I can’t decide between 1 and 2 TB...I suppose I could end up with lots of VMs and carrying software installs etc but probably an expensive way of keeping them. Can you get super speedy usb-c TB external drives which approach similar speeds?
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1TB vs 2TB
- Thread starter badsimian
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I'm happily using a Samsung T5 2TB since a while now and can really recommend them. It's not the same speed as the new MBPs internal SSD (not sure if there are any external SSDs that approach similar speeds... the new MBPs are king in this regard), but for all intents and purposes they are some capable, speedy drives with a much better $/€-per-Gigabyte ratio than choosing the 2TB internal drive over the 1TB (the 2TB upgrade from 1TB for the MBPs is about 900€, I got my T5 for 550€ so this is two times the storage for little more than half the price, and they might be even cheaper nowadays).
If you're not sure if the T5 speeds will cut it for you, you can always look up speed tests on the internet and see how they compare to your own use cases. Sure, there are advantages to going with a 2TB internal drive, and if you have the disposable income to spare, then that can be a great choice in the long-term. But for all my use cases, the inconvenience/lower speed of external SSDs is far outweighed by their enormous price difference over the internal storage upgrades.
If you're not sure if the T5 speeds will cut it for you, you can always look up speed tests on the internet and see how they compare to your own use cases. Sure, there are advantages to going with a 2TB internal drive, and if you have the disposable income to spare, then that can be a great choice in the long-term. But for all my use cases, the inconvenience/lower speed of external SSDs is far outweighed by their enormous price difference over the internal storage upgrades.
I was in exactly the same dilemma as you and in the end went for the 2TB version.
My current internal and external drives carry around 750GB of data (this is only the stuff I regularly need, the rest is backuped on other external drives). I'm just tired of lugging around an external drive and wanted to be on the safe side for a a few years down the road. RAW files (photos and video) tend to increase in size over time (just think of 4k videos now that already take up a lot of space and 8k videos in affordable consumer devices in the not so distant future).
I also like to change my workplace a lot. If you only use your laptop on your desktop, external drives are not such a hassle, of course. But if you travel with it a lot or even tend to work in different places in your home, I find them cumbersome. It has happened countless times that my external drive disconnected while I worked on a train or a plane and this has also led to data loss (Adobe stuff tends to simply crash in such a case).
It really depends on what you do with the machine, how much space you think you'll need in future and whether you are willing to sacrifice 80 percent of speed using an external drive instead of an internal one. Even a T5 can only reach around 20% of the speed of an internal drive and with the new Macbooks only having TB ports, it's yet another dongle / cable / device to carry around.
If you want to get closer in terms of speed, you basically have to spend the same amount of money than upgrading the internal drive (an external 2TB Envoy Pro can reach 1800MB/s vs 2700MB/s of Apple's internal drives but sets you back $1,049). That's probably only worth it if you earn serious money with your laptop.
My current internal and external drives carry around 750GB of data (this is only the stuff I regularly need, the rest is backuped on other external drives). I'm just tired of lugging around an external drive and wanted to be on the safe side for a a few years down the road. RAW files (photos and video) tend to increase in size over time (just think of 4k videos now that already take up a lot of space and 8k videos in affordable consumer devices in the not so distant future).
I also like to change my workplace a lot. If you only use your laptop on your desktop, external drives are not such a hassle, of course. But if you travel with it a lot or even tend to work in different places in your home, I find them cumbersome. It has happened countless times that my external drive disconnected while I worked on a train or a plane and this has also led to data loss (Adobe stuff tends to simply crash in such a case).
It really depends on what you do with the machine, how much space you think you'll need in future and whether you are willing to sacrifice 80 percent of speed using an external drive instead of an internal one. Even a T5 can only reach around 20% of the speed of an internal drive and with the new Macbooks only having TB ports, it's yet another dongle / cable / device to carry around.
If you want to get closer in terms of speed, you basically have to spend the same amount of money than upgrading the internal drive (an external 2TB Envoy Pro can reach 1800MB/s vs 2700MB/s of Apple's internal drives but sets you back $1,049). That's probably only worth it if you earn serious money with your laptop.
Substantially?
Do you have figures for how slow it gets, because in running my iMac over an extended time, I noticed no such degradation in performance. Remember most SSDs now a days have their own garbage collection routines, to mitigate any performance slow downs.
I don't think that's as much of an issue now as it might have been in years past. The SSD controllers are getting smarter.
I had the same debate and ended up going with 2TB. I am extremely glad I did. It allowed me to stop carrying around an external 1TB drive full of pictures for my lightroom library.
Here is what I have learned the hard way about data loss:
1. Anything that is not automated is not reliable
2. Plugging in an external drive every day to ensure it is backed up is not automated, it relies on me doing it and the one time I forget or get lazy could be the time I pay for it with data loss
3. External drives are significantly more likely to get damaged or lost
4. Having one machine with the internal storage capacity to handle everything allows a bulletproof backup solution:
Crashplan for Business is constantly backing up my machine during the day, and Time machine happens at night automatically when I get home and drop it in my dock. I also use dropbox, so at any given time my data is being backed up from one place (2tb SSD internally) to two cloud services and a local copy.
I tried to do the same when I carried data on an external drive, but it was a lot more work and less reliable.
Here is what I have learned the hard way about data loss:
1. Anything that is not automated is not reliable
2. Plugging in an external drive every day to ensure it is backed up is not automated, it relies on me doing it and the one time I forget or get lazy could be the time I pay for it with data loss
3. External drives are significantly more likely to get damaged or lost
4. Having one machine with the internal storage capacity to handle everything allows a bulletproof backup solution:
Crashplan for Business is constantly backing up my machine during the day, and Time machine happens at night automatically when I get home and drop it in my dock. I also use dropbox, so at any given time my data is being backed up from one place (2tb SSD internally) to two cloud services and a local copy.
I tried to do the same when I carried data on an external drive, but it was a lot more work and less reliable.
"I can’t decide between 1 and 2 TB"
The difference -- a lot of money. At least more than I would spend on a laptop computer (although I could easily afford it).
Even the 1tb is way too much cash to put into one, in my opinion, but that's just me.
Seems to me that the factory-installed SSDs are now -soldered in-, and you couldn't even open the computer and "take the drive with you" at a later date. All that money will just be "tossed away".
I'd get 1tb and an external USB3 SSD, such as the Samsung t5 mentioned above.
Better yet, get the 512gb version and a 2tb t5, if there is one.
The difference -- a lot of money. At least more than I would spend on a laptop computer (although I could easily afford it).
Even the 1tb is way too much cash to put into one, in my opinion, but that's just me.
Seems to me that the factory-installed SSDs are now -soldered in-, and you couldn't even open the computer and "take the drive with you" at a later date. All that money will just be "tossed away".
I'd get 1tb and an external USB3 SSD, such as the Samsung t5 mentioned above.
Better yet, get the 512gb version and a 2tb t5, if there is one.
