Internal or External SSD to late 2012 27" Imac 3.2ghz i5 1TB HDD?

[skeeknaek]

Are there any significant performance differences between installing my Samsung QVO 1TB internally vs externally via usb3? I will go through the trouble of an internal install if it's worth it. If cracking open the iMac, I might pursue upgrading the processor too, but heard the options are limited for compatibility with any major improvements there too. Thanks!

 

[mdgm]

I would try with an external first. USB3 should still give decent performance though internal would be a little quicker.

 

[Fishrrman]

The internally-mounted SSD will be a little faster, but there's a significant risk of breaking something when you pry open the iMac to install it.

In the words of Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry), "do ya feel lucky ???"

Setting up the SSD as an external USB3 drive avoids these risks.
It WILL run a little slower, but I believe you'll still get 80-85% of the speeds you would see if you had installed it internally.

Another advantage of the external SSD is that when you get a new Mac, you just unplug the drive and "move it over".

 

[glenthompson]

While the external might be a little slower it will still be significantly faster than the spinning drive.

 

[sracer]

I've "upgraded" a 2014 21" iMac and a 2017 21" iMac (both with 5400 rpm harddrives) with external SSDs. The difference was night and day. Each were an order of magnitude faster than they were straight from the factory. If there would be even greater performance improvements by using an internal SSD, any improvement beyond the external drive wouldn't be worth the risk of damaging the iMacs.

The improvement by going to an external SSD is THAT good.