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What is the best external SSD (intened use as a boot drive) for an old iMac (Mid. 2011) connected to the Thunderbolt port?

Any suggestions? The boot speed of my old iMac is slow, I would like to boot from a external SSD.


What is the best external SSD for an old iMac (Mid. 2011) that can be connected to the Thunderbolt port?

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jul 19, 2019 12:11 PM

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3 replies

Jul 19, 2019 3:39 PM in response to Mortandos

Was the boot speed of your iMac ever satisfactory? If so then it would behove you to find out if there's a cause for the slowness before modifying hardware.


Download and run the free version of Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is well know in these forums and considered a must have app.


If it doesn't do the job download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.


Copy the report


and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report


Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:




Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the culprit.



Jul 19, 2019 1:50 PM in response to Mortandos

you should change the idea of BEST to cost effective. I use the Lacie rugged thunderbolt externals. Find them at the least cost either at Best Buy, Amazon E-Bay, etc. Buy the platter drive model and use it as is if you want. I swap the platter drive for an SSD and boot from it. works fine. Sleeps fine, wakes fine and runs fine. Been doing it this way for three years. I use the internal platter drive for data only but careful not to rely on it for critical data source only.


BTW purchase a Kanex thunderbolt external to get USB 3 speed instead of using the much slower USB 2 speed.


I also use the original Cal Digit thunderbolt dock with the Lacie and that gives me front facing USB3 port.


The Kanex I now use on the MacBook Pro 10 inch early 2011.


BTW best is not important because you are NOT going to get maximum SSD speed because of lots of factors. It will be something like write 275 megs/sec and read 350 megs/sec which is plenty fast enough. You platter drive is most likely 55 and 80

Jul 19, 2019 9:33 PM in response to Mortandos

@Smokerz, thank you, do you have a link for the platter drive? When I Google it I don't see what you mentioned. I have a Samsung T5 here which I was testing, it boots fine on the USB (2) port but won't boot using an adapter connecting it to the Thunderbolt port. I assume that also wouldn't work connecting it to the Kanex USB 3 port?

What is the best external SSD (intened use as a boot drive) for an old iMac (Mid. 2011) connected to the Thunderbolt port?

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