Easily add an SSD to ANY iMac 2012-2019 model
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2024
- With it's all in one design, iMacs are a pain to upgrade, you can't even upgrade the ram easily on the 21.5" model and until the new 2020 models, most of them shipped with slow spinning hard drives that only get slower over time. In this How to video I show you how I super easily added an SSD to my Family Computer 2012 iMac which had a startup time of 3 minutes!
Products shown:
Kingston 240GB SSD: www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-SA4...
UGREEN USB C Hard Drive Enclosure: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
(note that comes with a USB C to USB C cable and in this video I used a USB C to USB A cable, you can find similar enclosures including from UGREEN that comes with that cable so you don't need to purchase it separately)
Subscribe to my RUclips channel for more Tech content: / @imleeloi
Follow me on twitter: / leeloichieng
Chapter times:
Introduction 00:00
HDD Startup times 00:38
Solution 01:11
Step 1: Format the SSD 02:45
Step 2: Internet Recovery 03:35
Step 3: Setup macOS 05:25
SSD Startup times and Results 05:40
Conclusion 07:05
Gear used:
Sony A7sII
Tamron 24-70 F2.8 Lens
Viltrox VX-18M Tripod
THIS VIDEO REVIEW IS INDEPENDENT AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY SPONSORSHIP OR PRODUCT PLACEMENT. 
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Nailed it, homie. Couple years after you post this, and it's still relevant. Thanks!
Yay! Delighted to hear.
Thank you so very, very much. My husband would have a fit every time he tried to work on our iMac...to pay a bill or check something, etc. Ugh. It was so very frustrating. You literally saved us so much time, money, and headaches! Installed the new SSD external drive and followed your directions. What a changed world it is to use that machine now! Oh, my. You are such a Godsend. Thanks, again! Cheers from across the pond! Slainte!
Yay! So happy this helped and made your computing experience much easier!
Thank you so much! I bought a 2019 Mac right before they updated them. It’s been super slow and super frustrating. I was getting ready to either buy a mini Mac or replace the hard drive with a ssd internally. This was so much easier. You’re the best!
Congratulations Becca! I'm so glad this helped you. Main thing is your iMac is fast now. :)
DEAR LORD, i did not think this would be so hard to find. Thank you so much for this video. Exactly what i was looking for, simple and to the point. YAY! NEW SSD FOR MY MAC MINI 2014!!! :-)
Glad I could help!
THANK YOU for the fantastic tutorial and explanation to understand why so many iMacs have a problem with speed. I’ve been suffering with my annoyingly slow iMac desktop for the 3 years-ever since I bought it-and even tried to get professional help. Lately it’s become so slow, with the constant spinning wheel, I couldn’t stand it anymore and turned to RUclips for help. What a great solution-thanks again for your video. 💯
K! I'm so happy this has helped you!
Great idea if you don't want to open the computer, which is very tricky and requires patience and a steady hand. You can save some time by going into recovery mode (Option R), then perform a "restore" to the USB drive. This will "clone" the old HD to the new one, saving you the time of backing up, and then re-loading a fresh copy of the OS (which is actually unnecessary). Then you can use the option key to set the default boot device to the newly cloned external HD. I've just been through this, and it works. I went one step further: I removed the screen and properly installed the newly cloned SSD drive inside the enclosure. A word to the wise if you attempt this: don't use a metal knife to cut the glue on the monitor, I have wrecked two monitors in my experimentation. Use a plastic bladed "pizza cutter" to cut the glue strips. You can buy this tool on Amazon, and it comes with the tape to glue the monitor back on. Cheers!
I believe the keyboard sequence is COMMAND R for recovery.
@@petelc559 I stand corrected!
@@timallix4407 I tried both and the working one is COMMAND+R
Wow what a difference!!!!! Thank you so much I had a spare SSD and now my 8 year old MAC works again like new.
I'm so glad it worked for you. For best compatibility make sure you format the SSD as Mac OS Extended Journaled and not AFPS
Thanks for this video. In agreement with everyone else, my 2017 iMac 5k feels like a brand new machine now after adding a 1Tb SSD.
Great to hear! Glad this worked for you and your getting those performance boosts.
I have the same iMac and it’s super slow. Once you moved the os to the external ssd was the data on the fusion drone still intact? Do the apps also get transferred or they remain on the Fusion Drive? Thanks
Awesome. Saved me a lot of money and the torture my iMac would have undergone to install an internal SSD. And you explained it very nicely buddy 👍🏻❤️
Yeah I’m glad it worked for you! :) Thanks for supporting the channel.
Hi Again. Looks like I celebrated a little too early :P
My iMac (late Dec 2013) is stuck on the globe screen showing 0:01 as the remaining time... Been a couple hours.. Is it okay to force reboot the Mac or will it damage the OS on my hard drive?
Please advise :)
@@simplysarab13 Hi Sarabjit Singh! That means it's having trouble downloading macOS off the internet. If you force reboot you will be ok as this how to guide never touches your old install.
If it's having trouble downloading and you have a spare USB key lying around feel free to download Mac OS Big Sur ISO to the memory stick and install offline. :)
@@ImLeeLoi Thank you. Was able to reboot. Will try it again tomorrow. Thanks again :)
@@simplysarab13 Dos1Dude has a patcher that allows you to install MacOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs but his tool is actually a very good way of putting Mac OS Big Sur on to a USB Thumb Drive so that's something you can try. :)
Oh man, this is huge advice and tutorial from you for us, thousands thanks for it, now my iMac 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 is rapidly speeded up using LaCie 1TB mobile SSD. It is a vast difference than before, quite easy to understand what you have done step by step. Again huge thanks, bro 😎👊
Glad to hear it helped!
I can’t thank you enough for this. I thought my iMac was dying until I tried this, feels like a brand new computer. THANKS!!!!
Juan! I am so so happy this works for you!
This was just what I was looking for. Solved my problem and saved me a £200 repair. You sir are a legend.
Glad it helped you Gareth! :)
see Mint Above
Thanks for the tutorial video.
Very easy, right to the point and well explained.
Cheers.
I'm glad this helped you Isabela! :)
Nice Thanks a lot, This is going to save me like $600 on my two 2013 imacs!
Incredible savings! I’m glad you found this useful! 💸💸💸
This is a great solution for an older iMac I have at the office that I'm not willing to crack open and go through the internal SSD upgrade. Thank you!
Glad it helped ! :)
Hello there! Thank you for this great video! I have one question, in terms of speed/performance is there a difference between using an external portable SSD vs opening the computer and installing an internal SSD? I would like to avoid the latter solution for a number of reasons. Moreover, my computer (late 2015 imac 27 retina) does not support PCI type internal SSD (only SATA-at least so I have been told) so my options are either an external USB 3.0 SSD or an internal SATA connection SSD. Thank you in advance!
I think there would be minor speed increases by using it internally but you can read the other comments down below a lot of people are very happy with their external SSD. Why go through all that effort!
@@ImLeeLoi thank you for your reply! actually I was planning to give it to a third party certified repair shop, they charge 270 euros in total for the work and SSD. I would never attempt to do something like that on my own! My biggest worry is of psychological nature I would say, running the whole computer from a tiny little stick hanging outside the computer feels a bit bizarre lol. However I may consider this option and if I am not happy I might as well keep the external SSD and go for the upgrade later on. Thanks again for your time!
@@garyfalosparisis9039 as I said: VELCRO!!
Thanks for this video. I bought a renewed Best Buy 2019 21.5 4K . 1TB HDD. It was a good price. I thought I was going to have to open the whole computer, remove the screen panel, and all until I saw this alternative of installing an external ssd instead. . Thanks for sharing. You saved me the hassle 👍
Glad this worked for you Freddy, enjoy the new iMac!
You quite an adept and knowledgable Apple and Tech individual. Great job!
Thank you!
I just found your video and added a Samsung T7 with 2TB of memory on my late 2012 iMac. Absolutely amazing improvement. Thank you!
Glad this helped.
Hi, was this the sdd portablenor you got an the case?
Your the best!!!! I was going to open heart surgery on my iMac 2012 to upgrade the ram. You save my life!!!
This doesn't help ram but you are very welcome!
Thank you so much for this video. My late 2015 was extremely slow for few years now. We completely wiped it out and the speed only improved by a little. I followed all the steps in this video, didn’t transfer anything since I still have access to the original HD, I copied and pasted whatever files I needed to my external ssd.
I am using San Disk Extreme Portable SSD 1tb.
That's exactly what I recommend. Copy stuff over as needed and keep your new fast drive fresh. :)
I just used this method to upgrade my late 2015 imac 21.5" with a 1TB fusion drive; I added an external 1TB Samsung T7 SSD, for $99 ; it took me better part of a day -- I restored from a Timce Machine backup -- but also upgraded to Monterey from Big Sur. Took some tweaking but now it runs SO fast... take a couple of minutes to boot up (it is new software on an old machine) but once it's booted it is running incredibly fast. Thank you, Lee Loi-Chang for this, you probably saved me $1000!!! Very simple and easy.
Ed! I am SOO happy to hear this. That is SOO much money right - have a holiday for that!
Was going to fork out £250 on ebay for a new imac but only spent £35 after seeing. It's like I have a new computer!
I can go back to making house music without lagging issues.
Massive respects bruv 🙏
Thank you! I used a sandisk extreme on a late 2015 Imac and runs much faster than when i got it brand new! Is like having a new computer! Thanks so much!
Glad I could help! Glad it brought some life back to your iMac!!
Great tutorial! Very well explained, patient and detailed! Thanks!
Thank you! I was able 2 take a computer I hated since purchased in 2017 and turned it into a very usable machine in 2 hours!
Oh fantastic! I love to hear it.
Thank you, Lee-Loi! You are a life saver, and a slow AF 2013 iMac saver!
I would say it should run warm, not incredibly hot that it burns to touch. But they should be well built.
Excellent video, thanks a lot. I did this a year ago with a SanDisk v1 that was formatted with APFS and it was a great improvement once it loaded the O/S - loading the O/S however took ages (+10 mins!!). I now followed this manual with a SanDisk v2 device and formatted with Mac OS Extended / Journaled as suggested and it really rocks!! Far less than a minute for booting and even a bit faster whilst using the machine.
Delighted to hear it's working much better than APFS. :)
Thanks a bunch! I followed the instructions and this old IMac feels like completely different computer now.
I am so glad this helped you Miller! Quite the difference right
Thank you for this, I was having a problem installing Mac OS to an external hard drive when dowloading it from the App Store, this worked perfectly and saved a lot of headaches.
I'm glad this helped you! :)
Best vid I've seen so far regarding this method. Mainly because I want to do a fresh install and not clone the old HDD like most other vids show but well explained as well.
Hope this helps! :)
Thank you!!! I’m going to be trying this method. I’ve been scrolling for a video for hours and yours was by far the best and most clear. Cheers mate 🙏
Thanks bud , works a treat on my old 2014 Mac mini .
Glad this worked for you and on a Mac Mini too!!!
Thanks so much for this I Just scored a 2017 iMac for $150 this video is soooooo helpful.
wow. great video. 2017 21.5in iMac that I thought was broken bc of how slow it was. I've contacted Apple numerous times to discuss how slow start up was and they finally recommended me to a local Mac repair company to upgrade the RAM and/or SSD. Thankfully I found your video bc I was quoted over $400 USD just to replace the HDD with an SSD. I will definitely try this first to see if it works for me. Thanks!
I can only recommend what I've used. I'm sure new drives came out. 400USD isn't actually that bad depending on how big the SSD is if it's like 1TB or something I'd probably pay that but yeah if it's like 240GB or something definitely go the external route.
SanDisk or SanDisk Pro or Samsung are great bets. :)
@@ImLeeLoi Thank you. Will start with the external. The internal was 1TB but I'll start with the Samsung T7 to save more than half. If down the road I decide to have them do the internal SSD, then I'll format the external and give it to my kids for their PlayStation so it wont go to waste. Thanks again!
@@RMatSLU79 Oh brilliant idea! Yeah the T7 is the new one right? I think the T5 or T7 would be perfect. Glad I can help. :)
Thanks! Worked perfectly on my late 2012
Glad to hear it!
This is amazing, thank you so much!! you have saved me open the imac!
Absolutely! Delighted this helped you! :)
Exellent video was thinking of buying a refurbished iMac 2015, I was unsure because of the year it was produced, but getting an external hard drive so somebody like myself who is not the most tech savvy is very easy well done 👏 thanks.
Late replying but I hope it worked out for you.
Thank you for posting this video! Very helpful
This little manoeuvre just saved me 750 bux, I can't believe it. It costs 900 to upgrade to an internal SSD. Thanks for this
LOL!!!!! Buy a new computer at that point haha
Hey thanks a lot, great video, and very good explanation on how to do things!
Glad this helped you Greg!!
Great video and just finished the installation.
Glad to hear it!
I was willing to upen up and probably completely destroy it in the process of changing the HDD to SSD. But doing it loke this is so much easier. Thanks a lot man, now my girlfriend is gonna understand the difference between Macs and Pcs when she sees the speed
Hey Andre, definitely don't open it up! I hope this works well for you. Enjoy! :)
Very informative Lee.
Thanks for sharing this helpful video.
Very welcome
This video just saved my iMac from a Vertical Suplex. It’s unrecognizably fast now. Thank you so much! ^_^
Glad to hear it! :)
So I went the long PITA (pain in the ...) way of disassembling the whole machine to replace the 1TB HD with a 1TB SSD. While I was in there I upgraded the ram.
This is a much much simpler upgrade and something I will keep in my mental toolkit. Great video.
Glad it worked!
Thank you, this actually worked for me!
So glad this worked out!
Great vid fella - neat and very cost-effective solution to add an external SSD 🙂
Amazing video. Im gonna switch my 2015 iMac to a SSD this weekend.
Late to reply but hope it worked out!
Just set up a Samsung T7 on my late 2012 iMac and Whoa!! What a difference. Night and day!
Delighted to have helped!
Thanks dude, this is a great video.
Glad this helped!
Wow. Great news!!!!!! Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much this is a great tutorial
Thanks u so much. Did exactly as u suggested and works brilliantly! Cheers!👍🏻
Glad it helped! :)
Nice option, thanks for sharing.
Glad this helped you! :)
Hi Lee-Loi, I recently discovered your channel searching for videos about the possible purchase of the old but very reliable Canon 600D camera, as I am finally ready to turn my curiosity about photography into something tangible. I am also considering switching from my 2013 ASUS Windows 8 laptop to a newer model and I'm interested in a Mac because people have been raving for years that it's so much more stable than Windows :-) ..... I've watched a few of your videos and what strikes me is your kind demeanor, your charisma and your knowledge of all the products you display. Just wanted to let you know and of course I immediately hit that Subscribe button. Keep up the great work.
Wow, Harry! Sorry I'm late responding but that is such a sweet comment! Thank you very much. :)
@@ImLeeLoi you're very welcome ☺
this was really helpfull!! I din't want to break my imac attempting to remove the screen
Yep!
I did it! I think the computer gods were looking out for me because at a certain point (Install) I felt like I was jumping off of a cliff. I did call Apple Tech Support to verify I was using the SSD as my start drive. Everything is good. Enjoying the speed. If I can do it, anyone can! Thank you so much.
Excellent explanation, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
2023. Thank you for this incredible video. Easy to follow instructions
. Peace
Glad this helped you Nelson! :)
great video...Help me out a lot I have a 2014 iMac 5k retina display 32gb ram with a slow HD now with the SSD much more faster!!!!!
Thanks for the video
I am so happy to hear this! Best of luck with the "new" iMac!!
This was informative thank you
Glad this helped
Jonathan Bailey
0 seconds ago
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.
E-Waste is such a big issue, I'm glad this helped you!
Wow Amazing content!!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for supporting the channel
Thank you! Great video!
Glad you liked it!
Really helpful. Thank you
Glad this worked for you Matthew!!
Great info .. thank u ✅
Thank you. Just save my day.
Glad it helped!
Please make a video on How To Use The 21.5 as a dual monitor.
I followed this tutorial year's ago and it was extremely help, Thank You!
I would LOVE to do this, but it's not really possible. If you search on RUclips Luke Miani, he has a video on doing it with a 5k imac. Not cheap.
Oh yeah. I’m going to send it for ssd replacement but now no need. Tks my friend so much.
Glad I could help
Thank you, It worked really well :)
Glad this helped you!
@@ImLeeLoi It helped a looot ! You were fantastic here ❤
I’m going to be doing this to my early 2014 Mac this week. Right now it’s got a 1tb HDD but it runs so slow. I can’t wait for a performance boost a cheaper fix than having to pay extortionate prices for a Mac upgrade which isn’t affordable right now
Good luck with the upgrade. Again make sure the new drive is Mac OS Extended Journaled and NOT AFPS.
Fabulous! Thanks.
🎉
great video thanx
Thank god for this. Now I don't have to open up my imac and reseal it =D Thanks
Glad this worked for you! :)
Thanks for the video, the hard drive in our 2012 iMac failed and the repair company tried to charge us $600 to replace it with an SSD!
The price of a weekend holiday!
Awesome video!
Glad you enjoyed it
I did this to my 2015 iMac with a 1 TB Crucial SSD USB 3.0 external. It speeded it up VERY FAST!!
Delighted this worked! :)
Great video. I purchased a Samsung T5 500Gb external SSD. I used carbon copy to clone the HDD. It worked great for about 2 months and then started restarting without warning. I had to go back to the slow internal HDD again. So I’m thinking to just take the plunge and open her up.
Oh no! Have you considered doing a fresh install on the T5 to see if that stops that. I'm not a big fan of cloning mechanical hard drives to SSDs.
Amazing, thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Fantastic!!! I've been battling with my late 2015 iMac 27" since Covid hit - I love the machine but it was starting to lag in every way! In fact I couldn't even upgrade to Big Sur due to the disk configuration that's in my Mac. Grabbed the 500 gB SSD from SanDisk & it's as you say - a new Mac that will buy me a couple more years for $70! Thank you!!! Waiting for 27" iMac w/ the M1 - fingers crossed if they go bigger than 24"
Awesome job Roger! We had questions in the comments below about if it worked for Big Sur, thanks for confirming it worked for you too!
@@ImLeeLoi Start up isn't screaming fast, approx 1.1/2 - 2 mins but once I'm up the response time of the machine is excellent. I had Photoshop, Bridge, Premier MacMail all running at the same time - no issues.
@@RogerZacharias Glad that's improved. Strange your boot time didn't get much faster, did you restore from backup or start fresh? If you restored from backup expect longer boot times as you carried over the system's past baggage which I've observed from some others who did this. If you did a fresh install, I'm genuinely confused why your boot time is long, I think some people who use the AFPS file format might be slower as that's for more internal drives than this method. In the video I kept it as "Mac OS Extended Journaled"
Anyway I'm glad the main thing is when your using the Computer it's much faster!!
@@ImLeeLoi I did restore from backup...so that makes total sense! I may do a clean install if things get 'clunky'. I did use 'Mac OS Extended Journaled' I selected restore from back up for no other reason than routine so that's my misstep.
@@ImLeeLoi have the same problem here. Boot time didn’t improve. Maybe since I used the sandisk 520mb?
awesome video.. good job. :)
10000 it worked on a mac mini 2012, thanks!!!!!
Ah yes! Congratulations.
When I download on my 2013 with 1tb SSD it gives me a failed to upload while waiting there for 40 minutes then its gave me the message This video is so relevant even now in 2024 but I am still trying and will have to see how someone else does it. Thanks so much
Your video is so interesting to me. I have an iMac 27" that I love. Your step by step video on adding an external SSD as StartUp Disk was very encouraging! Is there any new information you can offer since your August 2020 video. Should the SSD be formatted as APFS versus Extended? Many thanks.
No, please only use Mac OS EXTENDED JOURNALED. APFS is better for SSD's if their inside the iMac - there's something about that doesn't play nice with external USB.
This is amazing
Glad this helped you Jingo!
Pure brilliance. Who would have thought that you could use an external hard drive. I guess "Easily add an SSD to ANY iMac" is much catchier than "how to plug in a usb external hard drive to a usb port". LMAO!
A win is a win!
Thank you very much 🙌🏻
Glad this helped!
Hey Lee-Loi, thank God I found this video! Been searching for a solution since last year. I just bought the Sandisk Extreme Pro 1TB and followed your tutorial - my iMac feels like a new M1 Mac computer. lol. Since I totally erased my hard drive prior to the installation of OS in SSD, I'm wondering what's the use of my 1TB HDD? I can see it using disk utility but not in finder. Thank you so much!
It's still there! In finder preferences make sure you tick to show all hard drives on the desktop and in the side bar.
Thank you thank you more than twice
YOU ARE WELCOME!!! :)
You make it sound easy, well done, a few more views and I will probably have a go at it. mines a 2017 iMac with 1T fusion drive 24gb ram
It is pretty Easy! Best of luck with the upgrade.
I had some issues with formatting the new drive to take the apple partitions, I kept trying and eventually came to a format option which allowed quad ?? After an hour and a half the new ssd boot drive is working with a clean new install big sur
@@alanplatt888 Yay! You got it working at the end! Hopefully you notice the performance boost, congratulations.
@@ImLeeLoi it’s pretty rapid now. Very cost effective iMac upgrade. 1t Samsung portable boot drive plus 40gb ram. I’m very happy. Thanks.
@@alanplatt888 I just upgraded to external Samsung T7 last night and I couldnt be happier. Like you, I did have a little hiccup on the Apple partitions and all I was missing was a little arrow to expand the SSD to erase the correct Drive. My Mac is finally as fast as I always expected a Mac to be even without the extra RAM. Still only using the 8GB that came with it.
hi this is brilliant as my imac is 2019 thanks
Yay! Sad you had to do It on a 2019 iMac but delighted it works.
Thank you so much! Saved me from buying a new Mac!
Glad it helped!
Awesome! U the best!
I'm glad this worked for you!
Life saver!!!!
Glad this helped!
Thanks lady man
I'll take that as a compliment. Do I look cute to you so?
Thanks mate, it really helped. It s not necessary to open my mac so i dont want to...
Nobody wishes to open up an iMac LOL I'm glad this helped you. :)
About to do this for my Valkrie's Imac. I bought a M.2 2280 128g drive with a external 3.0 usb enclosure. I will follow your steps and let you know how it goes !!
Great! Follow the instructions carefully, watch twice. I also write my own English subtitles for people to use as a courtesy, that may help!!
@@ImLeeLoi i did and it would not update. going to try again. It gets to 70% updating then says it fails to update, this went on for 3 times, so I will erase and retry again tomorrow.
@@drewdegeer4432 Make sure the hard drive is formatted correctly as Mac OS Extended Journaled and nothing else is plugged into the USB Ports and retry. The SSD could potentially be damaged. ALTERNATIVELY: In Disk utility you can click on your new SSD, press the restore tab and then restore from your original Macintosh HD and that will copy the entire old hard drive to your new SSD. I don’t like this method because your transferring over old baggage which will slow boot times and performance but it could be a good way to troubleshoot to double check your new SSD works correctly.
@@drewdegeer4432 If you google restoring mac hard drive to new SSD there should be a step by step guide for this method.
Thanks for this video. I noticed that the SSD you used, while inexpensive, had a much lower storage capacity that the original HD. Were you using the SSD only for system operations, and the original HD for regular document, email and/or image file storage, or did the SSD take over those functions as well? Thanks again for a well-thought, well-presented video.
Either or! Many in the comments are keeping their photos and videos on the old drive for infrequent access and most iMacs have 1TB which is a lot. It's the family computer so not much is stored on it in this situation.
Omg! You are a godsend! My 2015 iMac runs faster than my 2021 MacBook! This insane!
Yay!