How to make Thunderbolt 1TB SSD? Just enclosure and SSD?

[patent10021]

The LaCie 1TB SSD Thunderbolt 2 Little Big Disk Hard Drive on Apple.com looks nice but that's a nice steep price too.

Surely there has got to be a cheaper route. Any suggestions?

OWC SSD + a regular SATA enclosure?

 

[aziatiklover]

You answered your own question! Yeap.

 

[patent10021]

You answered your own question! Yeap.

But shouldn't I use Thunderbolt or at least FW connectors for an external drive? It's for my rMBP I use for audio/video.

this Amazon link for this enclosure says Thunderbolt converter. Is that what I'm looking for?

http://www.amazon.com/Delock-Extern..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1CFAPR9G9XSE8ATVQ3J7


Ah I read the reviews of that product and it looks spotty and requires a wall-wort. I thought the point of Thunderbolt is that it's plug & play.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[patent10021]

A "regular SATA enclosure" doesn't preclude having FW or TB ports.

I bought the Buffalo 1TB TB drive from Amazon for $135. It comes with both USB and TB cables and is bus powered. I plan to install an SSD, and then use the pulled hard disk in a USB 3.0 enclosure I have laying around to do backups.

I'm storing my VMs on there for portability between machines and because I don't use them every day so don't need to carry them with me.

You have a link? So that enclosure has both USB and Thunderbolt ports on the back? Or would you do the USB -> TB switch internally in the enclosure? So you're going to put a 2.5" SSD in? OWC? Crucial?

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Yep SSd + Enclosure

I would say use USB 3 as well, cheaper enclosure, far faster than Firewire and the thunderbolt premium will make little difference on a bus powered external hard drive...

 

[Truefan31]

Using tb is more expensive but I prefer it. It allows trim. Mines a boot drive so that's a plus but u might not need it in your case.

 

[patent10021]

Using tb is more expensive but I prefer it. It allows trim. Mines a boot drive so that's a plus but u might not need it in your case.

Aren't TB enclosures expensive? Also if my SSD is just a scratch drive I probably don't need it.

 

[Truefan31]

Aren't TB enclosures expensive? Also if my SSD is just a scratch drive I probably don't need it.

U can get bus powered for under 100 like the seagate goflex tb adapter I have with a 512 gb ssd crucial mx100. Yeah if u don't care about trim usb3 should be fine

 

[patent10021]

U can get bus powered for under 100 like the seagate goflex tb adapter I have with a 512 gb ssd crucial mx100. Yeah if u don't care about trim usb3 should be fine

can I chain one off the other since its TB? MBP only has one TB input so what do people who have 2 or 3 do?

 

[Truefan31]

I think u can get enclosures where u can daisy chain. They have multiple tb ports

 

[patent10021]

A "regular SATA enclosure" doesn't preclude having FW or TB ports.

I bought the Buffalo 1TB TB drive from Amazon for $135. It comes with both USB and TB cables and is bus powered. I plan to install an SSD, and then use the pulled hard disk in a USB 3.0 enclosure I have laying around to do backups.

I'm storing my VMs on there for portability between machines and because I don't use them every day so don't need to carry them with me.

Saw it. But I could buy ANY USB 3.0 HDD just to use the enclosure right?

Doesn't have to be xxxTB xxxGB right? As long as it fits the 2.5" SSD?

 

[SaSaSushi]

The Delock 42490 is $89. It will house any 2.5" SSD (or HDD), is aluminum construction and AC-powered. I've been booting OS X and BootCamp off of mine for the past 9 months and couldn't be happier with it.

One thing it does not have, however, is a TB pass-through port. If that's a requirement, you're going to need to look elsewhere.

If you're not booting off the device and don't care about TRIM support then I'd recommend going with a UASP USB 3 enclosure like the Inateck FEU3NS1-E for $18.

 

[patent10021]

The Delock 42490 is $89. It will house any 2.5" SSD (or HDD), is aluminum construction and AC-powered. I've been booting OS X and BootCamp off of mine for the past 9 months and couldn't be happier with it.

One thing it does not have, however, is a TB pass-through port. If that's a requirement, you're going to need to look elsewhere.

If you're not booting off the device and don't care about TRIM support then I'd recommend going with a UASP USB 3 enclosure like the Inateck FEU3NS1-E for $18.

I'll go with the Inateck because it runs off of bus power. Last thing I want is a wall-wort. Thanks for the tips. Btw, what 2 SSD brands do you like? I noticed you got the Samsung 840 EVO. Sammy is your fav choice? What do you know about OWC or Crucial SSD? Those Sammys only got like 9 ratings (all 5 star though) on Amazon Canada but the Crucial SSDs got like 155 reviews all 5 star. Crazy.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Crucial or samsung

I'll go with the Inateck because it runs off of bus power. Last thing I want is a wall-wort. Thanks for the tips. Btw, what 2 SSD brands do you like? I noticed you got the Samsung 840 EVO. Sammy is your fav choice? What do you know about OWC or Crucial SSD? Those Sammys only got like 9 ratings (all 5 star though) on Amazon Canada but the Crucial SSDs got like 155 reviews all 5 star. Crazy.

All the anecdotal evidence I have seen says the crucial mx and samsung evo's are the best bang for your buck currently available in the SSD market, they are fast, cheap and reliable.

 

[Lounge Deluxe]

The LaCie 1TB SSD Thunderbolt 2 Little Big Disk Hard Drive on Apple.com looks nice but that's a nice steep price too.

Surely there has got to be a cheaper route. Any suggestions?

OWC SSD + a regular SATA enclosure?

A cheaper route is no problem, there are numerous Thunderbolt enclosures using regular SATA drives, but the Lacie Thunderbolt 2 LBD has some speed advantages that may be hard for any alternative solutions to match. It uses 2 PCIe modules in Raid 0 configuration and I haven't found a similar enclosure yet (let alone the 2 PCIe modules, e.g. Samsung XP941 512GB at an acceptable price).

 

[SaSaSushi]

Btw, what 2 SSD brands do you like? I noticed you got the Samsung 840 EVO. Sammy is your fav choice? What do you know about OWC or Crucial SSD? Those Sammys only got like 9 ratings (all 5 star though) on Amazon Canada but the Crucial SSDs got like 155 reviews all 5 star. Crazy.

As mentioned above, you can't go wrong with either. I have been very pleased with the performance of the EVO. Unfortunately, I paid about twice the price it's currently selling for last March.

 

[patent10021]

As mentioned above, you can't go wrong with either. I have been very pleased with the performance of the EVO. Unfortunately, I paid about twice the price it's currently selling for last March.

Ouch. It will be interesting to see what year it will be when 1TB SSD costs the same as 1TB HDD does now. Maybe 2020. Hopefully there won't be ceiling like there is with HDD. Seems that 2TB HDD is the highest consumer average. I wonder when we will see 5TB SDD etc.

 

[Truefan31]

I'll go with the Inateck because it runs off of bus power. Last thing I want is a wall-wort. Thanks for the tips. Btw, what 2 SSD brands do you like? I noticed you got the Samsung 840 EVO. Sammy is your fav choice? What do you know about OWC or Crucial SSD? Those Sammys only got like 9 ratings (all 5 star though) on Amazon Canada but the Crucial SSDs got like 155 reviews all 5 star. Crazy.

I like my crucial mx100. It's a newer version, more power efficient so I think it helps with bus powered enclosures.

 

[Cnote]

But shouldn't I use Thunderbolt or at least FW connectors for an external drive? It's for my rMBP I use for audio/video.

if you are using an ssd for video editing, or audio production it is not recommended. if you are just using video for watching or listening you are okay with usb 3 HD 7200rpm

 

[Meister]

OP, I think you should ask yourself, why you want to connect an external via tb.
I suspect you have no reason.

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if you are using an ssd for video editing, or audio production it is not recommended. if you are just using video for watching or listening you are okay with usb 3 HD 7200rpm

And why?

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[Moonjumper]

Ouch. It will be interesting to see what year it will be when 1TB SSD costs the same as 1TB HDD does now. Maybe 2020. Hopefully there won't be ceiling like there is with HDD. Seems that 2TB HDD is the highest consumer average. I wonder when we will see 5TB SDD etc.

A report on Samsung's new T1 external SSD mentioned the potential future capacity as 16TB, but cost is the reason for 1TB being the current upper limit. Impressive considering it is much smaller than a standard 2.5" drive.

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/01/this-1tb-ssd-is-adorably-tiny/

The T1 does seem a good option if you want portability and are OK with USB 3.0. It is due for release later this month.

EDIT: found the website that mentioned potential future capacity, revised post to suit.

 

[patent10021]

OP, I think you should ask yourself, why you want to connect an external via tb.
I suspect you have no reason.

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And why?

I don't care if the connection is paperclip, thunderbolt, USB, or tinfoil. Whatever is the fastest is what I want. If the speed difference between TB and USB 3 is only marginal but the savings on USB is huge then I'll take USB 3.

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But shouldn't I use Thunderbolt or at least FW connectors for an external drive? It's for my rMBP I use for audio/video.

if you are using an ssd for video editing, or audio production it is not recommended. if you are just using video for watching or listening you are okay with usb 3 HD 7200rpm

Huh? This doesn't make sense. What did you want to say?