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1TB or 2TB harddrive?
- Thread starter seasurfer
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The higher capacity the hard drive, the lower the seek times, latency, etc., I believe. I'm going for a 1TB (I'd prefer a 500GB) and I'll use externals for anything else I need.
I'm thinking 1TB myself, since I have a NAS which I store all my files on. It's too bad Apple charges so much for the 2TB upgrade...
I don't really trust internal hard drives - too prone to failure.
I don't really trust internal hard drives - too prone to failure.
For me 2TB IS WAY too expensive. And 1TB seems like a good amount. Plus there is that thunderbolt port looking at you... You know you will have to feed it some external drives... so why get enough internal storage when you KNOW you'll buy external soon enough.
You know an external drive is the same drive just in an external case.
Slow as snot 1 TB NAS is about $100.
Do you think it would be better to upgrade the internal drive over purchasing an external NAS. Is a NAS that much slower?
I have a 4-bay RAID-5 NAS... Pretty sure it's much more reliable than a singular drive
But my point is that storing all your data on a single drive is like putting all your eggs in a single basket.
Besides a NAS, you could use an external TB / USB drive - this should run you around $100 USD and provide you with speeds comparable to an internal drive.
A NAS is different than DAS (Direct Access Storage, i.e. TB/USB). NASes offer network access which means the data is sharable amongst multiple computers / devices. Unfortunately this level of sophistication means that NASes are more expensive than a TB/USB drive. Also, since the interface is over a network NAS drives are slower too. Higher end NAS have RAID support which adds a level of redundancy to the drive. Expect to spend at least 400 - 500 for a decent multi-bay NAS. With a prosumer NAS, you can achieve ~50 - 80MB/s speeds to the unit.
Toms Hardware has a good NAS chart: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/network-attached-storage-nas-charts/benchmarks,87.html
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The 2TB drive will be faster than the 1TB drive, assuming you store the same quantity of data on each drive.
If you store 800 or more GBs, the difference will become very, very obvious as you approach 1TB.
If you store 800 or more GBs, the difference will become very, very obvious as you approach 1TB.
Both drives are equal speed.
How much data do you have? How much data do you plan on connecting?
How much data do you have? How much data do you plan on connecting?
3TB drives on Newegg go for around $180. Upgrading from 1TB to 2TB through Apple costs $150. So you get 4TB for roughly the same amount of money as a 2TB internal HDD.
I'd go for the 1TB internal HDD and get a 3TB external HDD. In 2 or 3 years if you ever think about selling your iMac to get the latest refresh, it will probably make things easier to keep your bigger files on a separate HDD. And I wouldn't want to slow down the internal HDD by filling it to capacity with movies that I'd watch maybe once a month.
I'd go for the 1TB internal HDD and get a 3TB external HDD. In 2 or 3 years if you ever think about selling your iMac to get the latest refresh, it will probably make things easier to keep your bigger files on a separate HDD. And I wouldn't want to slow down the internal HDD by filling it to capacity with movies that I'd watch maybe once a month.
Go for 2 tb if you intend to use more than 500 gb data. HDD will get much slower when you reach 50% of its total capacity. SSD drives won't
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2TB drive IS faster than 1TB drive!
Here is why the 2TB drive will be faster for you.
If either drive will suit your capacity needs, then that means you plan to store less than 1TB.
If you store 1TB on a 2TB drive, the average distance the read/write head has to move will be substantially less, approximately halved. That means seek times are reduced. Not halved, but significantly reduced. That means the drive can perform more I/Os in the same period of time, or take less time to perform a given I/O load.
Further, if one of the ways in which the 2TB drive squeezes more data in is by increasing the density of bytes around the tracks, there is a second speed benefit. The data transfer rate between the read/write head and the drive's buffer is higher.
Trust me, I have worked in the storage industry for over 40 years, and I know what I'm talking about.
Here is why the 2TB drive will be faster for you.
If either drive will suit your capacity needs, then that means you plan to store less than 1TB.
If you store 1TB on a 2TB drive, the average distance the read/write head has to move will be substantially less, approximately halved. That means seek times are reduced. Not halved, but significantly reduced. That means the drive can perform more I/Os in the same period of time, or take less time to perform a given I/O load.
Further, if one of the ways in which the 2TB drive squeezes more data in is by increasing the density of bytes around the tracks, there is a second speed benefit. The data transfer rate between the read/write head and the drive's buffer is higher.
Trust me, I have worked in the storage industry for over 40 years, and I know what I'm talking about.
I was going to upgrade to the 2TB, but it was $150. I decided to buy a 2TB hard drive and external case with FireWire 800 for $158 off NewEgg. If you don't want FireWire 800 you can knock your cost down to around $100 or spend an extra $50 and get a 3TB.
Going external will give you an extra 2TB - 3TB at the same or cheaper then what Apple is charging for an extra 1TB.
Going external will give you an extra 2TB - 3TB at the same or cheaper then what Apple is charging for an extra 1TB.
c'mon kids.
1. Internal drives are going to be faster than your USB drives. Maybe talk to me when Thunderbolt drives are out. But still, I thought most people wanted Macs to be uncluttered and pretty... and externals SURE don't go with that mantra.
2. NAS units are great for backup, but generally slower than even externals, especially in great RAID configurations. Also, NAS units that are actually worth anyones time are now just becoming available in the consumer realm.
Internal should always be your number 1, especially for processes and files that require regular access. Applications, music, digital negatives (lightroom/aperture), etc... all work best on fast-access sources. NAS and externals are best for backup and static files.
Go big or go home on your internal. I got the 2TB even though I have externals out my butt and an 8TB NAS.
1. Internal drives are going to be faster than your USB drives. Maybe talk to me when Thunderbolt drives are out. But still, I thought most people wanted Macs to be uncluttered and pretty... and externals SURE don't go with that mantra.
2. NAS units are great for backup, but generally slower than even externals, especially in great RAID configurations. Also, NAS units that are actually worth anyones time are now just becoming available in the consumer realm.
Internal should always be your number 1, especially for processes and files that require regular access. Applications, music, digital negatives (lightroom/aperture), etc... all work best on fast-access sources. NAS and externals are best for backup and static files.
Go big or go home on your internal. I got the 2TB even though I have externals out my butt and an 8TB NAS.
depends on what you require capacity wise i got the 1tb no need for more i had a 150gb which was about 3/4 full but 15 + years in pc industry taught me anything it has nothing to do with main drive nothing at all ... main drive is useless if not backed up ..
the larger the drive the more you will lose once it crashes ... i regularly back up files on my external drive and DVD / CD if it is a program i need to keep eg. downloaded purchased version photoshop from adobe ...
1tb main drive .. use a external drive for backups and once thunderbolt tech is out on backup drives use that for media like movies etc... i stream now from my external via USB no issues at all ... just copying large amounts at once is what slows it down..
external drives are plugged in , used then unplugged they do not stay plugged in as that is how drives die from spinning all the time for no reason and they can get hot if always are on
the larger the drive the more you will lose once it crashes ... i regularly back up files on my external drive and DVD / CD if it is a program i need to keep eg. downloaded purchased version photoshop from adobe ...
1tb main drive .. use a external drive for backups and once thunderbolt tech is out on backup drives use that for media like movies etc... i stream now from my external via USB no issues at all ... just copying large amounts at once is what slows it down..
external drives are plugged in , used then unplugged they do not stay plugged in as that is how drives die from spinning all the time for no reason and they can get hot if always are on
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I AM THINKING LIKE YOU. Although I am not a MAC user I am getting a Dell and stuck between 1tb or 2tb. your article was what I was wanting to hear as I do a lot of pictures and DVD including VHS capture. a 2tb will search and fine what you are looking for faster. I want all the speed I can get. Now let me ask you what is the minimum amount of processor should I go for. I have 2.20 GHZ now and that will not do the job ...too slow. ...please advise