Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Fastest external SSD for iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

I am running out of disk space on my imac and i am trying to extend the life until the new imacs come out next year(actually who knows when)


I have watched a couple of videos and swapping out the existing SSD does not look like something i want to tackle.


It appears the best option is to move some of my stuff to an external SSD.


What kind of things should i look at when looking for a SSD. I assume i use thunderbolt3?


I will be accessing these files often via my IDE, so speed is important


I am looking for some one that has done this recently and what their experience was , and any hardware suggestions


Thanks

Posted on Aug 17, 2021 6:22 AM

Reply

Similar questions

5 replies

Aug 17, 2021 12:27 PM in response to paries

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


The absolute fastest would be an OWC Envoy Pro SX - MacSales.com (OWC) (up to 2847MB/s).


Another very fast option would be the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro External Drive with Thunderbolt 3 - Apple (up to 2800MB/s).


The following USB-C SSD drives are also fast:


Cheers,


Jack

Fastest external SSD for iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.