SSD as an OSX Boot Drive?

Hi there, 

Is it possible for me to use my (new) USB 3.0 Scandisk Extreme 500 (240GB) as a boot drive for OSX?  

If it is possible, would I also need to install Trim Enabler as well (OSX Mavericks)?  If however I upgraded to OSX El Capitan, would I need to still have Trim Enabler installed?  

Thanks

Dom

Hello, 

the portable ssd cannot be used as a boot drive and is also not recommended for this kind of usage. Also trim enabler will not work with this ssd since it is not a sata drive

Hi there, 

Thanks for replying.  That’s interesting to know.

If Trim Enabler is unable to work in OSX, (with USB) does this mean that my external SSD drive is going to have a shorter lifespan than if it were used on Windows 7?

Cheers

dom

Hello, 

the lifespan of the ssd will not be affected however it will get full with unused data and the speed will decrease a lot and can also freeze the ssd. So what you can do then is to format the drive every 6 months to ensure that all the blocks will be empty and ready to write data inside.

I just purchased a  SanDisk extreme 510 480GB portable SSD. I sm successfully using this as a boot drive (start-up disk) on my late 2012 Mac Mini  i5 2.5GHz/16GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 4000.  500GB hard disk and 4TB external USB3 back-up disk.

The improvement in speed to start-up and program loading has been impressive:

Using the internal HD drive: on to desktop took 2 minutes 48 seconds

Using SanDisk 510 external with USB3: on to desktop took 42 seconds that is exactly 4 times faster

By comparison my MacBook Air 2015 i7 500GB internal SSD and 8MB RAM started in 28 seconds from on to desktop. Both are running OSX High Sierra. I will keep my MacMini for another year or so! The impact on productivity is noticeable.

NOTE: when formatting the SanDisk with th MacOS Disk Utility do not forget to select “Show All Devices” in the “View” menu on the Disk Utility toolbar on the left.  Then select “Erase” in the middle of the toolbar and check SanDisk Ext SSD snd then enter  your new disk name (i.e: MyMac2. Make sure you select as Format:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

and Scheme:

GUID Partition Map

Click on the “Erase” button and the disk willbe formated. You can now download High Sierra to this disk and use it as a start-up.

If you have any useful data on your SanDisk back it up first.