Best External SSD For New Mini

[Sammy's]

Looking for an external 1TB for the new Mini to use for iTunes/photos/work files. The most popular seem to be the Samsung T5, SanDisk Extreme and the WD My Passport SSD. They're all very close in price at just under $200.

Anybody have any experience with these or have other thoughts/recommendations?

 

[megaseppl]

The advantage of these SSDs is, that they are small. The disadvantage is, that you can't use them internal for example in an older Mac or in a NAS.
Personally I prefer using regular SATA 3 SSDs in an USB-C case. It's even cheaper, more flexible, same speed as the models above, but a little larger.

But if you ask for the best external SSD I would more go to models like Samsung X5 or NVME based m.2 SSDs in thunderbolt cases. They are way faster - and expensive.

 

[F-Train]

9 to 5 Mac published this on YouTube three days ago. I think that it's a pretty good summary of the options mentioned in your post, as well as a few others:

I purchased a Samsung T5, 500GB, based on reputation, price (~US$90 at the time) and the fact that it fits easily in my shirt pocket. Very happy with it after three months of use.

Here's a Blackmagic speed test for it:

 

[Originalbitman]

I have the Samsung 1TB T5 as my Time Machine backup drive and love it. I also have the Samsung 500GB X5 for my photos including the Photos app library. Nice fast access to 27,000 images.

 

[Ploki]

i ordered leidian tb3 enclosure from aliexpress and will equip it with samsung 970 evo 1tb.
300euros for 2500mb/s

 

[Sammy's]

Thanks for the replies.

Noticed in this forum some other users are having trouble with their externals getting ejected. Is this a problem with the new mini's - I was under the impression that these external storage drives could be connected indefinitely?

 

[DVD9]

i ordered leidian tb3 enclosure from aliexpress and will equip it with samsung 970 evo 1tb.
300euros for 2500mb/s

Could you give us a mini review of this when you get it going? Filevault usage experience as well. Thank you.

 

[Ploki]

Could you give us a mini review of this when you get it going? Filevault usage experience as well. Thank you.

Gonna be a few weeks probably, but sure.
I don’t use file vault tho, would need to look into it

 

[jean512]

I have an SSD crucial MX300.

Do you think it's better to put it in a USB 3.1 gen2 enclosure than in USB 3.0 enclosure ?

 

[chabig]

Do you think it's better to put it in a USB 3.1 gen2 enclosure than in USB 3.0 enclosure ?

Of course. USB 3.1 is twice as fast.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I also ordered a TB3 enclosure for M.2 NVMe. I have a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB waiting to drop in. I should have mine in 3-4 days (Shipped from China to California).

Bought the enclosure from Amazon here.

"Thunderbolt 3 SSD NVME M.2 Hard Drive Enclosure Case, PCIe NVMe M.2 2280
External Hard Drive Enclosure, Supports Speed Up to 2800 MB/s Read"

It seems that these enclosures are all using the same board. At least the few I've seen.

Around $450.00 USD for the enclosure & SSD.

Some of the marketing pics from Amazon...

 

[F-Train]

Thanks for the replies.

Noticed in this forum some other users are having trouble with their externals getting ejected. Is this a problem with the new mini's - I was under the impression that these external storage drives could be connected indefinitely?

I have external drives connected all the time and have not had a single one ejected.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I have external drives connected all the time and have not had a single one ejected.

TB3 enclosure with M.2 NVMe ? I've seen people with these getting ejected also... Appears to be a power issue. I'll see what's up when mine is delivered in a couple days and post my experience.

 

[F-Train]

TB3 enclosure with M.2 NVMe ? I've seen people with these getting ejected also... Appears to be a power issue. I'll see what's up when mine is delivered in a couple days and post my experience.

No, I have USB-A, Thunderbolt 2 RAID and USB-C 3.1 SSD external drives. I haven't had an issue with any of them.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I believe the ejection issue is only with TB3 enclosures with M.2 NVMe SSD's. I'll see how it goes.

 

[blueapplepaste]

Thanks for the replies.

Noticed in this forum some other users are having trouble with their externals getting ejected. Is this a problem with the new mini's - I was under the impression that these external storage drives could be connected indefinitely?

I was having an issue with my external HDD randomly getting ejected with an error 100006.

Traced it to a USB-C to USB-A cable adapter. Bought correct cable so I could go straight from mini to the HDD w/o the adapter and it’s been fine.

Who knows? YMMV.

 

[Fishrrman]

chabig wrote:
"USB 3.1 is twice as fast."

Hold on a minute.

USB 3.1 gen1 is the same speed as USB3 (if I'm not mistaken). Up to 5gb per second.

USB3.1 gen2 is "twice as fast" (up to 10gb per second, if that's correct).

One must be careful about what one buys.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I also need advice as to which external SSD to get for a base i5 Mini. The tech is not something i'm up to speed on. I'm assuming some type of SSD stick and an enclosure. For me 256GB is the sweet spot.

 

[Ploki]

I also need advice as to which external SSD to get for a base i5 Mini. The tech is not something i'm up to speed on. I'm assuming some type of SSD stick and an enclosure. For me 256GB is the sweet spot.

The cheapest Thunderbolt3 is 99$ if you want max speed.

The cheapest usb-c gen2 you can get for 25$, but its going to be half as slow.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The cheapest Thunderbolt3 is 99$ if you want max speed.

The cheapest usb-c gen2 you can get for 25$, but its going to be half as slow.

Care to share some links, as I don't know exactly what to get?

TIA

 

[Ploki]

Care to share some links, as I don't know exactly what to get?

TIA

I have no experience with either, just a bunch ordered and waiting for them - best for you is someone who actually has them to chime in.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I received my TB3 NVMe enclosure today and it seems to be running rock solid. See post #11 above. Of course speeds will vary depending on which SSD you use. It really is a very nice enclosure. I was surprised by the quality. Being from China I thought it would be plastic but it is a very solid Aluminium alloy die casting to help with passive cooling. It even came with an extra set of screws and two screwdrivers. One Phillips and one micro pentalobe.

I installed a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSD, plugged it in (hot-pluggable) , and that was it. Working flawlessly now.

 

[F-Train]

I received my TB3 NVMe enclosure today and it seems to be running rock solid. See post #11 above. Of course speeds will vary depending on which SSD you use. It really is a nice enclosure. I was surprised by the quality. Being from China I thought it would be plastic but it is a very solid Aluminium alloy die casting to help with passive cooling. It even came with an extra set of screws and two screwdrivers. One Phillips and one micro pentalobe.

I installed a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSD, plugged it in (hot-pluggable) , and that was it. Working flawlessly now.

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Amazon no longer has the enclosure in stock and Camel Camel Camel has no record of the price. How much was it?

 

[crhendo]

But if you ask for the best external SSD I would more go to models like Samsung X5 or NVME based m.2 SSDs in thunderbolt cases. They are way faster - and expensive.

I have a 512GB X5 attached to my Mac Mini and it is certainly very fast. Out of interest, I carefully disassembled the X5 and inserted a 2TB Samsung 960 Pro in the place of the 512GB M.2 drive. The read test was exactly what I expected it to be however the write test had dropped to only ~700MB/sec (ie 1 PCIe lane). It seems that Samsung has artificially limited the write bandwidth unless the original drive is installed

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Amazon no longer has the enclosure in stock and Camel Camel Camel has no record of the price. How much was it?

$199.99