Are SSD's the new hard drive?

[hauntvictim]

I have had a beast of a 2009 1TB 27 inch iMac, which is dying a slow death.
My problem is every new Mac I see has SSD up too 512GB.

My question and problem. I have 1.86TB of music, movies, TV shows and photos.

If I move to a new preferably portable Mac. What do I do with my data?

I do not want external drives...

IF I have to have one, are the any and are they affordable or they all USB-C.

Any advice in this matter would be appreciated.

 

[MacDawg]

If you have a 1TB iMac... and you have 1.86 TB of music, movies, etc
Question is, what are you doing with them now?

One solution is Cloud storage... DropBox, etc.
Another is NAS

 

[Glmnet1]

How do you currently keep your 1.86TB on a 1TB without external drives?

Yes, SSDs are the "new hard drives" and they are great! They are more expensive per GB but they are well worth it, it's night and day compared to HDDs.

You can buy a BTO MBP with a 2tb SSD but they are very expensive... I think your best option would be an external drive. You can purchase an enclosure and then insert your drive of choice. Here is a recommendation from another post on MR:

You could look at making your own external hard drive by buying an external enclosure and a bare 2.5" 1TB HDD. Here's a good enclosure:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014VESQRO/

AND here's an excellent hard drive

https://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travelstar-2-5-Inch-Internal-0J22423/dp/B00B4QESVQ/

Edit: Here's a cheaper enclosure:

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Enclosure-Interface-Optimized-Tool-Free/dp/B0716LDKDC/

 

[Clix Pix]

Is it really necessary to keep ALL of your music, movies, tv shows and photos on your computer's internal drive? Think about that.....

A couple of years ago I made the decision to go with a MacBook Pro to replace my 21.5" iMac. Before I bought the new machine I spent some time reviewing all of my apps, folders and files and realized that I really did not need to keep some of the files and folders on my computer at all times. I went from a 1 TB "platter" drive in the iMac to a 512 SSD in the MacBook Pro. Before setting up the new machine I systematically went through the iMac again, this time with an external drive plugged into it, and copied the files and folders that I wanted to retain but didn't need in the computer itself. I also deleted old apps that I wasn't using any more. I then set up the new computer, this time using another external drive to copy over the files and folders that I wanted to keep on the MBP's internal SSD, dropping them into the appropriate categories on the drive. This makes for a lean, mean fast MacBook Pro that has an internal SSD that has plenty of room to breathe.

I continue to use external drives -- both for backup/archival purposes and for supplemental purposes. Platter drives work nicely for archiving and backing up one's computer and are less expensive. external SSDs are faster and significantly physically smaller, perfect for use at home as supplemental drives and also for taking along on the road when leaving the house. I want to retrieve a particular image from my photo files? Not a problem -- I just plug in one of the Samsung T5 external SSDs that I use for supplementing the computer's main SSD and grab the file or the image. External SSDs run in capacities of 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB and are a bit more expensive than "platter" drives of the same or larger capacities, but to me they are worth it in terms of speed and durability as well as portability.

Using external drives also has the advantage of making transfers from one machine to another very quick and convenient, plus when the time comes to set up another new computer, the process is streamlined. I have the 15" 2015 MBP and also a 2017 12" MacBook; some external hard drives today come with two cables, one with the "legacy" USB-A connector and one with a USB-C connector, so it's simply a matter of swapping out cables on the drives when doing something with two machines with different ports.

While it is possible to get an internal SSD up to 2 TB from Apple, this is usually a BTO (Built-to-Order) special order from the online Apple store, and it is quite expensive. Purchasing one or two external drives can be a more flexible way of keeping one's files available.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

13" is configurable to 1 TB, 15" to 2 TB

 

[hauntvictim]

Yes, I think I am a data hoarder. But in the mean time I will shop around. I DO NOT want to go to Windows.
I will review my files/ data. Currently I have 3 external drives for "back ups" and a NAS but it just doesnt have a good transfer speed.

 

[kohlson]

If you have a 2009 iMac, I believe you have USB2. Anything in the last several years has USB3, which is several times faster for transfer.

 

[Clix Pix]

External SSDs which plug into the computer's USB 3 or USB-C ports are very, very fast for transfer. That is why I use them for my "supplemental drives" and use the less-expensive, larger-capacity slower external HDDs for storage/archival/backup. Thunderbolt ports are also very fast, too, on the machines which have them.

 

[Juicy Box]

I think that storage is at a point where everything is going to the SSD, but they are still too expensive to replace HDD for large storage.

Every OS now is designed to run better on SSD, and there is cloud storage that is becoming more popular, but it still in not a replacement for a very large and (relatively) very cheap hard disk drive.

If you have a 2009 iMac, I believe you have USB2. Anything in the last several years has USB3, which is several times faster for transfer.

I think the first iMacs to have USB3 was the late 2012s. The 2009 definitely have USB2.

 

[hauntvictim]

I had a 2015 Macbook Air, but due to the smaller screen and storage I just hated it. Hmm.
I may have to deal with it. Will look at my old data tonight thru this week and see what I can dump or archive.
Thanks for all the responses, I have a lot to look at.

 

[ksec]

SSD is the largest performance upgrade in the past decade of computing. There should be no reason why anyone should still have a HDD as main drive. The speed difference is tremendous.

You could get a fusion drive. Or use External HDD. If you have a desktop and you are not moving around, I dont see what's wrong with an external HDD sitting underneath. Currently I have movies, videos, photos in my NAS total of 4TB.

But if you do value your data. I seriously suggest you get into one of the Cloud Backup option.

 

[hauntvictim]

Did not know that about the SSD.
I do have a NAS, however and it was hosting my itunes, but everything I have been told/ read. Because data transfers are so slow moving lots of GB to it was terrible, and sadly found it to be true. My next option is to back up my data via a desk top hard drive, move itunes library.itl and xml to the computer and basically stream it all, if this works then I will upgrad to SSD.

 

[Zazoh]

Question, how long would it take to listen, end to end, to all the movies, songs, etc you have stored.

 

[ksec]

Did not know that about the SSD.
I do have a NAS, however and it was hosting my itunes, but everything I have been told/ read. Because data transfers are so slow moving lots of GB to it was terrible, and sadly found it to be true. My next option is to back up my data via a desk top hard drive, move itunes library.itl and xml to the computer and basically stream it all, if this works then I will upgrad to SSD.

For large files, Music, Video etc, modern NAS can easily do 100MB/s Read Write, or basically limited by 1Gbps Ethernet speed ( That is why I hope NBase-T 2.5 / 5Gbps will take off.... ). Unless you are doing Video Editing, you really shouldn't be limited by Read Write Speed.

What is definitely slow, is lots of small files read write, like pictures. That is 1) Because HDD is slow at doing so anyway 2) Network add some more overhead.

Another thing that is slow is Indexing. So if you are searching for anything on NAS, it is slow, ( I haven't looked into this, so this may no longer be true ) as your OS build the small index file inside each NAS directory.

NAND price will drop soon, so if you could hold on a little longer may be Apple will finally have SSD on all its Mac by default.

 

[deepakvrao]

How do you currently keep your 1.86TB on a 1TB without external drives?

Yes, SSDs are the "new hard drives" and they are great! They are more expensive per GB but they are well worth it, it's night and day compared to HDDs.

You can buy a BTO MBP with a 2tb SSD but they are very expensive... I think your best option would be an external drive. You can purchase an enclosure and then insert your drive of choice. Here is a recommendation from another post on MR:

How reliable are SSDs? More than a regular platter drive? Longevity? Read/write cycles?

 

[laz232]

How reliable are SSDs? More than a regular platter drive? Longevity? Read/write cycles?

They fail in different ways to HDD. For laptops I'm pretty sure they are more reliable - due to the tough working conditions that a spinning platter experiences in such an environment.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ssd-reliability-in-the-real-world-googles-experience/

Using SSDs are main (only) drive since 2010 and make sure I keep 25-70GB (10%-20%) free to prevent large numbers of R/W cycles.

NB going SSD was the best upgrade I ever made to a computer - no way I would go back to HDD as a main drive.

To OP: going SSD also gives good excuse to clean up - even as a hoarder. Prioritise the important things, and put the rest on an external portable HDD

 

[deepakvrao]

They fail in different ways to HDD. For laptops I'm pretty sure they are more reliable - due to the tough working conditions that a spinning platter experiences in such an environment.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ssd-reliability-in-the-real-world-googles-experience/

Using SSDs are main (only) drive since 2010 and make sure I keep 25-70GB (10%-20%) free to prevent large numbers of R/W cycles.

NB going SSD was the best upgrade I ever made to a computer - no way I would go back to HDD as a main drive.

I have also been using SSDs as main drives since 2011. Air, and then a Pro. I'm asking now from point of view of an external drive.Planning to buy a 1tb external ssd.

 

[Glmnet1]

I have also been using SSDs as main drives since 2011. Air, and then a Pro. I'm asking now from point of view of an external drive.Planning to buy a 1tb external ssd.

How reliable are SSDs? More than a regular platter drive? Longevity? Read/write cycles?

As usual, it depends. A HDD or a SSD could last for decades without any issue or it could fail in the first few weeks after you got it. The quality vary between manufacturers and models for both of them and there are occasional defective ones.

Statistically, consummer HDD have a bigger failure rate while under warranty than SSD. Studies have shown that you don't need to worry about read/write cycles too much, most users will never get close to that limit before something else fails in their drive or the drive simply becoming obsolete.

 

[deepakvrao]

As usual, it depends. A HDD or a SSD could last for decades without any issue or it could fail in the first few weeks after you got it. The quality vary between manufacturers and models for both of them and there are occasional defective ones.

Statistically, consummer HDD have a bigger failure rate while under warranty than SSD. Studies have shown that you don't need to worry about read/write cycles too much, most users will never get close to that limit before something else fails in their drive or the drive simply becoming obsolete.

Thanks. Any suggestions for a reliable external SSD?

 

[Clix Pix]

Longevity: Back in 2008 I experienced my first SSD -- the 64 GB one that was in the first-generation MacBook Air. It is still going strong in 2018, ten years later, although no longer in my hands. The friend who has it uses it on a daily basis and carries it around with him around town or when he travels.

Appeal of SSD over HDD: I eventually replaced my MBA with a 13" rMBP, then a few years later replaced it with another one, and as time went on realized that I was using the 13" rMBP just about every day in preference to my 2012 iMac; the faster SSD in that rMBP was running circles around the iMac with its slow 5400 RPM platter drive, and I was finding it a more pleasurable experience to use the smaller, speedier machine. In late 2015 I bought a 15" rMBP and set it up as a desktop replacement. The iMac went to a new home, and I've been very happy with my all- SSD household ever since. I will never go back to a platter drive in any computer.

Reliable external SSD? For me, that's a no-brainer! I have been using Samsung's T series of external SSDs since the first one, the T1, was released a few years ago. When the T3 came out, I bought a couple, and then again when the T5 was released this past fall I bought a couple more. The T1s are still working flawlessly and I use them for backups that I store in my safe deposit at the bank. Each month I swap out the drives, bringing the one that had been in the bank home and updating it in readiness for the next trip to the bank. I use the T3 and T5 SSDs for supplementary drives as well as backup drives. I also still continue to use other external HDDs for archiving and backups as well. The T5 comes in capacities of 256 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. They are very small, are encased in smooth metal and come with two cables: one a USB-C and the other a USB-A, which works well for those of us who have machines with both kinds of ports. They're great for traveling as well as for use at home. I've been very happy with mine and for me they have been the ideal solution for backups and for keeping files and folders convenient while not right on my computer's internal drive.

 

[laz232]

I have also been using SSDs as main drives since 2011. Air, and then a Pro. I'm asking now from point of view of an external drive.Planning to buy a 1tb external ssd.

One thing that has been very important for SSD reliability is the controller used (provisioning strategy etc). Unfortunately manufacturers (such as Kingston) have been known to change controller and Flash sourcing during prod. runs without changing model numbers, which makes comparison difficult. Please bear that in mind (and a point worth checking) when reading rel. stats.

 

[elf69]

I have a 2007 iMac it too is slow with HDD.

so my plan is 240GB SSD and throw away the DVD drive and fit a 1TB drive.
Maybe OP can do same but put a 2TB drive in optical bay?

this way no externals, except a CD/DVD as you would have removed your internal.

 

[Glmnet1]

I have a 2007 iMac it too is slow with HDD.

so my plan is 240GB SSD and throw away the DVD drive and fit a 1TB drive.
Maybe OP can do same but put a 2TB drive in optical bay?

this way no externals, except a CD/DVD as you would have removed your internal.

It would have been possible but not an easy upgrade. Anyway I think OP is already set on buying a MacBook (Pro?).

 

[elf69]

It is relatively easy for myself as I come from computing background.

these older iMac fairly easy take apart.
But I also will be on hunt for 2012-2015 MacBook pro in near future to compliment my iMac.
my 2012 air too small with 64GB SSD and limited upgrade options