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I use an exterior Sabrent 500gb SSD as a start up and primary hard drive for my 2019 iMac. If I load software will it know to load on the exterior drive instead of the internal HD that I'm not using? Or should I disable the internal hard drive somehow?
iMac 27″, macOS 12.1
Hi there!
When you install new software, its default installation location will be the startup disk you're currently using, which sounds like it's the external SSD.
While you cannot disable the internal disk, you can delete all volumes on it, so it doesn't appear in macOS apps, such as the Finder. Before doing so, check that there's no important data on it:
When you're ready to erase the internal disk, you can follow the Apple Support article Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support:
1. Open the Disk Utility appon your Mac by double-clicking Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder.
2. Choose View > Show All Devices.
3. In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase (the internal disk will be non-indented and at the top of hierarchy), then click the Erase button.
4. Click the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose GUID Partition Map.
If the Scheme pop-up menu isn’t available, make sure you selected the storage device you want to erase—it’s at the top of the hierarchy.
5. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose APFS.
6. Enter a name you'll remember, such as "Delete".
7. Click Erase, then click Done.
After erasing the internal disk, you'll see a new APFS volume on it. Choose it, then select Edit > Delete APFS Volume... to remove the internal volume on your Mac.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions, let us know!
- Jack
Hi there!
When you install new software, its default installation location will be the startup disk you're currently using, which sounds like it's the external SSD.
While you cannot disable the internal disk, you can delete all volumes on it, so it doesn't appear in macOS apps, such as the Finder. Before doing so, check that there's no important data on it:
When you're ready to erase the internal disk, you can follow the Apple Support article Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support:
1. Open the Disk Utility app
2. Choose View > Show All Devices.
3. In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase (the internal disk will be non-indented and at the top of hierarchy), then click the Erase button
4. Click the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose GUID Partition Map.
If the Scheme pop-up menu isn’t available, make sure you selected the storage device you want to erase—it’s at the top of the hierarchy.
5. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose APFS.
6. Enter a name you'll remember, such as "Delete".
7. Click Erase, then click Done.
After erasing the internal disk, you'll see a new APFS volume on it. Choose it, then select Edit > Delete APFS Volume... to remove the internal volume on your Mac.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions, let us know!
- Jack
I erased and formatted mine then used it as a data storage disk. Being old and slow isn't a problem for non critical data storage.
Once you set the external drive as startup, it'll keep booting from it until you change it.
If you're not restarting the Mac, or logging in and out all of the time, you could simply eject the internal hard drive.
Should I disable my internal HD if I use primarily an external SSD?
