
If you are running a similar setup using solid state drives, let me know in the comment section below.
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE AS BOOT DRIVE MAC HOW TO
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up an external boot drive with Mac OS Mojave, check out the video tutorial in this article. Choose the external drive from the listed of available disk. In the System Preferences, click Startup Disk. Click the Apple icon and open System Preferences. Connect the external hard drive to the Mac computer. Having two solid state drives will speed up your photo and video editing workflow and video rendering times, and as of 2019, the prices on solid state drives have come down considerably. After creating a bootable external hard drive, follow the steps below to set it as boot device. On top of booting from an external solid state drive, it is also a good idea to store your media files on another solid state drive separate from your operating system. The bootable installer thumb drive will not appear in the list of Startup Disks using System preferences if the date is set past October 23 2019. I speak specifically about installer thumb drives 10.12.x 10.14.x. A more cost effective and less intrusive method is to use an external solid state drive instead, like the Samsung T5.īooting from a solid state drive like the Samsung T5 should give you a boost in performance, especially if you are running an older iMac with a 5,400 RPM hard drive. Installer thumb drives will Not appear when you use option+boot if the date is set past Octoon Nehalem Mac Pros. Removing the iMac display screen is the only way to gain access to the inner components of the computer. There are two ways to select the device your Mac will start up from. From the screen, you can choose the bootable external device that you have. Step 2: Power on the machine and hold the option button until you notice the recovery screen appear.
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE AS BOOT DRIVE MAC UPGRADE
If you don’t upgrade to an SSD when you order your iMac, the only way to upgrade to a solid state drive afterward is to remove the iMac screen. Step 1: If there is a trouble with the current hard disk, and you wish to solve it or use the new version of the OS, then plug the bootable external drive to the Mac. A solid state drive is also slightly faster than Apple’s Fusion drives, which are a combination of flash storage and a traditional spinning hard drive. Hard drives that run at 5,400 RPM or 7,200 RPM are noticeably slower than modern solid state drives. This may surprise you, but even in 2019, some iMacs come with a 5,400 RPM spinning hard drive installed. For this example, you will discover how you can boot to Mac OS Mojave using a Samsung T5 SSD.īefore we get into how to do it, let’s cover a few reasons why you might want to consider booting to an external SSD with Mac OS Mojave installed.

In this article, you will learn how to speed up your older iMac by booting to an external solid state drive.
