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#1
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External SSD drive for iMac
Anyone have a recommendation for a 512/500GB external SSD drive to record to on an iMac? Should I get a thunderbolt version?
I have a little Toshiba 5400 USB-powered drive that seems to be faltering. I ended up having to move my projects onto the internal, system, drive, which I understand is not ideal. |
#2
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
Quote:
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Macmini M1 8/512 -OS 12.3.1 and PT2022.4 Logic Pro X 10.7.4 RME BabyFace Pro Macbook Pro july 2014 2.5ghz 16gb ram 512gb SSD - OS11.6.5 - PT 2021.3 Logic Pro X 10.7.4 RME BabyFace Pro |
#3
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
I just bought a Samsung T5. 500 gb SSD. The size of a credit card. Bus-powered so no AC cord. Super fast. As quiet as a child's prayer. It's about $150.00
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Brian See profile page for system details |
#4
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
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Felipe Gonzalez A. Avid ACSR Elite Dante Certified http://felipousismix.wix.com/felipousismix Open Core Mac Pro OSX Ventura | ProTools HD 2023.x | Merging HAPI ADA8 | UAD Quad PCIe | Kali IN-8 | Presonus Temblor 10 | Softube, SSL, Universal Audio, Slate Digital, McDSP, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance among other plugins |
#5
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
Thanks, I ended up going with a "G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile SSD R-Series Storage."
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#6
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
cool !!!
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Macmini M1 8/512 -OS 12.3.1 and PT2022.4 Logic Pro X 10.7.4 RME BabyFace Pro Macbook Pro july 2014 2.5ghz 16gb ram 512gb SSD - OS11.6.5 - PT 2021.3 Logic Pro X 10.7.4 RME BabyFace Pro |
#7
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
those are USB drives though... it should be said that Thunderbolt SSD drives are more like $350 and up
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William Wittman Producer/Engineer (Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, The Fixx, The Outfield, Hooters...Kinky Boots!) |
#8
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
A 5400 rpm HDD will be pathetic performance. But what exact model iMac... does it have USB 2? 3? 3.1 Gen 2? Thunderbolt 2? 3? And what exact internal drive does the iMac have.... if it's a recent iMac generation with PCIe SSD drive then the very best thing you can do is record to that internal drive.... Completely the opposite of what you are thinking in the internal post.... if it has a slow HDD or Fusion drive then sure you do not want to record to that. Upgrading the size of that PCIe SSD drive if needed may be an option.
For external drives there are two very good choices in the market: Samsung T5 USB 3.1 Gen 2 with internal SATA SSD. Will run close to max on USB 3/USB 3.1 Gen 1 since you are close to hitting SATA limits. Given you have a craptastic 5400 RPM HDD this will be multiple times faster. I would buy the T5 not the T3 even if I only had USB 3.0 (I own multiple of both drives). If you have Thunderbolt 2 or 3 and are willing to pay for high-end performance then *the* external drive to get is the Sonnet Fusion (stupid name, nothing to do with Apple Fusion drives) http://www.sonnettech.com/Product/fu...lashdrive.html Anybody trying to sell you a SATA SSD in a Thunderbolt interface is saying they think their customers are morons. Don't be a moron and buy their crap. |
#9
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
It's getting a bit confusing since it seems that the latest version of Thunderbolt (Thunderbolt 3) uses USB-C connectors. But so does USB 3.1. There aren't many pure Thunderbolt 2 external SSD drives. And for good reason, apparently.
The the top sustained transfer rate for even the fastest SSD drives is around 500MB/s, which much less than even "old" USB 3.0 can support. USB 3.0 can support 10x that throughput. USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt can support much more, but it seems to be overkill when the bottleneck is the drive itself. |
#10
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Re: External SSD drive for iMac
That Sonnet drive is impressive. 2600MB/s? Is that really megaBYTES, so 20800 Mb/s?
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