Fastest external SSD for large files iMac late 2017

[scarab0]

I am running huge simulations through Bootcamp on WIN 10 on my iMac. What external SSD should I get to be able to load files as fast as possible?

 

[Apple Mac Daz]

Samsung X5 is about the fastest you can get but comes at a huge price

 

[scarab0]

Samsung X5 is about the fastest you can get but comes at a huge price

Thanks a lot for the reply.

Just bought the 256 GB version at my local store to test it and it seems like it performs at the same speed as my iMac built-in SSD does. That's around 2610 mb/s.

I wonder if there is a way to improve that speed and perhaps double it? It takes my iMac roughly 38 seconds to load certain files and we are aiming something around 3-7 seconds.

Is the iMac pro perhaps an option or are there way faster internal SSD's on the market to achieve that?

 

[anth]

If it would be helped by faster random writes, Intel Optane 905P might be worth considering. Sustained, though, I believe your X5 has it beat.

How about putting multiple X5 drives in RAID 0?

 

[MRrainer]

Yeah. Just put one (or multiple) enterprise SSD in an external TB3-chassis.

Though, at the price, it might be worth thinking about buying a server with a couple of U.2 slots and fill them to run your simulations there....

A dog with a rocket on its bag is still a dog...

 

[HDFan]

Is the iMac pro perhaps an option

Here are the Blackmagic iMac Pro 4 TB SSD results which don't look that much better than what you have:

 

[macsplusmacs]

based on reviews i am prob. going to purchase this one soon:

https://www.g-technology.com/products/portable/g-drive-mobile-pro-ssd#0G10310

i don't know how these brainiacs do it but they said (I emailed them) said that it would be faster then my internal apple 1TB ssd on my 2017 imac.

I'm fine with that!

 

[golfgirlgolf]

Wondering if this one is good? It seems like a great deal - 2TB SSD NVMe for $299.

Sabrent Rocket Pro 2TB NVMe USB 3.1 External Aluminum SSD (SB-2TB-NVME)
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-External-Aluminum-SB-2TB-NVME/dp/B07N15HD51/ref=sr_1_36?keywords=2TB+external+ssd&qid=1559705659&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin:6797522011&rnid=6797515011&s=pc&smid=A29Y8OP2GPR7PE&sr=1-36

 

[Cordorb]

are you using a Thunderbolt 3 external housing for the disk
(and use the short Thunderbolt 3 cables )

 

[jorikc]

Are you sure the bandwidth to your drive is the bottleneck in loading the files for your simulation? Maybe these files are compressed and instead your CPU is the bottle neck? I'd like to make sure I understand the bottle neck before buying faster components ;-)