Using External SSD as Primary HDD?

Hey everyone,
My current hard drive is constantly grinding away, and I know it won't last much longer. I need my 500 gigs of space, but can't afford the outlandish $1800 for an internal SSD with that much space.
Is it possible to just buy a standard external drive like a WD Passport for a hundred bucks and utilize this as my primary drive instead of the internal?
If so, will I be reaping any speed benefits comparable to a standard internal SSD? Or is the fact that the external connected via FireWire or USB going to be slower than the SATA Connection of my iMac?
Much obliged...
- Chris

Assuming your internal HD is in good shape the performance will be similiar not identical. If your internal drive isn't in good shape then you will probably see some improvements. When you say "7200 grind machine" are you saying you can hear it making noises? Here is a link to what failing HD's sound like:
http://datacent.com/harddrivesounds.php
If yours sounds like any of those you should get it replaced. At the very least you should check it's S.M.A.R.T. status in Disk Utility (it should be Verified) and you can also run Apple Hardware test. You don't say in your profile what iMac you have or what version of OS X you are running so I can't give you the correct link on how to run AHT.

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I bought a Samsung 830 SSD ( 256 GB model MZ-7PC256D )
I planned to connect it to my 27" 3.5 GHz Intel i7 iMac (mid 2011) via thunderbolt with the Seagate GoFlex adapter and use it as primary boot drive.
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I disabled the "disk sleep" option, disk seems ok (I checked the status and said verified) but system keeps freezing.
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17/12/12 18:04:09,888 Finder: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSRemoveSurface: Invalid window 0x1f
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17/12/12 18:04:17,891 talagent: CGSReleaseWindow(cid, wid): CGError 1001 on line 759
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http://wolfgangtechnology.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-with-seagate-thunderbolt-adap ter.html
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Ok this is great as we are progressing through.
So yes it can be done but there's the caveat of the "pipes" once you go external. The only option for an external SSD Drive with thunderbolt that I know of is LaCie's 240 GB version ... Priced at $800.
I think what I will need to do is suck it up. The new MacBooks have the core technology I'd like but we really want the larger screen.
Last question - should I wait/when might we expect an updated line of iMacs? In a few months or not for a while? That answer may provide some direction if it is anticipated to be sooner vs later.
Thank you!

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Kappy wrote:
Although with a separate SSD and HDD you have to perform the work yourself you do gain some flexibility in your set up. However, should the urge arise there are numerous tutorial around that explain how to turn the SSD and HDD into a Fusion Drive using the same mechanism that Apple uses.
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Using External SSD as Primary HDD?

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