Hello i have a question about which hard druve us better.i have a macbook air 2013 and i want to buy an external hard drive to run games directly from there.which is faster and better an ssd one or an hdd with thunderbolt??.thank you very much!!
As a transport, Thunderbolt is faster than USB3. As a device an SSD should always have faster read/write times compared to a spinning HD. Therefore a Thunderbolt based SSD should be faster that a USB3 based HD.
The negative to a Thunderbolt SSD is the cost is likely much higher per GB of space than a than a USB 3 based HD. So it is a question of performance vs. budget.
re:
[[ Therefore a Thunderbolt based SSD should be faster that a USB3 based HD. ]]
Not necessarily so.
Get the -right- USB3 enclosure or dock and for all practical purposes, USB3 speeds will be equal or near-equal to that of thunderbolt.
Will cost a lot less, as well.
Aside: some months' back, barefeats.com tested one USB3 enclosure and found it to be FASTER THAN thunderbolt speeds. Not a great difference, but a difference nonetheless...