2015 iMac External SSD?

[tensixturtle]

Hello,
I have started to notice that my 2015 iMac's 7200rpm HDD is slow compared to my other computers with an SSD. I was wondering what might be my options to try to make it faster? I am too nervous to change the internal HDD because of the high risk of breaking the display. Is there a TB2 to SATA adapter, or better yet, a TB2 SSD? Would any of those bring upgrades to the performance at all?
Thank you is advance.

 

[Fishrrman]

Don't bother with thunderbolt.
USB3 will be fine.

You need an external USB3 SSD.

It can be either one that is "pre-built" and ready-to-use
or
Build one yourself with a 2.5" SATA SSD and a USB3 enclosure.

A Samsung t7 might be a good choice in a pre-built drive.

I like Crucial and Sandisk "bare" SSDs.
An enclosure like this would do:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

www.amazon.com

What to do when you have the SSD ready:
- Connect it to the Mac
- Initialize/Erase it using disk utility
- For High Sierra and earlier, choose HFS+ (Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format)
- For Mojave an later, choose APFS with GUID partition format.

Then quit disk utility.

I recommend the following for moving the contents of your drive over:
Download either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
Both work well and BOTH are FREE to download and use for 30 days.
(Doing it "my way" will cost nothing)

Use either CCC or SD to "clone" the contents of your internal drive to the SSD.
This is literally "child's play on the Mac".

Then, open the Startup Disk preference pane and set the SSD to be the boot drive.

Then, reboot.

It's really very VERY easy.
I booted and ran my 2012 Mini for SIX YEARS from an external SSD, and it still runs that way "on the back table".

Good luck.

 

[tensixturtle]

@Fishrrman I will try that, thank you for the detailed advice. I really appreciate it!