My 2010 15" MacBook Pro came with a Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB Hybrid Drive which I replaced with an SSD. I put the Seagate Momentus XT in a FireWire 800 enclosure to support the fastest port I had at the time.
Now that I have a Retina MacBook Pro, which has USB 3.0, I've started wondering: Would I get better performance out of the Seagate Momentus XT on the Retina MacBook Pro with a USB 3.0 enclosure? I use the drive for bootable backups with Carbon Copy Cloner, so speed is very important to me.
I'm still waiting for the ThunderBolt to FireWire 800 adapter anyway for my FireWire-only accessories and drives (Aren't we all?).
I've heard that standard HDDs don't benefit much from USB 3.0 over FireWire 800, but I'm not so sure about Hybrid Drives. Would it be worth picking up a USB 3.0 enclosure for the Seagate Momentus XT now (~$30-60), or should I hold out for a Thunderbolt drive as the prices drop? Thanks!
Now that I have a Retina MacBook Pro, which has USB 3.0, I've started wondering: Would I get better performance out of the Seagate Momentus XT on the Retina MacBook Pro with a USB 3.0 enclosure? I use the drive for bootable backups with Carbon Copy Cloner, so speed is very important to me.
I'm still waiting for the ThunderBolt to FireWire 800 adapter anyway for my FireWire-only accessories and drives (Aren't we all?
). I've heard that standard HDDs don't benefit much from USB 3.0 over FireWire 800, but I'm not so sure about Hybrid Drives. Would it be worth picking up a USB 3.0 enclosure for the Seagate Momentus XT now (~$30-60), or should I hold out for a Thunderbolt drive as the prices drop? Thanks!