External SSDs - how practical are they in reality?

[gusping]

I've been considering a backup solution much like what you envision, OP. Please let us know what you end up buying and your thoughts once it is set up and running. Great thread!

I didn't anticipate this blowing up so much!

I'm not in a major rush, but am leaning towards the OWC Express 1M2. I don't need anything super duper performant for the SSD so no need for an 80gbps TB enclosue which seem to be north of £150.

I just wish I bought several SN850X 4TB SSDs instead of just one for my gaming PC in 2024. It cost a mere £215....

 

[Devnul0]

Whatever you go with, be very very cautious with the *cable* you get. If the enclosure is Thunderbolt, make sure the “cable with USB-C connectors on both ends” that you buy can do the same version/speed of Thunderbolt. I recently discovered, through the use of a tester, that most of my USB-C cables only support USB-2 speeds and are actually intended for charging not data. The wrong cable will totally hose your external drive’s performance.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

The OWC 1M2 comes with a 0.3M (12") OWC USB-C (40Gb/s) Cable. Its a TB3/TB4 cable (at that short a distance its the same performance). They don't advertise it as TB4 speeds because that is a rabbit hole of certification, so manufacturers just say USB-C and the speed.

I have a 1M2 40 and a 1M2 80.

I also added an extra cooling pad in both of them.

 

[conmee]

I've got mine sitting on a convenient ledge on the backside of the Brydge dock. I'm using the cable that came with the OWC enclosure, but I also tried it with a TB5 cable and got the same average speed.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Here is a good 1M2 discussion thread

OWC Express 1M2 owners what SSD did you buy ?

Just bought the OWC i now have to decide on the SSD its probably going to be a 4TB outside chance of 2TB but i know i'll swap it out if i do. Which SSD did you buy to go along with it how fast is it and what are the temps ? relative newbie to enclosures but from what i've read the OWC express...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Harddrive]

I got to say when I bought my T7's they were half the price they are now would I still buy one now yes do to portability and they don't run hot besides being highly reliable as for speed my Sandisk Pro takes that honor while being slightly larger than a T7 runs a little warm and over half the cost they are now and yes would buy it again also do to portability and reliability.

 

[throAU]

Other than upgrading your internal SSD, Transcend used to sell JetDrive Lite products for the SD Card slots (with a flush fit, so they didn't protrude from the side) to increase your storage - 64/128GB doesn't sound like much, but some of those old MacBooks used to ship with 64GB SSDs(!)

https://www.transcend-info.com/apple/jetdrivelite/index_en.htm

Micro sd cards are like 10-100x slower

 

[conmee]

Micro sd cards are like 10-100x slower

Agree. Are the micros slower than regular size SD cards? I have a 2TB Sandisk Extreme Pro SD card rated for 150Mb/s write speeds. For sustained write it slows to the 70-90Mb/s range. I use it for Time Machine. I have everything on iCloud and backup weekly to my external OWC with 4TB SSD. I don’t need Time Machine to be fast, I just like it for version control if I need to go back to a document from a month ago or I need to restore something I accidentally deleted. Got the idea from someone else on the forum who uses the SD Card slot for Time Machine also. I hadn’t thought of using it like that before, but the write speed for my 2TB SD card is about the same speed as my 5TB Seagate USB2 HDD spinner which is good enough for my needs.

 

[max2]

The word is that supply of nand flash is expected to catch up and overcome demand by mid-2027. Though many are saying that is because the consumer market has basically collapsed because of high prices.Others say that the datacenter customers overbought in a panic and their demand will go down... who knows for sure, but you can bet the moment consumer prices dip, there will be a frenzy driving prices right back up. So keep your ears to the ground

Good point.

 

[max2]

...but it is still half the price to what apple charges!

Yeah you're right.

 

[OWC_TAL]

Unpopular opinion: I think they are far superior to internal units, especially with Apple silicon. The advancements in dats throughput have put USB4/TB4/TB5 near parallel. I have an OWC express 1M2 with a measly 2000 GB/s SSD and it still moves 100GB in 1m flat. The enclosure supports up to 6000 GB/s. The drive remains 1-2C under the internal unit thanks to its passive cooling fins. I moved up from the ZikeDrive 666 which was running the SSD at 60C! They get hot pushing all that data. My PC has a 2TB 6000 GB/s WD 850 that sits around 50C.

I have MacDrive installed so I can easily just yank the unit from the enclosure and slap it into the second bay for native transfer speeds (my Mac also acts as a file share across my home).

Outside of reaching parity with the internal SSD speeds, it also acts as a TM backup. I have sliced off a 1GB quota from the 4TB capacity for my backups. Piece of mind, blazing internal speeds, and a reliable, portable backup made me entirely rethink added more capacity to my Mac Studio! I feel like externals are a pro strat!

And OWC has earned a top spot in my books (though I can’t stand the LED on the front that’s as bright as the sun and always on, blinking when in use, but a sticker solved that real quick).

FYI there is a small switch inside most 1M2s that can be used to turn off the LED.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Hi all,

This is a silly question, but I am keen to hear some real world views.
How well do external SSD enclosures work?

I'm thinking of getting a 40gbps one (tops out at 3,500mpbs speed) and chucking a 2TB nvme in.
Is it ok to just leave it plugged into the back on my M4 mini 24/7? Do you run into any issues waking up from/putting the Mac to sleep and the drive not waking up/sleeping, for example?

Thanks!

Time Machine????

 

[conmee]

FYI there is a small switch inside most 1M2s that can be used to turn off the LED.

Yep. The 80GB/s model has a pinhole on the outside that you can use with a paper clip to cycle between settings.

 

[MacMorrison]

I have

Micro sd cards are like 10-100x slower

Yes, it says right on their product page that the cards read at 90MB/s, write at 60MB/s. Part of the limitation is SD cards of the time, but the other limitation is those MacBooks used the USB bus for the card readers.

It wasn't a great solution then, but some people refused to upgrade their SSD.