I understand the 'usable' is subjective because maybe what I find fine, you find unreasonable. Granted no where near the performance of a model with an SSD but its perfectly usable. Personally the first thing I would do is see what is actually wrong with the Mac.

Your iMac will be long dead before you see any noticeable deterioration from lack of TRIM.Īgain, an external USB3 SSD is the way to go, it will give you 3-4 more years of life from the iMac, and it will feel 'like a new machine'. I've been booting and running my main machine (2012 Mini) from a USB3 SSD for almost FIVE YEARS now, and the SSD benchmarks as fast today as the day I first powered it on. It -doesn't- (that's true), and it -won't- (their 'warnings' are, for the most part, unfounded). or buy a 'bare' 2.5' SSD and a USB3 enclosure in which to put it.ĭon't be put off by those who are going to come in after this post and give you dire warnings that 'USB3 doesn't support TRIM, and you're drive will slow down!' It's fastest (just plug in the drive and go) It's easiest (you don't have to open the iMac, and risk breaking something inside) If I was to do that what speed does that give me? Also these blades seem very expensive and very difficult to get and difficult to install. I read somewhere that this model has the slot for the m2 blade at the back. I could replace the current sata hard drive with an SSD. Plus I know that this iMac still uses Thunderbolt 1. Is it worth buying a faster SSD? Is it possible to get this speed? Will it work on this speed without freezing again?Īpple gurus recommended getting a Lacie Thunderbolt external hard drive but I have had Lacie before and it was horrible. I guess there are 4 options and I would like your opinion on them.Ĭurrently the SSD I have in the caddy is not the fastest but USB 3 is supposed to go up to 5Gbps (640MB/s). However, my feeling is that it can go even faster (plus i don't like that caddy hanging out at the back). Last week I thought I will try another USB caddy (from Currys) and to my surprise it works perfectly! I now get a speed of around 260MB/s so the iMac is usable again.

It is so slow that it is unusable under Sierra (it only serves me as a monitor).Ī while ago I bought a USB caddy with an SSD, installed OSX on it but OSX was freezing. So I have a 27' iMac Late 2013 which doesn't have an SSD. I know there have been threads about this before but I thought i will ask again as there might be new advancements in the recent months.

Apple mac pro late 2013 ssd upgrade