One thing I haven't quite figured out from reading all the threads is how well external drives work on a day to day basis if the internal drive is small. if I get a new Mac mini with a 256 gb SSD, it will be too small to hold my iTunes, Aperture and iMovie files and libraries. If I put these on an external HDD, will there be a performance hit when working in these applications? Or does USB 3 or TB eliminate any such issues and it will be just like having the files on an internal drive? To keep costs down the external drive would be just a regular HDD (not a SDD). Maybe I'm better off with a fusion drive. Im just not sure. Any help or guidance for this novice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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External drives for a Mac mini with SSD
- Thread starter monjones
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If you get a internal HDD (it should) operate at SATA III speeds.
USB 3.0 has a theoretical limit of 5Gb/s. SATA III has a theoretical speed of 6Gb/s.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1536234
and iirc TB is faster than USB3.
best would be to go for a TB external i think.
someone correct me if i am speaking crazy.
Mechanical HDDs don't even saturate the S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I) interface, thus simply getting a USB 3.0 enclosue with a 7.200 RPM HDD should suffice. No need for Thunderbolt if one uses only one HDD without RAID.
I just purchased a 1 TB WD 7200 rpm drive for $70 and the startech.com enclosure for $46, so for around $120 I have a usb3 drive with SATA 3 and 7200 rpm... I am planning on using it for my bootcamp drive, I from what i have read it will run at near-internal speeds. Going to get another one for my aperture libraries if it works.
