Should I add an external SSD to my imac 2019 27" 5K?

Question

Rayiorek Author

Level 1

4 points

Should I add an external SSD to my imac 2019 27" 5K?

I have a 2019 27" 5K imac

3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-9600K) CPU: 6-core

40 GB RAM

I ran EtreCheck (free version), no major problems found (see report clip below),

Is it worthwhile to upgrade to an external SSD? I'm thinking of getting a 2 TB SSD Crucial X8 ($170 CDN newegg.ca) and using it both as a bootup drive/run program/extra storage, and keep my 2TB internal fusion drive as a backup drive only. The $170 is really not a big issue as I can write it off as a business expense.

I don't use any icloud backup. I use a few USB external 5-7 TB HDs as my Time Machine backups (I put them in my safe when I travel, and keep one at the office as my offsite backup).

I'd rather not have to crack open the imac to upgrade anything internally.

Would using the external SSD as both a bootup drive and to run programs/extra storage slow down the transfer speeds? Will I notice much of a performance boost with an external SSD in my system?

I generally do very light photo editing (Luminar 4/AI or GIMP), use Handbrake occasionally to convert a video, and rarely do video edits. The slowest programs seems to be Libreoffice and Mail (as I use gmail accounts).

Thx

EtreCheck report

Posted on Jan 9, 2023 7:38 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,002 points

Jan 9, 2023 8:52 AM in response to Rayiorek

Your drive is healthy. While an external Crucial X8 will drop your read speeds to ~950MB/s, your write speeds will also be ~950MB/s, up from ~220MB/s. You could also use a Thunderbolt SSD, which will produce read/write speeds at ~2800MB/s. However, Thunderbolt SSDs do cost more.

You can certainly try an external Crucial X8 SSD, and it may help your system. If not, it's great external storage! :-)

Jack

Reply

Answer 2

Rayiorek Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2023 8:31 AM in response to Jack-19

Here's the full EtreCheck report (attached text)

It's usually Libreoffice and Mail that is slow to load up (I use gmail accounts) and rarely I'll see some beach ball freezing with notes (but I force quite it and then it seems ok).

Full EtreCheck report

Reply

Answer 3

Jack-19

Level 8

46,002 points

Jan 9, 2023 8:39 AM in response to Rayiorek

Performance:

System Load: 1.75 (1 min ago) 1.37 (5 min ago) 1.36 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O usage: 0.17 MB/s

File system: 15.12 seconds

Write speed: 222 MB/s ⚠️

Read speed: 2414 MB/s

Your write metric is fairly low for a healthy Fusion Drive. In order to verify the health, I'd recommend you use DriveDx. Then, please upload a screenshot of both (2) reports here.

Jack

Reply