive? These would be cheaper. I don't care if they are rugged like the Lacie.

[@craigneidel]

Just go with the fastest connection you can and the fasted hard drive. The process will work with any combination but it comes down to making sure you have a very fast connection to the external SSD otherwise it will be slow. So just use equipment you know can perform.

[@duciel.2461]

Just curious, is there any other external drives you’d recommend than the Lacie? Samsung or WD Blue perhaps?

[@craigneidel]

There are very few external drives that will work. It needs the Thunderbolt 1 connection in order to work otherwise there won't be enough throughput to the SSD drive. I think there is another external drive called a storagejet or something like that but there are very few Thunderbolt 1 external enclosures so this is really the only one to work with the 2011 iMac. If you have a newer iMac with Thunderbolt 2 or a faster USB port (faster than usb 2) then that is a different story and you have many choices.

[@cj27887]

I actually used the Samsung T5 SSD with USB 3.0 and it works great. I have the Late 2012 21-inch iMac, which supports USB 3.0. Not sure where the cut off is for model years that do not support 3.0 though

[@duciel.2461]

I decided to take a chance on the LaCie 3.0 (stfs4000800) and a adapter to convert the thunderbolt connection. Just couldn’t pass it up for the price. Will post how it works when I get a chance to connect it. Thanks a bunch for your sharing!

[@craigneidel]

@@duciel.2461 Thanks and let us know how it goes. Good luck.

[@tindikali]

what about the external drive you took off did u use it on another enclosure

[@craigneidel]

Yes its a spinning drive you can pop into any $15 enclosure and use for something like time machine. Thanks for watching.

[@konsta9536]

Great thanks !

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and the nice words.

[@scotplad]

Can you make a bootable external hard drive with catalina or higher to over ride an old mac book that has 10.7.7 ? I cant seem to get past the lock outs, can you show a strait install to a external that will boot up on my old mac book with Catalina or a higher os ??? thanks just could use some strait forward applications with out allways geting a flash stick.....

[@danielgarciea4410]

Thanks for the great video Craig! Would love to know if you think an NVME drive with case will even be faster on a late 2012 Imac. Thanks so much!

[@craigneidel]

Just remember to use the fasted port. you have to connect to the drive. On a 2012 I still think it is Thunderbolt but it would be hard to find an enclosure for cheap with Thunderbolt 2. You might want to use the USB ports on that model (2012) but would only get a max of about 500 MB/s. But, it would be much cheaper to find an external SSD on USB vs. Thunderbolt 2.

[@imranalferdous5450]

what about usb 3?

[@craigneidel]

On these 2011 iMacs they don't have USB 3. They actually have USB 1 and they are really slow. So the only option for having a really fast connection to the external drive for running the OS on the 2011's is the Thunderbolt connection. If you have a newer iMac then you might have a different connection that could work. Thanks for watching and please subscribe for more videos.

[@ElVecioGian]

Hi Craig, I've an IMAC21.5" - 2011 (IMac 12.1) and I like to use an external SSD to install MAC OS and boot from it but i'm not sure that my IMAC can boot from Thunderbolt; what do you think about ? It's mine the same model of your IMAC ? Thank you very much

[@craigneidel]

Does it have the same connection as the computer I used. If so it should work.

[@ronaldo19832]

Hi! I have a late 2014 27 inches iMac and wanting to do the same thing for my Mac. Given it’s now 2023 what components do you suggest to buy? Thank you FYI I have the 1TB hybrid fusion hdd in my Mac now.

[@craigneidel]

I have a few videos on doing this with my 2017 imac so look for those. I would just use the fastest USB port you have on the 2014 imac to connect the external enclosure to. Even USB 2 should do the tick. The 2011 only had Thunderbold and very slow USB so that is why we had to do all that with the enclosure to get it to work correctly.

[@janaksodha9582]

Thank you for the fey detailed systematic explanation. My current old iMac 2010 fans make a lot of noise. They are on always. If I boot from n external SSD, will that stop the fans spinning? I have tried the usual software hacks to control the fan speed with no success.

[@craigneidel]

I don't think it will unless you remove the internal SSD and boot from the external ssd. The internal SSD will still be usable and you can boot back into when you boot from an external so I don't think it will solve your issue.

[@Moshie71]

Great post, Thank you! I’ve watched few of these now and am slightly confused. I want to upgrade the storage on a late 2013 27” iMac (so I can boot externally). Some videos recommend using a SSD and an enclosure, while others just use a SSD (e.g. Sandisk or Samsung) is there a difference?

[@craigneidel]

Putting the SSD in the actual computer is better but also tricky as you need to open up the screen and know how to replace it etc. The external SSD is a way to do this without that but it is not as good as a direct connection into the motherboard. It's a trade off. Thanks for watching.

[@rkvt]

I am looking for one of the Lacie enclosures w thunderbolt 1 (for a late 2012 21" Imac) on Ebay. The descriptions all say Thunderbolt but not whether it's 1 or 2 or maybe 3? If I try a Crucial 2TB SSD (in its own enclosure) on one of the plain old USB ports, will I still see an improvement? The internal drive is a 1TB spinner and it's not bad but it slows down on some tasks and so I am looking to keep the machine running (great screen and camera/sound) Loved the video!

[@craigneidel]

Yes, if you have a 2012 then it should have a faster usb port than the 2011 had. The reason you had to use the Thunderbolt port on the 2011 is the usb ports were very slow. Of course using Thunderbolt in any situation will be faster than usb if you can find an enclosure like that since it is a faster connection to the enclosure. You need to make sure it's an SSD in the enclosure (not spinning drive) also since that is the other part that speeds everything up. Thanks.

[@rkvt]

@@craigneidel Thanks for the reply. I gave up on finding a La Cie enclosure and going that route. I used a Western Dig 2TB SSD external (really small thing -- just bigger than a credit card) which I'd bought to back up a PC hard drive and tried it via the USB on the Imac. It took me a bit to figure out how to clone as the format for the internal had 2 volumes. It worked out OK.... the speed (using black magic as a tester) is much faster on reads and writes. Boot up is quicker but it's the speed w which apps load. I think having a faster drive for caches also makes some of my apps run faster. The SSD doesn't appear to heat up and is, of course, silent. Thanks for the good video which was exceptionally clear on the process. The SSD speeds on blackmagic are in the low 400s but the internal spinner was about 35-40 so it was really lugging. Cheers.

[@lanazeligman]

Please help! I’ve been at this for hours. I’ve followed all of the steps but when I go to start-up disc to switch my boot drive, the SSD drive doesn’t even show up. What am I doing wrong?

[@bertvantol9669]

I just bought an iMac 27" 2011. The only operating system on it is Windows 11 22H2, because of my work. The bottleneck in this system is the Harddisk ... And after seeing your video, I'm highly interested in an external SSD - Thunderbolt 1, to run Windows 11 from. But searching the internet, I can't find an external Thunderbolt 1 SSD drive .... Another problem is that Windows 11 produces no sound out of iMacs speakers, while Linux does this job good !! Do you have some recomendations ??

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. On the 2012 or later it's easy because they have a faster USB port and you can use that for the external SSD instead of the thunderbolt port on the 2011. So that is the only one I tried it with. Sometimes they become available on Ebay etc. if you have access to that. I'll need to look into the sound since I didn't see that issue but I made this video a few years ago. Another option is that on the 2011s the screen can be removed easily using suction cups and you can just install an internal ssd. There are tutorials on this for sure.

[@apeel2008]

I have a late-2015 iMac 27” 5K model with a 2TB Fusion Drive. The SSD Part of the Fusion drive has failed, so I separated it (using terminal commands) from the HDD drive, and now I have an Internal 7200 RPM 2TB drive. How important is it for speed to have the user account on the SSD as well (which is the way you tested the speed after the upgrade). I have a very large User Account (>1.2TB) and so want to install the OS (Mojave) on an external SSD with just a single, minimal ‘admin’ account for occasional maintenance & troubleshooting purposes, but have my larger Main User account and User Library folder as well as with all my docs, pictures, videos, etc on the internal HDD 2TB drive. Would I see a significant speed boost as well, or will having the user account located on the HDD slow it all down. Perhaps an alternative would be to have the Main User Account with its Library folder on the SSD, but have aliases to the Documents, Pictures, Video folders, etc in the main user account pointing to the folders on the HDD. Would that provide better performance as well, but avoid having to have a huge SSD drive? I realize that this is an old KZbin video, and I just subscribed to your channel, so hopefully you are still out there monitoring these comments!

[@Mcsteveberry]

i subbed, you legend.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and supporting the channel.