Looking for fast TB3 External drive

[ericinboston]

Hi all. I have a 2017 iMac which has 2 TB3 ports. I bought the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable External SSD ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078T9SZ3K ) and it claims speeds up to 550MB/sec READ and 500MB/sec WRITE on TB3.

I tried it out today copying 4GB worth of pix and it is only a few seconds faster than my 2 year old USB 3.0 Western Digital drive. I'm really bummed. This isn't worth $280 especially comparing it to a (then $100, now $60) old USB3 drive.

Can anyone recommend a very fast TB3 drive that will hold 1TB or 2TB of data? This is primarily going to be my backup drive as I have a large 500GB+ Photos database file. So writing (and reading) quickly is important. I don't care about portability or size because this will just sit forever on the desk.

Hopefully I can find a drive under $300 that will give far better performance than USB3.0 and this Sandisk TB3 drive. Googling around all I find are $1000+ professional drives with RAID and such. I'm not sure why I can't find an SSD/NVME external "drive" that truly provides TB3.0 specs or at least far better than USB 3.

Thanks in advance!

 

[hfg]

I use the smaller capacity of this for my external Windows 10 drive on my iMac with great results.

[Certified] 2TB TEKQ Rapide External Thunderbolt 3 SSD - Bus Powered, Portable 2450MB/s+ Read, 1950MB/s+ Write (NOT Compatible with Device Without Thunderbolt 3 Interface) (2TB, Grey)

[Certified] 2TB TEKQ Rapide External Thunderbolt 3 SSD - Bus Powered, Portable 2450MB/s+ Read, 1950MB/s+ Write (NOT Compatible with Device Without Thunderbolt 3 Interface) (2TB, Grey)

www.amazon.com

 

[wardie]

Have a look at this. Also remember SSD is big improvement over HDD for random access speed not just throughput (if what’s what you meant by USB3 drive). I’ve not got an Samsung X5 but expect that is super fast too.

2017 iMac T3 drives: TEKQ Rapide vs Internal vs T5

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...l-vs-T5.2187902/&share_type=t&link_source=app

[/URL]

 

[ericinboston]

Thanks, all. After reading that thread and looking at the Amazon link, it seems quite a few people buy an existing NVME external drive (typically no-name brand) and then buy another NVME (a name brand) and pop it in. I could do this but that seems pricey and basically a workaround. I don't know why TB3 has been out for 3.5 years yet there seem to be no name-brand devices using the TB3 performance (Seagate, WD, Samsung, etc.) AND certainly not providing such external drives at a relatively low price (such as $300 for 2TB).

Also, Wardie, the link in your post is invalid. It is: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2017-imac-t3-drives-tekq-rapide-vs-internal-vs-t5.2187902/

 

[Z28McCrory]

Unless you’re willing to spend the money on a drive that’s actually faster, it doesn’t matter what interface it connects with (USB 3, USB C, TB3, etc). All of them are capable of the same ~500 MB/sec that a standard SSD works at.

These drives are fantastic, but are considerably more expensive than the $300/2TB you’re hoping to find.

G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile Pro Thunderbolt 3 External SSD

Buy G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile Pro Thunderbolt 3 External SSD featuring 1TB Capacity, 1 x Thunderbolt 3 Port, Up to 2800 MB/s Data Transfer Speed, Bus Powered, Shock-Resistant Design, Drop Protection: Up to 9.8', Crush-Proof Rating: Up to 1000 lb, Includes Thunderbolt 3 Cable, Preformatted...

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[ericinboston]

Unless you’re willing to spend the money on a drive that’s actually faster, it doesn’t matter what interface it connects with (USB 3, USB C, TB3, etc). All of them are capable of the same ~500 MB/sec that a standard SSD works at.

Oh, I have no problem spending money...my beef is that TB3 is 3.5 years old and I can't find any external "drive" that approaches TB3 speeds unless I spend an arm and a leg. This is quite ridiculous. SSDs/NVME/non-hard disk drives over the past 5+ years have had 1000MB/sec+ amazing performance yet TB3/the bus they sit on is slow. Why is the adoption so darn terrible for TB3 that major drive companies refuse to make a relatively cheap drive (under $250 for 1TB) that meets TB3 expectations 3.5 years after the technology's release? Does anyone know? I'm not yelling...just very puzzled. I don't have insane backup needs but being able to write to an external drive at 3-4 times the speed of a quality 2TB $69 USB3.0 drive shouldn't set me back $380 for a 1TB drive and $1100 for the 2TB version! It's not like TB3 came out last fall.

1TB $379.99: https://shop.westerndigital.com/pro...-drive-mobile-pro-thunderbolt-3-ssd#0G10311-1

2TB $1095: https://shop.westerndigital.com/pro...-drive-mobile-pro-thunderbolt-3-ssd#0G10312-1


The link you sent looks great, albeit again, expensive. It's not outside my budget for the 1TB but I may wait and see if I can find it a)a bit cheaper and b)hoping Amazon will carry it (they have the other G drives but not this flavor) and I just love Amazon. B&H does have a 30-day price drop protection so I can watch for that.

Thanks again for the link!

 

[LS417]

You can check out the Glyph Atom RAID. is uses USB 3.1, Gen 2 which works with TB3. It is two SSD's in hardwire RAID-0 to achieve 1,000 MB/s speeds for not much more than regular external SSDs, about half the cost of TB3 equivalents. I use two of these for 4K video editing and they've been fantastic, they're bus-powered and built like a tank.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...technologies_ar2000blk_atom_raid_2tb_ssd.html

Check amazon too, might find better pricing.