External Ssd For Mac

admin

  1. External Ssd For Mac Reviews
  2. External Ssd For Macbook Pro

The hard drives in the new 2018 Mac mini are PCIe which means they are very fast, but also expensive. Unlike previous models, you cannot upgrade the internal hard drive. It is soldered in. But thanks to the USB-C interface on the new Mac Mini, an external SSD drive is now a good option. I chose to buy the smaller (and cheaper) 250GB Mac Mini and supplement it with a 500GB external SSD drive.

ADATA – 250GB External SSD for MacBook Type-C. If you have SSD with USB 3.1 connectivity, then there is no need to spend money on any other. ADATA’s SSD is an amazing matching for Mac because it has all the things which can satisfy the requirement of Mac including type C interface. Exclusive Deals for our External SSD now here at MacMall your #1 technology solutions in the country. Call us now at 1-800-MACMALL.

USB-C Gen 2 can handle the speeds of most (but not all) SSD drives. So unless you want a very high-end solution, you’ll be fine using an external SSD over USB. An external SSD drive plugged in via USB-C will only be 1/5 the speed of the new internal PCIe drives, but it’s still fast. The external SSD drive on my new mac mini is faster than the internal non-PCIe SSD drive on my previous mac mini.

1. Buying a drive.

My first purchase was a Samsung S5. It’s fast, it’s USB-C Gen 2, and it’s cheap. But it caused a 30-second delay each time my mac booted up. Apparently, this is a common problem nnd Apple support

  • Ever since I wrote about installing Windows 10 on a Mac earlier this year, I’ve received tons of questions about installing Windows 10 on an external drive using Boot Camp drivers. The truth is.
  • Best USB-C Hard Drives for Mac in 2019. Lory Gil and Mick Symons. Lory's go-to external hard drive is Samsung T5 SSD because SSDs are much more reliable, and this one, in particular, has super-fast data transfer speeds. The G-Drive is Mick's favorite portable hard drive because it's affordable and reliable.
  • Connected the external SSD to the iMac via USB-C. Used Disk Utility on the iMac to format the SSD as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID partition map. Downloaded High Sierra and installed Mac OS onto the external SSD. This step could be replaced by doing a drive clone using Carbon Copy Cloner or similar software, but a.
  • Speed Up Your Mac with an External SSD If you have an iMac with Thunderbolt or USB 3 but without an SSD you can boot from a full-speed external SSD without opening the case. It’s possible for that Mac to boot in under 30 seconds and to jump generations ahead for under $200.
  • How much of a speed loss would there be if I were to use an external SSD as the system drive on my 2017 iMac as opposed to an internal SSD? I could hook the external drive up via whatever the faster input method would be (Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3.1 I assume).

The drive I ended up using was the Seagate Fast SSD. It’s fast and works well. I purchased the 500GB version. I’ve already filled it up so end hindsight I publish should have gone for the 1 TB version but I was trying to save soem money.

2. What to put on it.

External Ssd For Mac

Now that you’ve connected your drive you need to choose which data to store on it. I used to recommend using your new SSD as the boot drive, but given that the internal SSD drive is now faster, you are better off booting off your internal drive and just putting some files on the external drive.

I kept OSX and my applications on my internal boot drive, as well as my users home folder. So my internal SSD drive looks like this:

  • Applications
  • Library
  • System
  • Users

I moved most the large folders from inside my Users folder onto my external SSD. I did not change my home folder to be the external SSD. I copied the files out of my home folder. I did al this when I was migrating the data accross

Here’s what I moved to my new external SSD Drive:

External Ssd For Mac Reviews

  • Documents (from my user folder – 40GB)
  • Downloads (from my user folder – 5GB)
  • Mainstage Sounds (from System Folder – 60GB)
  • Movies (from my user folder – 10GB)
  • Music (from my user folder – 60GB)
  • Pictures (from my user folder including my photos library – 140GB)

External Ssd For Macbook Pro

When you move your Music, Pictures and MainStage files you need to tell iTunes, Apple Photos and Mainstage the new location.

For iTunes, firstly copy all your music files across to the new SSD. (users/yourname/music/iTunes) Then go to Preferences, Advanced, and find ‘iTunes Media folder location’. Click ‘Change’ and select the new folder.

For Photos you need to copy the folder called ‘Photo’s Library’ across, then restart the Photos App while holding the Option key. This gives you the option to select your new Photo library from the external SSD.

Photos should open the newly copied library and you should be able to see your photos. If that is the case then go to preferences and select ‘use as System Photo Library’ to make this change permanent.

There are some applications that will still want to use files from within your home folder on your internal SSD. That’s okay. I allow them to do that.

I find it helpful in my own mind to know which files are where so I have my documents, my music and my photos on my external SSD and I have everything else on my internal one.

But you can arrange them how you like.

Related posts:

How to speed up your mac with a Solid State SSD DriveWhat’s the best SSD drive for a Mac and how do I install it?Does my mac need more memory?How to get the most out of your ipod and laptop batteryAdding Network Storage (NAS) to your MacRoss Smithsays:June 30, 2019 at 7:56 am

Hello Wayne – This article answered a question I’ve had about buying a Mac mini and its small amount of internal storage. I chatted with Apple support yesterday. They only spoke in generalities, so I said goodbye once that became obvious. Instead of needing to go into an Apple store, I have the answer in your article!

I am not sure I need the speed of an external SSD, however, I will price them now. We use a 2011 iMac for using the internet, viewing photos and also watching TV. Its display is going, its internal HD is failing, and I cannot find a good repair shop. Everything about the mini seems to fit EXCEPT it wasn’t obvious about the external drive.

I found your website through a link to your comment on a monitor for the mini. That was interesting, but this article gave me what I really needed to know. Thank you.

ReplyWaynesays:June 30, 2019 at 11:42 pm

Yes it will depend on what you want to store on it. If it’s just pictures or audio files or a time machine backup then a standard HD will be fine, if you are using it to store applications, or application data, or movies, or stuff that you access a lot, an SSD will be much faster.

ReplyGregsays:September 19, 2019 at 11:22 am

Thank you for the clear description in this article! I’m in the situation of using a combination Mac Mini and external SSD.

Would you have suggestions for back-up configuration and software? Of course, I’d like to back up both devices, but will I have to do it to two separate back-up drives or can I combine them in one … ?

ReplyWaynesays:September 20, 2019 at 4:13 am

Yes grab a 2TB or 4TB drive and you can time-machine both drives to it, or split it in 2 partitions and use CCC to back up each drive to it.

Reply

Leave a Reply

By default, your Mac starts up from its built-in hard disk, but a startup disk can be any storage device that contains an operating system compatible with your Mac. For example, if you install macOS on an internal or external drive, your Mac can recognize that drive as a startup disk. You can then follow the steps in this article to start up from it.

Use Startup Disk preferences

When you use Startup Disk preferences to select a startup disk, your Mac starts up from that disk until you choose a different one.

  1. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click Startup Disk.
  2. Click and enter your administrator password.
  3. Select your startup disk, then restart your Mac.

If you see a message that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk, check the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility.

Use Startup Manager

When you use Startup Manager to select a startup disk, your Mac starts up from that disk once, then returns to using the disk selected in Startup Disk preferences.

  1. Press and hold the Option key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
  2. Release the Option key when you see the Startup Manager window.
    If your Mac is protected by a firmware password, you can release the key when you're asked to enter the password.
  3. Select your startup disk, then click the arrow under its icon, or press Return.
    If you press and hold the Control key during this step, your selection is saved in Startup Disk preferences, so it persists until you change it.

If your Mac is using OS X Lion 10.7.3 or later, you can also use this method to start up from your Time Machine backup disk. Startup Manager identifies your Time Machine backup as ”EFI Boot.”

If you can't select your startup disk or start up from it

Check for these possibilities if you can't see your disk in Startup Disk preferences or Startup Manager, or your Mac won't start up from it.

Check for a valid operating system on the startup disk

Make sure that your startup disk is using a version of macOS that's compatible with your Mac. You might need to reinstall macOS on that disk.

Check startup security settings

If you're using a Mac that has the Apple T2 Security Chip, check the settings in Startup Security Utility. These settings determine whether your Mac can start up from another disk.

Check for Option ROM firmware

If you're in Startup Manager and can't see your startup disk, press Option-Shift-Command-Period. If that works, do this each time you want to start up from the device or from a startup disk connected to it.

To enhance system security, Mac computers with up-to-date software don’t show devices that have Option ROM firmware until you press these keys in Startup Manager to load the firmware. On Mac models from early 2015 or earlier, you can disable this security feature to load Option ROM firmware automatically. This removes an important protection against potential unauthorized access to your Mac by other people with physical access to it.

  1. Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. Type sudo nvram enable-legacy-orom-behavior=1, then press Return.
    To undo this command, enter sudo nvram -d enable-legacy-orom-behavior.

If you're using a firmware password on your Mac, the ability to load Option ROM firmware automatically or manually is disabled as an additional security protection. If you want to remove this additional protection but keep your firmware password:

  1. Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. Type this command, then press Return:
    sudo firmwarepasswd -setmode command -allow-oroms
    To undo this command, enter sudo firmwarepasswd -setmode command.
  3. Type the administrator password for your user account, then press Return.
  4. Type your firmware password, then press Return.
  5. Restart your Mac.