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andrei_c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 1, 2017
2
0
Aalborg, Denmark
I have a iMac 27, 3.4 late 2013 standard model and I want to make it better by booting from an external SSD disk via TB2. Now SSD speeds of 500MB/s would be ok but if it would be possible I would like using something like RAID 0 in order to get higher speeds (or maybe you know other solutions for getting better speeds than SATA3 on TB2). I would like to have TRIM support and the unit has to be bootable and also support sleep mode on iMac. I narrowed my search to these solutions:

AKiTiO Thunder2 Duo Pro - hardware raid. TRIM is supported but only in non raid configurations (I'm not actually sure if TRIM support is possible in RAID).

ThunderTek/PX2+2 - PCIe enclosure solution. dunno if TRIM is supported

I'm thinking also about the possibility of using the The Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter from Apple with a self powered TB3 enclosure solution but I cannot find anything maybe you guys have found/tried something that works?

I just can't see me aligning perfectly the screen of my iMac on an adhesive tape after opening it this is why I'm looking for some external booting solutions. If you have experience with the above setups or you know better options please share it with me. Thank you
 

Msbeezy

macrumors regular
Sep 20, 2009
116
20
I have 2 of these with 4 Samsung SSD. One with 1T x4 in Raid 0 and 1 with 4 1tb in 2 raid 0 arrays...smokin fast
[doublepost=1504571224][/doublepost] upload_2017-9-4_18-26-6.png
 

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andrei_c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 1, 2017
2
0
Aalborg, Denmark
The
the latest is thunderbolt 3 - no good for an iMac 27 inch late 2013
[doublepost=1504614145][/doublepost]
I have 2 of these with 4 Samsung SSD. One with 1T x4 in Raid 0 and 1 with 4 1tb in 2 raid 0 arrays...smokin fast
[doublepost=1504571224][/doublepost] View attachment 715883
I have 2 of these with 4 Samsung SSD. One with 1T x4 in Raid 0 and 1 with 4 1tb in 2 raid 0 arrays...smokin fast
[doublepost=1504571224][/doublepost] View attachment 715883
Just out of curiosity. Are you a professional making money out of these machines? Your setup looks wonderful but I'm just thinking if it would not be an overkill for a guy that just wants a faster computer? I'm going for opening my iMac late 2013 and installing a 256 GB flash blade SSD and a samsung EVO 850 500 GB for around 700 USD(with the OWC kit with thermal sensor) . The SSD comes from a Mac Pro and is capable of 1500-2000Mb/s transfer rates I dont know if the PCIE in my iMac late 2013 would actually support those speeds. Thank you for your answers!.
 

Mikael H

macrumors 6502a
Sep 3, 2014
864
539
My $.02:
If you go with RAID0, do yourself a favor and buy two external cabinets; one for your data and one for backups. When you double the number of drives you also double the risk of a drive failure.
Naturally, the second cabinet needn’t be as fast, and its drive(s) may be mechanical for size over speed.
 
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