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I have a late 2010 iMac that needs a replacement hard drive. It will not be my primary computer but I am instead going to use it as a media server with Plex installed. I have a good, fast external 8TB drive with my media but am not against transferring the data to the iMac’s new internal drive if that will work better. So my question is given the specific use I will have for the iMac what is a better drive to install? I was initially leaning to an OWC SSD: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/… I would then use the attached 8TB drive for all the media. But then someone else suggested that perhaps something like a Seagate Firecuda Hybrid drive might be better because I wouldn’t be relying on USB 2 to access my media. My dilemma is more around what is the configuration that should provide the best performance. So to be specific, will the USB 2 connection to the hard drive negate the advantages of upgrading to an SSD? Will serving the media off an internal hybrid drive be faster than from an SSD to USB 2 external drive? Anyone have suggestions or recommendations?
What if you do both! Swap out the HD for a bigger drive, You do need a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive the FireCuda will be just fine! Here’s the IFIXIT guide: iMac Intel 27" EMC 2390 Hard Drive Replacement Now your system does have a spare SATA port! So you can also put in a SSD! Here’s the IFIXIT guide to do this: Installing iMac Intel 27" EMC 2390 Dual HDD or SSD Drive. Here wed not need anything very large the OWC 120GB will be more than fine. Making this drive your boot drive. That way you have your media on a faster interface and your systems boot time will be quicker and being isolated you won’t encounter as much fragmentation (only when you delete and then add stuff will you get frag’ing). But thats OK! as being a second drive you can defrag it without any problems!
