Hello, I heard that the SSDs in the MBP 2018 are the fastest among other existing laptops. I will run out of space if I get the 1TB but 2TB is too expensive. Are there external drives (SSD?) that can match the performance of these few fastest internal SSDs in the MBP 2018?
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So the SSDs in MBP 2018 are the fastest. Any external storage that can match the performance?
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How often are you going to access those external SSD's? It might not be worth going for such speedy drives if you are using them for storage primarily rather than access.
That is a good point. I want to know out of curiosity and possible future use.
I don't know my new use case yet. If it is not external SSD, what do you recommend?
There isn't much alternatives to external SSD's other than cloud storage - or of course, purchasing that 2TB drive.
Leman has suggested a popular option you can go for. You can, if you are happy to go away from SSD's, find some alternatives offering multiple TB's of space for a relatively cheap price.
There is a reason why they are so expensive (although the upgrade surcharges are definitely insane). There isn't much around that could match the internal SSD's performance, but the question is, do you really need that much speed? As a matter of fact, most use cases don't require it.
Leman gave you a good suggestion, otherwise there are much cheaper alternatives. I personally use Samsung's T5 series as a fast external storage (for photo and video editing) with excellent results, a higher read/write speed would do very little for me but raise the price.
Leman gave you a good suggestion, otherwise there are much cheaper alternatives. I personally use Samsung's T5 series as a fast external storage (for photo and video editing) with excellent results, a higher read/write speed would do very little for me but raise the price.
Huh? If you are thinking about cloud storage, any spinning external drive is a lot faster.
I did mention in my post that if they are happy to move away from SSD's, a lot of good cheap options are available.
Fastest drive I can think of at the moment is the OWC ThunderBlade V4, which is an external NVMe SSD RAID solution. I've just taken delivery of a 4TB version - speed isn't as fast as the MacBook internal SSD but its certainly more then enough for 4K multicam, or even 8K editing! Nothing else Ive tested has come close......yet.....
Alternatively, I also have the Envoy Pro EX, which is also a great solution and very speedy!
Alternatively, I also have the Envoy Pro EX, which is also a great solution and very speedy!
Ask yourself how much data can you afford to lose if you computer is stolen, falls in the water, etc. Then plan accordingly.
When I do this I end up with a much smaller system, 512 GB, than the original 1-2 TB I thought I needed. And then backup everything to the cloud and NAS on an automated basis.
Everyone's situation varies, but when I did some hard analysis it was amazing how much data I was carrying around on my system that I rarely accessed. And having it in the cloud meant I could access it from anywhere anytime any way.
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I wouldn't count on cloud storage as I don't have internet access all the time.
Another Samsung T5 external SSD fan here! I have several and they are small, very portable and very fast. I use them as supplemental drives and also backup drives. They come in capacities of 256 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB.
In late 2015 I purchased a 15" MBP with 512 GB SSD, and realized that I was going to have to make some serious adjustments because I was coming from a 2012 iMac with 1 TB drive. As Jerry mentions above, as time went on I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that I certainly did not need all the stuff I'd had in that 1 TB drive and that the system I set up with the 512 GB SSD internal drive and the external SSD works quite well and anything I want to retrieve is still just a quick plug into the computer away.
One nice thing about the T5 is that it comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A cable. This works nicely for me as I use the external drive primarily on my 2015 machine, which of course still has the legacy ports, but a simple switch of cables and I then can plug the drive into my 12" MacBook. In the future when/if I purchase one of the new 2018 MBPs I am already all set with external drives ready to go.....
In late 2015 I purchased a 15" MBP with 512 GB SSD, and realized that I was going to have to make some serious adjustments because I was coming from a 2012 iMac with 1 TB drive. As Jerry mentions above, as time went on I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that I certainly did not need all the stuff I'd had in that 1 TB drive and that the system I set up with the 512 GB SSD internal drive and the external SSD works quite well and anything I want to retrieve is still just a quick plug into the computer away.
One nice thing about the T5 is that it comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A cable. This works nicely for me as I use the external drive primarily on my 2015 machine, which of course still has the legacy ports, but a simple switch of cables and I then can plug the drive into my 12" MacBook. In the future when/if I purchase one of the new 2018 MBPs I am already all set with external drives ready to go.....
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Good advice here.
My current MacBook Pro has the 1TB SSD. I found I rarely even go over 100GB considering all the external storage I have. Drives are fast enough to be used as scratch drives for editing. Storage drives are cheap enough to set up spinning discs as RAID arrays. Hence I now have several external SSDs as well as a large NAS for backups/storage, and external HDDs for an additional backup for offsite storage.
This time round I went for a 512GB SSD - not only is it much cheaper, but is ample enough for my needs. External storage/speed is no longer an issue.