Best app for speeding up iMac

[MacInWin]

Thanks. Are SSDs that do use the Thunderbolt protocol more expensive?

Yes, very. I think you would be best served by getting the internal drive replaced/repaired with an SSD. That should help with the slow app starts tremendously.

 

[pm-r]

i have been quoted £125 (about $156) to replace the internal drive with an SSD. That’s door to door with a 10 day turnaround. The alternative is to take it the 20 miles to my nearest Apple Store. I suspect that would be more expensive and not necessarily any faster.

That sounds to me to be a very reasonable price to replace the internal hard drive and without knowing the actual age of your iMac there's a very good chance that an Apple Store Tech wouldn't even consider doing the job if it's over a few years old.



- Patrick
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[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks. Are SSDs that do use the Thunderbolt protocol more expensive?

The thing that differentiates their price is how fast their throughput is. You will see SSD's rated for 10GBps, 20GBps, and 40GBps.

At this time, the fastest external SSD's are those that you put together yourself using a case kit that supports the higher speeds and really fast NVME SSD's. But those case kits are significantly more expensive.

For instance, this case kit supports a blazing 40GBps, and it even includes a cooling fan to stave off thermal throttling:

ACASIS 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with Built-in Cooling Fan, Tool Free Installation, TBU 405 Pro for M1 M2 Pro/Max
$160
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8CZB5S7/?tag=macforums0e4-20

 

[pm-r]

At this time, the fastest external SSD's are those that you put together yourself using a case kit that supports the higher speeds and really fast NVME SSD's. But those case kits are significantly more expensive.

And of course, the extra cost for a supporting Thunderbolt cable if it isn't included in the cost.

But the top-end speeds of such drives would certainly be nice if one can afford it in their budget.



- Patrick
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[MacInWin]

There is also a speed trade-off unless the TB4 port is dedicated to that one TB4 drive, i.e., the drive is directly attached and not in a hub.

Howard Oakley did some testing and has recommendations:

Getting best performance from Thunderbolt on Apple silicon Macs: a practical guide

From choosing cables and hubs to connecting displays, fast SSDs and other devices. Everything you wanted to know about Thunderbolt.

eclecticlight.co

How connecting your SSD to a Thunderbolt hub can slow it to a crawl

In the worst case, an expensive TB3 SSD with a regular write speed of 2.2 GB/s could only write at 400 MB/s when connected via a hub and contending with faster SSDs.

eclecticlight.co

 

[Alwyn]

That sounds to me to be a very reasonable price to replace the internal hard drive and without knowing the actual age of your iMac there's a very good chance that an Apple Store Tech wouldn't even consider doing the job if it's over a few years old.



- Patrick
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Thanks Patrick,

I thought it was reasonable. Do you have any advice on internal SSD brands?

The company that quoted sells refurbished iMacs on eBay UK so presumably are experienced. Also I don’t think I mentioned that my current HDD is 1TB so that may increase the price.

Colin.

 

[pm-r]

I thought it was reasonable. Do you have any advice on internal SSD brands?

I chose to use one of the OWC SSD house brands, specifically a 1.0TB OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD as it had a good warranty and good reputation and had built-in SSD TRIM support that doesn't need or use the OS TRIM support to minimize degradation. It also just happened to be on sale which had a fair bit to do with my choice.

The additional kit included everything I needed except for the tools I already had, which made the installation much easier, even though I had an old Mac Tech friend do the job due to the rheumatoid arthritic condition of my hands.

This is the model I got and it's kit, but I'm not sure if that is the same iMac model that you have:
For iMac 27-Inch (Mid 2011)
HDD to SSD Upgrade Kit
Includes: SSD, thermal sensor, tools & bracket

OWC SSD Upgrade Kits for 27-Inch iMac 2011

Get everything you need to upgrade your 2011 27-inch iMac SSD for a total system performance and capacity boost. All SSDs backed by a lifetime warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

I added the thermal sensor for the SSD option even though I usually use the Macs Fan Control.app utility.




- Patrick
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[Alwyn]

Thanks. Mine is a 2017 model with a cemented screen unlike yours that has magnets, hence my desire to have a pro install it.

I have had another chat with the firm that quoted and they use Crucial internal SSDs. They seem to be
reliable so I'll go with their choice.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I have had another chat with the firm that quoted and they use Cruzer internal SSDs. I think Cruzer make the SanDisk Extreme external 1TB drive that I have so I would be interested to know how reliable they are.

Did you see this?:

SanDisk Portable SSDs Are Failing So Frequently, We Can No Longer Recommend Them

We can no longer SanDisk portable SSDs amid widespread drive failures and data loss.

petapixel.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/editors/comments/10syawa

The "best" internal SSD for you will be a compromise between reliability, features, price, and speed. If price were no object, Intel internal SSD's would probably be best. But they are priced like it. Samsung has some good values in SSD's. Have a look at:

Good SSD review sites:

Best SSDs 2024: From Budget SATA to Blazing-Fast NVMe

Based on our extensive tests, these are best SSDs for every need and budget.

www.tomshardware.com

SSDs - Latest Articles and Reviews on AnandTech

Here are AnandTech’s latest articles filed under SSDs

www.anandtech.com

 

[Alwyn]

Did you see this?:

SanDisk Portable SSDs Are Failing So Frequently, We Can No Longer Recommend Them

We can no longer SanDisk portable SSDs amid widespread drive failures and data loss.

petapixel.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/editors/comments/10syawa

The "best" internal SSD for you will be a compromise between reliability, features, price, and speed. If price were no object, Intel internal SSD's would probably be best. But they are priced like it. Samsung has some good values in SSD's. Have a look at:

Good SSD review sites:

Best SSDs 2024: From Budget SATA to Blazing-Fast NVMe

Based on our extensive tests, these are best SSDs for every need and budget.

www.tomshardware.com

SSDs - Latest Articles and Reviews on AnandTech

Here are AnandTech’s latest articles filed under SSDs

www.anandtech.com

Having yesterday made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the UK firm that quoted me I became nervous about the possibility that it might be ‘unreliable’. They didn’t want any payment up front but would arrange for a courier to pick it up and take it 200 miles and have the courier return it 10 days later. My fears may be groundless but, as my SanDisk Extreme seems to be performing well, I decided to buy a Crucial external SSD as an alternative backup.

It seems that other Mac users who have experienced slowdowns when updating their HDD based devices might benefit from my experience.

When the update from High Sierra became available Bombich said that a CCC clone would no longer be able to include the OS. Their solution was the Legacy Bootable Backup. It was only when Mike Bombich suggested a standard CCC clone then downloading the full Apple OS and installing it on the SSD that I got a usable drive to use from a restart. I have since done a further clone update and found that the Ventura OS still enables the SSD to be used.

A Legacy Bootable Backup erases the target disk including the OS so I don’t understand how it is supposed to enable an external drive to be used.

 

[pm-r]

... had another chat with the firm that quoted and they use Crucial internal SSDs. They seem to be reliable so I'll go with their choice.

Most reviews I have read give Crucial SSDs a very good rating for reliability, great everyday performance and an affordable price, and I cannot imagine a Mac repair place using unreliable solid state drives of any brand, and rumours travel very fast in that industry, so I think you can certainly trust their judgment and choice as to what brand they use.




- Patrick
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