Looking for the fastest external drive for an intel MacBook Pro?

[afavreau]

Hi,

I'm looking for the fastest external drive possible. It's for a sound library.
I record music and play keyboards Live, so I need something that responds fast.

I have a MacBook Pro 15" 2018 with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen2.

Thanks for your help

 

[apostolosdt]

NVMe in enclosure with PCIe 4.0 connectivity?

 

[afavreau]

Yes. I'm looking into the Orico and Acasis NVMe PCIe 3.0 enclosures with an NVMe PCIe 4.0 drive of some kind with 2 or 4TB.

I also contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 3.0. It's actually going to make it slower. I think they mean the enclosure. Maybe not the Drive.

OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 4 SSD – Fast External Storage

Discover the OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 4 SSD, compatible with Thunderbolt and USB4 devices. Unleash high-speed data storage and transfer capabilities.

ca.macsales.com

 

[dawnlight]

Yes. I'm looking into the Orico and Acasis NVMe PCIe 3.0 enclosures with an NVMe PCIe 4.0 drive of some kind with 2 or 4TB.

I also contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 3.0. It's actually going to make it slower. I think they mean the enclosure. Maybe not the Drive.

OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 4 SSD – Fast External Storage

Discover the OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 4 SSD, compatible with Thunderbolt and USB4 devices. Unleash high-speed data storage and transfer capabilities.

ca.macsales.com

I think they misspoke. Your Mac is Thunderbolt 3, which is PCIe 3.0. A 4.0 drive won't make much of a speed difference in this case (except for potentially better sustained speeds). You're going to have the same max speed if you are using a 3.0 or 4.0 drive.

SX would be a great enclosure for a 2018 machine.

 

[afavreau]

Sorry, you're right. I meant they said: "I contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 4.0." Not 3.0.

But they were saying if you use PCIe 4.0, your results will be worse than 3.0 since I have an Intel MacBook Pro 2018.

From what I understand, it's more like you say. It's just that it's not worth the extra cost, but your writing speed might be a little faster.

I think I'll go with the Acasis enclosure after all. It also has USB 4 compatibility at a good price.

Thanks

 

[DC41]

Sorry, you're right. I meant they said: "I contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 4.0." Not 3.0.

But they were saying if you use PCIe 4.0, your results will be worse than 3.0 since I have an Intel MacBook Pro 2018.

From what I understand, it's more like you say. It's just that it's not worth the extra cost, but your writing speed might be a little faster.

I think I'll go with the Acasis enclosure after all. It also has USB 4 compatibility at a good price.

Thanks

I was searching for threads with the exact same question!

I have a 2001 MacBook Pro Max 32GB 1TB, and my DAWs are filling up the internal drive alarmingly quickly. May I ask if you're happy with the Acasis and if you would do anything differently? I use Logic Pro, Reaper, and have been playing with Genome.

Thanks!

 

[benwiggy]

It's for a sound library.
I record music and play keyboards Live, so I need something that responds fast.

16-bit, 48 KHz is 2 Mbps. Even 32 tracks at 192KHz is only 256 Mpbs. How much audio are you recording?

Modern drives are geared towards things like streaming 8K raw video, which is orders of magnitude greater. (And of course everything is buffered into RAM and out again first.)