Recommendations: SSD EXTERNAL HD, iMac 19,1 27"

tbirdvet wrote:

Note that the USB ports on your iMac are at 5Gbps and not 10 like on the newer machines.

Partially correct. The 2019 iMac has both 5Gbps & 10Gbps USB speeds.

• The two USB-C ports support USB 3.1 Generation 2 (up to 10 Gbps) & Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gbps)
• The four USB-A ports are USB 3.0 (5Gbps)

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

If it's a matter of just the Dock icons not working, remove them from the Dock and replace them by dragging the apps from the /Applications folder back to the Dock. That will place new icons in the Dock (it doesn't move the app, it just creates an icon in the Dock).

If the new Dock icons still don't work, the next step is to test the apps directly by running them from the /Applications folder.

If the apps still don't work when you run them from the /Applications folder on the clone drive then I suspect the licensing got broken when you cloned the drive. This is not uncommon. To recover the Adobe apps do the following when booted from your clone drive:

• Boot from the clone drive
• Remove CS5 from the clone drive
• Restart your Mac from the clone drive
• Reinstall CS5 on the clone drive
• Reactivate CS5 -> https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/reactivate-older-apps.html#new-sign-in

Note: Adobe CS never worked from backup drives; this is due to the way Adobe validates activation on your computer. Adobe also removed the CS5 & CS6 activation servers from production some years ago and it caused endless headaches for people who needed to reinstall CS. Recently however Adobe has published an alternate way to activate CS5 & CS6. (Link above.) I have not done this myself so I cannot verify whether or not it works.

I have the same iMac. I use a WD 850x NVME in an Acasis TB enclosure connected to one of the TB3 ports on the iMac. I used CCC to make the clone but I found it is better to use CCC to migrate your internal files to the external then Boot into recovery and install the OS with in your case is Mojave ilo using the CCC Legacy process to make it bootable. Then if so desired you could later update the external to Sequoia. I have Monterey on my Internal and have Sequoia on my external drive. No docking station required.

I also have the same iMac and I use Photoshop CC, CaptureOne and other apps on it.

As for external disks, I have set up two OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual with 3-Port Hub enclosures with Samsung 1TB 870EVO SSDs inside, total of 4 drives. You can get 870EVO's in 2TB & 4TB capacities. The enclosures are connected to my i9 iMac via USB-C, so I am getting USB 3.1 Gen2 (10 GB/s) speeds and because the enclosures have 3-port USB hubs I have extra USB ports to use. They are plenty fast.

When use CCC you can use the Legacy feature to make the drive bootable. You would clone the internal Mojave to the external then later you would boot from the external and use OS update to install Sequoia on the external. I have both Acasis enclosures with and without the fan. If you will use the external as your main boot drive all the time then the fan is a good idea as TB enclosures run warm. I have also both the WD sn850X and the Samsung 990 pro NVME drives. Both run almost the same speed so the WD drive may be the best choice from a cost perspective. The iMac with TB3 cannot use all the speed of the Samsung which works best with TB4 computers but either drive has good reviews. I have some Apple cables but I also have other cables (TB) that work just as well at a much lower cost. Other well known companies like Cable Matters are very reliable.

Incorrect. The TB speeds will be much higher than the USB speeds regardless of the drive. This speed specs are based on installing the drive internally and not in an external enclosure. You can expect about 2700-2800 Gbps with those drives in an external TB enclosure. (which is higher than your internal). Also many of the enclosure advertised speeds are based on TB4 which you do not have. The speeds I noted are what I have seen with my iMac and TB3 ports. You can connect to a USB port and it will work but it will be much slower. Note that the USB ports on your iMac are at 5Gbps and not 10 like on the newer machines.

The cables are fine that come with the enclosure. Sorry, I did mean Mbps. I use the WD SN850X with this Acacis enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8CZB5S7?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

I believe the one you have noted is a newer model in appearance only and should be fine. You need to be careful because some TB enclosures that are designed for TB4 Mac do not run at the fast speeds on TB3 Mac. However, I believe the chip set in my Acasis is the same in the one you have selected so should be fine.

It is not uncommon for Dock Icons, especially third-party one to loose there link during a move to a new drive. Most times, all you need to do is remove those Icons from the Dock and replace them with a new one.

There is a lot for macOS to do after a fresh setup on an internal or external drive. Plus because the enclosures fan is setup to run based on the SSD temp. I suspect that it will run most of the time, including for a short time after the SSD is inactive.

ps. Did you also say that the CS apps are not working when you boot from your original, internal iMac drive? Is that what you meant by "Then I restart in the native OS and see I get the same thing, not working?"

Rhobes wrote:

Yes that's correct, Ps CS5 Extended & Ps Bridge apps react (for the most part) act as their counter parts now on the external drive(but they worked on the iMacs original OS before cloning the external drive.

Cloning the drive should have had no effect on the source (internal) drive. Is there anything else that may have happened between testing CS5 and doing the cloning? macOS update, new app(s), a crash, anything?

If you upgrade the system and CS5 won't work you might consider Phtoshop Elements 2025. As far as I can tell it does everything PS can do except work with CMYK files. It's a single purchase app.

Another single purchase app is Affinity's Photos. Haven't tried it but reports in the ASC are positive.

Just some food for thought.

Look at the top of the thread for this option:

If you want the newest replies on the top of the thread select "Newest". I have the Oldest at the top as the screenshot shows.

Hope all works out.