Late 2013 iMac 27 - run entirely from external SSD?

[bluffalo]

Hi there,

Researching for a friend that has a

Apple iMac 27-Inch "Core i5" 3.2 (Late 2013)​

It has an internal 1TB spinning drive and she says it's slow - of course it is! Probably close to failure too.
So, without seeing the computer, I should be able to buy an external USB3 SSD (Eg Samsung T7) and simply plug it in to the USB port, install Catalina on it and set it as the boot drive right?

Then once restored from time machine and set up how she wants it, to avoid confusion and potential problems, I could format the internal HD and leave it empty or label it "do not use" or something similar?

Should the external SSD be APFS?

thanks pals

 

[Boyd01]

I ran my 2012 Mini for several years from an external 1tb Samsung T3 and it worked perfectly. Not so familiar with the 2013 iMac, does it have USB-C ports? If not, save your money and get a T5 instead of T7, it should be just as fast if connected to a USB-A port.

I use APFS on all my external SSD's, but don't think it's a requirement.

 

[glenthompson]

You might want to setup the internal drive as a backup for the SSD.

 

[bluffalo]

excellent, thank you!

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"So, without seeing the computer, I should be able to buy an external USB3 SSD (Eg Samsung T7) and simply plug it in to the USB port, install Catalina on it and set it as the boot drive right?"

YES.
This is "as easy as pie". ANYONE can do this.

Get a 1tb SSD.
It doesn't have to be a t7.
It could be a t5.

It could even be a "bare" 2.5" SATA SSD, and enclosure like this:

Inateck 2.5 Inch USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure External SATA HDD and SSD Case - Optimized for 9.5mm 7mm 2.5" SSD, Tool Free (FE2002)

Attention: package contains an extra foam sticker for 7 mm thickness hard drives, you should attach the sticker to the original one inside the lid before you insert the hard drive; 12.5 mm hard drives might be incompatible with this product. 70% faster than traditional USB 3.0 With UASP transfer ...

www.amazon.com

For Catalina, format to APFS, GUID partition format.

Next, download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

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

Now, use CCC to "clone" the contents of the internal HDD to the SSD.
If CCC asks if you wish to clone the recovery partition as well, YES, you want to do this.

When done, go to the startup disk preference pane and set the SSD to be the new boot drive.

Then, reboot.
Things should go much better.

The internal drive could now become "the backup" for the SSD.
I would use either CCC or SuperDuper to maintain it that way.

 

[FUKTARD]

OP wrote:
"So, without seeing the computer, I should be able to buy an external USB3 SSD (Eg Samsung T7) and simply plug it in to the USB port, install Catalina on it and set it as the boot drive right?"

YES.
This is "as easy as pie". ANYONE can do this.

Get a 1tb SSD.
It doesn't have to be a t7.
It could be a t5.

It could even be a "bare" 2.5" SATA SSD, and enclosure like this:

Inateck 2.5 Inch USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure External SATA HDD and SSD Case - Optimized for 9.5mm 7mm 2.5" SSD, Tool Free (FE2002)

Attention: package contains an extra foam sticker for 7 mm thickness hard drives, you should attach the sticker to the original one inside the lid before you insert the hard drive; 12.5 mm hard drives might be incompatible with this product. 70% faster than traditional USB 3.0 With UASP transfer ...

www.amazon.com

For Catalina, format to APFS, GUID partition format.

Next, download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

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

Now, use CCC to "clone" the contents of the internal HDD to the SSD.
If CCC asks if you wish to clone the recovery partition as well, YES, you want to do this.

When done, go to the startup disk preference pane and set the SSD to be the new boot drive.

Then, reboot.
Things should go much better.

The internal drive could now become "the backup" for the SSD.
I would use either CCC or SuperDuper to maintain it that way.

Once this clone procedure is complete, and the startup disk is set to the external SSD, can i now erase/ format the original internal HD to use for extra storage and rename it? And if so, what is the best format settings (exfat,apfs,journaled...) for the internal drive?

 

[KeesMacPro]

Once this clone procedure is complete, and the startup disk is set to the external SSD, can i now erase/ format the original internal HD to use for extra storage and rename it? And if so, what is the best format settings (exfat,apfs,journaled...) for the internal drive?

Yes, you can erase and format the internal disk after successfully cloning to the external.
I would also set the external to the default boot disk in preferences (if it's the only disk with an OS it will boot from it anyway, but setting this as default will improve boot time).

APFS is mandatory for disks with Mojave and newer installed.
For a data disk or TM backup, GUID partition and Mac OS Journaled (=HFS+) is the preferred format.

 

[FUKTARD]

Yes, you can erase and format the internal disk after successfully cloning to the external.
I would also set the external to the default boot disk in preferences (if it's the only disk with an OS it will boot from it anyway, but setting this as default will improve boot time).

APFS is mandatory for disks with Mojave and newer installed.
For a data disk or TM backup, GUID partition and Mac OS Journaled (=HFS+) is the preferred format.

Thank you so much.. great reply!

 

[lasloduncan]

I did that ..my boot drive is a samsung t5 1tb ss velcord on the back of my 2013 imac works slicker than snot i used carbon copy cloner free and simple at boot up time you will need to go prefeece and change starup disk

 

[Poncho]

I have done this too, using a Samsung T5. Have been running like this for nearly a year. No problems. But set the start up disk to the external drive as this does indeed speed up boot time considerably

 

[andybwell]

I have a 2013 IMAC 27' and have been running a Samsung t7 using CCC. As I have an OED that will not run on Catalina, I left the internal on high sierra and use a 2nd SSD for a back-up. I just swap back and forth between the systems. I unplug the SSDs to avoid confusion on Restart. Works great!