Recommended external drive for Photos library

[MrMister111]

Thinking of getting a new iMac, currently on a MacBook Pro I use a normal external USB HDD 2Tb “spinny disk” type.

So I’m thinking it would be better now to get an external SSD to help for speed etc? or will this not improve the speed.

I find on my MacBook that when accessing the library it’s not as quick as I like. I have to have it on an external as it’s at 1Tb now and getting bigger, so my current is a 2Tb and that’s the size I’d need again.

So will bring an external SSD speed up access/editing both photos and videos, and what is recommended? Also can you leave it plugged in all the time, even when restarting, shutting down etc.

I’ve seen the Samsung T7 2Tb, it’s around £165 here in UK so is that decent price, or any cheaper or better ones.

Thanks

 

[Boyd01]

I have three 2tb Samsung T7's, they are great and very fast. Two of them are plugged into my Mini all the time, the other is a backup. Now, the internal SSD is going to be about 3x faster than the T7, but the only time I notice this is when copying huge amounts of data (like hundreds of thousands of files).

For a photo library, not sure if that kind of speed is really necessary. Any SSD is going to seem incredibly fast compared to your old hard disk. The T5 is slower, but might be good enough and save you some money.

 

[MrMister111]

I have three 2tb Samsung T7's, they are great and very fast. Two of them are plugged into my Mini all the time, the other is a backup. Now, the internal SSD is going to be about 3x faster than the T7, but the only time I notice this is when copying huge amounts of data (like hundreds of thousands of files).

For a photo library, not sure if that kind of speed is really necessary. Any SSD is going to seem incredibly fast compared to your old hard disk. The T5 is slower, but might be good enough and save you some money.

Thanks the Samsung T5 and T7 seem to be popular.

I’m unsure wether to go T5 as lead to believe it is slower, but as you say it’s for Photos library only, pics and 4K video though as keep everything in here. Not sure how fast needs to be to do this as once on drive it’s just accessing them and saving back, not a lot of lumps of data at once.

Spotted this, seems to be 2 versions not sure which is which though, decent price on one at £120 for 2Tb though.

Crucial X6 2TB Portable SSD - Up to 800MB/s - PC and Mac - USB 3.2 USB-C External Solid State Drive - CT2000X6SSD9 - Black

Solid state drives (SSDs) access data almost instantly and are significantly faster and more reliable than traditional hard drives. NAND flash memory within Crucial SSDs allows you to boot up in seconds and load, save, and transfer files almost as soon as you click on them. Upgrade your desktop P...

www.amazon.co.uk

Crucial X8 2TB Portable SSD - Up to 1050MB/s - PC and Mac - USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive - CT2000X8SSD9

Protect your memories with the Crucial X8 Portable SSD —back up important photos, videos, and documents with up to 2TB capacity. Expand storage on your PS4, XboxOne, iPad Pro, Android device, or simply free up space on your computer quickly with speeds up to 1050 MB/s. The Crucial X8 runs up to 1...

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[400]

Just sneaking in, I have a similar need, I think the spinny bit is the source of my woes with my library and coming to the conclusion I need a fast external but not a USB3 option as I have now.
I have been running Black Magic on a few disks.

My external USB3 4TB HD plugged in a USB3 hub runs around 100mb/s and only a few more mb/s when directly connected. Hub and drives powered.

I have a Samsung 1TB SSD in a USB3 enclosure, it runs 200mb/s connected to the USBC. I am not convinced that will be enough?

Not sure where my bottlenecks are but it is annoying.
Edit. Only recently picked up on the NVMe stuff. Wonder what they are like for storage, long term.

 

[Boyd01]

100 MB/sec is typical for a slow bus-powered USB 3 disk. I have several full-size USB 3 disks with external power bricks that clock around 180MB/sec however. This is my T7 connected via USB-C

And this is an older Samsung T3 with a USB 3 connection - twice the speed of your SSD. The T3 has been discontinued but the speed over USB 3 should be similar to the T5. I'd guess the T5 is a bit faster with a USB-C connection but really don't know

 

[MrMister111]

Just sneaking in, I have a similar need, I think the spinny bit is the source of my woes with my library and coming to the conclusion I need a fast external but not a USB3 option as I have now.
I have been running Black Magic on a few disks.

My external USB3 4TB HD plugged in a USB3 hub runs around 100mb/s and only a few more mb/s when directly connected. Hub and drives powered.

I have a Samsung 1TB SSD in a USB3 enclosure, it runs 200mb/s connected to the USBC. I am not convinced that will be enough?

Not sure where my bottlenecks are but it is annoying.
Edit. Only recently picked up on the NVMe stuff. Wonder what they are like for storage, long term.

Which external Samsung SSD is it? T5/T7? How big is your library?

On my external HDD I just get annoying pauses which I presume is it buffering. I’ve no choice but to put on an external because of size.

Not sure on difference on NVMe and SSD, and if can get external.

So your saying the 200MB/s on your SSD isn’t fast enough? What issues do you get?

 

[MrMister111]

100 MB/sec is typical for a slow bus-powered USB 3 disk. I have several full-size USB 3 disks with external power bricks that clock around 180MB/sec however. This is my T7 connected via USB-C

View attachment 1919344

And this is an older Samsung T3 with a USB 3 connection - twice the speed of your SSD. The T3 has been discontinued but the speed over USB 3 should be similar to the T5. I'd guess the T5 is a bit faster with a USB-C connection but really don't know

View attachment 1919345

Wow they are fast times then compared to above. Do you use Photos and have your library on one? Any issues/pauses etc?

 

[Boyd01]

No, never cared for Apple's photo apps. Just store everything in files/folders and use Photoshop for editing. For me, disk speed for photo storage just isn't an issue. I do edit video with Final Cut Pro and both the T3 and T7 are more than adequate for that.

I also make maps and run GIS software in a Windows 10 Virtual Machine. These maps use tiled data that consist of (literally) millions of 256x256 pixel PNG and JPG files stored in tens of thousands of folders. No problems with the Samsung disks there either.

 

[400]

Which external Samsung SSD is it? T5/T7? How big is your library?

On my external HDD I just get annoying pauses which I presume is it buffering. I’ve no choice but to put on an external because of size.

Not sure on difference on NVMe and SSD, and if can get external.

So your saying the 200MB/s on your SSD isn’t fast enough? What issues do you get?

​

Samsung 860 evo 1tb, no idea if it is t something or another. I bought it from SCAN computers (in the UK) to run my previous iMac with a failing internals. Just checked on the web site and it is no longer sold/supported though there are other Samsungs.

Re Photos. nigh on 800gb.

Re speed. Just the way this all feels, I am missing something. But the time it takes to move a library, it is not weasy to check. Hence I am tempted to go with the real fast SSD but at a loss and cannot say that 200mb/s will be good enough or its a case off it is apfs on a spinner but will be OK on an SSD.

Spoiler: tldr

Something about how the way Apple photos seems to work, as a data base. Up until now (2013 iMac swap to 24") I have been happy with it linking my devices with the cloud and quick access across all but recently after this 24" securing the spinning drive turns it APFS and it is terrible (compared to hfs), run console in the background and always something on the go with Photos. I wonder is Mac OS is unintentionally sidelining spinning drives.

I just imported 120 pics from my camera, it takes an age. Then it has to mess around with iCloud and photos becomes unusable for a while. Console says lots going on, I am at a loss as to what is the real issue. If I do the same on my M1 iPad it is a breeze. Something is messed up, at least in my set up.

I am sorely tempted to dump it if a faster drive does not fix the issue. Hence I spotted NVMe and it tickled my fancy but I am in the dark here. I want a fast alternative and may as well go with the new drive protocols going forward. At least get away from USB3 and C as the base.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Here's what I'd suggest.

You currently keep the photos on a 2tb HDD, right?
(Just wondering... what are you using to BACK UP this external drive?
Remember, the photos aren't "safe" unless they're backed up on at least one more drive...)

A 2tb Samsung t7 would be a good choice.

I recommend that you download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

(CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, my suggestion will cost you no money)

Use CCC to "clone" the contents of the current HDD to the new SSD.
Now, your new SSD becomes your "primary" external photo storage.
Your HDD becomes the "backup" of the primary storage drive.

By the way...
You could also put a drive together yourself.
I'd suggest a 2tb "nvme" blade SSD. Many choices.

Then, get a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure. Many choices. Some just snap together.

Should yield similar speeds to the t7, perhaps less money.

 

[jz0309]

I use a Sandisk Extreme Pro 2 TB external SSD for my photos on my iMac, specs similar to the T7.
I use LR and the index/catalog is on my internal SSD.
I am considering upgrading to a TB3 external SSD (eg Transcend) as those are ~ 3x the speed of my internal SSD but of course more expensive

 

[MrMister111]

I use a Sandisk Extreme Pro 2 TB external SSD for my photos on my iMac, specs similar to the T7.
I use LR and the index/catalog is on my internal SSD.
I am considering upgrading to a TB3 external SSD (eg Transcend) as those are ~ 3x the speed of my internal SSD but of course more expensive

Are you having problems with your Sandisk whereby it seems slow or anything? Is that the reason your thinking of getting a TB3.

So an external TB3 is faster than an internal SSD on the newer Mac’s!?! Wow… I imagine the cost will be massive though.

The Sandisk pro at 2Tb is £280 whereas the Samsung T7 2Tb is £160 so if the same performance may as well get T7?

 

[MrMister111]

Crucial X6 and X8 seem good prices at no for black Friday. Any good?

Cheapest been on Amazon UK. The X6 is 540Mb/s speed, the X8 is 1050Mb/s. Prices are £120 and £150 respectively.

 

[jz0309]

Are you having problems with your Sandisk whereby it seems slow or anything? Is that the reason your thinking of getting a TB3.

So an external TB3 is faster than an internal SSD on the newer Mac’s!?! Wow… I imagine the cost will be massive though.

The Sandisk pro at 2Tb is £280 whereas the Samsung T7 2Tb is £160 so if the same performance may as well get T7?

My iMac is a 2017, r/w is about 1000MBps compared to around 2500 on TB3… the latest M1 MacBooks are up to 6-7000…
I am not unhappy with the performance, but you don’t really know until you try something faster ?
Crucial is Micron so I personally would consider them and pricing is great, but for 10pds more I’d get the T7

 

[MrMister111]

My iMac is a 2017, r/w is about 1000MBps compared to around 2500 on TB3… the latest M1 MacBooks are up to 6-7000…
I am not unhappy with the performance, but you don’t really know until you try something faster
Crucial is Micron so I personally would consider them and pricing is great, but for 10pds more I’d get the T7

Wow unreal speeds so I’d imagine would be no slowdown on TB3 with photos library. I’d imagine it’s because it’s a large library of 1000’s of files its reading.

So you’d stay away from the T5 and X6 then? as they are slowest.

The T7 is OOS at moment, is there a reason you’d chose that over the X8?

They seem not too bad prices for 2Tb at moment, I think I will use my current external HDD for time machine as won’t be too bothered in those speeds backing up, should be ok?

Thanks

 

[Boyd01]

This is what I get with the internal SSDs on my Minis, you can see the trend.

 

[jz0309]

Wow unreal speeds so I’d imagine would be no slowdown on TB3 with photos library. I’d imagine it’s because it’s a large library of 1000’s of files its reading.

So you’d stay away from the T5 and X6 then? as they are slowest.

The T7 is OOS at moment, is there a reason you’d chose that over the X8?

They seem not too bad prices for 2Tb at moment, I think I will use my current external HDD for time machine as won’t be too bothered in those speeds backing up, should be ok?

Thanks

T7 has had many more comments from folks here and all seem to be happy with them, that's why I'd chose it over the X8, but I am also very happy with my Sandisk ...
I try to "future plan", capacity that will last me for at least 2+ years and higher speed for day-to-day use, for backup speed is mostly irrelevant for me.

Why I am considering going TB3? my photo library is ever growing, getting some real life experience with that speed will help me determine what internal SSD capacity to get when my iMac will be replaced (guessing within 1-2 years), am mulling going the mini route (if I can get a good monitor) and keep internal SSD reasonable so that upgrading will be less of a cost impact ... so all photo/video and music/movies on external.
This is all going through my head still

 

[MrMister111]

This is what I get with the internal SSDs on my Minis, you can see the trend.

View attachment 1919415

Thanks very fast from 2018, not sure if the new M1 are even faster again!?!

So the T5 is 500, T7 is 1000 so much much slower than internal. Think I have to discount T5 now.

As long as it doesn’t pause and stutter, which is what I get on my current standard external HDD.

I think 2Tb is enough for me at moment, I’ve got everything in, just not very organised, and it’s 1Tb so a 2Tb should last me a while.

 

[skyhawkmatthew]

I keep my ~700GB Photos library on a 1TB T5. I've never had any performance issues editing RAW files either on my 2018 Mac mini or my M1 iMac; it's certainly plenty fast enough for this task.

 

[MacDividend]

I use a WD 18 TB Elements External Drive to back up all of the videos that I make for YouTube. I also do back up some pictures on it too. That may be more space than you need but I've had my external hard drive for over a year now with no issues with my 2019 Macbook Pro. A SSD could also be an option, but it comes down to how much you want to spend and if speed is a factor. I usually work on something else while the external hard drive is backing up the videos/photos.

 

[bigjay33]

I'm in the same boat looking for a solution. My faithful Drobo (don't knock it, it's lasted 12 years )just died this week but I have my files back-up via an online service. I have about 3 TB worth of photos, videos and other files I just want backed up. SSD looks like such a great option but the cost to put 3TB worth of data will be expensive. I've heard a lot of people complain about the write speed on the WD external HDD. Not sure what option to go with.

 

[wilberforce]

I'm not a fan of Photos storing all photos in one huge library. I have over 20TB of photos/videos, and it is just not feasible to have this in all one library (I use Lightroom for most of my photos, but that's a different story).

But it is possible to create separate libraries in Photos, so you can store older/archived photos in a separate library, then store this on a spinning hard drive, as it would be less often used. Means not having to have a huge SSD capacity.

Option-Open Photos, and create a new (archive) library (located on an external HD), then import photos from the original library to the archive library, then delete the photos from the original library:

Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

If you organize your collections of photos into individual libraries, you can import photos from one library into another.

support.apple.com

Above is specifically for Monterey only, but it is a similar idea for previous MacOS.

It should go without saying that this archive library must be backed up! Note that only one library can be designated as the "System Photo Library" for purposes of iCloud backup and syncing (the original library, unless changed in Preferences)

 

[MrMister111]

I'm not a fan of Photos storing all photos in one huge library. I have over 20TB of photos/videos, and it is just not feasible to have this in all one library (I use Lightroom for most of my photos, but that's a different story).

But it is possible to create separate libraries in Photos, so you can store older/archived photos in a separate library, then store this on a spinning hard drive, as it would be less often used. Means not having to have a huge SSD capacity.

Option-Open Photos, and create a new (archive) library (located on an external HD), then import photos from the original library to the archive library, then delete the photos from the original library:

Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

If you organize your collections of photos into individual libraries, you can import photos from one library into another.

support.apple.com

Above is specifically for Monterey only, but it is a similar idea for previous MacOS.

It should go without saying that this archive library must be backed up! Note that only one library can be designated as the "System Photo Library" for purposes of iCloud backup and syncing (the original library, unless changed in Preferences)

How big, is too big, on a Photos library would you say, a single library?

Has Apple or others set a limit on how big, size wise or item wise?

Splitting sounds a good idea, but your saying that you can only set one library as the system, that’s the only one that would be backed up to iCloud, and be used as iCloud library for other Apple devices, so they can see them all?

Thanks

 

[wilberforce]

How big, is too big, on a Photos library would you say, a single library?

Has Apple or others set a limit on how big, size wise or item wise?

Splitting sounds a good idea, but your saying that you can only set one library as the system, that’s the only one that would be backed up to iCloud, and be used as iCloud library for other Apple devices, so they can see them all?

Thanks

There is no limit other than your storage space and iCloud space. It is when this becomes insufficient or too expensive that you might want to consider splitting libraries, and storing older photos/videos on a cheaper external HD. Videos are particularly storage hogs, so I typically keep older videos on separate 4TB HDs. A 4TB SSD would cost around $500, and I think iCloud is limited to 2TB for $10/month.
But if you can keep it all in one library it is certainly convenient, and yes, that is the only one that is synced between different devices. Best is to try to cull photos/videos as you go, so it is not filled up with similar or poor photos.

 

[satcomer]

Your best way to store pictures libraries is on SMART NAS in the future in my opinion!