USB-C SSD Suggestions

[Phil O]

I looking for small USB C SSD suggestions. I'm looking at this one at the moment:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ENVPMCA05/

Anyone have one of these? The good, the bad, the snappy?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mikehalloran]

I looking for small USB C SSD suggestions. I'm looking at this one at the moment:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ENVPMCA05/

Anyone have one of these? The good, the bad, the snappy?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

This tests faster than most Flash drives. It's still slower than SATA III over USB 3.0. It is a lot smaller, however. This is good for sneakernet or offloading files from an iPad or such.

If portability is not the issue, for that same money, you can get one of these that supports up to an 8TB SATA III SSD. USB 3.0 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 1) and SATA III have roughly the same max data transfer rate.
https://www.amazon.com/SSK-External-Doc ... matic_sspa
+
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ty ... ef=sr_1_13

and a 1TB MX500 (.5–4TB with 5 year warranty)
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... ref=sr_1_1

I don't recommend QVO for system drives but there's nothing wrong with read many/write few such as a sample or archival drive. 1–8TB
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-870-QVO- ... ref=sr_1_3

[bayswater]

The Samsung T7 (“rugged” version) is on Amazon at a significant discount. .5 to 4T for about $75 to $200. I also noticed 500G USB3 key drives for abut $15 at Costco. Not USB-C but handy for keeping portable copies of projects.

[Phil O]

Good info. Thanks muchly, guys.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[Phil O]

This is good for sneakernet or offloading files from an iPad or such.

My daughter picked up an M1 MacBook Air on the recent Amazon sale. She'll be going to college next year and the Air only has a 256MB internal. I thought small and portable drive would be good for keeping the internal from filling up, and something she can easily carry to class.

[Rick Cornish]

If portability is not the issue, for that same money, you can get one of these that supports up to an 8TB SATA III SSD. USB 3.0 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 1) and SATA III have roughly the same max data transfer rate.
https://www.amazon.com/SSK-External-Doc ... matic_sspa
+
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ty ... ef=sr_1_13

and a 1TB MX500 (.5–4TB with 5 year warranty)
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... ref=sr_1_1

I don't recommend QVO for system drives but there's nothing wrong with read many/write few such as a sample or archival drive. 1–8TB
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-870-QVO- ... ref=sr_1_3

Mike—do any of these drives support Thunderbolt 4?

[James Steele]

This is what I got recently:

I just received my second one of these:
https://a.co/d/a8qd4ep

(I just noticed that they have a newer model for more money that has a small fan inside the enclosure. I don't think I've had any heat issues with the passive one, however.)

These are USB4. I initially had some issues with my NVMe drive inside this occasionally not mounting when I first booted my Mac, requiring an unplug/replug to mount it. However, I noticed that after I connected the drive to the pass through connector on my UAD TB3 Satellite OCTO, or later to a TB dock, my mounting issues went away. So I'm thinking it just needed a few seconds to be powered up before the Mac was booted.

Anyway... like I said... I just got my second one. I get read/write speeds about 2500MB/s with my WD Blue 2TN NVMe drive.

I have a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe drive arriving tomorrow:
https://a.co/d/jd8cH9T

I plan to put that in this enclosure and move my sample library over to it, and then make my 2TB NVMe drive a Final Cut Pro projects drive.

I got a pretty good deal on the enclosure plus the drive due to Prime Days... and I went ahead and applied for the Amazon VISA (which has a RIDICULOUS interest rate... I will not use it!) and got a $150 Amazon gift card which knocked the whole cost for enclosure and 4TB drive to $281. Ankmax recommends specific NVMe drives for best performance, so to play it safe I went with the more expensive Samsung drive. However, my WD Blue was not on their list and performs well, so if you're inclined to deal with returns, you could try a less expensive drive in it and see if it works. If it doesn't, return it.

[mikehalloran]

If portability is not the issue, for that same money, you can get one of these that supports up to an 8TB SATA III SSD. USB 3.0 (now known as USB 3.2 Gen 1) and SATA III have roughly the same max data transfer rate.
https://www.amazon.com/SSK-External-Doc ... matic_sspa
+
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ty ... ef=sr_1_13

and a 1TB MX500 (.5–4TB with 5 year warranty)
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... ref=sr_1_1

I don't recommend QVO for system drives but there's nothing wrong with read many/write few such as a sample or archival drive. 1–8TB
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-870-QVO- ... ref=sr_1_3

Mike—do any of these drives support Thunderbolt 4?

No. They support USB 3.0 (old name everyone understood) or USB 3.2 gen 1 (new confusing name).

The Samsung T7 supports USB 3.1 (old) or 3.2 gen2 (new). Given your daughter's use, might be the way to go. It will be a lot faster than the flash drive you asked about originally since it will have a blade of some kind in it. Think twice as fast and you're in the ballpark.

TB4 is not an issue — no such thing as a TB4 drive unless it has a hub built in: TB4 ports allow up to 5 TB3 devices (Mac) or 4 (PC) plus greater available bus power.

Anyway, TB3/4 is built on the USB 4 standard but Thunderbolt means Intel Certified and Licensed which may mean better components (not an issue if everything behaves, right?)

The Samsung X5 seems to be discontinued which is too bad.

These TEKQ TB3 externals use a slower NVMe 3 x4 blade which saves some money but have a solid aluminum housing and are Intel Certified. Probably the best bang/buck if you want TB3.
https://www.amazon.com/TEKQ-Certified-T ... ref=sr_1_6

Fantom TLC drives are TB3 from 1–4TB.
https://www.amazon.com/FD-Extreme-Thund ... _sspa?th=1

SanDisk/Western Digital was having heat issues but I believe that was with the Extreme series in their plastic cases, not these.
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Professi ... r_1_3?th=1

[Rick Cornish]

So, Thunderbolt is no longer preferable to USB for VIs or sample playback?

[mikehalloran]

So, Thunderbolt is no longer preferable to USB for VIs or sample playback?

Huh?

We were talking about drives for Phil's college kid to use with her M1 MacBook Air at school. Unless she has a need for the performance of TB3, I would think that the Samsung T7 is the ideal choice.

For Samples/VIs anything that does serious work, I like Thunderbolt 3/4 (USB 4) — nearly 3x the speed. I'll be adding those to my own setup soon.

[Rick Cornish]

So, Thunderbolt is no longer preferable to USB for VIs or sample playback?

Huh?

We were talking about drives for Phil's college kid to use with her M1 MacBook Air at school. Unless she has a need for the performance of TB3, I would think that the Samsung T7 is the ideal choice.

For Samples/VIs anything that does serious work, I like Thunderbolt 3/4 (USB 4) — nearly 3x the speed. I'll be adding those to my own setup soon.

Sorry…. Got distracted by all the hardware discussion.

[James Steele]

Sorry…. Got distracted by all the hardware discussion.

I didn't help. LOL. I'm salivating at the prospect of my 4TB NVMe drive getting here tomorrow. It's going to free up a lot of space for more financially reckless sample library and virtual instrument purchases!!

[Phil O]

It's all good, guys, no worries. The discussion here has assisted me in looking at other options and that is indeed helpful. Thanks to all who have replied.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil