Mac Mini internal SSD vs. external Samsung SSD speed – what's faster?

[Silly John Fatty]

I plan to get the new Mac Mini, probably the M2 pro, I'm just not sure about what SSD size I should go for.

I'm trying to get the best deal here but money is a factor as well. My current Mac Pro is 13 years old, so I'd be happy if this new Mac Mini could last the next 10 years.

There's this option to get the Mini with 8TB, but it's +2700€, which is crazy. A Samsung 870 QVO 8TB starts around 440€.

1) What are the read and write speeds of that 8TB in the Mini? I heard the bigger the SSD, the faster the write speeds. Is there any data on that specific model?

2) How can I connect that Samsung to the Mini the most efficiently, and what method will make me lose the least read and write speed?

3) Can the Samsung ever be as fast as the internal Mac Mini SSD?

 

[Fishrrman]

Get an m2pro Mini with at least a 1tb drive.
Internal SSD speeds should be around 6,000MBps.

That's far FAR faster than ANY external drive.

 

[steve123]

If you want to minimize cost and are ok using an external drive, get a Thunderbolt 3/4 SSD enclosure and an NVMe SSD. I get 3000 MB/s read and write transfer rates on my M2 Max.

That's far FAR faster than ANY external drive.

If you configure two Thunderbolt 3/4 enclosures as RAID0 and connect each one to a separate Thunderbolt controller, you can get close to the internal disk speed.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-4-nvme-m-2-external-storage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-32028925

I am not sure though if the Mini has two separate TB controllers or if the TB ports share a single controller.

EDIT: The M2 Pro version of the mini has two TB controllers.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

If you want to minimize cost and are ok using an external drive, get a Thunderbolt 3/4 SSD enclosure and an NVMe SSD. I get 3000 MB/s read and write transfer rates on my M2 Max.




If you configure two Thunderbolt 3/4 enclosures as RAID0 and connect each one to a separate Thunderbolt controller, you can get close to the internal disk speed.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-4-nvme-m-2-external-storage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-32028925

I am not sure though if the Mini has two separate TB controllers or if the TB ports share a single controller.

EDIT: The M2 Pro version of the mini has two TB controllers.

Get an m2pro Mini with at least a 1tb drive.
Internal SSD speeds should be around 6,000MBps.

That's far FAR faster than ANY external drive.

So basically, you guys are saying internal speeds will always be faster than external hardware?

 

[steve123]

So basically, you guys are saying internal speeds will always be faster than external hardware?

Generally speaking, that is the case though there could be exceptions where the internal NAND configuration limits the memory bandwidth. So, to avoid that situation get a minimum of 1TB of internal storage.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Generally speaking, that is the case though there could be exceptions where the internal NAND configuration limits the memory bandwidth. So, to avoid that situation get a minimum of 1TB of internal storage.

Do you think there's also a difference between 1 vs 2TB, or 2 vs. 8 TB, or does it make no difference anymore at this point?

 

[steve123]

Do you think there's also a difference between 1 vs 2TB, or 2 vs. 8 TB, or does it make no difference anymore at this point?

After 1 TB, for the current M2 Pro mini, it makes no difference to the internal memory bandwidth.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

After 1 TB, for the current M2 Pro mini, it makes no difference to the internal memory bandwidth.

This memory bandwidth is what makes the read/write speeds of the SSD? (sorry, I know nothing about all of this)

I've just seen some tables on that and for the 8TB SSD and so on it always said (no matter where I read it), that it still needed to be confirmed.

This memory bandwidth has nothing to do with RAM however, right? It's some memory that is part of the SSD I suppose?

 

[steve123]

This memory bandwidth is what makes the read/write speeds of the SSD? (

Correct. NAND memory bandwidth is directly related in the read/write speed of the SSD. The speed limitation comes about because certain M1 and M2 Macs fewer NAND chips which reduces the read and write speed.

This memory bandwidth has nothing to do with RAM however, right? It's some memory that is part of the SSD I suppose?

RAM is a different type of memory and has a different memory bus than the SSD. Of course, more RAM is better.

 

[ARMunix]

There's this option to get the Mini with 8TB, but it's +2700€, which is crazy. A Samsung 870 QVO 8TB starts around 440€

The Samsung 870 QVO is a SATA SSD, so it will definitely be slower than the internal SSD of the Mac. The SATA bus's max bandwidth is 6 Gbit/s. You'll probably get about 600 MByte/s in practice. Also, QVO drives use QLC type memory cells which will be slower on heavy write loads (than SLC for example).

If you want the absolute best possible performance from an external drive, get an NVMe drive with a Thunderbolt enclosure. NVMe drives in USB-C (10 Gbit/s) enclosures can also be faster than SATA SSDs connected via USB, theoretical maximum about 1 GByte/s.

Does any of this matter? Depends on your use case. Personally, I'd never shill out 2700 $ for the internal 8 TB SSD. You could get an external NVMe drive for way less. Yes it will be slower, but will it matter? Probably not.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

The Samsung 870 QVO is a SATA SSD, so it will definitely be slower than the internal SSD of the Mac. The SATA bus's max bandwidth is 6 Gbit/s. You'll probably get about 600 MByte/s in practice. Also, QVO drives use QLC type memory cells which will be slower on heavy write loads (than SLC for example).

If you want the absolute best possible performance from an external drive, get an NVMe drive with a Thunderbolt enclosure. NVMe drives in USB-C (10 Gbit/s) enclosures can also be faster than SATA SSDs connected via USB, theoretical maximum about 1 GByte/s.

Does any of this matter? Depends on your use case. Personally, I'd never shill out 2700 $ for the internal 8 TB SSD. You could get an external NVMe drive for way less. Yes it will be slower, but will it matter? Probably not.

Thanks! From what I've seen it will only be insignificantly slower, right? Is there a way to make an external solution like this faster than the internal hardware? Or at least as fast?

 

[ARMunix]

No, it's not possible. But external NVMe storage connected via Thunderbolt is still fast enough for any application I can think of.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

No, it's not possible. But external NVMe storage connected via Thunderbolt is still fast enough for any application I can think of.

Yes, I think so too.

Does any of you guys know what else will have an impact on the real speed? I guess the choice of the storage and the TB encasing, is there anything else maybe?

After 1 TB, for the current M2 Pro mini, it makes no difference to the internal memory bandwidth.

Can I ask why this is btw?

 

[steve123]

Can I ask why this is btw?

It is a number of controllers issue again. In the case base models there is only one NAND chip and hence there is only one controller used. In models with two NAND chips they each use their own controllers, hence twice the speed. If there are more than two NAND chips, then they share the two controllers.

 

[Yebubbleman]

So basically, you guys are saying internal speeds will always be faster than external hardware?

Always? As in a general rule of all computers? No. But, it's true that T2 Intel Mac SSDs are faster than external SSDs and Apple Silicon Mac SSDs are faster than T2 Intel Mac SSDs. Having the SSD controller on the SoC really does wonders.

 

[tubular]

I plan to get the new Mac Mini, probably the M2 pro, I'm just not sure about what SSD size I should go for.

I'm trying to get the best deal here but money is a factor as well. My current Mac Pro is 13 years old, so I'd be happy if this new Mac Mini could last the next 10 years.

FWIW I recently bought an M2 Pro mini with 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM. Like you, I'm trying to balance cost and futureproofing. I'd have gone for 24GB RAM if it were available, but it's not.

 

[ovbacon]

I guess everything depends on how much you want to spend on the mini and/or on the external drive. I have a pretty basi mini M2 16GB/512GB and have externally a Acasis Enclosure (TBU401E) with a Samsung 980 PRO 2TB. Tests in Blackmagic: steady at W:2800+ MB/s, R:2700+/- MB/s. It's not 6000MB/s but 2800 is faster than I in reality need. My mini's internal ssd is W:3300+ MB/s, R:3000+/- MB/s

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Do you guys think there's any way to reach the 6000 MB/s with an external solution? Or is it technically even possible to top these numbers?

Some people have posted numbers that came close to it, I think around 5500 MB/s or so.

It is a number of controllers issue again. In the case base models there is only one NAND chip and hence there is only one controller used. In models with two NAND chips they each use their own controllers, hence twice the speed. If there are more than two NAND chips, then they share the two controllers.

So there's no speed differences at all between the 1TB model and the models with more capacity? How sure are you of this?

 

[steve123]

So there's no speed differences at all between the 1TB model and the models with more capacity? How sure are you of this?

Pretty sure. I have an M2 Max with 2TB of storage and top out at about 7000 MB/s.

Do you guys think there's any way to reach the 6000 MB/s with an external solution? Or is it technically even possible to top these numbers?

An M2 Pro Mini can achieve close to 6000 MB/s using two external TB4 SSD enclosures with appropriate PCIe Gen 3 or better SSD configured as a RAID0 disk using two separate TB4 ports. These things can generate a lot of heat when running at full speed so you need to be careful about power dissipation to avoid thermal throttling issues. Use a low power SSD and select an enclosure that can dissipate the heat.

Two ACASIS TBU405 enclosures can provide the 6000 MB/s bandwidth though I am not sure about the heat dissipation for IO at 6000 MB/s sustained for long periods of time.

Sonnet sells a dual NVMe enclosure that has a fan but you would need 2 of them and 4 NVMe blades to get 6000 MB/s so it would be a very expensive solution and give you a storage capacity up to 32TB.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Pretty sure. I have an M2 Max with 2TB of storage and top out at about 7000 MB/s.


An M2 Pro Mini can achieve close to 6000 MB/s using two external TB4 SSD enclosures with appropriate PCIe Gen 3 or better SSD configured as a RAID0 disk using two separate TB4 ports. These things can generate a lot of heat when running at full speed so you need to be careful about power dissipation to avoid thermal throttling issues. Use a low power SSD and select an enclosure that can dissipate the heat.

Two ACASIS TBU405 enclosures can provide the 6000 MB/s bandwidth though I am not sure about the heat dissipation for IO at 6000 MB/s sustained for long periods of time.

Sonnet sells a dual NVMe enclosure that has a fan but you would need 2 of them and 4 NVMe blades to get 6000 MB/s so it would be a very expensive solution and give you a storage capacity up to 32TB.

How do you get 7000 MB/s? I thought 6000 was the limit.

And when I see all the work and knowledge it takes to get similar speeds, plus the risk to damage something by overheating etc., then I start to wonder if Apple's expensive solution to get 8 TB might not be the cheaper solution.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Man, I wish there was just a Plug and Play solution to get 6000 MB/s with the Mac Mini Can't believe there is no system that you just plug in a thunderbolt port and gives you maximum speed.

Basically now I have the choice between super expensive additional ssd storage from apple, or super expensive external storage (at least if I want to avoid the heat problems, and so on).

 

[eyeb1]

To those thinking of booting from an external drive, (note: i do on an Intel MacBook Pro 2020), Apple Intelligence, as service is not available when the OS is booted from an external drive. Another big **** you from Apple.

 

[Alameda]

Man, I wish there was just a Plug and Play solution to get 6000 MB/s with the Mac Mini Can't believe there is no system that you just plug in a thunderbolt port and gives you maximum speed.

Basically now I have the choice between super expensive additional ssd storage from apple, or super expensive external storage (at least if I want to avoid the heat problems, and so on).

Do the math. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are 40 gigabits per second. Divide that by 8 and you get 5 gigabytes per second. THAT is why you cannot get 6 MB/s.

 

[steve123]

To those thinking of booting from an external drive, (note: i do on an Intel MacBook Pro 2020), Apple Intelligence, as service is not available when the OS is booted from an external drive. Another big **** you from Apple.

If you are trying to run Apple Intelligence on an Intel mac it does not work regardless of how you boot the mac. Apple Intelligence is only available on Apple Silicon.