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External SSD thunderbolt? Anyone?
- Thread starter imjoee
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Not any more it's not.
Lacie are selling USB3/TB dual "Rugged" SSDs in 120 and 250GB sizes for $200 and $350 with thunderbolt cable included in the box.
It's the way I'm going for my new 27". The drive and the iMac are on their way to me
It's a painless solution that gives you great performance with no need for me to open up the iMac the day I get it. I can leave it all as-is and yet still get 90% of the performance of an internal SSD - the thunderbolt connection is essentially PCI-e right to the drive, so the only real compromises you are making is in the SATA controller in the external (rather than the main platform controller on the motherboard) and any overhead introduced by the thunderbolt system itself. Both are going to be slight.
Certainly it's worth it for me so I don't have to open up the iMac while its brand new and under 3 year AppleCare, and I also don't have to pay crazy money up front for a 768GB SSD (or go with Fusion, which is good but not really how I wanted to manage my storage).
It's the way I'm going for my new 27". The drive and the iMac are on their way to me
It's a painless solution that gives you great performance with no need for me to open up the iMac the day I get it. I can leave it all as-is and yet still get 90% of the performance of an internal SSD - the thunderbolt connection is essentially PCI-e right to the drive, so the only real compromises you are making is in the SATA controller in the external (rather than the main platform controller on the motherboard) and any overhead introduced by the thunderbolt system itself. Both are going to be slight.
Certainly it's worth it for me so I don't have to open up the iMac while its brand new and under 3 year AppleCare, and I also don't have to pay crazy money up front for a 768GB SSD (or go with Fusion, which is good but not really how I wanted to manage my storage).
Well, if you pay 200 dollars for 120gigs lacie, isnt it better to pay 250 for fussion and just split SSD and HDD within imac? just my 2c
Bootcamp from external SSD?
i think bootcamp requires an internal drive
so you can have boot camp on internal and osx on external
with the lacie drive....can you swap out the sad rather easily in the enclosure?
buffalo will release some nice looking external SSDs within the next weeks!
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/en/hd-patu3s-ministation-thunderbolt-portable-ssd.html
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/en/hd-patu3s-ministation-thunderbolt-portable-ssd.html
As mentioned before the LaCie drive is an option. The advantage is it has both TB and USB3 so it would be compatible with non-TB devices as well. Also, FYI, orange bumper around the drive is removable.
Another option is the Buffalo Ministation SSD. Not sure when this will be available.
FYI, both drives are end TB configuration meaning they have to be the last drive connected on a daisy chain setup. Probably not anything you would have to worry about. This would come into play if you had 3 of them, in which case you could only connect two to your iMac at any one time.
Another option is the Buffalo Ministation SSD. Not sure when this will be available.
FYI, both drives are end TB configuration meaning they have to be the last drive connected on a daisy chain setup. Probably not anything you would have to worry about. This would come into play if you had 3 of them, in which case you could only connect two to your iMac at any one time.
Not really. I like that I can simply disconnect my boot drive in the event that I need to send the iMac in for repair, and also that I can take it with me to another Mac so I essentially have my whole machine "on the go".
I also still have that internal port available at some point in the future if I want to put in an SSD blade.
I believe the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter for GoFlex Desktop solves this problem as it comes with a power adapter. Costs a little more though...but allows daisy chaining