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!
Your idea is great idea also! I have a late 2012 27" running sonoma with OCLP. So, theoretically, if I'm making this restore in recovery with the disk utility, all my files and settings and apps with all the drivers installed by OCLP will be the exact clone of my internal HD, and i can boot from there? Would be awesome. Of course i will ask also the OCLP community , will it work with all the OCLP patches. Thanks the advice! Ps: one more thing: is it necessary to format the SSD to MacOs extended, or in my case to APFS, or it's unnecessary with the "restore" function?
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 🙏
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
I opened my 2015 27” i7 iMac with some ifixit stuff around 4 years ago and upgraded to an NVMe Samsung 2TB drive giving me about 3GB/s read and write. I also installed a Samsung SATA drive inside. But it’s hugely inferior to the NVMe drive. Recently I upgraded it to Sequoia with OpenCore Legazy Patcher and wow…it’s faster than ever. I highly recommend going this way even it’s much more complicated and risky.
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!
September 2024: This is EXACTLY what I needed---I followed this guidance and, at a cost of $85, incredibly improved the performance of my Late 2015 iMac. It was super easy--and was able to transfer all the HDD files to the SSD in a couple of hours. THANK YOU Lee-Loi!
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!
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.
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. 💯
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!!! :-)
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 😎👊
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. :)
@@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. :)
Thanks for the great video. However, I have encountered an issue. When installing the latest OS onto my SSD the mac restarts. It defaulted back to the original internal drive once, so tried again. This time, I caught it mid reset by holding down the alt key to switch to the SSD however it is no showing up? Am I missing something?
So If the install isn't finishing the SSD won't show up when you hold alt. Make sure you formatted the SSD correctly as Journaled and NOT Apfs. I hand wrote the subtitles in video, turn them on and double check! :)
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!
Your video definitely helped speed up my 2013 iMac . Just have to make sure that the computer is always connected to the internet when setting this up. I had to connect back to wifi about 4 times and it finally worked
To people seing this, a got a hack if ur Mac has an intel processor, download windows from the pre-installed app bootcamp, then switch back to Mac, and that Windows somehow acts like an external storage and fastens the Mac. Worked on my 2017 super slow Mac and 1min45 to open safari, now it's as fast as ever
Hi there. Yes it will. OR go to system preferences and press startup disk and select the External USB drive manually if it had not done so automatically.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you so much for your detailed video. I was successful this process and increased my speed tremendously. The boot drive is awesome. I have only 1 question, it appears I cannot use the rest of the drive for storage? Or is there a way. It is saying I don't have the permissions even though I'm the administrator. Thanks for your advice.
I figured it out how to partition the remaining part of the 1TB drive to get my storage. I am one happy camper with my 2015 Imac now running super fast...Thank you soooooooo much Lee.
Great video. Just wondering if you put the Time Machine back up onto the new drive as well? Otherwise, with all the apps and docs still on the old HDD, I would expect them to open much more slowly.
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!
Hey, great video. I am going to do this. However, please could you let me know if the sata ssd drive with an enclosure has any benefits over just an ssd external hardrive? For example, speed,. performance etc? Thanks
Lee, this is awesome and you have given me the confidence to do this to my ever slower late 2015 iMac with Fusion Drive 1TB. Question: should I upgrade internal drive to latest OS so it is the same as what the new SSD drive will have on it? Have been hesitant because I'm terrifed of the slowness getting worse... thanks!!!
Hey Ed - answered your newest message earlier, i've been slow to reply with work commitments so apologies for not answering before you upgraded but I wouldn't recommend upgrading past what your iMac can handle. If your iMac automatically upgraded to the latest OS, that's great and will extend the software support but I wouldn't be running DosDude1's patcher on your home computer that you use every day!
Hey… I followed all the steps on my late 2015 and it didn’t work. I am running macOS Monterrey. Weirdly I don’t get the option to choose the HD where it will be installed =X
Installation onto an external ssd is not working for me, i dont know where i went wrong. Installed up to the point where it restarts and i have to press the "option" to select ssd (5:15 on video), but keep restarting and never gets to 5:25
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.
Great video Lee! I am thinking of installing an SSD internally and removing the old hard drive in my late 2012 iMac. After the installation do I need to hold the command, alt, r keys as you did in this video? The original hard drive will not even boot anymore.
Thank you for the video! I just have one question before I attempt this. Will all my files still be on the HD and accessible? Or will it erase them during this process?
Hi Lee, just finished the process and my 2017 27inch iMac is running absolutely perfect! What a change! 😃 Just one doubt, when I check the new SSD info, it says the format is APFS but I had formatted it as MAC OS Extended (Journaled). Right now everything is running super smooth. Have I done anything wrong? Will this cause any problems?
If it's not causing issues I think you are good but most people had better performance and compatibility with Mac OS Extended Journaled. Read the other comments down below.
@@ImLeeLoi yes I did format it in mac os journaled but somehow the drive shows that it’s APFS. Not sure why is that. But yeah it’s still running smooth, tested it for a week
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
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.
Great video, my mac has slowed down over the years, and will definitely be giving it a go, can you recommend the best SSD for my iMac it is a (27-inch, late 2013) , processor 3.2 GHz quad-core intel core i5. Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, with 4 USB, I'm not sure if it has USB c 3.0 or 3.1. Iv looked on amazon and there is so many SSD being sold it's a bit bewildering and I would just be guessing. would really appreciate your advice as I don't have a clue thanks again. ;)
Hi Alan, it depends on how much you want to spend as I said in the video. If you got the Cash get the SanDisk or Samsung T5. They run at USB 3.1 but will slow down to USB 3.0 for your iMac but when you eventually do upgrade the new Computer would take advantage of it. Because it is an old iMac, if you want to save some cash - consider getting an SSD from Kingston and an enclosure like I demoed. :)
My cousin just gave me a 2013 iMac a few days ago and it's kinda slow. I'm about to get on Amazon and find an SSD, and the part that's needed to connect the SSD to my computer. If I need any help, I'll let you know. Thanks, man!
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.
I always recommend not plugging anything into the USB port beside the drive so use the USB port on the left edge or right edge to make sure that port always has full bandwidth.
@@ImLeeLoi , yes I can. I have a 6TB external drive for my photographs, I just don’t know how much storage the operating system needs. I’m not used to working on computers !! Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.
@@joetagg1961 Hope you got those photos backed up. Make sure the external drive is NOT plugged into the USB port right beside the new external SSD. They should be plugged in on opposite ends. So if your iMac has 4 USB's make sure the 6TB is on the very left and the external SSD is on the very right or vice versa.
For the sandisk SSD should I plug it in with the USB A adapter or can I plug it in the USB C in the thunderbolt input ? Thank you so much for the video!
Great video. I have a 2017 27” 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
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!
Thanks for the upload, question... when you have the external drive where are all the programs and documents/files ? on the old HD or in the external drive?
Awesome video , just wondering if I do this on a 2015 iMac , will I be able to have the latest 2022 OS ? And also will il still be able to save my stuff on the 1TB ? Thanks 😊
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!
Hi lee I’m a little confused I an going to get a brand new iMac tomorrow will that be a 2021 iMac ? If so this process you just showed us will work on it too ? I don’t want to spend in the 2TB SSD storage in Apple. I would prefer to buy an external 2 TB for around $300. Can you also recommend me a 2TB SSD. I’m new with Mac. Thanks in advance. Awesome video.
Can you answer a bit of a tricky question for me?? I performed this procedure roughly two years ago on my late 2013 iMac, and have been using a Sandisc 2 TB external SSD as my main drive since then. It worked beautifully! However, I have maxed out all of my memory. I just purchased a second Sandisc external SSD (this time 4 TB). Would I be able to essentially copy the first SSD to the new 4 TB SSD the same way? I'm so worried that I'd screw something up and lose all of my data... (sorry for the length of this)
You probably could. You will need to look up a way to clone the SSD. You might even have to boot into the 2013 iMac on the old spinning hard drive and then clone the old SSD onto the new one.
Thank you so much for your help. I was able to successfully run Mac OS on my external SSD. It is so much faster. How do I use my internal HDD for storage and time machine?
Nice video Lee! I want to ask you a question, i have imac 21.5 2017 can i upgrade it to ssd 1tb? Because i read on apple website and it says i just be able to upgrade it on 256gb ssd
I have a 2015 27" iMac. "Experts" are telling me that the slow USB interface negates the advantages of using an external SSD as a StartUp Disk. You video is for 2012-2019 models. Will and external SSD, via USB, work for me? My iMac has two Thunderbolt 2 ports. Would an external SSD, connected via Thunderbolt 2, be the better approach?
A thunderbolt SSD is better and dedicated but for a 2015 iMac, an external USB SSD which are much easier to get your hands on will run faster than an old 7200RPM SATA HDD. - IF your iMac already has an SSD, then nope!!!
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.
Gonna follow this tutorial very soon but I have a question for you: Can we use the existing HDD and partition it so that like 50GB out of 1TB still has the emergency boot file in case the SSD gets lost or corrupt or disconnected, and then use the remaining HDD as file storage while running MacOS off the SSD? I haven't tried it yet but can I still access and store files on the HDD?
I have a question, I installed my own drive but now I am unable to download adobe software apps like illustrator and photoshop because it says that its case sensitive?
Right so unfortunately you do need to restart this process and make sure when you format the drive you do not choose CASE SENSITIVE. Certain apps and particularly games cannot work on a Case sensitive formatted drive.
I did this and its fast and I love you for this video.....i had a problem today when I turned on my mac and it took 3 minutes to get to the home screen and once I was there everything was quicker.....what did I do wrong? PLLEASSSEE! Thank you Thank you.😍
I have a late 2012 iMac and have been using this method for year. However, my iMac would hang when it goes into power save mode and then you try to wake it up. I solved this with an inexpensive externally powered USB hub so that the SSD never loses power.
Thanks for the great video, Lee-Loi Cheng! 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 (leftover-inside-the iMac) HD could become useful as an extra TimeMachine backup drive?
Hmmm... It is such an old hard drive it's going to fail sooner or later so I'm going to say no! Your better off being "choosy" which documents are important or not and putting them on Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud Drive.
Awesome video! I just purchased my iMac 27" 2013 - i7 @ 3.50GHz 16GB RAM 1TB HDD 120GB SSD. I hope it runs great, what do you think, of course I will try to see if my OS is installed on the SSD.
@@ImLeeLoi it works great, it also has Nvidia graphics card. I have been playing counter strike global offensive on it. The only negative I have is the screen size, I should have gone to something smaller. 27 inch is too much for my eyeballs to handle, I feel the strain. Overall I’m satisfied with my purchase. It’s a late 2012 model and only got it for 400 dollars. I don’t see myself getting the newest iMac for 4X amount of dollars.
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 👍
Hi Lee, thank you for doing this video, as it's just what I was needing. Forgive me as I'm not very knowledgable with these things, I have an external hard drive, don't think its an SSD. Could I still use it ?
Hi thanks for the video. Just quick question. Thinking of buying a second hand iMac with 32g memory i7, DDR. Should that be fast enough? Ill just be using for some light music and photo editing ? Thanks
Hi there! That should be however the economics of iMacs are weird right now with the Apple Silicon iMacs now also being sold second hand. Make sure you can't find yourself an M1 iMac for not that much money more as that is a much better option. :)
Thanks for this great video, it seems you’ve helped a lot of people and I’m considering doing this rather than buying a new iMac. My only concern is if using the SSD as a “fresh install”, the licenses for programs I’ve purchased (ableton, photoshop) will not be valid as this is seen as a different device to the the internal HD? (And therefore require a separate license?) Or am I simply able to access the internal HD and drag over these applications to the SSD, and the licenses will carry over?
You should be able to deactivate them first and then re-activate. That's what I did for Photoshop. Just be sure to format the SSD as MAC OS EXTENDED JOURNALED as shown in the video and not AFPS
@@ImLeeLoi thank you! This seems a great workaround, my iMac 2013 is unbearably slow atm. Would you recommend just using the internal HD as a place to store things you don’t use often, and drag over/reinstall files/programs you need often to the SSD? If so, is it as simple as seeing the internal HD in Finder and dragging things over to the SSD?
@@JR-yn8cm You can but certain apps may need to be reinstalled if complex. The old HDD will be seen in finder but you might have to go to finder preferences and click show all hard drives. They simplified the finder and the side bar now hides a lot of folders like desktop etc just re-check them all and the old Mac HDD will pop up. You can do whatever you want with the old drive.
At the internet recovery step, if I want to keep everything i have currently on the Mac, would I choose restore from time machine back up? How do I make sure the user profile and all files are backed up on time machine? Thanks in advance.
Just plug it out and turn on the iMac, hold the ALT key down and select the original hard drive. Please watch video carefully, turn on the subtitles their hand written and take it step by step.
Hi! This might be a long shot to get a reply. But I’m running a late 2012 iMac and want to buy the Sandisk 1TB SSD. You mentioned in a comment that the Sandisk is too fast for the 2012 iMac if it were to be used externally, but if I’m using it internally, would it be worth it? Also, would I need to install a thermal sensor on it? Thank you for all your help!
I just learned about this from a friend and found your video! Does this mean I will be running the OS off the external drive but everything else will remain on my computer's hard drive? Like what about iphoto? Do my photos stay on my computer or does everything get copied over to the new external drive? And I know you posted this in 2020, and it's now 2 years later...so what external drive would you recommend now? Thanks!!!
Hey Judy and David! Yes, the OS runs off the external drive. You can move your personal documents and photos to the new drive if you want, but you can also access them off the old computer hard drive. NOTHING gets copied to the new drive unless you do it manually one by one. All these years later the iMac still works but I must admit it has really been gathering dust.
A really easy, much cleaner and potentially cheaper way to get this done is to use a 256gb flash drive from Sandisk or Lexar with a 550Mb/s minimum read speed. They cost about $30 bucks on amazon. I just did this and the performance is amazing, on par with what's described here. Small footprint, less likely to lose connection/ fall out.
Flash drives aren't really built to last the same way SSDs are. It's not the Port being USB that's the deficiency, it's what the actual flash memory was designed to do.
Question: at 4:53, your screen shows the external SSD, mines does not. It only has the old hard drive as an option. I did everything you said, but it’s not popping up. Any idea on what to do? I know this is a long shot, but I hope you can answer! Thank you
Heya, sorry for late reply. Well before installation make sure on your regular iMac desktop screen, when you plug the new hard drive in it pops up. If it does not your new hard drive is broken OR not compatible with your iMac. Please take it one step at a time as shown in the video.
Just came across this.....looks amazing just ordered a SSD to give this a try....just one question....do you keep a backup os of Catalina on your old internal hard drive or do you need to erase that and just boot from the new SSD?
@@ImLeeLoi Awesome..thanks for the quick reply.....can I ask one question....I and a photographer/videographer so how would I run my Adobe programs like Premiere Pro /Lightroom and Photoshop..is there a work around?
When installing MacOS I got past accessibility, selected my internet, then it wants me to transfer my data (“Transfer information to this iMac”), and it shows Macintosh HD, and not the external ssd. Do I transfer or not? I don’t know if it accidentally switched to the Macintosh HD on accident.
![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)
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
My external glass is broken is it possible to remove the glass and just stick some tempered glass? Or the screen and glass are glued together?
Your idea is great idea also! I have a late 2012 27" running sonoma with OCLP. So, theoretically, if I'm making this restore in recovery with the disk utility, all my files and settings and apps with all the drivers installed by OCLP will be the exact clone of my internal HD, and i can boot from there? Would be awesome. Of course i will ask also the OCLP community , will it work with all the OCLP patches. Thanks the advice!
Ps: one more thing: is it necessary to format the SSD to MacOs extended, or in my case to APFS, or it's unnecessary with the "restore" function?
Nailed it, homie. Couple years after you post this, and it's still relevant. Thanks!
Yay! Delighted to hear.
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 🙏
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
I opened my 2015 27” i7 iMac with some ifixit stuff around 4 years ago and upgraded to an NVMe Samsung 2TB drive giving me about 3GB/s read and write. I also installed a Samsung SATA drive inside. But it’s hugely inferior to the NVMe drive. Recently I upgraded it to Sequoia with OpenCore Legazy Patcher and wow…it’s faster than ever. I highly recommend going this way even it’s much more complicated and risky.
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!
September 2024: This is EXACTLY what I needed---I followed this guidance and, at a cost of $85, incredibly improved the performance of my Late 2015 iMac. It was super easy--and was able to transfer all the HDD files to the SSD in a couple of hours. THANK YOU Lee-Loi!
Yay!
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. :)
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!
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
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!
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
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!
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!
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!
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!
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
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. :)
Thanks for the great video. However, I have encountered an issue. When installing the latest OS onto my SSD the mac restarts. It defaulted back to the original internal drive once, so tried again. This time, I caught it mid reset by holding down the alt key to switch to the SSD however it is no showing up? Am I missing something?
So If the install isn't finishing the SSD won't show up when you hold alt. Make sure you formatted the SSD correctly as Journaled and NOT Apfs. I hand wrote the subtitles in video, turn them on and double check! :)
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!!
How about black magic test? how is the speed?
Thanks for the tutorial video.
Very easy, right to the point and well explained.
Cheers.
I'm glad this helped you Isabela! :)
Your video definitely helped speed up my 2013 iMac . Just have to make sure that the computer is always connected to the internet when setting this up. I had to connect back to wifi about 4 times and it finally worked
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! 💸💸💸
To people seing this, a got a hack if ur Mac has an intel processor, download windows from the pre-installed app bootcamp, then switch back to Mac, and that Windows somehow acts like an external storage and fastens the Mac. Worked on my 2017 super slow Mac and 1min45 to open safari, now it's as fast as ever
Thanks for this well explained video. 👍🏼😎
Will the iMac always know to boot from the external USB drive?
Hi there. Yes it will. OR go to system preferences and press startup disk and select the External USB drive manually if it had not done so automatically.
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.
Hey, I just finished your install procedure..so far so good ! Everything is working. Can I still use the storage on the internal drive?
yes! :) finder preferences enable show all hard drives
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.
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.
Thank you so much for your detailed video. I was successful this process and increased my speed tremendously. The boot drive is awesome. I have only 1 question, it appears I cannot use the rest of the drive for storage? Or is there a way. It is saying I don't have the permissions even though I'm the administrator. Thanks for your advice.
I figured it out how to partition the remaining part of the 1TB drive to get my storage. I am one happy camper with my 2015 Imac now running super fast...Thank you soooooooo much Lee.
are we suppose to select external ssd every time we turn on our imac?Thank you for the video.
Great video. Just wondering if you put the Time Machine back up onto the new drive as well? Otherwise, with all the apps and docs still on the old HDD, I would expect them to open much more slowly.
I don't Time Machine to the new drive.
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.
Excellent video my friend. Worked great. Question... How do i switch back to my internal HD?
Hold down the option key when computer turns on.
Hey, great video. I am going to do this. However, please could you let me know if the sata ssd drive with an enclosure has any benefits over just an ssd external hardrive? For example, speed,. performance etc?
Thanks
Lee, this is awesome and you have given me the confidence to do this to my ever slower late 2015 iMac with Fusion Drive 1TB. Question: should I upgrade internal drive to latest OS so it is the same as what the new SSD drive will have on it? Have been hesitant because I'm terrifed of the slowness getting worse... thanks!!!
Hey Ed - answered your newest message earlier, i've been slow to reply with work commitments so apologies for not answering before you upgraded but I wouldn't recommend upgrading past what your iMac can handle. If your iMac automatically upgraded to the latest OS, that's great and will extend the software support but I wouldn't be running DosDude1's patcher on your home computer that you use every day!
Hey… I followed all the steps on my late 2015 and it didn’t work. I am running macOS Monterrey. Weirdly I don’t get the option to choose the HD where it will be installed =X
Installation onto an external ssd is not working for me, i dont know where i went wrong. Installed up to the point where it restarts and i have to press the "option" to select ssd (5:15 on video), but keep restarting and never gets to 5:25
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!
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!
Great video Lee! I am thinking of installing an SSD internally and removing the old hard drive in my late 2012 iMac. After the installation do I need to hold the command, alt, r keys as you did in this video? The original hard drive will not even boot anymore.
IF the old hard drive wont even boot anymore, then it is not necessary!
You quite an adept and knowledgable Apple and Tech individual. Great job!
Thank you!
Very clear, thanks. One thing after watching 3 videos on this same topic, nobody mentions the safe GB capacity minimum for the external SSD to have?
No minimum needed! 120GB I suppose is as cheap as one can get!
Thanks for the video. What happens to the internal hard drive? Are you still able to save files onto it or does everything save onto the external ?
You can save files onto it if you wish.
Have you ever thought about enabling TRIM?
I believe there might be an issue with TRIM on external USB 3.0 for these older Macs.
Thank you for the video! I just have one question before I attempt this. Will all my files still be on the HD and accessible? Or will it erase them during this process?
Will still be on the HD
Just set up a Samsung T7 on my late 2012 iMac and Whoa!! What a difference. Night and day!
Delighted to have helped!
Hi Lee, just finished the process and my 2017 27inch iMac is running absolutely perfect! What a change! 😃 Just one doubt, when I check the new SSD info, it says the format is APFS but I had formatted it as MAC OS Extended (Journaled). Right now everything is running super smooth. Have I done anything wrong? Will this cause any problems?
If it's not causing issues I think you are good but most people had better performance and compatibility with Mac OS Extended Journaled. Read the other comments down below.
@@ImLeeLoi yes I did format it in mac os journaled but somehow the drive shows that it’s APFS. Not sure why is that. But yeah it’s still running smooth, tested it for a week
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.
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 ☺
Great video, my mac has slowed down over the years, and will definitely be giving it a go, can you recommend the best SSD for my iMac it is a (27-inch, late 2013) , processor 3.2 GHz quad-core intel core i5. Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, with 4 USB, I'm not sure if it has USB c 3.0 or 3.1.
Iv looked on amazon and there is so many SSD being sold it's a bit bewildering and I would just be guessing.
would really appreciate your advice as I don't have a clue thanks again. ;)
Hi Alan, it depends on how much you want to spend as I said in the video. If you got the Cash get the SanDisk or Samsung T5. They run at USB 3.1 but will slow down to USB 3.0 for your iMac but when you eventually do upgrade the new Computer would take advantage of it.
Because it is an old iMac, if you want to save some cash - consider getting an SSD from Kingston and an enclosure like I demoed. :)
My cousin just gave me a 2013 iMac a few days ago and it's kinda slow. I'm about to get on Amazon and find an SSD, and the part that's needed to connect the SSD to my computer. If I need any help, I'll let you know. Thanks, man!
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.
I always recommend not plugging anything into the USB port beside the drive so use the USB port on the left edge or right edge to make sure that port always has full bandwidth.
Hi! Great video thanks. One question though, how do you get the data from the old hard drive? Time machine? Thanks!
You can retrieve it manually in the finder and browse through the old hard drive folders.
This might be a stupid question but what size of a SSD drive do I need ??? Is 500GB large enough?? Great video. Thanks for sharing..
I mean I don’t know how much space do you need? Can you survive on 500gb?
@@ImLeeLoi , yes I can. I have a 6TB external drive for my photographs, I just don’t know how much storage the operating system needs. I’m not used to working on computers !! Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.
@@joetagg1961 Hope you got those photos backed up. Make sure the external drive is NOT plugged into the USB port right beside the new external SSD. They should be plugged in on opposite ends. So if your iMac has 4 USB's make sure the 6TB is on the very left and the external SSD is on the very right or vice versa.
@@ImLeeLoi , ok THANKS. I just saw this.Should I just unplug my 6TB drive while I’m doing this ?
@@joetagg1961 Oh absolutely. Do plug everything out. Enjoy your trip!
For the sandisk SSD should I plug it in with the USB A adapter or can I plug it in the USB C in the thunderbolt input ?
Thank you so much for the video!
Either! Whatever you prefer if your iMac has USB C ports.
Thanks so much for this I Just scored a 2017 iMac for $150 this video is soooooo helpful.
Great video. I have a 2017 27” 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
They all remain
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 for the upload, question... when you have the external drive where are all the programs and documents/files ? on the old HD or in the external drive?
Your old files stay on the old hard drive. You can keep them there or move them to the new hard drive to take advantage of speed.
Awesome video , just wondering if I do this on a 2015 iMac , will I be able to have the latest 2022 OS ? And also will il still be able to save my stuff on the 1TB ? Thanks 😊
Mac OS Ventura unfortunately does not support 2015 iMac.
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!!
Hi lee I’m a little confused I an going to get a brand new iMac tomorrow will that be a 2021 iMac ? If so this process you just showed us will work on it too ? I don’t want to spend in the 2TB SSD storage in Apple. I would prefer to buy an external 2 TB for around $300. Can you also recommend me a 2TB SSD. I’m new with Mac. Thanks in advance. Awesome video.
Hello. There is no need to follow this video if you are buying the new 24” M1 iMac as they all have SSD’s inside them.
this was really helpfull!! I din't want to break my imac attempting to remove the screen
Yep!
Can you answer a bit of a tricky question for me?? I performed this procedure roughly two years ago on my late 2013 iMac, and have been using a Sandisc 2 TB external SSD as my main drive since then. It worked beautifully! However, I have maxed out all of my memory. I just purchased a second Sandisc external SSD (this time 4 TB). Would I be able to essentially copy the first SSD to the new 4 TB SSD the same way? I'm so worried that I'd screw something up and lose all of my data... (sorry for the length of this)
You probably could. You will need to look up a way to clone the SSD. You might even have to boot into the 2013 iMac on the old spinning hard drive and then clone the old SSD onto the new one.
Thank you so much for your help. I was able to successfully run Mac OS on my external SSD. It is so much faster. How do I use my internal HDD for storage and time machine?
Just go into finder preferences and enable the browsing of Hard Drives and you can click in to your old HDD.
Great video!! Would a 500GB external SSD for a 2017 Mac make it much quicker especially for the Adobe Softwares
Absolutely! See others comments below for their results. :)
Nice video Lee! I want to ask you a question, i have imac 21.5 2017 can i upgrade it to ssd 1tb? Because i read on apple website and it says i just be able to upgrade it on 256gb ssd
You can buy a 1TB SSD and follow the instructions like in the video. Sure.
I have a 2015 27" iMac. "Experts" are telling me that the slow USB interface negates the advantages of using an external SSD as a StartUp Disk. You video is for 2012-2019 models. Will and external SSD, via USB, work for me? My iMac has two Thunderbolt 2 ports. Would an external SSD, connected via Thunderbolt 2, be the better approach?
A thunderbolt SSD is better and dedicated but for a 2015 iMac, an external USB SSD which are much easier to get your hands on will run faster than an old 7200RPM SATA HDD. - IF your iMac already has an SSD, then nope!!!
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 🙏
What happens to all the data on the old hard drive? Do you need to copy it over?
Currently trying this on my 2015 iMac!
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! :)
Gonna follow this tutorial very soon but I have a question for you: Can we use the existing HDD and partition it so that like 50GB out of 1TB still has the emergency boot file in case the SSD gets lost or corrupt or disconnected, and then use the remaining HDD as file storage while running MacOS off the SSD? I haven't tried it yet but can I still access and store files on the HDD?
Yes some people have!
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.
I have a question, I installed my own drive but now I am unable to download adobe software apps like illustrator and photoshop because it says that its case sensitive?
Right so unfortunately you do need to restart this process and make sure when you format the drive you do not choose CASE SENSITIVE. Certain apps and particularly games cannot work on a Case sensitive formatted drive.
What about attaching a SSD drive with thunderbolt? Wouldn't that be faster than USB 3.0?
Yes, but good luck finding a cheap Thunderbolt 2 SSD!
I did this and its fast and I love you for this video.....i had a problem today when I turned on my mac and it took 3 minutes to get to the home screen and once I was there everything was quicker.....what did I do wrong? PLLEASSSEE!
Thank you Thank you.😍
Hmmm... I'm not sure. How is it now?
I have a late 2012 iMac and have been using this method for year. However, my iMac would hang when it goes into power save mode and then you try to wake it up. I solved this with an inexpensive externally powered USB hub so that the SSD never loses power.
great tip! I didn't see that being an issue!
Thanks for the great video, Lee-Loi Cheng! 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 (leftover-inside-the iMac) HD could become useful as an extra TimeMachine backup drive?
Hmmm... It is such an old hard drive it's going to fail sooner or later so I'm going to say no! Your better off being "choosy" which documents are important or not and putting them on Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud Drive.
Awesome video! I just purchased my iMac 27" 2013 - i7 @ 3.50GHz 16GB RAM 1TB HDD 120GB SSD. I hope it runs great, what do you think, of course I will try to see if my OS is installed on the SSD.
Sergei! Let me know how the iMac is working with the SSD. :)
@@ImLeeLoi it works great, it also has Nvidia graphics card. I have been playing counter strike global offensive on it. The only negative I have is the screen size, I should have gone to something smaller. 27 inch is too much for my eyeballs to handle, I feel the strain. Overall I’m satisfied with my purchase. It’s a late 2012 model and only got it for 400 dollars. I don’t see myself getting the newest iMac for 4X amount of dollars.
@@bouchser000 You can try change the resolution in system preferences? Big screen for watching movies. :)
Would I still be able to download stuff on the hard drive
Yes
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! :)
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.
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!
Hi Lee, thank you for doing this video, as it's just what I was needing. Forgive me as I'm not very knowledgable with these things, I have an external hard drive, don't think its an SSD. Could I still use it ?
No, you an SSD
Hi thanks for the video. Just quick question. Thinking of buying a second hand iMac with 32g memory i7, DDR. Should that be fast enough? Ill just be using for some light music and photo editing ? Thanks
Hi there! That should be however the economics of iMacs are weird right now with the Apple Silicon iMacs now also being sold second hand. Make sure you can't find yourself an M1 iMac for not that much money more as that is a much better option. :)
@@ImLeeLoi hi thank a million for the reply. Bought it last week and very happy so far ! Thanks again
please advise them to format to apfs thank you for this beautiful video good work
From what I understand please DO NOT use APFS for External SSDs.
Great video, but it will not let me select my new ssd, it says something about changing partitions. 🙄
So follow the video step by step, you need to format the SSD first!
This is what I’ve been looking for! I have a late 2013 iMac that is ultra slow so I’m gonna try this.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for this great video, it seems you’ve helped a lot of people and I’m considering doing this rather than buying a new iMac.
My only concern is if using the SSD as a “fresh install”, the licenses for programs I’ve purchased (ableton, photoshop) will not be valid as this is seen as a different device to the the internal HD? (And therefore require a separate license?)
Or am I simply able to access the internal HD and drag over these applications to the SSD, and the licenses will carry over?
You should be able to deactivate them first and then re-activate. That's what I did for Photoshop.
Just be sure to format the SSD as MAC OS EXTENDED JOURNALED as shown in the video and not AFPS
@@ImLeeLoi thank you! This seems a great workaround, my iMac 2013 is unbearably slow atm.
Would you recommend just using the internal HD as a place to store things you don’t use often, and drag over/reinstall files/programs you need often to the SSD?
If so, is it as simple as seeing the internal HD in Finder and dragging things over to the SSD?
@@JR-yn8cm You can but certain apps may need to be reinstalled if complex.
The old HDD will be seen in finder but you might have to go to finder preferences and click show all hard drives. They simplified the finder and the side bar now hides a lot of folders like desktop etc just re-check them all and the old Mac HDD will pop up.
You can do whatever you want with the old drive.
@@ImLeeLoi Thank you so much!
At the internet recovery step, if I want to keep everything i have currently on the Mac, would I choose restore from time machine back up? How do I make sure the user profile and all files are backed up on time machine? Thanks in advance.
Hi Lee thanks for your help, my iMac is so much faster, how easy would it be to switch back to the hhd if needed, great Channel thank you. Jeff
Just plug it out and turn on the iMac, hold the ALT key down and select the original hard drive. Please watch video carefully, turn on the subtitles their hand written and take it step by step.
@@ImLeeLoi Thank you
Hi! This might be a long shot to get a reply. But I’m running a late 2012 iMac and want to buy the Sandisk 1TB SSD. You mentioned in a comment that the Sandisk is too fast for the 2012 iMac if it were to be used externally, but if I’m using it internally, would it be worth it? Also, would I need to install a thermal sensor on it? Thank you for all your help!
You need to buy a SATA SSD to use internally and I don't know how you would install that. You may also need a thermal sensor.
absolutly fantastic. will the new drive have all my files on it ?
no. copy paste from old
I just learned about this from a friend and found your video! Does this mean I will be running the OS off the external drive but everything else will remain on my computer's hard drive? Like what about iphoto? Do my photos stay on my computer or does everything get copied over to the new external drive? And I know you posted this in 2020, and it's now 2 years later...so what external drive would you recommend now? Thanks!!!
Hey Judy and David! Yes, the OS runs off the external drive. You can move your personal documents and photos to the new drive if you want, but you can also access them off the old computer hard drive.
NOTHING gets copied to the new drive unless you do it manually one by one. All these years later the iMac still works but I must admit it has really been gathering dust.
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 ! :)
A really easy, much cleaner and potentially cheaper way to get this done is to use a 256gb flash drive from Sandisk or Lexar with a 550Mb/s minimum read speed. They cost about $30 bucks on amazon. I just did this and the performance is amazing, on par with what's described here. Small footprint, less likely to lose connection/ fall out.
Flash drives aren't really built to last the same way SSDs are. It's not the Port being USB that's the deficiency, it's what the actual flash memory was designed to do.
Question: at 4:53, your screen shows the external SSD, mines does not. It only has the old hard drive as an option. I did everything you said, but it’s not popping up. Any idea on what to do?
I know this is a long shot, but I hope you can answer! Thank you
Heya, sorry for late reply. Well before installation make sure on your regular iMac desktop screen, when you plug the new hard drive in it pops up. If it does not your new hard drive is broken OR not compatible with your iMac. Please take it one step at a time as shown in the video.
Just came across this.....looks amazing just ordered a SSD to give this a try....just one question....do you keep a backup os of Catalina on your old internal hard drive or do you need to erase that and just boot from the new SSD?
Whatever you want really. I left Catalina on because I was too lazy to erase it. Read the comments some people use it now for storing files etc
@@ImLeeLoi Awesome..thanks for the quick reply.....can I ask one question....I and a photographer/videographer so how would I run my Adobe programs like Premiere Pro /Lightroom and Photoshop..is there a work around?
@@seanconcannon7922 Can't you just re-install them? Why would there be an issue?
@@ImLeeLoiOK so just reinstall them on the new external ssd...sweet.
When installing MacOS I got past accessibility, selected my internet, then it wants me to transfer my data (“Transfer information to this iMac”), and it shows Macintosh HD, and not the external ssd. Do I transfer or not? I don’t know if it accidentally switched to the Macintosh HD on accident.