Multiple External HDs

[bkshepard]

A number of years ago I bought the Promise Pegasus(1st version) R4 RAID system for my Mac with 4 x 1TB drives. It's operated wonderfully until recently, but I think it's time to do an upgrade. I'm curious about several things related to external HDs.
1. For multiple drives is it better to use a RAID setup, or just have several separate drives? I know the redundancy is better for RAID, but how is performance?
2. Does partitioning a RAID into separate virtual drives make any difference? Better? Worse?
3. In years past, the wisdom was that it was better to have several smaller drives rather that 1 large drive for audio and/or sample drives. Is that still the case?

Any advice/wisdom would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

What year iMac and what's inside? HHD, Fusion or SSD?

3. In years past, the wisdom was that it was better to have several smaller drives rather that 1 large drive

That was because of the bus speeds of ATA/IDE/EIDE etc. When SATA1 came out with the G5 at 10–25x the speed and even more bandwidth, this became a non-issue. With solid state drives over SATA3 and faster, this became ridiculous. Doesn't mean that the armchair experts who read something once aren't still preaching that gospel somewhere.

I know the redundancy is better for RAID

Huh? It depends on the RAID setup.

Does partitioning a RAID into separate virtual drives make any difference? Better? Worse?

See my previous two answers.

You can get a 4T SATA3 SSD for around $700, hook it up via USB 3, SATA/eSATA or Thunderbolt and have all the storage in the world faster than that RAID — however you did it (will run much, much cooler and save on your electric bill, too).

Mechanical HHDs are for archiving and Time Machine. They should be set up as JBOD (Just a Bunch of Drives) so that Time Machine can cycle through them once per hour (OS 10.8 and later). The WD Red is excellent for this—a low energy, xd drive designed for server banks with available capacities up to 12T.

[bkshepard]

Thanks, Mike! I'm currently using a mid-2011 27" iMac with a 1TB HHD. I'm planning to upgrade that as well to one of the new 27" iMacs, although I don't think I can afford the iMac Pro. I have a separate 4TB HHD that I use for backup. The drive I'm wanting to replace is the one I stream audio and samples to and from during recording/playback. It sounds like I would be fine with a single 4+TB SSD for that--especially on the new iMac.

[bkshepard]

You can get a 4T SATA3 SSD for around $700

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or for the wrong thing, but I'm not finding that size drive as an external for less than about $1200 or so.

[HCMarkus]

This:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Int ... B07864XY8B

Or two of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... ref=sr_1_2

Plus your choice of a number of case approaches... SATA3>USB3.1, SATA3>Thunderbolt. USB3 is inexpensive.

https://www.amazon.com/ineo-10Gbps-Alum ... ref=sr_1_3

Thunderbolt cases are harder to find and tend to be more pricey, but you can get something like what you'll see at the link below if you want to have extra space, maybe for some spinning drives for backup, or if you find that two 2TB Data SSDs are more affordable and you want them both in a single case. Attaches via USB C:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... -_-Product

If you want the fastest possible external drive, take a look here:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13034/a- ... xtreme-pro

[mikehalloran]

You can get a 4T SATA3 SSD for around $700

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or for the wrong thing, but I'm not finding that size drive as an external for less than about $1200 or so.

It can be done. Samsung will sell an 860 EVO direct for $799 and there are better buys for those who shop around. A USB3 dock to put it in is under $30—TB docks cost more. You can install a library SSD inside any 2010 or later 27” iMac except the Pro with an $11 adapter and $39 heat sensor from OWC. I’ve got a guy in Palo Alto and another in Fremont who are pretty good with the tape kits that hold 2012 and later iMacs together.

Yea, Mojave runs jittery and slow on a 2009–2011 iMac. I’ve a 2010 i7 and a 2011 i5. Too bad because a 2011 27” is the easiest iMac to upgrade that Apple made—I can do one in a half hour one-handed (not a boast. I’m handicapped and do everything one-handed).

A late 2015 is inexpensive if you’re content with a 1T SSD NVMe PCIe quad3 blade as a boot drive (3x faster than a SATA3 SSD and so many times faster than what you have now, I don’t want to calculate it). Have someone throw a 2T ($300) or 4T libraries SSD inside or go external. The savings on your PG&E bill will have paid for this over a few years. 5 spinners sucks up the juice and generates heat.

A late 2017 gives you the option of a 2T blade for your boot drive and substitutes a pair of USBC/TB3 ports for the TB2 ports on the 2015.

I need a pair of external monitors for my day job and a 2T boot drive. Although it’s possible to stick a 2T blade into a used 2015, it’s more expensive than buying a 2017 so I’m looking at those while cruising the Refurb Store for iMac Pros that turn up—right now there’s a 1T Pro for $4,249 (4 USBC/TB3 ports). That $5,600 2T may be calling my name.
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/ ... c/imac_pro

[bkshepard]

Thanks guys, extremely helpful!