External HDD Help

[themisfit]

I just purchased an iMac with an internal 512 SSD. Now I’m looking looking good king for the best option for an external HDD.

I want to use the external to host my home folder (if this is the best option) and only use the SSD for current working files

I have a large music library and multiple photo library’s totalling 1.5tb currently.

I have photos on one external and music on another at this point. And I would like to put it all on a single drive.

I have used a driving in the past and found them loud, so I’m looking for something fast and quiet.

I’m What some of my options are. I have ant it fast for the home folder, but don’t need a raid enclosure because see it’s not a production environment.

Wondering if this would be a good option:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/external-drives/owc-drive-dock. I have 4 SATA drive sitting around.

 

[ZapNZs]

Do you already have a Time Machine backup?
What is the budget?
What kind of speed do you want?
What sizes are your existing SATA drives?
Are your existing drives young and healthy?
Are 7200 RPM desktop class HDDs too noisy for your preferences?
Over the next three years, do you see that 1.5 TB figure growing very much?

The drive docks are IMO not great for long-term use, especially if noise is a concern.

 

[Clix Pix]

"Fast and quiet"? Since you've got an internal SSD your best bet might be to go with an external SSD as well (best combination for speed!), and they come in capacities up to 2 TB. Samsung has recently released its T5, which is indeed very fast and very quiet, easy to tuck away while on the desktop, plus not to mention also very portable and easy to take along when traveling with a laptop. Not inexpensive, but definitely worth considering, especially if you plan to run anything right from it. For sheer storage needs when you don't plan to access files all that often, just pick up an external HDD and use that for stashing everything you don't need to use on a regular basis.

 

[themisfit]

"Fast and quiet"? Since you've got an internal SSD your best bet might be to go with an external SSD as well (best combination for speed!), and they come in capacities up to 2 TB. Samsung has recently released its T5, which is indeed very fast and very quiet, easy to tuck away while on the desktop, plus not to mention also very portable and easy to take along when traveling with a laptop. Not inexpensive, but definitely worth considering, especially if you plan to run anything right from it. For sheer storage needs when you don't plan to access files all that often, just pick up an external HDD and use that for stashing everything you don't need to use on a regular basis.

Currently I have a couple WD Passport 2TB and a couple WD Passport 1TB, 3 Seagate 1TB Backup Plus and a G-Tech GDrive 2TB. So I have lots of storage, I just not sure that these are fast enough for none working files as I've never used them with USB3.

As for Quiet I just don't want something where the fan is running constantly. The GDrive was good, but it's only Firewire 800 so not fast enough.

Again this is for the home folder, not working files those will all run off the SSD.

Will the WD 2TB be fast enough for what I want?

 

[Clix Pix]

I think, but I'm not positive, that the WD 2 TB is a 5400 rpm, which really is not all that fast. I think G-Drives are usually 7200 rpm. Not sure about the Seagate, but I'm thinking they may be 7200 rpm also. FW 800 was great in its day, but by today's standards is not fast. USB 3.0 and later, as well as Thunderbolt, have surpassed that format. I have a few WD My Passports and a couple of Seagates and they are great for long-term storage/backup, but anything that I want to be able to access quickly goes on my Samsung external SSD drives. Those work very quickly (and silently) with the internal 512 SSD on my MacBook Pros. Certainly it's easy enough to retrieve a stored folder or file from one of the external HDD, just not quite as fast as it is grabbing a current or still-ocassionally-needed one from an external SSD.

When sticking something into backup/storage status, speed is not really as critical an issue, but it DOES take longer to run a backup on one of those 5400 or 7200 rpm hard drives than it does to do the same thing on an SSD.

 

[ZapNZs]

Currently I have a couple WD Passport 2TB and a couple WD Passport 1TB, 3 Seagate 1TB Backup Plus and a G-Tech GDrive 2TB. So I have lots of storage, I just not sure that these are fast enough for none working files as I've never used them with USB3.

As for Quiet I just don't want something where the fan is running constantly. The GDrive was good, but it's only Firewire 800 so not fast enough.

Again this is for the home folder, not working files those will all run off the SSD.

Will the WD 2TB be fast enough for what I want?

If FW800 is not fast enough, 2.5-inch HDDs over USB3 or TB may not be fast enough either. It's not going to be much faster than the FW drive - most likely, you are talking about 70 MB/s versus 90-100 MB/s. Some desktop-class 7200 RPM HDDs have sustained transfer speeds that can approach SATA2 SSDs, but mobile hard drives will not be even close.

If your power settings allow the HDD to spin down, the delay during spinup can get annoying fast if you will be accessing the files relatively often IMO.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I want to use the external to host my home folder (if this is the best option) and only use the SSD for current working files
I have a large music library and multiple photo library’s totalling 1.5tb currently.
I have photos on one external and music on another at this point. And I would like to put it all on a single drive."

The above IS NOT the way you should do it.

I recommend that you keep your home folder on the SSD, along with the OS and your applications.

What you need to do, is move your "large libraries" (photos, music, movies) to the external drive.
Then, set your applications (such as iTunes, Photos, etc.) to access the external drive to work with those libraries.

This isn't difficult. If the libraries are on the external, just hold down the option key when you open iTunes or Photos, and it will ask where the library is -- then, just "aim it" at the library on the external drive.

You DON'T need a RAID drive for external libraries, nor multiple drives (in most cases).
The stuff stored in these libraries is seldom-accessed and speed really isn't an issue with music or photo files. A USB3 connection will be plenty fast enough.

Doing it this way keeps the SSD "lean and clean", and keeps the large libraries on the external drive where they will "live" quite well.

 

[Clix Pix]

In rereading this thread I realize that the OP actually may be inquiring about using a dock into which to plug the various external drives already on hand since the link provided in the original post refers to a dock setup as opposed to any particular external drives..... if that is the case, then that is a different type of discussion. Caldigit makes external docks, and so do several other manufacturers, including OWC, the one in the link.