Can I use an SDXC Card (512MB ) as a primary Hard Drive (as booting HD with El Capitan) on my iMac 5K - Late 2015 ? it will slow the performance of the iMac ?
iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)
I did it with a 32GB SDHC UHS-I Transcend
I won't recommend running OS X from such a media, but it works just fine. I was preparing for my ACSP Yosemite exam and didn't want to mess up with the internal OS X disk.
You could if you don't mind an incredibly slow system. There are MUCH better alternatives available than using an SD card.
rkaufmann87 wrote:
You could if you don't mind an incredibly slow system.
Let's say acceptable 😉
As for my test I didn't find it was incredibly slow.
@ YuyoSaine
FWIW, flash devices were never meant to be a permanent solution. They can and do fail without warning. It's one thing to use them to create an installer for example which isn't constantly plugged in and accessed or to transfer files. I wouldn't trust it.
The OP has at minimum a Fusion drive system, by using the card he's asking about it will slow down the performance. If he's using a SSD based system then the performance will be much worse.
My guess is your iMac does not have a Fusion or SSD so you may be comparing to a SATA based HD.
Like what ? I think to buy a SSD FLASH CARD (I don't want to send my iMac to APPLE SERVICE) And I have to OPEN it and dismember until the last piece to put the SSD FLASH !!!! instructions look the link here .... it is a scary procedure ....
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+Retina+5K+Display+SSD+Replacemen t/30537
Alberto Ravasio wrote:
rkaufmann87 wrote:
You could if you don't mind an incredibly slow system.
Let's say acceptable 😉
As for my test I didn't find it was incredibly slow.
30 Mb/s (if it is a fast card) sounds slow to me
At that time I had a MacBook Pro 13" mid 2012 and as I wrote I use it as a test disk for preparing my exam. I also added I wouldn't reccomed as a main boot disk. But undoubtedly it works.
YuyoSaine wrote:
Like what ? I think to buy a SSD FLASH CARD (I don't want to send my iMac to APPLE SERVICE) And I have to OPEN it and dismember until the last piece to put the SSD FLASH !!!! instructions look the link here .... it is a scary procedure ....
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+Retina+5K+Display+SSD+Replacemen t/30537
Who said to buy a SSD? There is absolutely no advantage to using a the card you are asking about as a boot device.
The card will be very slow. I'd buy an external USB3 SSD drive or even a thunderbolt SSD drive and run that iambic from it. Will work fine. Faster than a fusion setup and definitely faster than an SDXC card.
If you are trying to speed up your computer put an SSD into a Thunderbolt enclosure. No SD RAM card is fast enough to boot your computer with. I had an emergency boot drive with utilities on an SD Card for several years but I replaced it this fall with a little USB 3 SSD.
flash and ssd dics too have a limited amount of times each cell can be written to before it dies
with ssd dics the technology called trim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(computing)
make the ssd last longer before it dies
pretty sure an sd card would not support trim so if you could get it to work it would kill the sd card pretty fast
Just to add to what's already been said, if it were practical or viable to use Flash or SD cards as a hard drive, no one would be buying SSD drives and you would see recommendations to use them as such all over the web.
You may use the card for time machine
FWIW, that 90MB/sec read and 45 MB/sec write speed is actually
slower writing than a 7200 RPM HDD on a USB3 port
(usually 75-100 MB/sec RD/WR) and reads are not much faster.
Also, those speeds are for very, very short burst transfers. It is a numbers
game that the manufacturers of these devices play.
Can I use an SDXC Card (512MB ) as a primary Hard Drive (as booting HD with El Capitan) on my iMac 5K - Late 2015 ? it will slow the performance of the iMac ?
