Portable SSD Storage And USB 2.0

[macness]

Hey guys. I have a 2011 MBP which has USB 2.0 and plan on getting a New MBP next year. I want to purchase a Portable SSD storage that will work for this Mac and also my new Mac next year. My mom got Me LaCie Rugged USB- C For Christmas. It also works with USB 3.0 which also seems to work with the USB 2.0 on my Mac. The thing is that I’d rather use a Portabel SSD like the Samsung T5 or the Sandisk Extreme Portable. Does anyone know if either of these will work with my 2011 Mac? I don’t really understand backwards compatibility

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Samsung T5 includes "USB type C to C" and "USB type C to A"(the one you need for the 2011 mac). It will work just fine with your 2011 MBP, but the read & write speeds will be much slower until you upgrade to a newer MBP.

 

[Howard2k]

One thing to keep in mind is that not only will it crawl at USB2 speeds, but the $/MB on SSD (and HDD) is constantly decreasing.

So let's say that you can buy a 1TB HDD for $60 today, or a 1TB SSD for $250 (I made those figures up, check your local suppliers), in 12 months it might be $50 and $175 respectively. That being the case, buying the 1TB HDD now and buying the 1TB SSD in 12 months will cost you $60 + $175 = $235, vs spending $250 now on the SSD. And you have two drives (SSD and HDD) instead of one. Do you need two external drives? Yes, one for data and one for Time Machine.

So from that perspective, I'd be wary of spending too much on an SSD at this point if you cannot use the speed.

I could also be completely wrong about pricing and it may stabilize. Who knows.

 

[macness]

One thing to keep in mind is that not only will it crawl at USB2 speeds, but the $/MB on SSD (and HDD) is constantly decreasing.

So let's say that you can buy a 1TB HDD for $60 today, or a 1TB SSD for $250 (I made those figures up, check your local suppliers), in 12 months it might be $50 and $175 respectively. That being the case, buying the 1TB HDD now and buying the 1TB SSD in 12 months will cost you $60 + $175 = $235, vs spending $250 now on the SSD. And you have two drives (SSD and HDD) instead of one. Do you need two external drives? Yes, one for data and one for Time Machine.

So from that perspective, I'd be wary of spending too much on an SSD at this point if you cannot use the speed.

I could also be completely wrong about pricing and it may stabilize. Who knows.

I’m reffering to Portable storage
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Samsung T5 includes "USB type C to C" and "USB type C to A"(the one you need for the 2011 mac). It will work just fine with your 2011 MBP, but the read & write speeds will be much slower until you upgrade to a newer MBP.

But it won’t be any slower than if I was to use the LaCie portable storage correct?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

But it won’t be any slower than if I was to use the LaCie portable storage correct?

That's correct, but you're not running on full speed using the LaCie portable storage on a 2011 MBP neither. The USB speed on your MBP is rated less than what LaCie can produce.

 

[mikzn]

get a 500g SSD like the Samsung Evo 850 or comparable and buy a cheap USB 3 enclosure - it will still be useful for a fast back up drive later or media storage etc. and will probably boot much faster than any HDD on the 2011 MBP ( Internal or External)

 

[Howard2k]

I’m reffering to Portable storage
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So am I.

 

[Sarpanch]

Hey guys. I have a 2011 MBP which has USB 2.0 and plan on getting a New MBP next year. I want to purchase a Portable SSD storage that will work for this Mac and also my new Mac next year. My mom got Me LaCie Rugged USB- C For Christmas. It also works with USB 3.0 which also seems to work with the USB 2.0 on my Mac. The thing is that I’d rather use a Portabel SSD like the Samsung T5 or the Sandisk Extreme Portable. Does anyone know if either of these will work with my 2011 Mac? I don’t really understand backwards compatibility

Here's a crazy idea if you like to tinker around (and assuming that your MBP has Thunderbolt)
See if you can get a used Lacie Thunderbolt drive for cheap (as we are only interested in the enclosure. It has a USB 3 connection in addition to Thunderbolt. You can then replace the HDD in the Lacie Drive and put in a SATA SSD.
End result - You have an external SSD which can be connected via Thunderbolt and USB 3 both. Thunderbolt gives you compatibility with older Macs, enables TRIM for SSD and the best possible speed with the SSD. USB 3 makes it future proof.

Here is a video for the Lacie HDD to SSD Swap.

When you get a new Macbook next year or later, you can put the SSD into any USB-C Enclosure or keep using the Lacie if you use a USB-A dongle (which you might anyway)

Happy tinkering!

 

[unglued]

But it won’t be any slower than if I was to use the LaCie portable storage correct?

Your LaCie may already be one of the SSD models but I'm guessing you already checked. But I can understand wanting to get a Samsung T5 (or Sandisk Extreme Portable) for very light weight portability I have one myself and it's one of the best add-ons I got for my new MBP, I don't have to wait around for Time Machine to finish it's fast.

 

[Fishrrman]

"My mom got Me LaCie Rugged USB- C For Christmas. It also works with USB 3.0 which also seems to work with the USB 2.0 on my Mac."

Use what you received "as a gift" now and be thankful.
Stop worrying about "faster speeds" until you actually HAVE a new MacBook in your hands next year.
SSD storage will probably become -cheaper- by then, anyway.