Easily add an SSD to ANY iMac 2012-2019 model

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With it's all in one design, iMacs are a pain to upgrade, you can't even upgrade the ram easily on the 21.5" model and until the new 2020 models, most of them shipped with slow spinning hard drives that only get slower over time. In this How to video I show you how I super easily added an SSD to my Family Computer 2012 iMac which had a startup time of 3 minutes!
Products shown:
Kingston 240GB SSD: www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-SA4...
UGREEN USB C Hard Drive Enclosure: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
(note that comes with a USB C to USB C cable and in this video I used a USB C to USB A cable, you can find similar enclosures including from UGREEN that comes with that cable so you don't need to purchase it separately)
Subscribe to my RU-vid channel for more Tech content: / @imleeloi
Follow me on twitter: / leeloichieng
Chapter times:
Introduction 00:00
HDD Startup times 00:38
Solution 01:11
Step 1: Format the SSD 02:45
Step 2: Internet Recovery 03:35
Step 3: Setup macOS 05:25
SSD Startup times and Results 05:40
Conclusion 07:05
Gear used:
Sony A7sII
Tamron 24-70 F2.8 Lens
Viltrox VX-18M Tripod
THIS VIDEO REVIEW IS INDEPENDENT AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY SPONSORSHIP OR PRODUCT PLACEMENT.

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Опубликовано:

15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 952

@WhoDatRightDer Год назад

Nailed it, homie. Couple years after you post this, and it's still relevant. Thanks!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Yay! Delighted to hear.

@terriwhite2349 2 года назад

Thank you so very, very much. My husband would have a fit every time he tried to work on our iMac...to pay a bill or check something, etc. Ugh. It was so very frustrating. You literally saved us so much time, money, and headaches! Installed the new SSD external drive and followed your directions. What a changed world it is to use that machine now! Oh, my. You are such a Godsend. Thanks, again! Cheers from across the pond! Slainte!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Yay! So happy this helped and made your computing experience much easier!

@beccaharp9555 3 года назад

Thank you so much! I bought a 2019 Mac right before they updated them. It’s been super slow and super frustrating. I was getting ready to either buy a mini Mac or replace the hard drive with a ssd internally. This was so much easier. You’re the best!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Congratulations Becca! I'm so glad this helped you. Main thing is your iMac is fast now. :)

@4Ever1727 3 года назад

DEAR LORD, i did not think this would be so hard to find. Thank you so much for this video. Exactly what i was looking for, simple and to the point. YAY! NEW SSD FOR MY MAC MINI 2014!!! :-)

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Glad I could help!

@timallix4407 7 месяцев назад

Great idea if you don't want to open the computer, which is very tricky and requires patience and a steady hand. You can save some time by going into recovery mode (Option R), then perform a "restore" to the USB drive. This will "clone" the old HD to the new one, saving you the time of backing up, and then re-loading a fresh copy of the OS (which is actually unnecessary). Then you can use the option key to set the default boot device to the newly cloned external HD. I've just been through this, and it works. I went one step further: I removed the screen and properly installed the newly cloned SSD drive inside the enclosure. A word to the wise if you attempt this: don't use a metal knife to cut the glue on the monitor, I have wrecked two monitors in my experimentation. Use a plastic bladed "pizza cutter" to cut the glue strips. You can buy this tool on Amazon, and it comes with the tape to glue the monitor back on. Cheers!

@petelc559 5 месяцев назад

I believe the keyboard sequence is COMMAND R for recovery.

@timallix4407 5 месяцев назад

@@petelc559 I stand corrected!

@AliAhmadIC 2 года назад

Thanks for this video. In agreement with everyone else, my 2017 iMac 5k feels like a brand new machine now after adding a 1Tb SSD.

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Great to hear! Glad this worked for you and your getting those performance boosts.

@aman681 7 месяцев назад

I have the same iMac and it’s super slow. Once you moved the os to the external ssd was the data on the fusion drone still intact? Do the apps also get transferred or they remain on the Fusion Drive? Thanks

@user-eb6eb2hk6q Год назад

THANK YOU for the fantastic tutorial and explanation to understand why so many iMacs have a problem with speed. I’ve been suffering with my annoyingly slow iMac desktop for the 3 years-ever since I bought it-and even tried to get professional help. Lately it’s become so slow, with the constant spinning wheel, I couldn’t stand it anymore and turned to RU-vid for help. What a great solution-thanks again for your video. 💯

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

K! I'm so happy this has helped you!

@juansebastianmarinvillegas9968 Год назад

I can’t thank you enough for this. I thought my iMac was dying until I tried this, feels like a brand new computer. THANKS!!!!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Juan! I am so so happy this works for you!

@stevengallagher7174 2 года назад

Wow what a difference!!!!! Thank you so much I had a spare SSD and now my 8 year old MAC works again like new.

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

I'm so glad it worked for you. For best compatibility make sure you format the SSD as Mac OS Extended Journaled and not AFPS

@Helloimsleepy 3 года назад

Thanks for the tutorial video. Very easy, right to the point and well explained. Cheers.

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

I'm glad this helped you Isabela! :)

@GarethBoot Год назад

This was just what I was looking for. Solved my problem and saved me a £200 repair. You sir are a legend.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad it helped you Gareth! :)

@apistosig4173 7 месяцев назад

see Mint Above

@simplysarab13 3 года назад

Awesome. Saved me a lot of money and the torture my iMac would have undergone to install an internal SSD. And you explained it very nicely buddy 👍🏻❤️

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Yeah I’m glad it worked for you! :) Thanks for supporting the channel.

@simplysarab13 3 года назад

Hi Again. Looks like I celebrated a little too early :P My iMac (late Dec 2013) is stuck on the globe screen showing 0:01 as the remaining time... Been a couple hours.. Is it okay to force reboot the Mac or will it damage the OS on my hard drive? Please advise :)

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

@@simplysarab13 Hi Sarabjit Singh! That means it's having trouble downloading macOS off the internet. If you force reboot you will be ok as this how to guide never touches your old install. If it's having trouble downloading and you have a spare USB key lying around feel free to download Mac OS Big Sur ISO to the memory stick and install offline. :)

@simplysarab13 3 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi Thank you. Was able to reboot. Will try it again tomorrow. Thanks again :)

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

@@simplysarab13 Dos1Dude has a patcher that allows you to install MacOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs but his tool is actually a very good way of putting Mac OS Big Sur on to a USB Thumb Drive so that's something you can try. :)

@kauly70 6 месяцев назад

Oh man, this is huge advice and tutorial from you for us, thousands thanks for it, now my iMac 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 is rapidly speeded up using LaCie 1TB mobile SSD. It is a vast difference than before, quite easy to understand what you have done step by step. Again huge thanks, bro 😎👊

@ImLeeLoi 4 месяца назад

Glad to hear it helped!

@tstarksproductions5084 2 года назад

You quite an adept and knowledgable Apple and Tech individual. Great job!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Thank you!

@mwmaccount Год назад

This is a great solution for an older iMac I have at the office that I'm not willing to crack open and go through the internal SSD upgrade. Thank you!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad it helped ! :)

@shanep1223 3 года назад

Nice Thanks a lot, This is going to save me like $600 on my two 2013 imacs!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Incredible savings! I’m glad you found this useful! 💸💸💸

@garyfalosparisis9039 2 года назад

Hello there! Thank you for this great video! I have one question, in terms of speed/performance is there a difference between using an external portable SSD vs opening the computer and installing an internal SSD? I would like to avoid the latter solution for a number of reasons. Moreover, my computer (late 2015 imac 27 retina) does not support PCI type internal SSD (only SATA-at least so I have been told) so my options are either an external USB 3.0 SSD or an internal SATA connection SSD. Thank you in advance!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

I think there would be minor speed increases by using it internally but you can read the other comments down below a lot of people are very happy with their external SSD. Why go through all that effort!

@garyfalosparisis9039 2 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi thank you for your reply! actually I was planning to give it to a third party certified repair shop, they charge 270 euros in total for the work and SSD. I would never attempt to do something like that on my own! My biggest worry is of psychological nature I would say, running the whole computer from a tiny little stick hanging outside the computer feels a bit bizarre lol. However I may consider this option and if I am not happy I might as well keep the external SSD and go for the upgrade later on. Thanks again for your time!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

@@garyfalosparisis9039 as I said: VELCRO!!

@ipaulphone Год назад

Your the best!!!! I was going to open heart surgery on my iMac 2012 to upgrade the ram. You save my life!!!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

This doesn't help ram but you are very welcome!

@ivanchox 2 года назад

Thank you! I used a sandisk extreme on a late 2015 Imac and runs much faster than when i got it brand new! Is like having a new computer! Thanks so much!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Glad I could help! Glad it brought some life back to your iMac!!

@SNationalista Год назад

Thank you so much for this video. My late 2015 was extremely slow for few years now. We completely wiped it out and the speed only improved by a little. I followed all the steps in this video, didn’t transfer anything since I still have access to the original HD, I copied and pasted whatever files I needed to my external ssd. I am using San Disk Extreme Portable SSD 1tb.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

That's exactly what I recommend. Copy stuff over as needed and keep your new fast drive fresh. :)

@1nastysrt Год назад

I just found your video and added a Samsung T7 with 2TB of memory on my late 2012 iMac. Absolutely amazing improvement. Thank you!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad this helped.

@canadiantejocoteroot Год назад

Hi, was this the sdd portablenor you got an the case?

@Fit4Freddy 3 года назад

Thanks for this video. I bought a renewed Best Buy 2019 21.5 4K . 1TB HDD. It was a good price. I thought I was going to have to open the whole computer, remove the screen panel, and all until I saw this alternative of installing an external ssd instead. . Thanks for sharing. You saved me the hassle 👍

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Glad this worked for you Freddy, enjoy the new iMac!

@djhonza1939 6 месяцев назад

Was going to fork out £250 on ebay for a new imac but only spent £35 after seeing. It's like I have a new computer! I can go back to making house music without lagging issues. Massive respects bruv 🙏

@fortrud Месяц назад

Thank you!!! I’m going to be trying this method. I’ve been scrolling for a video for hours and yours was by far the best and most clear. Cheers mate 🙏

@Rainman701 Год назад

Thank you for this, I was having a problem installing Mac OS to an external hard drive when dowloading it from the App Store, this worked perfectly and saved a lot of headaches.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

I'm glad this helped you! :)

@miller1520 2 года назад

Thanks a bunch! I followed the instructions and this old IMac feels like completely different computer now.

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

I am so glad this helped you Miller! Quite the difference right

@StoryCentric24 Год назад

I just used this method to upgrade my late 2015 imac 21.5" with a 1TB fusion drive; I added an external 1TB Samsung T7 SSD, for $99 ; it took me better part of a day -- I restored from a Timce Machine backup -- but also upgraded to Monterey from Big Sur. Took some tweaking but now it runs SO fast... take a couple of minutes to boot up (it is new software on an old machine) but once it's booted it is running incredibly fast. Thank you, Lee Loi-Chang for this, you probably saved me $1000!!! Very simple and easy.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Ed! I am SOO happy to hear this. That is SOO much money right - have a holiday for that!

@robwulz3493 3 года назад

Thanks bud , works a treat on my old 2014 Mac mini .

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Glad this worked for you and on a Mac Mini too!!!

@mdworschak Год назад

Excellent video, thanks a lot. I did this a year ago with a SanDisk v1 that was formatted with APFS and it was a great improvement once it loaded the O/S - loading the O/S however took ages (+10 mins!!). I now followed this manual with a SanDisk v2 device and formatted with Mac OS Extended / Journaled as suggested and it really rocks!! Far less than a minute for booting and even a bit faster whilst using the machine.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Delighted to hear it's working much better than APFS. :)

@Cyba_IT Год назад

Best vid I've seen so far regarding this method. Mainly because I want to do a fresh install and not clone the old HDD like most other vids show but well explained as well.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Hope this helps! :)

@booomkalani 3 года назад

Thank you, Lee-Loi! You are a life saver, and a slow AF 2013 iMac saver!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

I would say it should run warm, not incredibly hot that it burns to touch. But they should be well built.

@smithfield06 Год назад

Exellent video was thinking of buying a refurbished iMac 2015, I was unsure because of the year it was produced, but getting an external hard drive so somebody like myself who is not the most tech savvy is very easy well done 👏 thanks.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Late replying but I hope it worked out for you.

@skjeggmennkniver-skjeggmen5600 Год назад

Thank you! I was able 2 take a computer I hated since purchased in 2017 and turned it into a very usable machine in 2 hours!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Oh fantastic! I love to hear it.

@iml1945 2 года назад

Your video is so interesting to me. I have an iMac 27" that I love. Your step by step video on adding an external SSD as StartUp Disk was very encouraging! Is there any new information you can offer since your August 2020 video. Should the SSD be formatted as APFS versus Extended? Many thanks.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

No, please only use Mac OS EXTENDED JOURNALED. APFS is better for SSD's if their inside the iMac - there's something about that doesn't play nice with external USB.

@christinejones5127 2 года назад

Thanks! Worked perfectly on my late 2012

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Glad to hear it!

@sandraking856 4 месяца назад

Thanks so much for this I Just scored a 2017 iMac for $150 this video is soooooo helpful.

@HarryOsirian 10 месяцев назад

Hi Lee-Loi, I recently discovered your channel searching for videos about the possible purchase of the old but very reliable Canon 600D camera, as I am finally ready to turn my curiosity about photography into something tangible. I am also considering switching from my 2013 ASUS Windows 8 laptop to a newer model and I'm interested in a Mac because people have been raving for years that it's so much more stable than Windows :-) ..... I've watched a few of your videos and what strikes me is your kind demeanor, your charisma and your knowledge of all the products you display. Just wanted to let you know and of course I immediately hit that Subscribe button. Keep up the great work.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Wow, Harry! Sorry I'm late responding but that is such a sweet comment! Thank you very much. :)

@HarryOsirian 8 месяцев назад

@@ImLeeLoi you're very welcome ☺

@RMatSLU79 3 года назад

wow. great video. 2017 21.5in iMac that I thought was broken bc of how slow it was. I've contacted Apple numerous times to discuss how slow start up was and they finally recommended me to a local Mac repair company to upgrade the RAM and/or SSD. Thankfully I found your video bc I was quoted over $400 USD just to replace the HDD with an SSD. I will definitely try this first to see if it works for me. Thanks!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

I can only recommend what I've used. I'm sure new drives came out. 400USD isn't actually that bad depending on how big the SSD is if it's like 1TB or something I'd probably pay that but yeah if it's like 240GB or something definitely go the external route. SanDisk or SanDisk Pro or Samsung are great bets. :)

@RMatSLU79 3 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi Thank you. Will start with the external. The internal was 1TB but I'll start with the Samsung T7 to save more than half. If down the road I decide to have them do the internal SSD, then I'll format the external and give it to my kids for their PlayStation so it wont go to waste. Thanks again!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

@@RMatSLU79 Oh brilliant idea! Yeah the T7 is the new one right? I think the T5 or T7 would be perfect. Glad I can help. :)

@MiuArtStudioUK 2 года назад

This is amazing, thank you so much!! you have saved me open the imac!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Absolutely! Delighted this helped you! :)

@Anonymous-it5jw Год назад

Thanks for this video. I noticed that the SSD you used, while inexpensive, had a much lower storage capacity that the original HD. Were you using the SSD only for system operations, and the original HD for regular document, email and/or image file storage, or did the SSD take over those functions as well? Thanks again for a well-thought, well-presented video.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Either or! Many in the comments are keeping their photos and videos on the old drive for infrequent access and most iMacs have 1TB which is a lot. It's the family computer so not much is stored on it in this situation.

@iamtaijie 9 месяцев назад

Very informative Lee. Thanks for sharing this helpful video.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Very welcome

@kjgeee Год назад

This video just saved my iMac from a Vertical Suplex. It’s unrecognizably fast now. Thank you so much! ^_^

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad to hear it! :)

@MrRustybuckle 2 года назад

Thank you! A very straight forward and easy to follow along video. Just need to pick up an ssd and I'll try this! One quick question though, I have a 2017 iMac with a fusion drive, will using an external hard drive bypass both the internal fusion ssd and mechanical drive? Not sure if this model complicates the boot process in the end or not...

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Nope you should be good to go although provided your Fusion drive is working properly I don't know if you'll see much faster boot times as that should obviously be running off the SSD on the Fusion but for files and apps - absolutely!

@gregdoerr1028 2 года назад

Hey thanks a lot, great video, and very good explanation on how to do things!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Glad this helped you Greg!!

@eltruheyo 2 месяца назад

Great tutorial! Very well explained, patient and detailed! Thanks!

@Jrtaylor1989 29 дней назад

Thank you for posting this video! Very helpful

@marcuslee3051 Год назад

This little manoeuvre just saved me 750 bux, I can't believe it. It costs 900 to upgrade to an internal SSD. Thanks for this

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

LOL!!!!! Buy a new computer at that point haha

@alejandromartriv3441 3 года назад

Hey great video! Do you think there will be any performance boosts if I upgrade from a 2tb fusion drive? (128gb ssd). I ran speed tests and my iMac reads around 1500mb/s but it writes around 200. I recently purchased 1tb sandisk ssd like the one you show in the video, it runs around 480mb/s both read and write. In general my Mac runs quite decently, I use it for music production and I have many Plugins installed, sometimes it gets really slow with large projects and that's why I'd like an upgrade. Will all my Plugins get deleted? Or will they transfer to the ssd without losing instalation? I tried using some Plugins that use big libraries like Omnisphere and Kontakt with their respective libraries located in the ssd and it works slower than on my fusion drive, but I'm confused as I think it may have something to see with the Plugins themselves installed in the internal drive and not the ssd where I located their libraries. Sorry if my questions are confusing, I'm not much of an expert with this subject! Thank you in advance, amazing video 👌🏻

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Hmmm ok. I think if you put some plugins on the SSD and they still lagged you won't see a big performance difference. 480mbps sounds like your using an older iMac these SanDisk SSD's should be as fast as your fusion drive but with a fast write speed so I don't know what's going on there. The issue with the fusion drive is I don't know if your plugins are on the 128GB SSD sector or the spinning hard drive sector. If their on the SSD sector and you're still not happy with performance I'm not sure an SSD will offer much more of a performance boost. IF they are being read and written off the spinning hard drive sector you should see some speed increase although plugins use the iMac's CPU and not hard drive

@lmf0620 2 года назад

Hey Lee-Loi, thank God I found this video! Been searching for a solution since last year. I just bought the Sandisk Extreme Pro 1TB and followed your tutorial - my iMac feels like a new M1 Mac computer. lol. Since I totally erased my hard drive prior to the installation of OS in SSD, I'm wondering what's the use of my 1TB HDD? I can see it using disk utility but not in finder. Thank you so much!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

It's still there! In finder preferences make sure you tick to show all hard drives on the desktop and in the side bar.

@TOOFUTURETV Год назад

Thanks for this well explained video. 👍🏼😎 Will the iMac always know to boot from the external USB drive?

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Hi there. Yes it will. OR go to system preferences and press startup disk and select the External USB drive manually if it had not done so automatically.

@Juice.VAULT. 10 месяцев назад

Amazing video. Im gonna switch my 2015 iMac to a SSD this weekend.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Late to reply but hope it worked out!

@elmarine7132 Год назад

Great video and just finished the installation.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Glad to hear it!

@alka19700 3 года назад

Great video, my mac has slowed down over the years, and will definitely be giving it a go, can you recommend the best SSD for my iMac it is a (27-inch, late 2013) , processor 3.2 GHz quad-core intel core i5. Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, with 4 USB, I'm not sure if it has USB c 3.0 or 3.1. Iv looked on amazon and there is so many SSD being sold it's a bit bewildering and I would just be guessing. would really appreciate your advice as I don't have a clue thanks again. ;)

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Hi Alan, it depends on how much you want to spend as I said in the video. If you got the Cash get the SanDisk or Samsung T5. They run at USB 3.1 but will slow down to USB 3.0 for your iMac but when you eventually do upgrade the new Computer would take advantage of it. Because it is an old iMac, if you want to save some cash - consider getting an SSD from Kingston and an enclosure like I demoed. :)

@No0o0o0o0o0 8 месяцев назад

So I went the long PITA (pain in the ...) way of disassembling the whole machine to replace the 1TB HD with a 1TB SSD. While I was in there I upgraded the ram. This is a much much simpler upgrade and something I will keep in my mental toolkit. Great video.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Glad it worked!

@julessmith5581 13 дней назад

Great vid fella - neat and very cost-effective solution to add an external SSD 🙂

@cletotirabassi 3 года назад

Excellent video Lee-Loi! Really helpful. I just today ordered a new iMac 21.5 to replace my current one (2013) which is becoming glitchy. Although I’m getting the ssd, 256GB is not much storage. What external ssd setup would you recommend? I’ve seen the Cable Matters enclosure with a Samsung 2.5 1TB recommended. Any thoughts?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

If you’re getting a new iMac I think get it a proper external SSD then like the one Sandisk shown here or the Samsung T5/T7. They do go on sale so hold out! :)

@cletotirabassi 3 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi Many thanks! 🙏🏻

@StoryCentric24 Год назад

Lee, this is awesome and you have given me the confidence to do this to my ever slower late 2015 iMac with Fusion Drive 1TB. Question: should I upgrade internal drive to latest OS so it is the same as what the new SSD drive will have on it? Have been hesitant because I'm terrifed of the slowness getting worse... thanks!!!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Hey Ed - answered your newest message earlier, i've been slow to reply with work commitments so apologies for not answering before you upgraded but I wouldn't recommend upgrading past what your iMac can handle. If your iMac automatically upgraded to the latest OS, that's great and will extend the software support but I wouldn't be running DosDude1's patcher on your home computer that you use every day!

@sgeraldop Год назад

Hey… I followed all the steps on my late 2015 and it didn’t work. I am running macOS Monterrey. Weirdly I don’t get the option to choose the HD where it will be installed =X

@meep2253 2 года назад

Thank you, this actually worked for me!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

So glad this worked out!

@paulmancina4647 3 месяца назад

Excellent video my friend. Worked great. Question... How do i switch back to my internal HD?

@ImLeeLoi 2 месяца назад

Hold down the option key when computer turns on.

@eyesonmyrepost3560 Год назад

Please make a video on How To Use The 21.5 as a dual monitor. I followed this tutorial year's ago and it was extremely help, Thank You!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

I would LOVE to do this, but it's not really possible. If you search on RU-vid Luke Miani, he has a video on doing it with a 5k imac. Not cheap.

@silviaotte395 Год назад

Thanks u so much. Did exactly as u suggested and works brilliantly! Cheers!👍🏻

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Glad it helped! :)

@tiffanyandrews9724 3 года назад

Hi! Thx for this video!! When u recover the Mac, does it reset and delete or is it just like a software Update where everything Will be on it’s place afterwards? And if i for example buy a 256 GB ssd and replace that with the other hard disk/drive - does that mean i loose the other 1TB from the other hard drive?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Hi Tiffany. Ok, so we install Mac OS onto that external SSD I have on the desk. Your current install of Mac OS on the hard drive that's literally inside the Computer that has all your files on it is NOT touched. But that new SSD is brand new so the Mac OS we install on that you're starting from scratch again (have to create an account for yourself, login to all your websites again, download all your favourite programs) but you can access the data from your old hard drive that's inside your computer. If you Reset the Mac and re-install to the hard drive that's literally inside your Computer you do risk losing your files but we don't do that in this video.

@brettloomis3099 3 года назад

Great video! Can I use this exact method with my late 2013 27” iMac rather than performing the long open heart surgery process? I know it would be cleaner to open ‘er up and replace the SATA hard drive with a new SSD but I have hammer fists and will probably break the screen or wreck something else. This seems like such a good hack. I have current 1TB HD slow AF and want to upgrade to 1 or 2 SSD. Any suggestions on specific brands to insure best performance. Thanks!!

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

I can't recommend brands I've never used so I like the SanDisk and Samsung. The cheap method I've shown so far is working great on the Family iMac and that's about 8 months in so far (but the iMac hasn't been used very much as parents are using iPads etc) Yes 2013 is after the 2012 iMac so this method will work of course!

@rickh4310 Год назад

Great video Lee! I am thinking of installing an SSD internally and removing the old hard drive in my late 2012 iMac. After the installation do I need to hold the command, alt, r keys as you did in this video? The original hard drive will not even boot anymore.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

IF the old hard drive wont even boot anymore, then it is not necessary!

@andrewmoody5242 3 года назад

Great video. Thanks. Sorry for my ignorance, does that mean that if I buy the Sandisk USB SSD, I do not need the USB enclosure?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Yeah. I'm just giving you pricing options so like if your iMac is super old like 2012 here I wouldn't buy it I mean you can if you want but it's an 8 year old machine. In those scanerios I think the Off brand Amazon enclosure and then the Kingston SSD's are great value. If you have like a 2018-2019 iMac that has a spinning drive and you obviously bought it quite recently then yeah the SanDisk SSD is a great bet or the Samsung T5's as you know they'll last as long as the iMac. Not to say the Off brand wont last long but Samsung and SanDisk manufacture everything, guaranteed use great parts etc.

@synndakitt 2 года назад

Great vid! Got a noob question for my late 2012 Imac. I'm looking at the Kingston 240GB SSD on Amazon and there are 2 options, M.2 2280 and SATA3. Which one should I choose? And will my 2012 Imac be able to run the 1.92TB version?

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Ok so M.2 is faster but more expensive and you will need to buy an M.2 SATA enclosure. If it is for a late 2012 iMac I believe the cheaper SATA3 will be perfect. Your iMac can run a 2TB if you wish to splurge and spend that money.

@TheDarkenangel18 3 года назад

Hi. Thanks a lot for the very helpful tutorial. I Have one question. Do I need to erase the OS in the iMac Original Drive?...

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

No. I do not erase any original hard drive in this tutorial.

@monicatmcg Год назад

Thanks for the great video, Lee-Loi Cheng! I have a late 2012 iMac and found other videos to add an external SSD (replacement to internal) drive. I wonder if you think the (leftover-inside-the iMac) HD could become useful as an extra TimeMachine backup drive?

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Hmmm... It is such an old hard drive it's going to fail sooner or later so I'm going to say no! Your better off being "choosy" which documents are important or not and putting them on Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud Drive.

@gonzozil 3 года назад

thanks, Lee-Loi Chieng. I have successfully done this after following your tips. Now my question is, how do I do time machine the EXTERNAL system? I'm asking because by default, Time Machine is bcking up the OLD hard drive and not the new external one.

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

You have several options. You can format the old hard drive inside the iMac and use that as time machine backup OR connect another external drive and use that for time machine

@andree1991 3 года назад

I was willing to upen up and probably completely destroy it in the process of changing the HDD to SSD. But doing it loke this is so much easier. Thanks a lot man, now my girlfriend is gonna understand the difference between Macs and Pcs when she sees the speed

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Hey Andre, definitely don't open it up! I hope this works well for you. Enjoy! :)

@Tman634 2 года назад

Thanks dude, this is a great video.

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Glad this helped!

@brightonmischief Год назад

Just set up a Samsung T7 on my late 2012 iMac and Whoa!! What a difference. Night and day!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Delighted to have helped!

@wastedtalentusa Год назад

Awesome video. Thank you so much. I have a question, my iMac is late 2015. Is it really faster and safe to run Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Lightroom, and the whole system through USB 3.0 connection? Is the USB port really that stable? I really want to do this upgrade, but I would like to make sure that an USA connection really can handle everything like the internal connections. Than you so much.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

I always recommend not plugging anything into the USB port beside the drive so use the USB port on the left edge or right edge to make sure that port always has full bandwidth.

@CalebCarterFilm 11 месяцев назад

this was really helpfull!! I din't want to break my imac attempting to remove the screen

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Yep!

@MrJnew123 3 года назад

Nice option, thanks for sharing.

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Glad this helped you! :)

@rohanbhosale2128 2 года назад

Hi Lee, just finished the process and my 2017 27inch iMac is running absolutely perfect! What a change! 😃 Just one doubt, when I check the new SSD info, it says the format is APFS but I had formatted it as MAC OS Extended (Journaled). Right now everything is running super smooth. Have I done anything wrong? Will this cause any problems?

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

If it's not causing issues I think you are good but most people had better performance and compatibility with Mac OS Extended Journaled. Read the other comments down below.

@rohanbhosale2128 2 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi yes I did format it in mac os journaled but somehow the drive shows that it’s APFS. Not sure why is that. But yeah it’s still running smooth, tested it for a week

@axelpiero Год назад

Hi! Great video thanks. One question though, how do you get the data from the old hard drive? Time machine? Thanks!

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

You can retrieve it manually in the finder and browse through the old hard drive folders.

@mindscraper2271 Год назад

Can i use this to recover my data from the imac 2012 hdd? I cant start anymore to my macosX. But the hdd is still full of data. Can i install macosx on a ssd as you did in the video and start into the macosx and recover than my data from the hdd?

@ugicz 2 года назад

Hi everyone, 2 questions: Am I able to boot to the old system? Can I choose during startup/will it boot if I'll unplug the USB drive? I do not want to do time machine backup but rather manual - and I want to be able to boot into the old system to check for the settings if I'll forget to backup/save some settings. Thanks!

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Yes you can boot into both. You see in the video when I press the alt key on the keyboard when the iMac chimes PLEASE PAY ATTENTION CLOSELY to the video. There are English subtitles as courtesy.

@arosario2009 4 месяца назад

Thank you so much for your detailed video. I was successful this process and increased my speed tremendously. The boot drive is awesome. I have only 1 question, it appears I cannot use the rest of the drive for storage? Or is there a way. It is saying I don't have the permissions even though I'm the administrator. Thanks for your advice.

@arosario2009 4 месяца назад

I figured it out how to partition the remaining part of the 1TB drive to get my storage. I am one happy camper with my 2015 Imac now running super fast...Thank you soooooooo much Lee.

@TechSpecsYT 2 года назад

Great video! a quick question, if I instead wanted to keep all the files/data/etc from the original HDD but run it from the new SSD would I just select restore from Time Machine backup? If so, would I just have to back it up to the SSD before entering Recovery Mode?

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

No it won't be a time machine backup. Instead when you first enter disk utility on THE NEW SSD Drive click into it and press the restore tab and then you want to restore your current "Macintosh HD" onto the new SSD thereby cloning the drive to the new SSD.

@TechSpecsYT 2 года назад

@@ImLeeLoi ok, that makes sense. I also watched another video that said a similar thing too. Thank you :)

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

@@TechSpecsYT I still wouldn't advise it, you'll be carrying over bloat and you can even read from others comments that those that did copy the old system over experienced slower boot times.

@jokerr1391 Год назад

Awesome video , just wondering if I do this on a 2015 iMac , will I be able to have the latest 2022 OS ? And also will il still be able to save my stuff on the 1TB ? Thanks 😊

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Mac OS Ventura unfortunately does not support 2015 iMac.

@aniruddhavidwans3626 8 месяцев назад

Great video. Just wondering if you put the Time Machine back up onto the new drive as well? Otherwise, with all the apps and docs still on the old HDD, I would expect them to open much more slowly.

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

I don't Time Machine to the new drive.

@pri5748 Год назад

Thank god for this. Now I don't have to open up my imac and reseal it =D Thanks

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad this worked for you! :)

@VanLuciMoret Год назад

Thanks for the upload, question... when you have the external drive where are all the programs and documents/files ? on the old HD or in the external drive?

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Your old files stay on the old hard drive. You can keep them there or move them to the new hard drive to take advantage of speed.

@doglabdogtraining-gus.8873 3 года назад

Great videos , thank you , would this work with a 2011 imac ?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Unfortunately not as USB 3.0 is a major factor here. You could try if you got your hands on a FireWire 800 SSD enclosure or 1GB Ethernet SSD enclosure and that would be faster but just not as fast as seen here and untested.

@OOG2023 3 года назад

I've done it on my mid 2010 iMac and I've noticed quite a big difference. I don't think it would be as effective as those with USB3 though.

@Dannyjeon1 Год назад

This was informative thank you

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad this helped

@aman681 7 месяцев назад

Great video. I have a 2017 27” iMac and it’s super slow. Once you moved the os to the external ssd was the data on the fusion drone still intact? Do the apps also get transferred or they remain on the Fusion Drive? Thanks

@ImLeeLoi 7 месяцев назад

They all remain

@Nelsontron1 Год назад

2023. Thank you for this incredible video. Easy to follow instructions . Peace

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Glad this helped you Nelson! :)

@brandon96101 3 месяца назад

When installing MacOS I got past accessibility, selected my internet, then it wants me to transfer my data (“Transfer information to this iMac”), and it shows Macintosh HD, and not the external ssd. Do I transfer or not? I don’t know if it accidentally switched to the Macintosh HD on accident.

@Havobert 10 месяцев назад

Excellent explanation, thank you!

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Glad it was helpful!

@antoniosoares5096 Год назад

Thank you for your video. I followed your instructions some months ago and my iMac (late 2013 version) became much faster! Recently, I tried to make a Catalina security update. However, the iMac got frozen when I restarted it, without showing the progresso bar (just the apple icon). I had to reinstall the iOS again to make it work again. Do you know anything I can do in order to make iOS security updates? Thanks in advance, Antonio (Lisboa)

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

Hey Antonio, I apologise for my late reply. I've been busy with work, making no new videos. I am sorry this has happened. I don't know why it has occurred. Maybe there was a power issue and it lost connection? I hope the iMac is working now.

@TheGabagoolGuru Месяц назад

At the internet recovery step, if I want to keep everything i have currently on the Mac, would I choose restore from time machine back up? How do I make sure the user profile and all files are backed up on time machine? Thanks in advance.

@MrCandleHour 11 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for the amazing tutorials. After following your instructions, I successfully setup the MacOS but I am having a concern setting up Windows 10 via bootcamp on that same external SSD but when I open the bootcamp, it said to remove the external storage first. Is there any solution for this one? Thanks in advance!

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

Windows 10 is not able to be installed on external SSD. This is a Microsoft issue. They don't allow it.

@frankquinol 10 месяцев назад

Thanks for the video. What happens to the internal hard drive? Are you still able to save files onto it or does everything save onto the external ?

@ImLeeLoi 8 месяцев назад

You can save files onto it if you wish.

@sarvadeo 2 года назад

This is great! Thank you but I seem to have a problem where the computer sometimes starts up on the internal drive and I don't know how to get it back on from the external drive. Any advice?

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Read previous comment below go to system preferences and startup disk and make sure to check new installation.

@pao7085 3 года назад

Thank you for your video. I wanna ask which ssd should I get and the one you think it’s best? I’m planning to buy a used Imac 2015, should I choose the sandisk or the one you’re using?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

It’s completely your call and depends on how much your willing to spend. Read the other comments on similar dilemmas and what they eventually chose. :)

@RMatSLU79 3 года назад

I bought the Samsung T7 and could not be happier with it. My Mac is finally blazing fast. Worth every penny!! If you do not have a Thunderbolt port, the T5 is cheaper and will do. The T7's main upgrade over the T5 is the faster speeds transferred through the Thunderbolt 3 port.

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

@@RMatSLU79 Hooray! Glad to hear this all worked out for you! 🙌

@ahmadragland9541 3 года назад

I have a question, I installed my own drive but now I am unable to download adobe software apps like illustrator and photoshop because it says that its case sensitive?

@ImLeeLoi 3 года назад

Right so unfortunately you do need to restart this process and make sure when you format the drive you do not choose CASE SENSITIVE. Certain apps and particularly games cannot work on a Case sensitive formatted drive.

@mrreapzz897 2 года назад

Great video!! Would a 500GB external SSD for a 2017 Mac make it much quicker especially for the Adobe Softwares

@ImLeeLoi 2 года назад

Absolutely! See others comments below for their results. :)

@jonathanbailey5896 Год назад

Jonathan Bailey 0 seconds ago Thank you very much for a very concise and good video. Appreciate your hard work in editing that and I'm pleased you had a good system up and running and also good for the environment.

@ImLeeLoi Год назад

E-Waste is such a big issue, I'm glad this helped you!