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External DVD/CD optical drive and external SSD storage drive recommendations for 2019/2020 iMac 27 please!

Yes, I know this machine is basically obsolete, but I snatched up a bottom of the line model (256 GB SSD) brand new at a GREAT price. I'm not a power user. I have no television so I want the 27" screen at a low price to watch DVDs and surf the web...use NETFLIX etc. Also looking for an external storage drive and it doesn't have to be "cutting edge fast".


Would love to get the old Apple Superdrive for DVDs purely because it looks good, but I've read it may not work with the newer iMacs.


SO...specific recommendations for compatible external CD/DVD optical drives AND external SSD memory storage drives would be most appreciated! (It would be a bonus if these drives looked good on my desk beside the iMac :) ) - (Minimum storage drive needed: 256 GB)


Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays!! - Paul K


iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 21, 2021 11:06 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 21, 2021 11:26 PM

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.


I would not consider an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019/2020) obsolete at all. It is still fully supported, and the 2020 models are still sold new by Apple.


For the SuperDrive, I would recommend the Apple USB SuperDrive - Apple. It will work just fine with your Mac.


For external storage, if you don't need it to be "cutting edge fast", a good-quality external 7200-rpm desktop drive would work well, such as a SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE - Western Digital. If you really want a fast external SSD, a good choice is a G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile SSD R-Series Storage - Apple or a SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE SSD - Western Digital. Notice how much more storage you can get with a hard drive for a similar price, but again, the SSDs are much faster. It just depends what the drives are going to be used for. If you let us know, we can make even more specific recommendations.


Jack

8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 21, 2021 11:26 PM in response to FlyingLizardXX

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.


I would not consider an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019/2020) obsolete at all. It is still fully supported, and the 2020 models are still sold new by Apple.


For the SuperDrive, I would recommend the Apple USB SuperDrive - Apple. It will work just fine with your Mac.


For external storage, if you don't need it to be "cutting edge fast", a good-quality external 7200-rpm desktop drive would work well, such as a SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE - Western Digital. If you really want a fast external SSD, a good choice is a G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile SSD R-Series Storage - Apple or a SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE SSD - Western Digital. Notice how much more storage you can get with a hard drive for a similar price, but again, the SSDs are much faster. It just depends what the drives are going to be used for. If you let us know, we can make even more specific recommendations.


Jack

Dec 22, 2021 12:07 AM in response to Jack-19

Hi Jack,

Thanks SO much for the super fast reply. I’ve had three iPhones and two iPads over the years, but this will be my very 1st “Apple Computer!” I wrote computer graphics (CAD) software for 20 years (For IBM… In another world LOL). I’ve also been retired for over 10 years so basically I am a software dinosaur!


I’m psyched to have a new hardware to play with, and a new operating system to learn. I definitely want an SSD external storage drive and it does not have to be large. I don’t store much video so my current world consists of a total of about 150 GB of data.


Currently I live like a novice user. Surfing online, email, teleconferencing, and storing some photos. Plus playing DVDs and streaming some video. That’s about it. Because of my background in computer graphics, I’m fussy about picture quality. I’m also an amateur audiophile and can easily see myself using the headphone jack for adding an external DAC, headphone amplifier, and plugging in a set of high(er) end headphones.


I’m picky about aesthetics… so I’d like these external drives to look good alongside the iMac, and I’m willing to pay a little extra for good looking “boxes“. However, high quality reliable hardware comes first. (I guess most people who buy Apple products are looking for nice aesthetics!)


If you have further thoughts and you feel like it, please let me know.


Again, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

Paul



Dec 22, 2021 4:42 AM in response to FlyingLizardXX

From 2015 until later 2020, we used rather high capacity LaCie Hard Drives to backup. When we got new iMacs in late 2020, I decided to change our backup strategy based on our usage trends.


Our personal data history is backed up in multiple ways on multiple platforms: hard drives, iCloud for interactive access, Optical disks of archival quality and so forth. We thusly have no need for external hard drives that are 2-3 times the size of our internal disks ... same size is perfectly adequate. Internal drives contain current data that is periodically added to the historical archives. Those periodic additions also provides opportunity to determine continuing data integrity. Only sounds hard; takes very little time to maintain.


That being the case with our historical data as secure as humanly possible on various platforms, I opted for speed. We now have at least two SSDs per iMac to have both CCC and TimeMachine backup redundancy.


Not for everybody, and most certainly more expensive than platter type drives, but the solution has worked very well for us. Speed over capacity is a personal choice, We tried both and now we.'ve settled on SSDs. I always found the possibility of shutting down during a backup to be distasteful if not damaging. I just don't like to do it.


With CCC I have essentially more configurable TimeMachine-like backups that take place very quickly and have stop/start notifications. Purely a looks good, feels good solution but we prefer it. And considering how quickly TM adds data to and existing dataset, the likelihood of interrupting a backup to shut down is greatly lessened.

External DVD/CD optical drive and external SSD storage drive recommendations for 2019/2020 iMac 27 please!

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