IMac SSD external Boot

passey89

passey89

passey89

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I'm looking at getting either a 120gb or 240gb samsung 840 to use as an os drive.

Im not taking my imac appart so im going to get an external enclosure but don't know if i should go thunderbolt or usb 3.0

The tunderbolt will cost around £90 + £30 for thunderbolt cable

USB3.0 will cost around £15 - £25

Is thunderbolt worth the extra or not?

Will I have any problems booting from usb 3.0?
 
You shouldn't see any problems but the USB enclosure will certainly be the main bottleneck. My Samsung 830 came with a transfer kit which included a USB cable, check the 840's don't as well as then you could try it over USB before shelling out for TB.
 
uniQ said:
You shouldn't see any problems but the USB enclosure will certainly be the main bottleneck. My Samsung 830 came with a transfer kit which included a USB cable, check the 840's don't as well as then you could try it over USB before shelling out for TB.
Click to expand...

Good idea actually is it usb 3.0?
 
Ordered a Samsung 840 from ocuk and a Thermaltake Silver River 5G enclosure for it as it had good reviews with the mac booting off it.
 
bloodiedathame said:
Thunderbolt is stupid fast with an external SSD, mate of mine gets 500Mb/s R/W on it. Won't get that on usb3.
Click to expand...

confirmed speeds from a 840 with screenshot proof from an 840 are

Read - 427
write - 321

Not going to notice anything faster than that tbh for a boot and applications drive.
 
problem with usb3 though is bootcamp won't work (if you need it!). People have managed to get bootcamp to work with thunderbolt with a bit of trickery
 
ninja2000 said:
problem with usb3 though is bootcamp won't work (if you need it!). People have managed to get bootcamp to work with thunderbolt with a bit of trickery
Click to expand...

leaving boot camp on my 1tb only use it to play bf3 or blops 2 and its not that often.

I'll find the link to the enclosure
 
Benefits of external is you don't have to open the mac.

Downsides are:
performance isn't quite as good (though you probably wouldn't notice in anything other than benchmarks)
if you disconnect the cable the OS would lock up
you have to have the OS disk hanging out the back of you computer.
Bootcamp can be difficult to install and crashes from sleep over thunderbolt.

I plan on doing it until my replacement tape arrives then I am going to crack mine open.
Once I have done mine I will happily help others in the dorset area.
 
ninja2000 said:
Benefits of external is you don't have to open the mac.

Downsides are:
performance isn't quite as good (though you probably wouldn't notice in anything other than benchmarks)
if you disconnect the cable the OS would lock up
you have to have the OS disk hanging out the back of you computer.
Bootcamp can be difficult to install and crashes from sleep over thunderbolt.

I plan on doing it until my replacement tape arrives then I am going to crack mine open.
Once I have done mine I will happily help others in the dorset area.
Click to expand...

exactly the above.

Im going to get the back mounting plate that goes on the stand so you cant even see the ssd or cable.
 
Yeah, I was planning on using velcro to attach the drive to the back to keep it out of site.
My 500gb samsung 840 has just arrived :)
 
ninja2000 said:
Yeah, I was planning on using velcro to attach the drive to the back to keep it out of site.
My 500gb samsung 840 has just arrived :)
Click to expand...

Mine doesn't arrive till Monday only ordered it last night :( only ordered the 250gb as well. I might try Velcro instead of a £30 metal plate lol.

Are u doing USB or thunderbolt?
 
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