Using external SSD as boot drive

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Level 1

6 points

Using external SSD as boot drive

I have a Late 2013 21.5in iMac 8Gb with a (slow) 1Tb 5400rpm HDD running Catalina. It takes a good 5 minutes to boot and another 5 minutes to settle after signing in. I like to use Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to process my photos but the load time for these apps is very slow for Lightroom and impossibly slow for Photoshop to the point that I have considered purchasing a new machine. Mojave was always slow so I hoped Catalina might improve things but not so, which made me suspect the HDD to be the source of my problems. I would like to avoid downgrading to Mojave if possible.

However, it is in my mind to purchase an external (Seagate) SSD 500Gb, clone my current main HDD to it using Carbon Copy Cloner and use it to carry the system and apps for booting. When things have settled down I will then remove Catalina and then use my current HDD for data only.

I use Time Machine and Onedrive as backups just in case of problems.

Does this plan sound reasonable?

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 4, 2019 2:43 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

jhedleyj Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 6, 2019 2:54 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks for your help, guys!

Seagate 512GB External SSD safely installed (about 1 minute) and cloned with Catalina and APFS (about six hours) using Carbon Copy Cloner. All working amazingly fast and stable.

42 secs to sign-in screen compared with 4 min 8 secs for 5400 rpm HDD. Blackmagic showing read times at 420 and write times at 350. Lightroom takes about 15 seconds to load and settle and Photoshop is very very useable now. Even my wireless printer is more responsive! I have sufficient space on the SSD for all my data and now have plenty of room for backups on the old drive.

I am content with this approach rather than attempting to perform surgery on the iMac but, having said that, when the time does come to replace then a HDD is definitely not going to be an option. It's shame that I can't increase the RAM to 16GB but I can happily run with what I've for now.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

91,051 points

Dec 4, 2019 4:15 AM in response to jhedleyj

Why not buy a1TB SSD which are around the $100 mark now, and clone it bootable then install it in the macbook in place of the HDD. 30 minute job to swap. You need a small torx and small philips set. I got mine for a couple $.

I did this to my mid-2012 mbp and boot time is 45 seconds. I have 16GB RAM.

Booting from USB is not fast!

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Answer 3

jhedleyj Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 4, 2019 4:46 AM in response to LD150

With respect, I have an iMac and from previous experience removing the screen and only then replacing the HDD is fraught with potential problems. Also, I live in the UK and prices are (sadly) not as cheap as you lucky people in the US. A 1TB SSD over here costs about £140 which is around $180!

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Answer 4

Dec 4, 2019 8:22 AM in response to jhedleyj

With 8GB of RAM, the system is quite paltry for the likes

of the Adobe memory hogs of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.

When I was still on the Adobe Cash Cow (CC), I would occasionally

monitor the memory use of these apps and with both running,

they would start at 4GB usage and rapidly grow from there. In one

session, I recall Lightroom itself sucking up over 5GB. I would imagine

on system with 8GB, memory swapping to disk would happen nearly

immediately. I have worked with Photoshop at least since version 1.0,

and it has always been the case of these apps needing copious amounts

of RAM to run efficiently.

While unlike some later 21.5 iMacs which have RAM soldered in, the 2013

is socketed and can be replaced but essentially require a complete teardown to

do it, even more so than replacing the drive.

You could try and locate a Authorized Apple Service Provider nearby

and try and see if they will do it and get a quote.

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Answer 5

LD150

Level 10

91,051 points

Dec 6, 2019 3:37 AM in response to jhedleyj

I keep forgetting how fast USB3 is.

Luis Sequeira1 was quite right.

My 2012 MacBook pro only has USB2 and takes as long to boot from USB as the old spinny disk. But with the internal SSD and all the slots and ports it is too good to replace.

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