Late 2012 iMac - pimp me up! (with an SSD)

[JonL12345]

My late 2012 i7 iMac is still running at a very usable pace, except when it comes to using Windows 10 on Parallels. That takes 2 minutes to load and on first load of Chrome, its 25 seconds!

So, I ran a hard drive test using DriveDX and the results were not good for the SSD part of my fusion drive:

Lots of wear, signalling not far from end of life. Add in an error that cannot be fixed with DiskUtility and I figure I should switch to an external 1TB SSD drive. My internal fusion drive has a 128gb SSD part (less than I thought it was!) and a 1TB mechanical part.

I only found out yesterday about the possibility of installing an external SSD drive, so know little about all this right now.

Is this an easy thing to do? Do I need to get other software to assist in this? Will it likely fix the corruption on my drive as reported by Disk Utility? Should I do a clean install of Mojave on the new SSD and somehow migrate my data and apps and Parallels partitions across? Or just migrate everything across as a clone?

Need some advice on this because currently I only have a few vague ideas.

Thanks.

 

[velocityg4]

You can just clone the drive using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you want you can do a clean install on the new SSD. Although I'd only do that if you want to manually copy files over for a cleaned up install. You can do Migration Assistant but you may as well just clone the drive rather than Migration Assistant. My preference is a clean install, manually copying files and installing apps.

After it's all setup to your liking. You can wipe the internals with Disk Utility. It won't fix any physical problem with the drive. But wiping may clear out some corruptions in the file system.

For external SSD you have a range of options
- Thunderbolt NVMe is the fastest and most expensive.
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 to NVMe is the next best
- Then there is USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen 2 to SATA. Although there isn't much saving over the USB 3.1 Gen 2 NVMe option. So, I don't see the point on Gen 2 capable computers. The worse NVMe is still better than the best SATA.

Thunderbolt 3 NVMe Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-...erbolt+3+nvme+enclosure&qid=1602247818&sr=8-5

NVMe SSD (The HP EX950 is cheaper than the Samsung 970 Evo but nearly the same performance) https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PyhKHx/hp-ex950-1-tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-5ms23aaabc

USB 3.1 Gen 2 Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Ad...+2+nvme&qid=1602248054&sr=8-7#customerReviews

NVMe SSD (Given USB Gen 2 Limitations faster NVMe make no sense. So, save some money on a budget NVMe)

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KMkgXL/crucial-p2-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct1000p2ssd8

 

[JonL12345]

Wow, I never even really considered NVMe's, although I am a little unsure what they are. I assume they are just a tech that is faster than SATA. i.e. the pipe that connects the SSD to the motherboard is wider on a NVMe compared to the NVMe. Is that about right?

I was thinking I would need something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MU...words=ssd+drive+for+mac&qid=1602207138&sr=8-4

...but a 1TB version.

However, what you are saying is that is going to be slower than the NVMe? May I ask how much slower these are? Are they like half the speed?

Here is a popular NVMe I saw on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT...state+drive&qid=1602249846&s=computers&sr=1-3

Would that be suitable?

Edit: I've just noticed this:

Does that mean USB 3.0 Bus is only available to my keyboard and mouse?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I only found out yesterday about the possibility of installing an external SSD drive, so know little about all this right now."

Mac Lesson:
The Mac DOES NOT CARE where the boot drive is located.**
So long as it finds a good copy of the OS, it will boot and run happily.
** The t2-equipped Macs change this. One now has to boot to the recovery partition, go to Startup Security, and DISABLE its "protections" to boot from an external drive. The the lesson still applies (at least for now).

Another way to look at it:
The motherboard has both internal AND external connectors for "boot drives".
Think of an external boot drive as "just being connected differently" (via USB3).

Having said all that...
IF you have USB3 on the 2012 iMac (I think some early ones had only USB2), then it will make good sense to boot and run from an external USB3 SSD.

What I'd suggest:
Put it together yourself.
Shop around and buy a 2.5" SATA SSD of your choice. I like Crucial and Sandisk, but I think you'll do fine with just about any SSD, including the "budget" ones.

Next, get a 2.5" USB3 enclosure like this one:

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)

tinyurl.com

You don't even need tools, it just snaps together.

Then, use Disk Utility to erase/initialize the SSD.
If you're using High Sierra or earlier, erase to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format
If you're using Mojave, erase to APFS with GUID partition format.

Then, download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, so this costs you nothing.

Then, use CCC to clone the contents of the fusion drive to the SSD.

Finally, go to the startup disk pref pane and designate the SSD to be the boot drive, then reboot.

The hardest part is waiting for the clone to complete. The rest is easy.
You should now see read speeds in the 420-430MBps range.

Closing thoughts:
For a 2012 iMac, you're wasting money with nvme, thunderbolt, etc.
USB3 is "all you need", and nothing will beat its performance for you.

Save this thread.
When done, come back and give us your impressions.
I predict that you'll be very pleased...!

 

[JonL12345]

Closing thoughts:
For a 2012 iMac, you're wasting money with nvme, thunderbolt, etc.
USB3 is "all you need", and nothing will beat its performance for you.

Save this thread.
When done, come back and give us your impressions.
I predict that you'll be very pleased...!

Thanks for the detail!

Couple of questions...Why would I be wasting money with nvme? My 2012 is an i7 with 16gb ram if that makes any difference.

Why would I be pleased? What is unclear to me is that the Fusion drive I have is connected to the motherboard, while the external SSD is connected via a cable. So I wonder if that cable becomes a bottleneck somehow?

 

[Juicy Box]

I have a similarly spec Late 2012 27" iMac with the i7, 24GB RAM, and the 2GB 680MX, and it is still a beast after all these years.

I do video encoding on it almost every day, and it is running great.

It got it with the 1TB Fusion Drive, but have since defused the drives. I use the internal HDD as a daily backup with CCC.

I have used many different external boot drive before on the Late 2012 iMac and my many other Macs. I have even used old iPods as boot drives.


I am currently using an external Samsung X5 TB3 NVMe SSD, and get speeds of almost 900MBps.

The Late 2012 iMac's TB1 ports to not provide power for TB3 devices so I am using a TB3 dock to power the X5. The dock is connected to the iMac with a TB2 cable and Apple bidirectional TB2/TB3 adapter.

The TB3 NVMe is the fastest speeds you can get on your Late 2012 without doing a striping RAID.


My future plans includes replacing the internal blade with a Apple's 768GB one or a third party 1TB one, and replacing the SATA HDD with a SSD, then setting up the two drives as an internal RAID0. This would be faster than the single TB3 NVMe.

Why would I be wasting money with nvme?

The point was probably that the gains achieved with having an NVMe would not be worth the the extra costs to achieve those gains.

The 2012 has USB speeds of 5Gbps, so an NVMe SSD over USB wouldn't really be different than an SATA SSD over USB.

There would be a significant difference using a TB3 NVMe, but there is a significant cost to use a TB3 drive on your Late 2012 iMac. You need to buy the drive, which will be pricey, and if it is not a power drive (most likely will not have its own power) you will need to buy a TB3 dock to power it. You will need Apple's bidirectional adapter, which only Apple makes.

I wouldn't say that the TB3 NVMe is a waste of money, as you could always use the TB3 drive and dock with a newer Mac when you decide to get a new one.

But, it is not cheap and could be hard to justify when a USB3 SATA SSD would be a good upgrade for a fraction of the price. You can get a 1TB SATA SSD and a USB3/SATA cable for less than $100.

A downside using an SSD over USB to keep in mind about is that you will not have TRIM support on the MacOS. This could lead to slow write speeds (not at first) and premature failure of the drive (I am not sure about this one, but I have read about it).

Windows has TRIM over USB, so if you use if for Windows, this shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Juicy Box]

What is unclear to me is that the Fusion drive I have is connected to the motherboard, while the external SSD is connected via a cable. So I wonder if that cable becomes a bottleneck somehow?

The bottleneck of the Fusion Drive is the HDD. Internal SATA3 is faster than the external USB, but not as fast as the TB ports. If your internal HDD was replaced with a SSD, it would be a lot faster and much more responsive.


Also, Windows only uses the HDD part of the Fusion Drive, so you get none of the speed benefits of the SSD part of the Fusion Drive while using Windows.

 

[JonL12345]

@vertical smile Bit confused by your post.

The bottleneck of the Fusion Drive is the HDD. Internal SATA3 is faster than the external USB, but not as fast as the TB ports. If your internal HDD was replaced with a SSD, it would be a lot faster and much more responsive.

When you are referring to "replaced with a SSD", are you talking about an internal SSD or external?

Also, Windows only uses the HDD part of the Fusion Drive, so you get none of the speed benefits of the SSD part of the Fusion Drive while using Windows.

I thought a Fusion drive would just use the SSD for Windows if there was space?

 

[Juicy Box]

Does that mean USB 3.0 Bus is only available to my keyboard and mouse?

No, the Late 2012 iMac's USB ports are all USB3, or what is now called USB 3.2 Gen1.

It looks like you have a wired Keyboard which has USB ports on it, creating a USB2 hub. Your Mouse appears to be wireless, and maybe the receiver is plugged into the USB ports on the back of the iMac?

The iSight camera and BT internally connects to USB2.

If you go with a USB SSD, I suggest using one of the ports on the back of the iMac. The keyboards ports are not powered and are the slower USB2 speeds, but will would work if you really needed it to.

 

[Juicy Box]

When you are referring to "replaced with a SSD", are you talking about an internal SSD or external?

I am referring to replacing the internal HDD with an internal SATA SSD.

EDIT: but the statement would also work for external SSD, but I was referring to internal SSD at the time of typing that sentence.

I thought a Fusion drive would just use the SSD for Windows if there was space?

Unless things have changed, bootcamp partitions the HDD for the Windows' boot drive. It doesn't use any part of the SSD for Windows, so that would probably explain your slow experience.

 

[JonL12345]

I am getting excited about the thought of getting an external SSD drive! I forgot that the Fusion drive only has a small SSD. No wonder some things like Windows were slow!

 

[JonL12345]

Unless things have changed, bootcamp partitions the HDD for the Windows' boot drive. It doesn't use any part of the SSD for Windows, so that would probably explain your slow experience.

I am not using Bootcamp for partitions. I am using Parallels. Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Juicy Box]

I am not using Bootcamp for partitions. I am using Parallels. Or am I misunderstanding something?

Sorry about that. I was confusing another thread and yours.

If using Parallels, maybe you are using the SSD part of the Fusion. But, like you said it is only 128GB and that is shared with the MacOS, so you were probably still using the HDD, at least in part, when using Windows in Parallels.

It has been a long while since I used Parallels, and I didn't use it long because games did not run well on it.

I can't remember how Parallels partitions the Windows boot drive. I wonder if it would be similar to bootcamp, and the Windows OS would just be running off of the HDD part of the Fusion Drive.

Maybe someone else more familiar with Parallels can answer that.

 

[JonL12345]

My hard drive is pretty full and the disk was constantly thrashing when opening Chrome etc in Windows. I doubt the SSD drive got a look-in!

 

[velocityg4]

My bad. I thought I read 2017 not 2012 on the iMac. My post was for that model.

I'd just get a cheap USB 3.0 SATA 2.5" enclosure and install an SATA SSD of your choice for the 2012 iMac.

 

[McScooby]

I've got one of these external on a mini, way smaller than a SATA w/enclosure.

Seagate Barracuda Fast SSD 2TB External Solid State Drive Portable – USB-C USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, Xbox, & PS4-3-Year Rescue Service (STJM2000400)

Boot games faster, transfer files seamlessly, and stream stored videos to your computer without lag with BarraCuda Fast SSD, a portable USB-C drive dishing out speeds of up to 540MB/s, space for an ever-growing content library, reversible USB-C connectivity, and special file syncing software to h...

www.amazon.com

 

[glenthompson]

If you have a 1tb fusion drive, the SSD portion is only 32gb. The 128gb SSD is only available on the 3 tb model. Replacing the spinning drive with a SSD is moderately difficult. Replacing the blade SSD is significantly more difficult. If you’re not into hardware repair then an external drive makes the most sense.

 

[Daud]

Listening to the conversation as I have also a 2012 27in iMac. I have just bought OWC drive but have not installed yet.
I need to repair the stand spring so if I will be inside, I planned to do the upgrade inserting this blade SSD.

Is is something only OWC offers or is the drive a standard one ? I just went for simplicity getting all things together but realize that sometimes OWC option is costly.

The comment about Raid0 above made me wondering, can I combine the OWC 240GB drive with a a different SSD replacing the original HD and set it up as RAID despite they are not identical ? What software for the raid ?

 

[Juicy Box]

If you have a 1tb fusion drive, the SSD portion is only 32gb. The 128gb SSD is only available on the 3 tb model.

This is not accurate.

All Fusion Drives had 128GB SSD portions for the 2012-2014 models.

Starting with the 2015 iMac, Apple reduced the size of the SSD in the 1TB Fusion Drive to 24GB, while keeping the 2TB and 3TB at 128GB.

For the 2017 iMac and up, the 1TB Fusion Drive's SSDs were increased slightly to 32GB.

 

[JonL12345]

@vertical smile You are accurate. It is 128gb. But that was still less than I thought it was.

It seems like a good choice would be the Sansung T5 1TB, for £146.

Samsung T5 1 TB USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps, Type-C) External Solid State Drive (Portable SSD) Deep Black (MU-PA1T0B)

Samsung’ s T5 Portable SSD is an external data storage innovation: storage redefined. It transfers data faster, and stores it safely with our advanced V-NAND technology and security features. The sleek and compact design is lightweight, yet highly durable, making the T5 the only portable solution...

www.amazon.co.uk

I have read up about NVMe, but there seems to be some incompatibility issues, and I don't want to buy something that I find I can't then use. Also, I am not sure what the USB 3 bus speed is. Maybe the NVMe may run at double the speed of the Samsung SATA, but then if the bus speed is the bottleneck, it won't make any difference. Then again, I might have got this all wrong!

 

[Juicy Box]

I have read up about NVMe, but there seems to be some incompatibility issues

What have you read? Like I mentioned earlier, I am currently using a NVM TB3 drive on my Late 2012 iMac.

I already mentioned the limitations, mainly needing something to power it, such as a TB3 dock.

It is expensive to go the TB3 route, and probably not worth it for most people unless they really want that high speeds.

Or maybe if someone was planning on buying a new Mac soon, and wanted to wait a while, they could use the TB3 drive to speed up their current older Mac and continue to use the TB3 drive at full speed when they eventually get a new Mac.

Also, I am not sure what the USB 3 bus speed is. Maybe the NVMe may run at double the speed of the Samsung SATA, but then if the bus speed is the bottleneck, it won't make any difference.

I said this earlier.

The person that suggested this thought you were on a 2017 iMac not a 2012.

You would probably see about 400Mbps over USB with a NVMe or SATA since the bus will be the bottleneck.

It seems like a good choice would be the Sansung T5 1TB, for £146.

Like I already mentioned, getting a SATA SSD and a cheap enclosure or even a USB3/SATA cable would be a good option to hold you over until your next Mac.

It wouldn't have TRIM support and it wouldn't be as fast as replacing your internal HDD with an internal SSD, or a TB3 drive, but it is relatively cheap.

People tend to like the Samsung T5, but getting a separate SSD and enclosure or USB3/SATA cable will be a lot cheaper.

 

[JonL12345]

TB3 will be way too expensive for me.

I don't really understand this trim thing. Is it to do with effectively defragging a SSD drive? I know you shouldn't do a defrag on an SSD as it wears out the drive, but I'm sure I read that it is related somehow.

When you say slow write speeds, I mean how slow are we talking? Same as a mechanical drive?

I imagine that most of the speed gains for typical users with an SSD will be from read, since when you load an app, its read mostly. Data tends to be smaller file sizes, unless we are talking huge media or audio files.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You are WAY over-thinking this.
Just get the USB3 SSD, plug it in, erase it, and put your stuff onto it.
Then reboot.

This isn't much more than "child's play on a Mac"...

 

[JonL12345]

@Fishrrman Do you think the Samsung T5 is a good choice?

 

[Fishrrman]

Samsung t5 will work.
Be sure to erase it first to the Mac format you need.