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Pros & cons of external SSD vs larger internal SSD
- Thread starter Samtb
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Depends on what machine you are talking about, having a big external SSD driven through a USB2 interface won't be very great.
I have onboard 120GB SSD and 1TB HDD, works great with media on the HDD, sizing drives needs to be done by your space requirements...
I have onboard 120GB SSD and 1TB HDD, works great with media on the HDD, sizing drives needs to be done by your space requirements...
I'll be using my Mbp as my portable entertainment machine along with my iPad. I won't be installing intensive apps on it as I have a powerful separate desktop for that. So mainly media - music, films, photos etc.
Any idea on volumes? For instance I run the 1TB HDD as I want (not need) to carry around my photo catalogue (600GB), iTunes media (120GB), and have a backup bootable OS partition on the HDD (120GB), and have some growth space. SSD is OS and Apps.
My desktop has used up around 250gb and that includes the Windows OS, all my music, photos, movies plus a few professional apps and games.
TBH then now an internal SSD of 512GB looks the answer, you can add external storage of any kind as and when you need.
I have a 1TB internal SSD and a 2TB external HDD, and it is barely enough. I have a lot of movies. I have to keep my iTunes library on the external HDD and use Tunespan. What a chore.
For media you can use cheap USB sticks or SD cards (preferably small ones that don't stick out much like the Sandisk Ultra Fit or Transcend Jet SD card). They are much slower than SSDs, but easily fast enough to store media for playback.
If you need fast storage, portable SSD drives like this one are another, still quite portable option:
http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-120GB-Pocket-Drive-900718/dp/B00O0NV5HU
However, from my experience I'd recommend at least 256GB inbuilt storage. The OS and some apps already consume about 40-50GB, so a 128GB drive fills up really fast.
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The biggest difference you'll notice is that the internal drive will read/write faster (usually) than the external one. Though if you just need the space for music/videos then that speed difference won't be as important. The internal will be more convenient all around since you won't need to carry the external and leave it plugged in.
I have a MBP for portability. Having to carry around an external drive to use it for normal tasks defeats that portability. I want a drive that holds the files I commonly need. At home I have lots of network storage available which is also where I use most media files. If I want some when traveling, I can copy those over and delete them when done.
To paraphrase, you can never have too much RAM, disk space, or bandwidth.
To paraphrase, you can never have too much RAM, disk space, or bandwidth.
Speed and convenience are the pros since larger ssd will be faster and more convenient than having to store stuff in an external. Cons include paying a lot more money. I would recommended 256 as the bare minimum and avoid 128. 512 would be ideal but if you don't have the money just get the 256 and buy an external.
A Samsung 840 Pro 512gb. It replaced the stock 750gb drive. If I were buying now I would probably go for the 1TB units.
Since I recently acquired a GoPro I'm finding video takes up a lot more room than still photos. Still not an issue with 150gb free space remaining.