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External Hard Drives (gen1-gen2?)

M

mindfull

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2016
24
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I am hoping to understand a bit more and also hopefully have a compilation of choices for those looking for storage an a bit overwhelmed with the speed and conecctions confusions. Hope I am not the only one.


I wanted to buy an external hard drive and was looking for that new fast 10 gb speed I had seen somewhere.
I did think that usb-c devices meant faster already but soon realizing that conector not always relate so clearly.

ok..to simplify my question.

what's the faster external hd with usb-c connectors?


so, i see 3.1 gen 1...and 3.1 gen 2...arrrrr...

any suggestions for a good fast/affordable external HD for my new macbook pro 2016?


thanks a million.
 
I don't know about USB-C/3.1.

But I got a cheap USB-C to USB 3 adapter off Amazon for £3.99.

I then used my 4TB portable Seagate Hard Drive which is USB 3 with the adapter.

It was copying files across very fast. Can't remember exactly, but like 5-10 secs a gigabyte. Which surprised me as I've never seen a spinning disk hard drive copy that fast before. So you would be fine with just using USB 3 hard drive in my opinion.
 
USB 3.1 gen 1 is 5Gb/s
USB 3.1 gen 2 is 10Gb/s

The new MBP supports both. There are few SSDs supporting gen 2 10Gb/s. Sandisk Extreme 900 is one of them. It actually has 2 SSD inside it running in parallel to get more speed. I got myself the Samsung T3 which only supports gen 1 but it is still very fast and a lot smaller than the Sandisk.
 
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I think there'/ maybe 2 USB 10Gbps speed external ssd, one is from Sandisk and run at upward of 800MBps.

Aisde from that, the most popular external SSD is the SamSung T3, which is much smaller, but is still 5Gb and run around 440MBps. If you're looking for ultra fast external SSD, maybe wait til Jan. Saw Samsung announced on the first week of Jan their new offering the past 2 years. Expecting them to have a revision to the T3 that can compete with the Sandisk Gen 2 10Gb to come out at the same time frame again, if not within Q1 of 2017.
 
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viljamip said:
USB 3.1 gen 1 is 5Gb/s
USB 3.1 gen 2 is 10Gb/s

The new MBP supports both. There are few SSDs supporting gen 2 10Gb/s. Sandisk Extreme 900 is one of them. It actually has 2 SSD inside it running in parallel to get more speed. I got myself the Samsung T3 which only supports gen 1 but it is still very fast and a lot smaller than the Sandisk.
Click to expand...


Thanks SOOOO much.

so, how will the Samsung T3 you mentioned here compares to the LaCie Porshe usb-c drive?
LaCie says up to 5gb as well..I know they problably don't show info the same way they all do so it
gets tricky to see the lies. I just assumed the price different means something here.

Thanks for option

sandisk way too expensive for me now
Samsung T3 is more on my league
Just wondering the speed different with the lacie usb-c poshe

thanks a lot
[doublepost=1479077538][/doublepost]
iizmoo said:
I think there'/ maybe 2 USB 10Gbps speed external ssd, one is from Sandisk and run at upward of 800MBps.

Aisde from that, the most popular external SSD is the SamSung T3, which is much smaller, but is still 5Gb and run around 440MBps. If you're looking for ultra fast external SSD, maybe wait til Jan. Saw Samsung announced on the first week of Jan their new offering the past 2 years. Expecting them to have a revision to the T3 that can compete with the Sandisk Gen 2 10Gb to come out at the same time frame again, if not within Q1 of 2017.
Click to expand...

So, what about thunderbolt 3? is it the same thing a thunderbolt 3 and usb-c gen 2? I guess not...

I read all thunderbolt 3 no compatible with new mac..so....what is the new thunderbolt 3 in the market?

sorry..I did spend hours trying to figure it out and came out more confused.

THANKS
 
Thunderbolt 3 is 40Gbps, USB 3.1 Gen2 is 10Gbps, the same as the original Thunderbolt 1. Quite frankly, outside of some specialized equipments for AV editing, there really hasn't been a big adoption of Thunderbolt drives, certainly nothing in the physical sizes we're talking about the the specially packaged external SSD from Sandisk or Samsung.

In another year or two, there might be super duper fast external SDD that take advantage of Thunderbolt through USB-C port, but we're not quite there yet. The cost for a Thunderbolt port is too expensive.

You asked, but didn't specify what you would need to use this drive for. The T3 is pretty fast for all normal usage, the only use case where the SanDisk beat it is if you're using like the 1TB or 2TB version of the thing, and you're moving massively ginormous 4K video projects or other things that are continguous file(s) and can take advantage that 350MBps speed difference.
 
iizmoo said:
Thunderbolt 3 is 40Gbps, USB 3.1 Gen2 is 10Gbps, the same as the original Thunderbolt 1. Quite frankly, outside of some specialized equipments for AV editing, there really hasn't been a big adoption of Thunderbolt drives, certainly nothing in the physical sizes we're talking about the the specially packaged external SSD from Sandisk or Samsung.

In another year or two, there might be super duper fast external SDD that take advantage of Thunderbolt through USB-C port, but we're not quite there yet. The cost for a Thunderbolt port is too expensive.

You asked, but didn't specify what you would need to use this drive for. The T3 is pretty fast for all normal usage, the only use case where the SanDisk beat it is if you're using like the 1TB or 2TB version of the thing, and you're moving massively ginormous 4K video projects or other things that are continguous file(s) and can take advantage that 350MBps speed difference.
Click to expand...

Cool...so nice to know..very clear explanations..thanks.

Yes, I am going to be editing 4k videos..possible 3 cam shoots...( I know proxies is an option) and was just trying to figure out what it will be enough to have a pleasent experience...of course if I was rich I just chose the most expensive...hehehe.

so, i ordered the Lacie usb-c...spec only says...Delivers speeds of up to 5 Gb/s...wont know till I try but I was wondering if this was too slow for this job.

Thanks for sharing your knowlege.
 
If you put a regular SSD 2.5" drive in, it'll run around 450MBps. I think any SSD and you should be fine for FCPX. The reason I mentioned Samsung and Sandisk was because those are specially made, smaller foot prints and easier to carry around. But if size isn't too big of a problem, I've use $14 Inateck enclosures and just put any SSD inside (Samsung 850 EVO, Crucial MX 300, OCX Toshiba 150, ect... all decent reviews). Pretty much any enclosure with a good chip inside so it doesn't randomly disconnect or do orther weird stuffs will work. Just look at the reviews for people using SSD in the same enclosure.
 
I use the Samsung T3 on my 2015 15" rMBP. I see 400+ MB/sec fairly often and I like the small size of the T3. I used to use a Samsung EVO 850 in an SSD enclosure, but it seemed too big after a while, and occasional had issues when moving between Mac and PC. The performance between the T3 and SSD in the enclosure was about the same.
 
jerryk said:
I use the Samsung T3 on my 2015 15" rMBP. I see 400+ MB/sec fairly often and I like the small size of the T3. I used to use a Samsung EVO 850 in an SSD enclosure, but it seemed too big after a while, and occasional had issues when moving between Mac and PC. The performance between the T3 and SSD in the enclosure was about the same.
Click to expand...
I'm curious, do you see any power drain differential between the two? I've been trying to find out what the T3 draw, but it's something that conviniently left out of their specs sheet. I'm curious if the built in controller on the T3 would be more/same power efficiency as other 2.5" enclosures with a bigger footprint.
 
iizmoo said:
I'm curious, do you see any power drain differential between the two? I've been trying to find out what the T3 draw, but it's something that conviniently left out of their specs sheet. I'm curious if the built in controller on the T3 would be more/same power efficiency as other 2.5" enclosures with a bigger footprint.
Click to expand...

I did not meter it, and since I run plugged in 99.9% of the time, I never measure battery life. Sorry.
 
iizmoo said:
If you put a regular SSD 2.5" drive in, it'll run around 450MBps. I think any SSD and you should be fine for FCPX. The reason I mentioned Samsung and Sandisk was because those are specially made, smaller foot prints and easier to carry around. But if size isn't too big of a problem, I've use $14 Inateck enclosures and just put any SSD inside (Samsung 850 EVO, Crucial MX 300, OCX Toshiba 150, ect... all decent reviews). Pretty much any enclosure with a good chip inside so it doesn't randomly disconnect or do orther weird stuffs will work. Just look at the reviews for people using SSD in the same enclosure.
Click to expand...


will this enclosure be better?

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/usb-3-1-drive-enclosure~S251BPU31C3

it is usb-c ..your's was usb 3.0...will this one be faster?

I guess I have to learn about what makes an enclosure better

thanks
 
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