Running OS X Long Term via USB

[MR_Punk]

I was getting very fed up with my Mac Mini and how woefully slow it was (Late 2014 with non SSD HD). It was painfully slow at even the most simple tasks. So I decided to attempt putting the OS on a USB. 128GB USB 3.0. It has been a revelation. It felt like more of an improvement than when I upgraded my old MBP to a SSD a few years ago. I'm aware and have read a few threads that say its fine to run the OS from a USB but has anyone had real long term experience / problems of running the OS from a USB?

 

[UnworthyBean]

USB flash drive or HDD?

Flash drives aren't a fan of having lots of read/writes as would be expected on an OS drive so I can't imagine it would last long. They're also not massively fast which makes me think the original drive was on its way out.

Get an SSD would be my recommendation, you'll probably notice a difference again

 

[MR_Punk]

USB flash drive or HDD?

Flash drives aren't a fan of having lots of read/writes as would be expected on an OS drive so I can't imagine it would last long. They're also not massively fast which makes me think the original drive was on its way out.

Get an SSD would be my recommendation, you'll probably notice a difference again

A flash drive. I don't think the hard drive is on its way out as its been barely used as its always been used as a backup computer. I don't really want to spend any money on what is now a 5 year old piece of kit and is used primarily as a download machine (writing to internal drive) and an ITunes server (again on internal drive)

 

[Combat squirrel]

It's not normally done tbh, but if its a download rig then why not - just make it how you want it, then clone the usb and run it - when the 1st usb fails (which will happen a lot faster than a normal hard drive), just pop in the backup one and replace that etc etc