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Markgnyc2

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 17, 2013
395
734
Here is my situation. I have a 2012 non retina MB pro with a 500GB hard drive that is now nearly full, with photos etc. The computer is basically unusably slow and therefore I don't use it. But originals of all my photos are there (and backed up on an external time machine drive). I also have a 10.5 inch ipad pro and 2017 NTB MacBook pro with a 256GB SS drive, which I use for my everyday life. I also should say I use iCloud to store my original photos. I don't really need to buy a new computer. Do you think I am ok just depending on iCloud to store my photos? If not, let me hear your ideas...
 
Get a SSD for your main drive. Then I would pull the Optical drive and replace it with a housing for the original 500GB drive you're using.

You get the benefit of running the SSD, and the secondary drive will only fire up when needed. You do lose your optical drive tho, if you still even use it.
 
Thanks. That computer is as slow as molasses. It never gets used. I don’t want to spend money upgrading it. Any other ideas?
 
The slowest part of a computer is the hard drive. It hasn’t changed much over time in comparison to the yearly processor speed bumps.

A SSD will increase the speed of the computer but anything that the CPU cannot handle it won't help. So if you don't want to spend money just sell the computer, as there is not much more you can do.

You could get a few external drives and backup that way. For backups, you need to keep copies in separate drives (in case one dies) and if the file is important a 3rd copy far away to prevent loss from fire, theft, etc (like iCloud, Dropbox or a 3rd drive in a bank safety deposit box).
 
Thanks. That computer is as slow as molasses. It never gets used. I don’t want to spend money upgrading it. Any other ideas?

An SSD will fix this. The last few MacOS releases have been optimized for SSDs and have gotten a LOT slower over the years when running on mechanical hard drives.

I'd even go as far as to say MacOS is no longer usable on a mechanical hard drive in 2018.
 
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