Building Your Own Cheap External SSD Drive For Your Mac
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- macmost.com/e-... If you want something faster than an external hard drive, and better than a USB Flash drive, you can build an external SSD drive with an SSD and an enclosure. I built a 256GB USB 3.1 external SSD for less than $70 that works great on my Mac. Learn how to build your own.
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Bro, you're a legend in your own right. I really enjoy your tutorials. Keep them coming.
This is ideal for me. I've seen a lot of videos like this, usually trying to build the fastest and largest external SSD for their PC.
I really prefer that you are looking at cheap first, while still discussing all the options, entirely from a Mac perspective. I may actually build one now. I can think of a dozen uses.
Thanks Gary. I'm using a 27 inch 2011 imac. I bought a Lacie exterrnal spinning Thunderbolt drive second hand off Ebay. I took out the spinning drive and replaced it with a brand new Samsung Evo 1TB SSD drive. I'm now running my Mac off this External SSD drive rather than the internal spinning MAC drive. It's like having a new computer in regards to the speed, especially when it boots up.
My spinning Time Machine external hard drive failed after 3 years, so I did opt for an SSD replacement. However, I’d have built one if I’d seen this instead of forking out the extra cash. Great video. Many thanks.
Love your channel. I've watched so many of your tutorials. Thank you 🙏🏻
Love your vids! You are so good at explaining things simply so even us non-techy types can understand,
Loving your tutorials. After being a windows girl for many many moons, I got a refurb mid 2011 IMac (can't afford a new one). I'm running it on an external SSD drive and quite pleased with it's performance.
Everything you share is awesome. Thank you !
Hey Gary: Your math was well explained. Sadly, many sellers online misconstrue MB and Mb as equal and interchangeable. BTW, I'd say that strip was a conductor not an insulator as you called it, ha ha. Great video as always. Thanks for sharing.
A cursory look on amazon shows external 256GB SSD drives cheaper than the one you made. I’m interested in larger size external storage on an SSD. At least 2TB.
I thought the same thing. Why not just buy a Samsung SSD? T5 or T7? Those are pretty darn cheap and most of us need WAY more storage than 256GB.
just the video I was looking for. Thank you.
Thunderbolt unless you like slow external drives.
Thank you ;) Just saved over $200 thanks to you!! Got the same enclosure your using and the new Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB
Hi , how much did it cost and how was the performance. ?
Your videos have changed my life so thankful for this channel. 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Great video, Gary! Could you please recommend the same type of setup with thunderbolt capabilities?
I don't have any recommendations there as I haven't built one with a Thunderbolt enclosure, sorry.
Thanks!
What about a software interface? What shows up when you plug it in?
I just did this, but since the video is like two years old, I got a larger SSD from the same people for the same price. 512Gb SSD for $37.99.
The one you link out to is still for sale, but now is $24.99.
I keep coming back to your videos 👍
Yes, very useful, thank you.
Bleedin marvellous mate. Thanks 🇬🇧
Thanks for the info. I have a 2012 macbook air that is still working well. My only issue is hard disk space. I recently purchased an M.2 NVME 1TB Samsung SSD, but it requires an adapter. I believe that Mac a1466 model only supports SATA, so I know I won't get the same speed as what the nvme drive is capable of, but I can't seem to find a good adapter for nvme to 7+17 pin sata adapter. Any recommendations on what to do? Should I return the nvme and find a SATA drive instead?
would time machine back up external hard drive? thanks
Hey Gary! Do you have any recommendations for a housing that takes the factory ssds that came with the old 11 inch MacBook airs? Maybe one that takes multiple ssds and presents them to the computer as a single drive? I have several of these old ssds laying around with no way to use them.
Thanks for all the great videos! Youve saved me a lot of headaches over the years.
No, I have no idea if that even exists. Not sure it would be worth it to reuse such old SSDs.
i just did one used the same enclosure :) im happy with it on usb 3.0 its faster then my samsung T7 .
Another legendary video from Gary.
when I go system preferences it shows that my usb speed is 480 mb/s so having nvme disc is pointless
Sounds like you have USB 2, so it would be slow, yes.
I don't recommend the SSK enclosure, i bought one of them and soon it get very hot, so i had to buy another one. At the end i finished depending 60 dollars, 30 dollars for the SSK and 30 more dollars for the other one. So to avoid this, please buy a better one.
GREAT video. Thanks for the facts.
This is a great video and I would love to give it a try.. I have a late 2012 iMac 27 and I would like to connect through my Thunderbolt 1 port (if possible) to max the transfer speed (instead of USB 3.0 port)... I will use it for storing and running my music recording programs... Being new to this.. What would you suggest? I apologize in advance, if I am asking a silly or dumb question... I'm new to all this.. Please and Thank you
Hello and thank you for the tutorial! I would like to put my MacBook Pro ssd (which I just replaced with a new bigger one) in a usb case to use it as an external drive. But I need to find something cheap. Could you recommend something I can use though with an adapter? (it is a 12+16 pin) Thank you!
I recently upgraded the internal storage in my 2004 MacBook Air 11"; I like to use the SSD I replaced tho build an external drive however, I can't find the proper enclosure for it. What type of enclosure should I use and where I can find such item?
Good Stuff, Thanks...
Hi Gary, thanks for it. I have a 27" 5K iMac from 2019 and I wonder whether or not there is a way to update my HDD to that exact NVMe M.2 SSD you refer to in this video BY USING THE SAME SLOT WHERE CURRENT HDD IS? Because I'm not sure I can unmount all the parts and reach the NVMe slot at the back of the logic board. I want to build up that NVMe and mount it to that place where HDD is now, which is quite easier to reach? I want to use my boot device to be internal, I do not prefer any external solutions. Any adaptors etc. needed? It would be kind of you to answer. Thanks.
Not sure. It is a very different process for replacing an SSD inside a Mac. And specific to the exact model you have. I don't do hardware mods like that, so I can't be of much help. If I had to guess I would say it probably isn't possible, or at least would take a lot of work to get it right. And it probably would use something different than the SSD hardware I show in this video to build an external drive.
Hi,I need to buy an external SSD/Thunderbolt, for by 2012 Mac Book pro, for 4k video editing. Can you kindly suggest one .Thanks.
Since this is a year old, how about doing an updated video about this with the newer drives?
I don't think much has changed here. I'm sure there are new drives coming out all of the time, but I not going to do a video each time a new one hits the market. The idea here is just to show what is possible.
@@macmost okay, thank you anyway. Guess I was just trying to figure out what 2TB drive to get and use with a good case. There are so many choices, it's confusing.
Hi Gary. Thanks for this video. It was very helpful. I know it's 2 years old, so perhaps some of the info isn't relevant anymore. Would an external SSD be suitable for music instrument sample libraries? Assuming, of course, I get a sufficiently fast SSD with a thunderbolt connection. If you're not familiar with the speed and needs of this particular kind of file, no worries. I thought I'd give it a try. I want to get the best system for my needs but not spend money I don't have to buying a larger internal drive. Thank you.
If you need speed, then you still won't be able to beat the speed of your internal Mac drive. Spend the money to get the SSD that is the size you need (and then more, for the future). I think you will regret it if you try to save a little money this way when performance is really needed.
@@macmost Thank you. That's very helpful. I appreciate the information.
I don’t see any links to buy it can you please add some I looked up on Amazon and found the closure in the M.2 Drive For 50 bucks altogether is that about the same price you got yours for? Or was it cheaper?
Look at the post at the site for links to the products. macmost.com/e-2238
Thanks for posting this demystify information. Would booting off this type of drive be faster than the booth fusion drives that plague the 2015 iMacs? There is no easy internal SSD upgrade option for these fusion older macs and fusion seems to slow down basic IO functions. I’d love to bypass the fusion somehow.
I can't imagine it would be faster than an internal fusion drive. That's basically an SSD when it comes to the most used files, of which the system would be at the top of the list. Fusion drives should be about 90% as fast as SSDs, in general.
Great, what about a 256gb flash drive?
Gary, I need to run some programs in older OS X versions. Can I add this SSD external as a start-up using an older Mac OS X system (Sierra 10.12.6) when I need to run the older graphics programs? ( one is TypeStyler by Strident - no longer upgraded for newer OS.). Are there problems with switching OS start-ups? I would love to upgrade my Sierra OS to a newer OS on my power book.
Thanks- john jam
John Flemming Assuming you're actually on a MacBook Pro, you could in fact install a different version of macOS on your external drive (different from the version on your internal drive). Then boot up your Mac from the external drive and do your things. Afterwards, just restart from the internal drive again and you're back to normal.
Great! Thanks for sharing.
With this way to do things, what enclosure (thunderbolt 3) and SSD would you reccomend for the best and fast performance for high end video editing ?
I can't recommend a particular Thunderbolt 3 enclosure as I haven't tried them all (or even one). There aren't that many options if you look.
macmostvideo ok thanks
What about heat and throttling?
I don't know what throttling would mean in this context. But heat is an issue and I talk about that a bit, if I remember correctly.
@@macmost Thank you for answering. I'm sorry, maybe I used the wrong technical term. I meant whether or not the speed goes down when it overheats. While maximum speed wouldn't be an issue for the average user (such as myself), I believe, as you mention, that the heat itself would. In what ways do you think or experience that the heat aspect aggravates regular usage? I could not seem to find you speaking about it in your video.
@@facialhair4680 Probably. The device's performance will probably suffer if it is too hot, yes. That's why the example I show includes parts to help keep it cooler.
hi
can be stored more mac software in one external ssd ?
Not sure what you are asking.
Good video
does MacBook Pro 2015 support this??
The exact Mac model you have shouldn't matter.
@@macmost thanks alot
hey do you have any enclosure adaptor recommendation for mac ssd? my mac ssd is replaced with samsung ssd and i want to make my mac ssd an external ssd. thanks!
No recommendations on that, sorry. Just find one that will work and buy it.
hello just bought an iMac m1 2022 it only has one thunder bolt how can I transfer music from iTunes to usb fast I know how to transfer it to usb but I'm trying to figure out how to use the thunder bolt to its max speed to transport my music fast as possible
does my usb have to be a certain speed ? to be compatible with the thunder bolt etc thats basically my question two
also does my external hdd have to be compatible with the thunder bolt hub ?
If your external drive is USB then you are not using the Thunderbolt ports as Thunderbolt, but as USB. Your new Mac has great USB speed, so it really depends on the speed of your USB drive.
I’m confused. I can get. Sandisk external SSD 256gb for 79:at Amazon. Other than the “fun” of building, isn’t the Sandisk a better choice?
Looking at that one (I think I found it) and it is 550 MBps whereas this would be 2100 MBps or faster if you find a better SSD to go into the enclosure.
Thanks.
sorry to get off target/ i need help i put 16 gigs of ram and 2 ssd cards 12 months ago/ computer ran faster/ know it is slowing down / its a 2012 mini mac what else can i do to repair/rebuild/add to/ internet line is fine/ a new mother board /processor/ ? please send some type of ideas thank you
It is probably software that is slowing it down. Use Activity Monitor to check, or have an expert take a firsthand look to assess. Instead of investing more money into a 2012 machine, maybe put that money toward a new one as that old one won't even get macOS upgrades at this point.
I just upgraded my MacBook pro mid 2014 to nvme, is there any way to reuse original sata based mac sad that has prioritary connector, OWC have a casing but it is pretty expensive.
You'd need to that enclosure yes. Probably best to just buy something else entirely if you need it.
macmostvideo that's what I figure out, better just to sell it will lower the cost of getting faster and bigger nvme based external solution.
I have a 2015 MacBook Pro 128GB SSD that I want to use as external drive but I can’t find an enclosure (except the expensive and big OWC) that fits the apple connector. Do you have a recommendation?
128GB is pretty small to spend the money on an enclosure for it. I'd just dump it and start fresh to make or buy a larger one.
macmostvideo you have a good point. the side of me feels it’s such a waste to bin it. thank you for your feedback on this.
@@macmost hey, I also have an extra old 2014 128GB standard SSD. Any idea what we can do with this? does seem quite wasteful..
Great video! Like always
Please one question. If i use this ssd for expand the Mac memory, i will have 2 ssd. The internal and the external. If i want to back up both ssd's, using Time Machine, to an external HDD, will the Mac "read" both ssd's like one disk to perform the TM back up?
Hope i explain myself well
Thanks in advance and sorry for my English i'm still learning
Have a Productive and Healthy day!
It will not treat the drives like one disk. But it will back up both drives as long as you aren't specifically excluding them from Time Machine.
@@macmost Fantastic! Understood. Thank you!
@@macmost I've benn a PC user for 26 years now. In a few months i'll buy my first Mac ever and going to switch to work just with the Mac.
If my main files are in Microsoft Excel and Power Point, can i open those files in Numbers and Keynote?
Do i need to convert the Excel files into another format?
@@freddymiguelponce You can import Word files into Pages and Excel files into Numbers. But these are different apps with different capabilities. So depending on what you have in those documents and what you need to do with them, this could be fine or you may need more. You can always get Word and Excel for Mac just like you can get it for Windows though.
@@macmost GREAT Thank you!
Thanks for this Garry, will have a go at making one, my Mac has been updated to solid state and performs real good except for editing work, any tips? Also my time machine which is purely for back up has stopped working with my Mac, nothing shows up when connected, how can I solve this issue please? Best regards
Sounds like maybe the drive is bad. Does it show up in Disk Utility? Even so, just get a new one since they are cheap. As for editing work -- do you mean video? What GPU is in it?
macmostvideo 👍thanks GARRY, yes ok new time machine, editing my GoPro footage, nothing too fancy, what is GPU?
macmostvideo , got it, prossesing unit, well it has not been changed , so original unit, my Mac is ten years old, but I love it as the DVD player is handy and of course the USB connections and of course that opening Mac sound😊
@@derekholme6922 Graphics "card" -- so depends on your Mac model. Regardless, unless it is a Mac Pro, a 10-year-old Mac would be pretty slow handling modern GoPro footage.
@@macmost , appreciate your input Garry, is it an easy job t change my graphics card, or maybe better with a new Mac?
Very good. You can also do this with regular ssds to
How do you avoid T2 MAC lock
Not sure what you mean. Do you mean the ability to lock a stolen Mac using Find My? Why would you need to "avoid" that feature?
macmostvideo T2 can stop your Mac starting up unless you change lock settings
@@shiremore How so?
I have an older MacMini, 500GB (mechanical drive) in it.
I was thinking, could a SSD like one of these work well as a new BOOT drive, and use the 500GB as a "data drive? Well, you answered this at the end...Thanks
I have a Macbook 2014 with USB 3.0 so it can do maximum 5 Gbps, so in my case even an ssd 2.5" is ok.. But since I have thunderbolt 2 which can do 20 Gbps, isn't there some ssd or hdd with thunderbolt 2 connection?
There are Thunderbolt 2 drives, but they tend to be expensive. Look. If you need maximum speed then it is probably time to upgrade your Mac.
@@macmost oh, that's the reason I couldn't find on internet... Thanks for the hint! However since I have only USB 3.0 in your opinion what is faster between SSD USB 3 and a HDD USB 3? Are they the same since the USB 3 reach only 5 Gbps maximum?
@@Max-122 You'd have to look at the numbers just like I did in the video. SSD may still be faster, but I'm not sure if it is worth it. If you are concerned about the difference at that level, then it really is time for a new Mac maybe with a larger internal SSD.
@@macmost yes, I think SSD is faster. Basically I do video editing and I was told that I should put my videos on the internal mac ssd while working, because it's the fastest. The problem is that I don't want to write too much data on ssd, I know that is not a good thing... So I was looking for a fast external SSD with the same speed of internal ssd, and thanks to you I found that there is a way. The only problem now is that I need an USB 3.1 for that. Anyway thank you, your videos are always inspiring and useful!
@@Max-122 Right, that's what I say in the video. Internal SSD is the best. What's the problem with writing too much data to the SSD -- that's what it is for!
Cool im all for cheap👍
Why can't you use a 2.5" SSD with an enclosure?
You probably can with the right enclosure. This is just what I happen to do.
macmostvideo :. You can, that's what I use. And much, much cheaper. I just wasn't sure if it was a matter of speed, size, or something else that you went the nvme. Most everyone else suggests a 2.5 and your the first person I've seen suggest otherwise lol. Great idea.
@@JeffCD77 Cheaper than $70 for 256GB with an enclosure?
macmostvideo : The enclosures can be as cheap as $9 on Amazon. Not junk either. And SSD spending on brand can be as low as $30. Again, it depends on the brand, etc. So I guess much, much cheaper wasn't quite right, but cheaper nonetheless. Just another option. But isn't your configuration going to run much faster?
@@JeffCD77 You'd have to look at the numbers to see if it is faster. Smaller though, I assume. And more modern I think.
Gawd--- how could you call it a thermal insulator; it is not, it acts as a heat sink. To transfer heat A W A Y. edit the word What gives with helping us with a bad explanation. You also Premise MAC say nothing about KEY type the MacBook 2014+++ uses for their SSD which is not like others. Get the RIGHT enclosure that swaps out the existing drive; old & slow Apple SSD put it to use, and then buy a bigger faster ssd that does work in that older MAC you own. The reason you need more is because it was too small. OWC Sabrent and a few others have the proper enclosure or get the right key adapter. Delete this vid and do one that is useful, when you are talking MAC/Apple. No use spreading bad info. Investigate!
This is not about swapping out the existing drive, though. It is about creating an external SSD.
gawd- you do not even know what 2280 represents is and you are making a video & "Insulator" term ???????
Gary helps a lot of us a great deal. How about you give it a rest? Your insults are childish and annoying. Run along and go play on your momma's computer.