External or internal ssd drive?

[EdwardLee]

I have a msi ms-168b notebook with windows 7. Which is better performance wise? Is my laptop even compatible?

[kaufenpreis]

Opening the iMac does not void your warranty. Notice their is no "sticker" anywhere telling you this. You will find a sticker on most HDDs that says that, but I know no one who likes to take a drive apart. If you open the iMac and goof somehow, damaging something, that is when Apple frowns. Apple does not offer any take-apart guide on their site, because it is not easy for most people. For a Mac Pro, opening the case and pulling out a hard drive carrier is like getting out a pair of socks. The iMac requires a lot more care.

"if i were to connect an SSD through thunderbolt/USB 3.0, how would the performance be?"
Quit good for copying files. You wouldn't use it for booting, since that would be a big slowdown.

"on the one hand i'm inclined to think an internal drive is always faster/better than external drive."
You are correct.

"on the other hand the interface speed of USB 3.0 and thunderbolt are higher than the disk read/write speed anyways."
(I think you are using a third hand now. ) It is additive, not a case of having no effect from the bus. Also, the bandwidth is important, and that is a different spec from data transfer speed. That's why Firewire 400 is much faster that USB 2.0 (480). It is always slower for data to go through a narrow, fast connection than a wide, fast connection.

"just to clarify, i want to use the SSD as the primary drive, not an additional external drive."
Now I'm confused. Above you say "connect an SSD through thunderbolt/USB 3.0". That isn't "primary".

Here is what you should do....
Open the iMac, replace the internal HDD with the SDD. Put the HDD in a Firewire 800 case (such as at the link below), and use it for external backup / Time Machine / movies.

[kltranslation11]

Apple does not offer any take-apart guide on their site, because it is not easy for most people. For a Mac Pro, opening the case and pulling out a hard drive carrier is like getting out a pair of socks.

[novaco112]

I have just started working with 1920x1080 footage within Isadora and I am mixing two 25 fps HD movies (photo-jpeg, 50%) from a single internal drive and it plays fine, but when the compression is 75% the frame rate drops to 20 fps and the fade-in of a second movie falters a bit at startup.

[harry26]

If you open the iMac and goof somehow, damaging something that will depend on the accurate previous results.

[christopher12]

I Agree with kaufenpreis.

[Geekion]

i always prefer External Drives because u can use it as a backup if ur internal had some problems

[StuartSpindlow1]

I completely agree with all your views guys, thanks for sharing. :)