External SSD for new Mac Mini M2 Pro

[Bogsat]

I recently bought a Mac Mini M2 Pro and I am not a power user. I'm shopping for an external SSD for my new M2 Pro and am looking for tips on factors to consider. I'd like to avoid doing something dumb that inadvertently reduces the data transfer rate. Are there any good online resources?

 

[Fravin]

After all those years, since Apple became charging so much for SSD space, i have been using a multitude of external SSDs from everybody.

My findings are:

You won't benefit from great transfer speeds. Skip the fastest drives out there.

• They are expensive
• They will throttle down under usage
• Slow 500mb/s drivers are cheaper and will sustain this transfer rate longer.

Bear in mind that usb-c hubs must have an external power source

• External USB-C hubs that hooks a lot of USB devices in a single port have poor power delivery for each port.
• You should buy the ones with an external power brick to sustain the power in each port running

USB-C and Thunderbolt looks the same, but they aren't

• Keep that in mind. They do different things with a similar looking port.

Erase each drive with APFS using terminal

• Diskutility can't handle SSDs with easy.
• You should erase it with terminal and after that, use Diskutility to erase it in APFS.

 

[Bogsat]

Very good, thank you! USB-C vs Thunderbolt is one of the areas that I need to understand better. The M2 Pro has Thunderbolt 4 and USB-A ports on the back. I'm assuming that the USB-A is a non-starter. Are the thunderbolt ports interchangeable with USB-C? They look just like USB-C jacks.

 

[Fravin]

Are the thunderbolt ports interchangeable with USB-C? They look just like USB-C jacks.

You can connect an USB-C device in a Thunderbolt port. - It will work as USB-C
You can connect a Thunderbolt device in an USB-C port. - It will work as USB-C (speed loss)

BUT

Thunderbolt has different energy and data lanes, so it is faster than USB-C. So, connecting a thunderbolt device in USB-C jack will reduce its transfer rate to the port version. Keep in mind that the port rules the connection.

For SSDs I think that USB-C models with SATA drives (500mb/s) are the sweet spot. They run cooler in its speed with no throttle.

 

[August West]

When I upgraded from my 2012 to an M2 mini a few months ago I dumped the 2.5" HDD's I was using at the same time and replaced them with a 2TB & 4TB Samsung T7 Shield portable usb-c SSD's. Since one is used as backup and the other for media storage I didn't need really fast drives. They are a lot less expensive than m.2 NVMe drives and don't need an enclosure. The Sheilds have really come down in cost.

So far I've very happy with them. It used to take forever to open Time Machine and try to browse through the backups to the point I thought it have locked up. Now it is almost instantaneous. And for the few media files I move around I have not complaints. It's one of those thing I should have done years ago.

But it all depends on what you are using them for.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

You may very well buy right now a samsung shield 4tb from Amazon for 219

SAMSUNG T7 Shield 4TB, Portable SSD, up-to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Water & Dust Resistant, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, Extenal Solid State Drive (MU-PE4T0S/AM), Black

Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD delivers high performance on-the-go, not matter the terrain. It has an IP65 rating for water** and dust* resistance, with Dynamic Thermal Guard to manage heat control. Transfer huge files instantly. USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe® NVMe™ achieve soaring sequential read/write...

www.amazon.com

It is dirt cheap, has 1000/1000 transfer, works on regular usb-c and does not need any additional power supply.

 

[Bogsat]

Thunderbolt has different energy and data lanes, so it is faster than USB-C. So, connecting a thunderbolt device in USB-C jack will reduce its transfer rate to the port version. Keep in mind that the port rules the connection.

For SSDs I think that USB-C models with SATA drives (500mb/s) are the sweet spot. They run cooler in its speed with no throttle.

Thanks for the explanation. I may be misunderstanding what you're saying.

Here are the two situations I'm imagining:

OPTION 1:

SSD (with USB-C Port) <=====USB-C Cable======> (TB4 Port) M2 Pro

RESULT: Affordable but slower

OPTION 2:

SSD (with TB4 Port) <======TB4 Cable======> (TB4 Port) M2 Pro

RESULT: Faster but much more expensive

Are either of these accurate?

 

[Fishrrman]

I suggest a USB3.1 gen2 drive, like the Samsung t7 "shield":

SAMSUNG T7 Shield 1TB, up to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Rated, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, Portable External Solid State Drive (MU-PE1T0S/AM, 2022), Black

Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD delivers high performance on-the-go, not matter the terrain. It has an IP65 rating for water1 and dust2 resistance, with Dynamic Thermal Guard to manage heat control. Transfer huge files instantly. USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe® NVMe achieve soaring sequential read/write ...

www.amazon.com

(great price, too).

This will give you read speeds around 910MBps.
Is that good enough?

Although I agreed with just about everything Fravin wrote above, you DO NOT need terminal to initialize/erase/test one of these.
Disk utility works just fine.

And even with external SSD's, for a "data only" drive (one that will not be bootable or hold a time machine backup or CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper backup) --- HFS+ still works fine, also.

 

[Fravin]

Thanks for the explanation. I may be misunderstanding what you're saying.

Here are the two situations I'm imagining:

OPTION 1:

SSD (with USB-C Port) <=====USB-C Cable======> (TB4 Port) M2 Pro

RESULT: Affordable but slower

OPTION 2:

SSD (with TB4 Port) <======TB4 Cable======> (TB4 Port) M2 Pro

RESULT: Faster but much more expensive

Are either of these accurate?

That's right, let's do another scenario:

OPTION 3:

SSD (with TB4 Port) <======TB4 Cable======> (USB-C Port) Whatever Windows computer

RESULT: Expensive SSD, Speed limited by USB-C port, waste of money.

 

[Bogsat]

That's right, let's do another scenario:

OPTION 3:

SSD (with TB4 Port) <======TB4 Cable======> (USB-C Port) Whatever Windows computer

RESULT: Expensive SSD, Speed limited by USB-C port, waste of money.

Makes sense, thanks!

 

[dictoresno]

I'm using a 2TB WD 770 Black blade M.2 in a cheaper Sabrent enclosure. works really well and is pretty quick.

Western Digital WD_BLACK 2TB SN770 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 5,150 MB/s - WDS200T3X0E

Get ready to game even faster with the WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD. Zoom past load times and get into the action now with a purpose-built gaming drive that boasts up to 40% faster performance and up to 20% more power efficiency at maximum speed over the previous generation(3) (1TB model), plus a PCIe...

www.amazon.com

SABRENT USB 3.2 10Gbps Type C Tool Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs (EC-SNVE)

The Sabrent USB 3.2 Tool-Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs is the perfect solution for your enclosure needs!FEATURES:CONVENIENCE: 100% Tool-Free, quickly install and remove SSDs without any tools.DESIGN: Ultra-slim Aluminum case with ABS frame. Sleek, Durable, and Convenient. Portabl...

www.amazon.com

 

[mavis]

I got a Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 enclosure about two months ago, and stuck a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe drive in it. It hasn't randomly ejected or had any other problems since then - runs great, all the time. And it's FAST - I get about 2800Mbps read/write, which is substantially faster than most USB-C docks. It also gives you a bunch of extra ports, which is nice. 👍🏻

 

[ovbacon]

You can make and/or get external ssd's as cheap or expensive as you want and it is all about what you need them for.

for my mini M2 I have a Acasis (TBU405) 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure USB-C with a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 M.2 SSD (enclosure and ssd +/- $270.-) (Tests in Blackmagic on a mini M2: steady at W:2800+ MB/s, R:2700+/- MB/s)

I need this one to be fast as I use it for heavy load with Lightroom, Photoshop and Illustrator.

I also have a really 2 cheap external ssds (enclosure and ssd +/- $105.-) a Qwiizlab M.2 NVMe and SATA External Enclosure, USB-C 10Gbps with a Leven JPS600 2TB PCIe 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 SSD with Heat Sink
(Tests in Blackmagic on a mini M2: steady at W:905+ MB/s, R:895+/- MB/s)

 

[Fravin]

(Tests in Blackmagic on a mini M2: steady at W:2800+ MB/s, R:2700+/- MB/s)

This is really useless, as you won't write (or read) small files on those SSDs. Drives so fast is good to system and apps. When storing large files (like pictures, vector artwork, music...) it's useless. Neither the computer could read the data in such a speed (if it was possible) or the drive would sustain the speed. Those drives gets too hot easily, and inside a tiny enclosure you can think it will throttle very fast. Obviously we need to pay attention to the cache size which would reach full capacity pretty fast. source and source

But, even it would be possible, access large files on 2.700mb/s, you wouldn't benefit from that reading. The difference in a 500mb/s SSD and a 3.500mb/s reading a photoshop image would be less than a second.

It's overkill, useless and not smart, as those fast drives are quite expensive.

 

[ovbacon]

Interesting how you only focus on my more expensive ssd?! I run photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom and other applications from the Samsung and it might be overkill but it runs very smooth for me without any hiccups and so it was worth it.

Could I have used a cheaper ssd and or enclosure for the same tasks? well maybe but I simply was not going to take the risk.

As I also mentioned I have two very cheap external ssd/enclosures that work pretty awesome. One as a time machine backup and the other runs the OS and applications for my older iMac5k that has an internal FD that has failed (this machine does not have to do any heavy lifting).

I find the idea of "this is useless" kinda not a very helpful statement.

Of course I very well understand that the differences at specific tasks are not always noticeable but when running a business I find choosing something that I feel I can rely on very important and my feeling of how good a product is matter to me and to my interaction with said product (and it is nice that when I move 500 very large files to/from it it goes fast).

I bought a Sandisk Pro external ssd and it failed in a week.... so that is why I decided to go with the Samsung and take no risk. The Leven ssd, well we'll see how that holds up but I have no problem if they fail as I have multiple backup sources.

 

[Fravin]

Could I have used a cheaper ssd and or enclosure for the same tasks? well maybe but I simply was not going to take the risk.

It’s your money. You know what to do with it.

Some would save it rather spent it in useless things.

 

[ovbacon]

It’s your money. You know what to do with it.

Some would save it rather spent it in useless things.

It seems you have a very hard time focusing on multiple things as it seems you keep only your focus on "you have an expensive overpowered ssd that costs to much money" and forget anything else I, or probably someone else, is saying. I'm seriously not understanding this animosity and hostility you have in your responses.

But I have the feeling you probably own a few "useless" things that you spend more money on than you absolutely had too.

 

[Fravin]

I'm seriously not understanding this animosity and hostility you have in your responses.

Sorry, it wasn't my intention. Written words do have little context into it. I would say that exact words with a big smile! I'm sorry.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I used a very fast Samsung ssd in TB enclosure wit he 2500+ R/W to copy around 1 TB of photos.
At the beginning it was very fast, but after copying less than 100 GB it became very hot, throttled severely and the transfer rate decreased bellow 100 R/W.

This does not mean that fast & expensive ssd are useless but that you have to use them for specific cases to get the most out of them. It's perfect for system but not ideal for large transfers exactly as @Fravin said.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

The high read/writing speeds of nVME blade results from using DRAM caching on the nVME blades.
The actual read/write speed onto and from NAND chips is not as high as marketed rate.
So when you transfer files much bigger than the size of DRAM cache, it will throttle.

 

[worldomination]

Will any of the mentioned SSD solutions work as an external boot drive?

I’m concerned about excess heat, throttling, shortened lifespan, and failure.

 

[philipma1957]

Will any of the mentioned SSD solutions work as an external boot drive?

I’m concerned about excess heat, throttling, shortened lifespan, and failure.

yeah that expensive unless one would be a good boot drive.

In fact you could buy a base machine for education for 499 with a 100 dollar gift card.


add ram brings you to 680. than add the useless setup from above for 280. gets you to 960 with a fairly good size ssd 2tb

this case

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 Certified M.2 NVMe SSD Tool Free Solid Aluminum Enclosure (EC-T3NS)

The Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 M.2 Nvme Ssd Tool-Free Solid Aluminum Enclosure Is The Ultimate Combination Of Convenience, Performance, And Reliability! Thunderbolt 3 Technology Enables Amazing Speeds Of Up To 1600 Mb/S. Trust & Reliability: Dont Entrust Your Valuable Data To Devices That Are Only “Co...

www.amazon.com

this ssd

SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2 Internal Solid State Drive Memory Card + 2mo Adobe CC Photography, Maximum Speed, Thermal Control MZ-V8P2T0B/AM

Unleash the power of the world’s No.1 memory flash drive brand since 2003. Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD for next-level computing delivers twice the data transfer rate of PCIe 3.0, while maintaining compatibility with PCIe 3.0. Experience SSD performance with read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s² ...

www.amazon.com

that case and ssd would cost 220 not 280

so 680+220= 900

for a 16gb ram
2tb ssd

and 100 usd gift card.

so that base mac mini would work very well with that external.
the base internal ssd is slow.

you could also buy a cheaper ssd as a back up.

Samsung MU-PC2T0K/WW 2TB T7 Touch SSD Black

High-speed external storage with fingerprint encryption in compact pocket size and capacities up to 2TB Up to 9 times faster than external hard drives with read/write speeds up to 1050MB/s and 1000MB/s Security and convenience: The T7 Touch uses AES 256-bit encryption and can be protected with fi...

www.amazon.com