Shop a wide selection of External Solid State Drives at Amazon.com. Free shipping and free returns on eligible items. Shop for solid state drives for mac at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Bottom Line: Aimed at multimedia professionals, the CalDigit AV Pro 2 is a well-designed, Mac-formatted external drive that comes in SSD and spinning disk versions, and includes both a USB hub.
Solid State Drive For Mac Mini 2012
The hard drives in the new 2018 Mac mini are PCIe which means they are very fast, but also expensive. Unlike previous models, you cannot upgrade the internal hard drive. It is soldered in. But thanks to the USB-C interface on the new Mac Mini, an external SSD drive is now a good option. I chose to buy the smaller (and cheaper) 250GB Mac Mini and supplement it with a 500GB external SSD drive.
USB-C Gen 2 can handle the speeds of most (but not all) SSD drives. So unless you want a very high-end solution, youâll be fine using an external SSD over USB. An external SSD drive plugged in via USB-C will only be 1/5 the speed of the new internal PCIe drives, but itâs still fast. The external SSD drive on my new mac mini is faster than the internal non-PCIe SSD drive on my previous mac mini.
1. Buying a drive.
My first purchase was a Samsung S5. Itâs fast, itâs USB-C Gen 2, and itâs cheap. But it caused a 30-second delay each time my mac booted up. Apparently, this is a common problem nnd Apple support
The drive I ended up using was the Seagate Fast SSD. Itâs fast and works well. I purchased the 500GB version. Iâve already filled it up so end hindsight I publish should have gone for the 1 TB version but I was trying to save soem money.
2. What to put on it.
Now that youâve connected your drive you need to choose which data to store on it. I used to recommend using your new SSD as the boot drive, but given that the internal SSD drive is now faster, you are better off booting off your internal drive and just putting some files on the external drive.
I kept OSX and my applications on my internal boot drive, as well as my users home folder. So my internal SSD drive looks like this:
I moved most the large folders from inside my Users folder onto my external SSD. I did not change my home folder to be the external SSD. I copied the files out of my home folder. I did al this when I was migrating the data accross
Hereâs what I moved to my new external SSD Drive:
When you move your Music, Pictures and MainStage files you need to tell iTunes, Apple Photos and Mainstage the new location.
For iTunes, firstly copy all your music files across to the new SSD. (users/yourname/music/iTunes) Then go to Preferences, Advanced, and find âiTunes Media folder locationâ. Click âChangeâ and select the new folder.
For Photos you need to copy the folder called âPhotoâs Libraryâ across, then restart the Photos App while holding the Option key. This gives you the option to select your new Photo library from the external SSD.
Photos should open the newly copied library and you should be able to see your photos. If that is the case then go to preferences and select âuse as System Photo Libraryâ to make this change permanent.
There are some applications that will still want to use files from within your home folder on your internal SSD. Thatâs okay. I allow them to do that.
I find it helpful in my own mind to know which files are where so I have my documents, my music and my photos on my external SSD and I have everything else on my internal one.
But you can arrange them how you like.
Related posts:How to speed up your mac with a Solid State SSD DriveWhatâs the best SSD drive for a Mac and how do I install it?Does my mac need more memory?How to get the most out of your ipod and laptop batteryAdding Network Storage (NAS) to your MacRoss Smithsays:June 30, 2019 at 7:56 am
Hello Wayne â This article answered a question Iâve had about buying a Mac mini and its small amount of internal storage. I chatted with Apple support yesterday. They only spoke in generalities, so I said goodbye once that became obvious. Instead of needing to go into an Apple store, I have the answer in your article!
I am not sure I need the speed of an external SSD, however, I will price them now. We use a 2011 iMac for using the internet, viewing photos and also watching TV. Its display is going, its internal HD is failing, and I cannot find a good repair shop. Everything about the mini seems to fit EXCEPT it wasnât obvious about the external drive.
I found your website through a link to your comment on a monitor for the mini. That was interesting, but this article gave me what I really needed to know. Thank you.
ReplyWaynesays:June 30, 2019 at 11:42 pm
Yes it will depend on what you want to store on it. If itâs just pictures or audio files or a time machine backup then a standard HD will be fine, if you are using it to store applications, or application data, or movies, or stuff that you access a lot, an SSD will be much faster.
ReplyGregsays:
Solid State Drive For Mac Mini 2011September 19, 2019 at 11:22 am
Thank you for the clear description in this article! Iâm in the situation of using a combination Mac Mini and external SSD.
Would you have suggestions for back-up configuration and software? Of course, Iâd like to back up both devices, but will I have to do it to two separate back-up drives or can I combine them in one ⦠?
ReplyWaynesays:September 20, 2019 at 4:13 am
Yes grab a 2TB or 4TB drive and you can time-machine both drives to it, or split it in 2 partitions and use CCC to back up each drive to it.
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This article was originally written in 2015 but it is still relevant. I have just updated it given that SSD prices have dropped dramatically in the last 3 years. Upgrading the boot drive on my Mac Mini to an SSD drive was by far the biggest speed enhancement Iâve experienced on any computer! The speed increase is incredible â almost hard to believe. Boot time went from 60 seconds to under 30 seconds, and applications launch instantly â no bouncing dock icon. In terms of bang for dollar, upgrading to an SSD drive is by far the best upgrade you can do.
SDD stands for âSolid State Drive.â SSD drives are the same shape and size as a traditional drive. The difference is that an SSD drive uses RAM chips instead of a spinning hard disk to store information. This makes it much, much faster.
SSD drives are now reasonably cheap. Iâd suggest you upgrade your entire hard drive to SSD.
1. Order an SSD.
There have been issues in the past with SSD drives and there have been some brands not working with OSX, so make sure you get a good one.
The first place I would recommend is macsales.com. I have one of their OWC Mercury SSD drives in 2 of my laptops. They have a screen where you choose your macintosh computer, and it tells you which SSD drive is compatible. Just click here and you will be asked what mac you have, follow the prompts. (I have signed up to be an affiliate of Macsales so I get a commission if you use these links.) Last check a 1TB drive was under $400. When I first wrote this article a 480G SSD drive was $1579.99!
The second place I would recommend is crucial.com. If you do get a Crucial SSD you can go for the MX or BX series. Iâve also got a Samsung EVO drive running in a 2012 Macbook pro and itâs running fine. Buy a new SSD not a second hand one. They do degrade over time.
2. Temporarily connect the new SSD Drive to your Mac.
For this you will need a cable to connect your SSD drive to your USB port. They are only about $20 and they look like this:
The external drive enclosures for normal hard disks should also work with an SSD.
Plug the SSD into the enclosure, and then into the Mac, and it should appear on the desktop as an âUntitledâ drive.
3. Format the SSD Drive using disk utility.
After your SDD drive is plugged in youâll need to use Disk Utility to format it â Mac OS Extended (Journaled):
4. Copy everything onto the new boot drive.
Now you need to copy your entire drive onto your SSD drive. You canât do this by hand â there are hidden files that need to be copied, so need to make what is called a âClone.â Appleâs built-in Disk Utility wonât do this so you will need an app like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper.
Using Carbon Copy Cloner, select your boot drive as the target Disk and then select âBackup Everythingâ:
Click âCloneâ and your boot disk will be created on the SSD disk.
The other option is to use Super Duper. Thereâs a free version that will enable to clone your drive. Select âBackup -all filesâ to make a clone.
Making a clone of you drive can take a long time â hours â so take a break!
5. Reboot from the new SSD boot drive.
Under System Preferences click Startup Drive select the SSD Drive, then restart! (wow â notice how fast it is!)
6. Swap the internal Hard disk for the SSD drive.
Now that itâs working itâs time to get rid of your old hard drive and physically replace it with the working SSD.
The difficulty of this varies according to what kind of a Macintosh computer you have. Iâd check out ifixit.com for the best instructions according to your mac model.
Mac Pro
Difficulty: easy â 30 seconds.
For a mac pro it simply connects into the spare optical bay slot â no adapters needed, a 30 second operation â see how here. I just sat the SSD drive in and added a bit of gaffe tape but there are some great adapters out there eg Angelbird SSD Adapter
Macbook
Difficulty: moderate â 1 hour.
For a Macbook or Macbook Pro can replace the internal optical drive with your old Hard Drive or order a large SSD drive and replace your old hard drive with it. You can find instructions here.
Mac Mini
Difficulty: hard â 1/2 hr.
For a new aluminium mac mini you will need to replace one of the internal drives. This involves pulling out the fan and motherboard to get the new SSD drive in. You can get the old hard disk out without pulling out the motherboard but the SSD drives are actually ever so slightly thicker and more uniform in shape so the motherboard needs to come out to manoeuvre the SSD drive in place. Thereâs easy to follow instructions here at mac fixit.
iMac
Difficulty: hard â 1/2 hr.
Itâs quite complex to pull the iMac apart and you need a vacuum clamp to pull the glass screen off. This is easier than it sounds, but you still need to but the suction caps to do it. It requires some mechanical skill. There are good instructions here and crucial have their own guide here.
So how fast is it? Hereâs a demo of how quickly applications launch from my new SSD driveâ¦
7. Check if you need to Enable TRIM.
Some Hard Drives do not come with TRIM support and so you need to download this TRIM Enabler app and run it. This will enable OS X built in TRIM support which keeps your SSD drive lean and clean.
The SSD I recommend above (Crucial M4) does not need TRIM support (read this article for more information). You can turn it on anyway no problems. The OWC Mercury SSD drives do not need TRIM enabled either.
STOP PRESS: There are new reports that TRIM enabler does not work with Yosemite. Read this article for more information.
8. Time Machine
If you already have a Time Machine backup, when you change Hard Drives it starts all over again and wonât recognise the old Time Machine backup. Read this post for info on how to get around this. Also here is another very good article on this.
I also just found this GREAT article on keeping Time Machine working when you change the Hard Drive.
If you donât have a Time Machine backup now is a great time to start! You can use your old Internal Drive as a backup drive.
Related posts:What is TRIM and do I need to turn it on in OS X?Whatâs the best SSD drive for a Mac and how do I install it?The best place to buy RAM for your macbook or imac.How to use 2 monitors on your mac7 ways to make your Mac boot faster.« Older CommentsStevesays:February 25, 2019 at 4:02 pm
I am using a Seagate 250GB USB 3.0 as the boot drive (Mojave) on my 2014 Mac Mini. Seriously fast boot-up and excellent system responsiveness compared to the 1TB internal hard drive. No need to pull the Mac apart to upgrade the boot drive (just leave the internal spinning disk in place as your data drive, it works fine as an APFS volume, provided its not the system disk).
Installing an internal SSD may give you optimal performance but using an external USB boot SSD still gives a much more responsive system than the old hard drive, for minimal upgrade difficulty and minimal cost.
(I donât have any trim issues either).
ReplyWaynesays:February 28, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Yes now that they have fast External SSD drives with thunderbolt/USB-C this is certainly a great option.
ReplyS Bartruffsays:April 15, 2019 at 11:39 am
Helpâ¦.I have established the SSD as the start-up drive (Mac Mini 2012) and it works effectively (much faster).
Shortcut keys for mac excel. However, during the night the Mac reboots and establishes the Mac HD as the default start-upâ¦.How do I remedy this issue?
Thanks.
ReplyBartruff Stuartsays:April 30, 2019 at 8:21 am
I may have solved the reboot problem by not allowing the Mac mini to transition to a sleep mode
ReplyStuart Bartruffsays:April 16, 2019 at 4:08 am
Solid State Drive For Macbook Air 2011
Follow-up to my prior comment. The MAC rebooted again to default the MAC HD as the start-up. I received the following error message: The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
ReplyBobsays:May 30, 2019 at 6:46 am
I did this with my wifesâ old 21â² Imacâ¦those horrible ones that come with the built in memory. We were going to replace it , but this solution made it work like a new machineâ¦much faster overall. I used a 256 Samsung T5, erxactly as described here.
Aug 01, 2012 Clash of Clans is free to download and play, however, some game items can also be purchased for real money. If you don't want to use this feature, please disable in. Download and Play Clash of Clans on PC and MAC FREE Supercell Game Wiki Play Clash of Clans on PC and MAC FREE now and join millions of other players worldwide! You can build your village, raise a clan, and compete in epic Clan Wars!Developed by Supercell, the same ones who created Clash Royale, this strategy game is all about wits and interactive fun.
Replynmetrosays:June 28, 2019 at 3:26 pm
I bought a SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB SSD dirve at Amazon.
I plugged it into my USB 3.0 port on an iMac late 2014 4k system, with soldered 8 GB memory.
I went through the formatting process with Disk Utility. Making sure that GUID was set.
I downloaded Carbon Copy, and ran it clicking on Trial. I then closed the disks (it took about 40 minutes for 6 GB)
I rebooted, when it was done, held down the Option key and selected the new disk.
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I was up in under a minute. I tried a few things and they run much, much faster.
The SSD disk, I purchased, supports USB 3.1 and USB-C. It is also very tiny, light, and it wrapped in rubber to protect it. It is so small it can be attached, by Velcro, to the back of the monitor stand. I wasnât that comfortable trying to take apart an iMac just to replace the disk.
I do not use my iMac for heavy duty gaming, and the like, but I feel like that I have a new computer.
Solid State Drive For Macbook 2010
So these instructions, at least in my situation.
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