Does it work? External SSD via Thunderbolt as System HDD

Forums › Mac OS › Does it work? External SSD via Thunderbolt as System HDD

variable

124 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#205661 22-Nov-2016 08:40

I have a 2011 iMac which I cannot be bothered buying all the tools and swap out the internal HDD with SSD, I am curious if having an external SSD via thunderbolt as system HDD is actually feasible and worth doing?

Cheers.

http://www.limsbros.com http://hash.limsbros.com

1 | 2

6614 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2153
Inactive user

#1675350 22-Nov-2016 08:47

I doubt the Mac has the facility to even boot from another device other than the internal HDD and DVD drive.

It wouldnt be as fast or reliable as an internal HDD remember. Would slow the operating system up a lot and have a bit of latency i feel given its through the Thunderbolt interface.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1675351 22-Nov-2016 08:53

A bit of communications latency is likely to be less than the latency of a physical disk.

variable

124 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1675361 22-Nov-2016 09:13

I see, thanks for the advise guys, looks like it's not worth doing

http://www.limsbros.com http://hash.limsbros.com

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#1675371 22-Nov-2016 09:35

TimA:

I doubt the Mac has the facility to even boot from another device other than the internal HDD and DVD drive.

It wouldnt be as fast or reliable as an internal HDD remember. Would slow the operating system up a lot and have a bit of latency i feel given its through the Thunderbolt interface.

Macs will happily boot from an external drive,

and going to SSD via thunderbolt is a very common method to speed up old machines

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3643551

an SSD on thunderbolt, will be significantly faster than the internal HDD

scetoaux

56 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 15

#1675866 23-Nov-2016 10:25

Can also confirm this works without any issues. You could use something like Clonezilla to clone your internal drive to the Thunderbolt SSD. Once you've done that (it will take a while), reboot the machine, hold down the option key and select the Thunderbolt SSD from the boot menu. You should be away laughing!

NotReally

75 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#1675937 23-Nov-2016 11:34

Hi variable,

Let me know how you get on. I have a 2011 iMac as well that could do with an SSD boot drive. Not sure if it will work with Windows 10 though.

Thanks.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

scetoaux

56 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 15

#1675945 23-Nov-2016 11:47

NotReally:

Hi variable,

Let me know how you get on. I have a 2011 iMac as well that could do with an SSD boot drive. Not sure if it will work with Windows 10 though.

Thanks.

Providing the drive is bootable, you should be able to boot into Windows without an issue.

antoniosk

2382 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 742

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1675962 23-Nov-2016 12:22

I've booted a 2010 macbook from a USB SSD drive without issue, as part of the process of cloning from hd to ssd. did it several times before going through process of swapping out drives - worked fine.

________

Antoniosk