Get a super fast iMac with the external Samsung X5 NVMe Thunderbolt 3 SSD without opening your iMac
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- If you are not happy with the performance of your iMac and you don't want to crack open your iMac, watch this video!
After installing the Samsung X5 as boot drive of my iMac boot times improved from 3 minutes to less than 30 seconds! Also applications perform much better.
In this video I explain to you step by step how you install the Samsung X5, how you install MacOS on it and how you configure it as a bootdrive. I will also show you the difference in performance between the original Fusion drive and the Samsung X5 using Disk Speed Test application of BlackMagicDesign
This video can also be used as a full tutorial on how to perform a clean MacOS installation on your iMac.
Alternative title : Samsung X5 SSD Fast and easy iMac HDD replacement
Chapters :
Introduction 00:11
The Samsung X5 product view : 00:50
Disk Speed test 1TB Fusion drive : 01:22
Background : 02:04
Installation of the Samsung X5 (done in 10 seconds :-) ): 02:53
Installing MacOS Big Sur on the Samsung X5 from the macOS Recovery-systeem : 03:06
Restart of the iMac booting from the Samsung X5 : 08:04
Disk Speed test Samsung X5 : 09:07
Links to buy the Samsung X5:
The Netherlands : tweakers.net/p...
I bought it at iBood but it was a one day offer so not available anymore : www.ibood.com/
I have an Apple iMac model Retina 5K 27-inch of 2017 with a 1TB fusion drive. With the upgrade to BigSur the performance of the iMac became really disappointing. For example booting the iMac took about 3 minutes and applications where very slow.
Looking for a way to improve the performance of the iMac I found different video's on how to open the iMac and replace the fusion drive (the HDD part) with an SSD drive. Opening the iMac and replacing the drive doesn't even look that complicated. But still there is a risk!
Also you will loose your (Apple) Warranty when opening the iMac yourself.
I didn't want to take the risk. Also when you choose to use good tools and good equipement to replace your internal drive yourself it will not be much cheaper than the option that I present to you here with the Samsung X5 NVMe SSD external Thunderbolt 3 drive.
Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) allows for connection speeds up to 40Gbps (5 GB/s) which is more than enough to support the transfer speeds of the fast NVMe drives. You can choose to built an External NVMe Thunderbolt 3 drive yourself. Or you can do what I did and buy the Samsung X5 which is the fastest external drive at this moment.
Links:
BlackMagicDesign Disk Speed Test :
www.blackmagic...
apps.apple.com...
Want to use an USB-C drive as boot drive (not as fast as Thunderbolt 3)?
• Build Fastest External...
Still want to replace your internal drive including the NVMe?
• iMac 5k 27'' internal ...
![How To Fix Slow iMac 2012-2020 External SSD [Updated Guide]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IB0SUcCAMig/mqdefault.jpg)
![How To Fix Slow iMac 2012-2020 External SSD [Updated Guide]](/img/tr.png)
I used the walkthrough for the 2nd time since the latest update 13.5.1 crashed , and again all went super smoothly. Thanks
Thanks for this video. I have a 2017 iMac fusion drive mac. After Monterey, the computer became much slower. With your help, I’ve been able to boot from an SSD. My iMac now runs like the first day I bought it. I’m hoping to get to upgrade to a new machine in a couple of years. Now my “new” Mac 1TB drive boots in 13 seconds!
Instead of using the internal drive as a data/scratch drive, use it as a backup OS drive. If/when something happens to the external Mac OS drive, you'll have a temporary operational OS.
As below excellent walk-through of all the steps! Great Job figuring it out how to do it as well! Boy you have to be careful it doesn't dislodge while it's running. Safe and wonderful journeys!
Thanks a lot! Worked like a charm) Also great voice and music - really good tutorial!
This tutorial is amazing and you are really good at teaching !! great job sir !
Excellent video !!! Thank you for the clarity and timing concerns when doing this, very helpful! Look forward to more videos!
Thank you.
Great video, and it worked out perfectly. Feels like my iMac is new, super fast!
My 2014 Macbook Pro is running out of memory. As much as I don't like having the Samsung SSD hanging off the side, I have no choice other than buy another Macbook Pro. My laptop may have to become a desktop. Thanks for your video!
Thanks for a good recommendation! Think I'll go for the same solution
Very helpful! Thank you!!!
thank you!!! video liked and u got a well deserved
Great video, clear and precise! Thanks a lot! 👏
Nicely done and explained
I subscribed 👍👍
Worked very fast
Thanks!
great video... I have a 2017 27" imac with
Thank you so much for this video! Great content and easy to follow😁 God bless
Thank you!
Excellent . Thank you .
Thank you...most helpful.
Thanks for the video, but why the fresh install of MacOS? Why not use Disk Utility to clone the internal drive to the external one?
Did you find an answer?
@@VanLuciMoret No, I just went ahead and got a 500GB Samsung X5 and cloned the drive, and it worked fine, even when cloning from the internal 1TB fusion drive (because it was only 20% in use). I had to guess which volume to clone, as the iMac has a fusion drive and Disk Utility can display it in its different parts. As I started cloning, it took a lot of time which led me to believe I'd picked the right volume. Everything worked like a charm, it booted and I erased the internal fusion drive (it now serves as a Time Machine drive). As seen in this video, there is a huge speed boost as compared to the internal drive. This entry-level 21" iMac 4K 2017 Core i5-3.4GHz and 8 GB RAM ran fine when it was new and had Sierra installed, but runs super slow when upgraded to newer OS'es like Monterey. I guess not a lot of it fits into its 32GB SSD part of the fusion drive. It runs a Windows machine in Parallels Desktop, and that made it unbelievably slow, slower than any Mac I've ever seen. All because of the mechanical drive. I guess 2022 era software isn't made for mechanical drives anymore. With this upgrade, it's much faster, I don't think the 8 GB RAM was ever the bottleneck, the mechanical drive was. I now almost feel confident to update to Ventura in the fall. It does ditch support for Macs with 4 GB RAM, so I can assume it consumes more memory. I'll do some before and after testing on a different machine to see if the OS takes up more free RAM or not.
great video! thank you
i have a late 2012 27 and it boots up quite fast. i wonder why it is pretty fast.
Great video, thanks for explaining. What if I would unplug external ssd and switch iMac on? It would boot from its internal drive? Tia
Is there a way to buy just the enclosure ... I already have a few spare 500GB SSDs?
Hi Dutch Travel Couple, i am using samsung x5 as boot drive for my iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019). But it takes ages to boot up. What's the remedy ?
Just did this, as well as adding WAY more RAM than Apple said would work on my iMac. Wow! How can I get rid of the O/S on my internal drive or should I keep it, just in case?
Too bad my 2013 imac has thunderbolt 1. The choices are rather limited today.
Why would you want to skip migration assistant? That's how you transfer your stuff over to the new drive.
I have no data installed locally. Applications are very easy to install again. Plus you are sure you get a fresh install.
Hi adm, my imac late 2009 seems does not have thunderbolt 3 connection. So, how do I your way? Thanks a lot.
Great but the 1tb is very expensive, its cheaper to get a nvme thunderbolt case and nvme separate at the moment it's a £300 difference
I've used the 500GB version. See description for recent prices in the Netherlands : tweakers.net/pricewatch/1237141/samsung-x5-500gb-zwart.html
At this moment you can buy the 500GB version for 190 euro's
@@dutchtravelcouple Yes but you can buy a thunderbolt enclosure for £85-£95 and a 1tb nvme for between £100-£120.
The Samsung x5 1tb was £500 here in the UK.
So this is a fresh install of Big Sur, why not clone the fusion drive to the SSD??
Did you find an answer?
not a solution for older iMacs with usb 2.0 and Thunderbolt 2.0 ports. USB 2.0 limit speed below 480 Mbps and no easy way to connect SSD to Thunderbolt 2 port.
Hello, thnx for the video.
Is it possible to connect the Samsung X5 to an iPhone 13 Pro Max and play (all) music files types directly from the SSD without importing forst the music files into the iPhone?
Thnx for your answer.
I don't have any experience with this. You can find multiple video's on RUclips explaining how you can connect an external drive to your iPhone. I hope these can help.
Would this work for a late 2009 iMac?
My 2015 iMac only has Thunderbolt 2. I've looked all around to try to find an enclosure that would work for that, and there are no Thunderbolt 2 boxes or drives I can find for anything like this reasonable price.
You can have a look at the OWC Envoy Express : www.owcdigital.com/products/envoy-express. But you need a TB3 to TB2 adapter for this.
Maybe USB 3.0 enclosures are also an option for you, but also for USB 3.0 you need an adapter I believe on your 2015 iMac.
Hello mate need your help, I’ve not been given the 3rd option on my x5 ssd !! Guid partian
Ten minutes of video to say, simply, buy a box and plug it into your computer.
Well done. Tell me if the system updates work on this external drive?
Apple updates work just fine. I had no problems with it. I'm now running macOS Monterey.
As I understand you only run OS on the SSD and not the applications like Adobe CC, Mail, Numbers, pages and keynote for example.
I also have this question.
Todo se ejecuta en el ssd.
I also run the applications on the SSD. But I put the big files that take a lot of data, like photos and videos on a different drive.
Can we use this in a thunderbolt 2 system ?
Can i install big sur on my imac 2013 late?
Hi Sir.
If i have used external ssd to macos. Then what i can do old internal hard disk. its given any problem after every restart OR can i select every time external ssd for boot or it automatically boot new external ssd. Kindly please advice sir.
Hi, when booting the iMac keep the key pressed untill you see the startupmanager screen. In this screen you can choose which drive you want to use to boot. You can choose your internal drive and the Imac will boot from your internal drive.
support.apple.com/en-us/102603
Thank you Sir.@@dutchtravelcouple
My question for you is this...even if I upgrade my hard drive in this way - will I be able to upgrade my iOS to the current one, or, does Apple still recognize this as a 2013 computer and therefor prevents me from upgrading to the most recent OS (Monterey)? I understand that what I have will be faster (and a welcome outcome), but, the some of my software programs are warning me that I will need to upgrade to Monterey or I won't be able to use their newest program (Turbo Tax by Intuit). Thank you for your time in responding.
The SSD will not change the iOS compatibility. So if your iMac does not support the latest iOS it will still not support it when you install the SSD.
@@dutchtravelcouple Thank you - you have saved me a bunch of time and money. My tax preparation software is updated yearly and requires (usually) the latest iOS...and that's the major reason I use that particular 2013 computer. Appreciate your getting back to me!
Hi, thanks for the video. Did you have any problems with the drive self disconnecting when the computer goes to sleep? Thank you!
Hi Joao, thanks for your response. No, I have not have any problems with the drive when the iMac goes to sleep.
did you do APFS or mas os extended journaled?
Hi, great video! What drive would you suggest for iMac 2011 with Thunderbolt 2 port only?
Hi Q Sam, please see my answer to justgivemethetruth. I think you need a TB3 to TB2 adapter.
Yikes! I’ve gotten to the point of reinstalling Monterey, screen went dark, moved mouse to see how much longer I had. It went from 2 hours to 7 hours! 2017 fusion drive iMac. Has anyone else experienced this?
So if I do this, when I install applications like Microsoft Office and Photoshop, would I install on my internal HDD or the SSD? Also, for documents and music files, which drive would be best to install? Thanks!
I would install the programs/applications on your fastest drive (SSD) and the data (documents, music, etc) on the internal HDD.
Did you dd if’s to run PS from the external SSD? How is running Photoshop from SSD going?
Is it not possible to replace a internal drive on this machine?
Yes it is. See description : ruclips.net/video/PpXl529RFBg/видео.html
Excellent video, thanks. I have also just bought A Samsung X5 500Gb drive with the intention of putting Bootcamp on it. I have tried using Vm Fusion but cannot find any reference to the X5 in VM Fusion settings for connecting the virtual machine. Have you considered this? If you can make any suggestions I would be very grateful. Thanks again.
I'm on the same boat. If anyone has workaround, I'd really appreciate it
DoNt buy Samsung X5! It’s overpriced for the speed you get out of it. Buy WD black SN750 NVMe m2. And put it in a thunderbolt 3 case. It will give you better speed for much lesser price.
I believe Boot Camp can be run on internal drives only. But I read that before the NVMe era, things may have changed since.
Thanks for this video! I'm trying to do this with my Mac Mini but I'm blocked in the step of choosing the SSD to install the SO (Monterey) because it shows the error "com.apple.buildinfo.preflight.error 10" and I have no clue what it is about. Google didn't help me either. Do you know how to solve it? Thanks in advance
Hi Pablo, I can't help you with this. Maybe you can check some Apple forums.
Hi is it compatible with iMac 2013 27 inch I am not sure if iMac 2013 has thunderbolts 3 ports
Your iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt 3 ports, see support.apple.com/en-ie/HT201736.
So you can't connect the Samsung X5
how to do this and still keep all the data on your Fusion Drive?
The procedure explained in this video will keep the data on your Fusion drive available.
yeah but you show a fresh new OS in the video and im looking to do the exact same but to continue using my iMac as if I have never changed it when in fact I have and its faster with all my data@@dutchtravelcouple
These are showing up on Amazon (USA) at almost $1000 if you include tax. It sounded like you said you got yours for fifty-something Euros?
I could buy a new iMac with a little more?
I've used the 500GB version. See description for recent prices in the Netherlands : tweakers.net/pricewatch/1237141/samsung-x5-500gb-zwart.html
At this moment you can buy the 500GB version for 190 euro's. I assume you can get these in the US for similar prices. Else it might be an option for you to buy it in the Netherlands and let it send to the US.
Thanks for the video!!! It helps and I would like to ask for your valuable and professional feedback before I invest in my iMac
I have a 2017 iMac version bought in early 2019. Normally it is good though I’m using iMovie for video editing. Smooth
However I recently start live streaming mobile games and it becomes slower and lag on screen. What would you recommend me to upgrade it with external improvement (I’m an IT idiot and hell no idea to improve inside)
Thank you very much and indeed for your previous time and consideration to reply me :):):)
My IMac version is Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017
I can't tell you if this will have impact on your games. This can be related to all kind of things (processor, memory, internet speed). I can only tell you that the SSD will improve your booting time.
@@dutchtravelcouple thanks a lot
hi will this work on my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)
Your 2014 Imac only has Thunderbolt 2 ports. The Samsung X5 is Thunderbolt 3, so you can't use the Samsung X5 on your iMac 2014.
Been in this setup (X5 + iMac 27" 2019) for 1 year.. but suddenly the boot time became so slow right now.. almost 3 minutes.. tried unplugging and plugging again the disk.. any solutions you know please?
Hi Oliver; Thanks for your response. I do experience a longer boot time after installing macOS Monterey. Maybe a clean install will makes things better, but I didn`t tried this yet.
@@dutchtravelcouple wow! You just gave me the idea.. I think mine happened after Monterey as well but never thought of it. Let me know when clean install fixes it if you do first
Having failed to setup Bootcamp on my X5 (500Gb) I thought I would follow your example and setup the X5 to boot straight in to Mac os. However, my internal drive is currently using about 560Gb of 1Tb for my Mac os files. Can I migrate most but not all of the apps and files to the X5 and still have the rest accessible on the internal drive? If so, then I could setup Bootcamp with about 400Gb on the internal drive. I look forward to your advice. Thanks. Jim
Hi Jim,
I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Bootcamp on a Mac, so I can't tell you if you can access your Bootcamp (Windows) files on the original drive if you boot from the X5 with MacOS.
What I can say. You can leave your internal drive for what it is and use the Samsung X5 as a MacOS boot drive as I explain in the video. Nothing on the internal drive will be lost with this procedure and you can still boot from it even with the Samsung X5 installed as a boot drive (just press during start-up and select the internal drive for boot).
So, you can test yourself if you can access the Bootcamp files on the internal drive when booting from the X5 without a risk (just make sure to select the Samsung X5 when installing MacOS :-) ).
I hope this helps!
Did you enable TRIM?
Hi Jonathan, I didn't know about this untill I read your message. I have enabled TRIM with the Terminal command "sudo trimforce enable" and until now it works fine 👌
Yeah, that's easy with a thunderbolt, but what about an 2009 iMac with no thunderbolt, with only USB 2.0 and Firewire 800?
Take it apart and install ssd internal. That’s the best solution
Overheating?
That thing is $800!! Yikes. You could practically buy another used iMac for that or get the upgrade before you buy for less.
My dell pc doesn’t resemble this pc at all
We have no experience with a Dell/ windows. This movie is about an Apple iMac with MacOs with external Samsung Thunderbolt.
So, if you haven’t got another Apple device for verification, you’re fucked, right?
Sorry Vincent, I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. I use another Apple device to verify my Apple account. I don't know how you can verify your Apple account when you only have one Apple device. I'm sure you can find the answer to your question on the internet.
Why do you show a fake picture of earth in this video?
It is (was) part of the intro of Dutch Travel Couple.
Your accent makes it hard to follow.
Really helpful thank you!