If it still doesn’t show up, open Disk Utility (located in Applications > Utilities), select your drive, and click on Verify Disk to check for any errors or corruption on the drive.ĥ. Restart your Mac and see if it recognizes your external SSD drive.Ĥ. In the Preferences window, make sure that “External disks” is selected under Show these items on the desktop.ģ. Open Finder and select Preferences from the menu bar. Double-check the connection and ensure that the USB port is working correctly.Ģ. First, make sure that your external SSD is properly connected to your Mac. This will allow you to boot up and run your Mac from the external SSD, which shold provide a noticeable increase in performance when compared to using an internal hard drive. Once connected, you can select the external SSD as your startup disk in System Preferences > Startup Disk.

You can then connect the external SSD to your iMac’s USB or Thunderbolt port. To do so, you will need an external enclosure for your SSD, a compatible connector cable, and a compatible power supply. Yes, it is possible to run your iMac from an external SSD.

Here are some things you should do:ġ) Check that the drive is properly plugged in – Make sure that all cables and connections are secure bfore turning on your computer or plugging in any other drives.Ģ) Change USB ports – If one port isn’t working, switch it with another port and check if that helps.ģ) Edit Finder Preferences – Ensure that under Finder Preferences > Sidebar > External Disks that “Show External Disks” is checked off.Ĥ) Reset NVRAM – If all else fails, resetting NVRAM may help solve any issues you’re having with recognizing external disks on your Mac.ĥ) Check Apple’s Disk Utility – See if Disk Utility is able to detect and mount your disk under Mounted Disks in Disk Utility > File > Mount/UnmountĦ) Change format of hard drive – You can change the format of the hard drive by going into Disk Utility > Erase tab and selecting a different format or partition scheme for the diskħ) Run First Aid – To make sure everything is running smoothly run First Aid by going into Disk Utility > First Aid tab or press Command + R when booting up your MacĨ) Reboot computer – Sometimes simply rebooting your computer will help fix any issues you may be having with recognizing disks When it comes to setting up and uing an external SSD on your iMac from mid-2011, there are several steps you need to take in order to make sure everything is working correctly.

Hard drive for imac 2011