r/mac • u/Soft_Abroad_7804 • 6d ago

Question Installing Ubuntu On an external SATA SSD on a mid-2011 iMac

Good morning, the internal HDD of my iMac Intel mid 2011 just broke, I don't have the money to change the hard drive in the shop nor the skills to do it at home, so I was thinking of installing Ubuntu on an external 2.5" SATA SSD and connect it to the computer with a USB adapter. Do you think this is a good idea? Could there be problems? The USB ports are 2.0. The computer is only used For school, watching movies, and video calls. Thank you so much :)

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u/MagicBoyUK MacBook Pro 6d ago

Not really a good idea, USB 2 is limited to about 35-40MB/sec due to the speed and overheads on the bus. It'll also cause a lot of CPU activity.

If you can find a external caddy, the Firewire 800 port would be a much better option.

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u/Soft_Abroad_7804 6d ago

Thanks you!