Data rates on internal vs. external HD (Mac Pro vs Mac Studio)

[pirateyarrr]

Since I can get the M2 Ultra chip in the new Mac Studio, the only benefit I can see to getting the Pro for $7000 is the internal HD bays. I've looked and I can't seem to find any numbers on HD data throughput rates for either an internal drive in the Mac Pro or an external on the Studio. For comparison, I'm on a 2009 Mac Pro with a 14 TB internal drive. I'd need to have a 14TB external drive on the Studio with really fast data transfer rates so that I don't have to buy the Mac Pro. Is this realistic?

 

[AdamBuker]

If you use tons of storage and need the highest possible speeds, then a Mac Pro with an internal PCIe raid setup might be the way to go.

Maybe something like this:
Sonnet M.2 4x4 PCIe 3.0 Card for up to Four M.2 NVMe SSDs - Silent Edition https://a.co/d/4sRMVAk

 

[pirateyarrr]

Problem is, I need the tons of storage more than I need "highest possible" speeds. The cost of those SSDs would kill me. I'm buying regular ol' hard drives, probably starting with a 14TB.

 

[AdamBuker]

Well in that case, a Thunderbolt enclosure/raid system with the Studio should work just fine at a decent cost savings.

 

[pirateyarrr]

Does a RAID system increase the MB/sec transfer rate over a regular Thunderbolt drive?

 

[senttoschool]

Problem is, I need the tons of storage more than I need "highest possible" speeds. The cost of those SSDs would kill me. I'm buying regular ol' hard drives, probably starting with a 14TB.

Then a Mac Studio is perfectly fine. An external HD (non-SSD) would never hit the maximum USB-C speed.

Does a RAID system increase the MB/sec transfer rate over a regular Thunderbolt drive?

Yes, usually, but quite honestly, if you don't know what a RAID system is, I wouldn't recommend that you try setting one up. It's not easy and the wrong configuration could have ramifications for your data. Plus, RAID needs multiple hard drives but it's probably better if you just buy one large HD instead of multiple smaller ones.