How To Fix Slow iMac 2012-2020 External SSD [Updated Guide]

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[shazmirshahi]

I think you're a genius watching other tutorials they all forget to get you to erase the internal drive after adapting to the external SSD this is a clever and all rounded approach we thank you for this beautiful video you are a godsend to this Earth thank you once again

[kiprips]

Got a second hand iMac 2019 didn’t realise the HDD would be so slow! Followed the video was able to get a 1tb SSD for £30 case for £10 sorted! Works like a dream.

[phtgrphy]

iMac 🖥️ Late 2015.

I have copied these instructions 1:1. Also bought the same components from Amazon. Works 100% and it's super easy. The iMac was the slowest in the world before, then everything was 1000 times faster. I am thrilled, thank you very much 🙏🏻

[nikkeprik]

This is the best thing that ever happened to me in my carreer as a photographer so far! My iMac late 2015 was SOOOO slow, it was absolutely horrible to work with and I was planning to get rid of it. Until someone send me your video. Thank you so so much for sharing this easy and clear technique on here.

[ShoaibKhan-qbby]

Thanks man, I did this with a 500gb ssd and it runs wayyyy faster. I can even access the internal 1tb hdd while booted on the ssd!

[sothai.]

Huge thank you, I followed your steps and it worked perfectly fine with a Samsung T7 (SSD 1Tb). I resurrected my 2013 iMac !

[SK-ksjm]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Everything loads a lot faster now. I have a late 2015 imac given to me that was updated with Big Sur. The computer was so painfully slow I couldn’t get anything done. I’m not tech savvy at all so your tutorial was super clear and easy to follow.

[wildlifesimon]

I did this with late 13 after it all of a sudden started performing extremely slowly. Only day 1 but seems to have worked great so far!
Apple in store and on phone didn't even suggest me to try this. Just save over £1, 500 by getting a new 2tb drive

[warrenpatterson]

I tried your original method using CCC which failed as when I booted in recovery mode it only showed the HDD available to boot from. Followed this updated guide and it worked fine! Gone from 40mb/s to 400mb/s read and write speeds, thanks Andy!!!!

[MakAttackMusic]

THANK YOU LOOORRRRDDDD for this! This is such a wonderful hack. The blazing speed of my computer after this is quite astounding! My audio/video production software responds so much faster than before. This has saved me thousands in purchasing a new machine. Now I just gotta find some videos to update the OS. Put in a 2T Crucial drive so now I have more room and my computer can breath! This is the closest thing to getting a free computer!😁

[obscuremusik]

I had to do this a couple of years ago when my internal hdd started to fail on my 2015 imac, I ran my os from a 500gb samsung t7 ssd but have recently upgraded to m. 2 NVMe ssd and it's like a new machine 👌

[sophieeffyvazquez]

Thank you! This helped me speed up my 2015 Mac.

[SallyWildeman]

Jan 2024,
Just completed putting my iMac 2019 hard drive on a SSD.
Fantastic so happy with the results and a big, big, biggest thanks to Andrew Tsai.
What a life saver you are, great video and I did it.
Thanks👍👍👍👏👏👌👌👌

[wdungen]

Can you (or others who have done this) share the difference in "seconds or minutes" of the actually improvement time it takes to boot up their computer. What is the before/after time it takes to boot?

[mooganoid]

Superb instruction! You've just saved me as my Fusion HD went askew the other week. I'm currently waiting for the HD case to arrive in the post — thank you for the recommendation, especially regarding the chipset!

BETTER SSD RECOMMENDATION: Crucial MX500
Kingston aren't the best these days and the model you recommend doesn't hold out well in tests. Oddly, the allegedly 'superior' Crucial BX doesn't have as good write life as the MX!.

— If you have a Fusion drive I strongly suggest getting off it as soon as you can, there's a reason they 'disappeared' from the Apple line.

[timkaz]

Would there be much difference if you used an external M.2 via Thunderbolt? I'd like to see that comparison.

[beneaththefloorboards]

🔥 I watched your older video on this, forgot about this link... Puttered around numbers to get a new computer, really shouldn't now. I decided to try this on my old mac and see if I could extend the life. Ran into problems (CCC really should just tell you this!). Figured this out myself. Wish I'd watched this video first as your process was far easier (mine was the same, just with way more steps), hahaha. Alas. Just finished so haven't really had the chance to experiment with it yet, but seems WAY faster. But wanted to hop on here to say thanks for the idea! (Figured if not this one, then I can easily port to a mac mini!)

[RickyDeGove]

I'm new to this, but I would recommend not forgetting to enable TRIM support.

[JohnTheRegis]

Very useful, thank you, I need to extend a late 2013 iMac’s life for a few months and will be doing this soon! 😺

[SergeHoudeU]

Thanks so much for the Step-By-Step Instructions. My iMac 2017 has been rejuvenated 😎