Help me figure out if I should save $200...

[kirbyrun]

By the end of the year, I’ll be replacing my faithful but aging 2015 iMac with a Mac mini. (Unless Apple surprises me with a new 27” iMac before then. 🤞) I realize Apple’s pricing and lineup might change in the next few months, but I feel confident projecting that their overall upgrade costs will remain basically the same. And so…

My iMac has a 2TB drive, which is currently holding about 1.5TB of my stuff. There’s no way I could squeeze this down to 256GB or 512GB, but if I move my Photos library, iTunes, and some other stuff to an external drive, I could certainly get under 1TB.

My dilemma: I would want an external SSD for the off-shore stuff (for speed), and as long as I’m doing this, it probably makes sense to consolidate stuff from an old external spinning disk onto the new SSD. So I’d be looking at spending something like $200 for a 2TB external SSD.

The up-charge from a 1TB Mac mini to 2TB is $400. Thus, a $200 delta

So…

Does it really make sense to save $200 by going with the 1TB internal SSD? Or should I just spend the money and maintain the status quo with everything on my internal drive and keep my old spinning disk?

I suppose I could get a smaller external SSD and leave the stuff on the spinning disk where it is, but that’s probably still saving only about $300 AND I’d have an old spinner in the mix AND I’d have two drives hanging off the mini.

On the one hand, $200 is $200! On the other... Is it a false economy to save that money, when I could make my life a little easier by spending it?

Just looking for thoughts and opinions here — there’s no right answer! Thanks, all!

 

[velocityg4]

Get the external. If you’re using 1.5TB now. You’re already close to maxing out the recommended max on a 2TB SSD.

Use an external SSD for stuff which needs to be fast. Use a spinner for the stuff where that doesn’t matter.

 

[rpmurray]

This would depend on how you'd plan to hook up the external. USB or Thunderbolt? With USB you have to look out for the declining quality of Apple's USB stack where unexpected disconnects are common, but if you go with Thunderbolt, that's a fair bit pricier. On the other hand, having all your stuff on an internal that's soldered to the logic board and could go south at any moment with no way of replacing it (other than buying a new Mac) makes me nervous.

In my case I bit the bullet and went the external NVMe Thunderbolt route. With frequent backups to spinners.

 

[kirbyrun]

Get the external. If you’re using 1.5TB now. You’re already close to maxing out the recommended max on a 2TB SSD.

Use an external SSD for stuff which needs to be fast. Use a spinner for the stuff where that doesn’t matter.

See, now you've thrown another monkey wrench into that I didn't consider -- the recommended max! Because even though pulling things off my 2TB onto an external will get me below 1TB, I think I'll still be close to that recommended max on the 1TB. So now I'm thinking I might have to get the 2TB internal AND a 2TB external, just to be safe. 🤔

 

[velocityg4]

See, now you've thrown another monkey wrench into that I didn't consider -- the recommended max! Because even though pulling things off my 2TB onto an external will get me below 1TB, I think I'll still be close to that recommended max on the 1TB. So now I'm thinking I might have to get the 2TB internal AND a 2TB external, just to be safe. 🤔

On desktops, I try to leave the boot SSD as OS, Apps and Pagefile. Putting all data on other storage. Depending on the speed I need (data SSD > HDD > Home Server). Like there’s no reason to have a TV series sitting around on an SSD.

At any rate I’d rather over-buy RAM and storage than to under-buy.

 

[kirbyrun]

On desktops, I try to leave the boot SSD as OS, Apps and Pagefile. Putting all data on other storage. Depending on the speed I need (data SSD > HDD > Home Server). Like there’s no reason to have a TV series sitting around on an SSD.

At any rate I’d rather over-buy RAM and storage than to under-buy.

This is helpful. Thanks!

 

[Fishrrman]

If most of "the stuff" you move to an external drive is "just going to sit there" -- that is, be "in storage" and not actively used most of the time -- you don't need "the latest and greatest".

My recommendation:
Get a "bare" SATA 2.5" SSD of adequate capacity.
These are quite reasonably priced now.
Then, get a USB3 SATA enclosure, like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

www.amazon.com

Put them together and that can become your "primary, external" storage drive.

One other thing:
If you do move to a "two drive setup" (internal and external), remember that you now have to BACK UP BOTH of those drives individually.
Platter based (cheaper) drives might work well for this.

 

[David Hassholehoff]

Are you keeping the iMac? Enable file sharing and put whatever you need fast access to on an external SSD.

 

[kirbyrun]

If most of "the stuff" you move to an external drive is "just going to sit there" -- that is, be "in storage" and not actively used most of the time -- you don't need "the latest and greatest".

My recommendation:
Get a "bare" SATA 2.5" SSD of adequate capacity.
These are quite reasonably priced now.
Then, get a USB3 SATA enclosure, like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

www.amazon.com

Put them together and that can become your "primary, external" storage drive.

One other thing:
If you do move to a "two drive setup" (internal and external), remember that you now have to BACK UP BOTH of those drives individually.
Platter based (cheaper) drives might work well for this.

The stuff I'd move would be music and photos, mainly. So, not in constant use, but used not infrequently.

And good reminder on backing up the externals! I already have that set up, but it's an important point!

 

[kirbyrun]

Are you keeping the iMac? Enable file sharing and put whatever you need fast access to on an external SSD.

No plans to keep the iMac. If Apple would enable Target Display Mode for the 27" iMac, I'd definitely keep it, 'cause I love this display!

 

[rpmurray]

If most of "the stuff" you move to an external drive is "just going to sit there" -- that is, be "in storage" and not actively used most of the time -- you don't need "the latest and greatest".

My recommendation:
Get a "bare" SATA 2.5" SSD of adequate capacity.
...

If the stuff won't be used often, and just sit archived, it would be even cheaper to get an HD than an SSD. Then tie that to cloud storage, like Backblaze, so you have something to fall back on if your on-site backups are unavailable (flood, fire, zombie apocalypse, etc.).