External Hard Disk for Macbook touch and Lightroom

[Maccotto]

I am happy with MacBook Pro 15" touch and I wanna use it for Lightroom .
Lightroom has the problem about shared catalogues (I can't share a catalog into cloud or ethernet hard disk) so I need transfert my pc windows catalog external usb3.0/c hard disk.
This solution make me to work walk around with only macbook pro and use the external catalog when I am at home.
Ad example: I am out home and import the new photos for fix them (raw from Sony A7II or Olympus) and I move them to external hard disk when I am at home.

With external Disk:Import photos to catalog->editing photos->move photos to external hard disk.

Actually I need move fixed photos from my macbook touch->export catalog->pen drive->desktop pc->import photo as catalog


I have this solution for external hard disk:
1) take my actually 2TB hard disk (it has 3-4 years and I have 0,500gb free) into a box)
2) buy and external hard disk western digital/similar
3) buy box+ new hard disk

What do you think is best choice? What hard disk Is good for me ? (I usually buy western digital but I don't know the good model)

 

[ObsidianIce]

The 2 terabyte is in the laptop? I'm a fan of externals. Buy a decent external...maybe one that has a raid setup if this is data you can't afford to lose.

 

[Maccotto]

2tb are into desktop with windows, my MacBook Pro has 256 go only.
In this moment I have photos into 2tb internal desktop hard disk and backup into an external hard disk 2tb (the box has fans and individual power)

 

[Boyd01]

Not quite clear exactly what you want, but I recently got two Samsung T3 USB3.0 external SSD's and really like them. They are very small and light, less than half the size of a bus powered external like the WD MyPassport. It has a USB-C port which should be perfect for your new computer (although the included cable is USB-C to USB 3). Samsung makes these in 250gb, 500gb, 1tb and 2tb sizes, I have the 500 and 1tb and performance is the same on both. They're really fast - about 4x the speed of my WD MyPassport Ultra hard drive.

 

[Maccotto]

Not quite clear exactly what you want, but I recently got two Samsung T3 USB3.0 external SSD's and really like them. They are very small and light, less than half the size of a bus powered external like the WD MyPassport. It has a USB-C port which should be perfect for your new computer (although the included cable is USB-C to USB 3). Samsung makes these in 250gb, 500gb, 1tb and 2tb sizes, I have the 500 and 1tb and performance is the same on both. They're really fast - about 4x the speed of my WD MyPassport Ultra hard drive.

You find my problem.
I want an external hard disk where have all mi lightroom catalog (1,5tb at moment) and use it with macbook pro touch nad my old desktop.

I looking for 2Tb but samsung T3 is very expensive (Amazon asked me more 7xx€). Do you think tha normal hard disk +external box is too slow?

 

[Boyd01]

A "normal" bus powered USB 3.0 hard drive should be give your about 100MB/sec. I have WD and Seagate drives that operate around this speed. By "bus powered" I mean that it gets its power from the USB cable and does not require a connection to external power like a larger desktop drive. I have a number of large desktop drives that have transfer rates around 180MB/sec.

You are the only one who knows how fast it needs to be. If you are transferring lots of data frequently (hundreds of gigabytes) then you will especially like the SSD. If only transferring a few hundred megabytes, it won't matter as much. To get an idea of how fast you need, test the speed of the external drive you are currently using: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blackmagic-disk-speed-test/id425264550?mt=12

 

[Maccotto]

Thx so , if i understand your words, if i take external drive "only usb 3.0) i will transfert only 100/mb sec while the external drive with "power" can go to 180mb/sec?

I don't think to transfert more than 10-16gb because i will work or directly into external drive (if i use desktop) or first editing in internal drive and move final/desktop version to external (if i use macbook).

 

[Boyd01]

Thx so , if i understand your words, if i take external drive "only usb 3.0) i will transfert only 100/mb sec while the external drive with "power" can go to 180mb/sec?

Yes, that is what I meant. However you will find some cheap drives that are slower, so it is best to check the specifications before purchasing.