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256 SSD + 512 SSD External

C

curtoise

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2010
529
14
I'm planning to order the 5k iMac and I have a question about the SSD.

If I add the 512GB SSD from apple I'll need to pay extra $270 for the drive but I can add a Crucial or Samsung from Amazon with a USB3 enclosure and 512GB for just $200-$220 and that twill bring total capacity of internal 256GB SSD + 512 GB SSD = 768GB total.

My question is if anybody know how slow will be that 512GB External SSD with the USB3 enclosure, I do not do any heavy work on the computer, I'm a web developer so I code, design, mail, family videos and photos, etc.

Is the external SSD a better deal or it will crash in speed? It should be much better than a regular external HDD right?
 
It will be perfectly fine, as long as you get a USB 3 enclosure that supports UASP (or UAS protocol). There is nothing to fear. Yes, it will be MUCH faster than an external hard drive.
 
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theSeb said:
That is a funny coincidence, because I have that exact same enclosure in front of me right now. Yes, it is good and supports UASP.
Click to expand...

Thanks, are you adding it as an external to your iMac? what SSD?

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Cape Dave said:
I also just bought that same item for a 512GB SSD. A Micron mx100 in my case. Works awesome!
Click to expand...

Great I'm planning to add the Crucial too, 512GB SSD with this enclosure, I hope speeds are good.

Do you know the reading writing speeds for this enclosure and SSD on USB3?
 
theSeb said:
No, I use it to store a clone drive for my rMBP, but it is a good enclosure and will work fine with an SSD.
Click to expand...

Thanks I wonder what reading-writing speeds the enclosure will give you with SSD
 
curtoise said:
Thanks I wonder what reading-writing speeds the enclosure will give you with SSD
Click to expand...

It will be very close to the native speeds of the SSD, as if it was connected internally in your iMac. I would not be concerned about it, since it costs ~ $20.

If you find that it hampers the performance of whatever SSD (and most likely it won't) you buy, then you can always upgrade to a better enclosure in the future and keep this one to hold a backup or a clone drive, but this enclosure will be perfect for the uses that you have mentioned.
 
theSeb said:
It will be very close to the native speeds of the SSD, as if it was connected internally in your iMac. I would not be concerned about it, since it costs ~ $20.

If you find that it hampers the performance of whatever SSD (and most likely it won't) you buy, then you can always upgrade to a better enclosure in the future and keep this one to hold a backup or a clone drive, but this enclosure will be perfect for the uses that you have mentioned.
Click to expand...

Thank you, right now after cleaning tons of junk from my current SSD I'm at 150GB of space used, I have all movies and photos on external and the cloud, I think I'll save some money and go for the 256 SSD on the 5K iMac and then when/if needed I'll add a 512 SSD external with this enclosure, SSD prices will keep going down so we can see 1TB at 300 mark within a year or so, I think it will be better this way.

I'm buying the enclosure right now to test with a 128GB to test it out.

I was concerned about the reselling value of the iMac with 256 or 512 SSD too.
 
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