SSD over Thunderbolt 4 vs 5 in real-world use

[beldecca]

I do a fair bit of work off of connected SSDs (photo and documents work). Up to this point I've used Thunderbolt 3/4 external cases with SSDs like Samsung 990 EVO Plus - mainly because they are at the sweet spot of cost vs performance while being a good brand.

As I'm looking at a Macbook M4 Max, that opens up the possibility of Thunderbolt 5. Obviously the Thunderbolt 5 has twice the bandwidth (80 Gbps vs 40) - but the drives max out at 7250 MBps (which converts to 58 Gbps, right?). However, I would need to buy new external cases for my SSDs to the tune of $250 for each drive.

I'm curious if people think that this upgrade would be a reasonable investment - or if it's wasted money with this level of drive. (I really don't want to purchase faster SSDs - like the new 9100 Pro - the price vs TB is just not there). Thanks for any insights.

 

[PaulD-UK]

I've no knowledge of the cutting edge of the newest technology - it's never where the best value exists...

However I can report that whatever speeds a USB4 ASM2464PD enclosure works at when connected to a TB4 port, when connected to a TB5 port in a Mac M4 Pro mini, I get a significant boost, up to about 3400-3500MB/s R/W.
That's with a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro in a Qwiizlab USB4 enclosure.

 

[Ifti]

I have invested into various drives:

OWC Thunderblade V4 16TB
OWC Thunderblade V4 8TB
OWC Thunderblade V4 8TB
OWC 1M2 8TB
OWC 1M2 8TB
OWC 1M2 4TB

The others are general 10Gbps drives that I only use for general backups and data transfer etc. Too many drives for my uses these days, but even so, when my M4 Studio arrives I have no intention of replacing any of these for Thunderbolt 5 drives. For general day to day usage how much extra performance gain would I even notice - a couple of seconds? To me its just not worth it.

If I even needed any other drive going forward (unlikely!) it would make sense to go for a TB5 enclosure, but as for replacing any current USB4 or TB4 drives, personally I wouldn't bother unless you really have a very specific case where that extra speed is essential......

 

[weckart]

Jeff Geerling uploaded a video with a review and test of a TB5 enclosure. TL;DR it reached 80Gbps but it's up to you whether you want to spend that much.

 

[drrich2]

However I can report that whatever speeds a USB4 ASM2464PD enclosure works at when connected to a TB4 port, when connected to a TB5 port in a Mac M4 Pro mini, I get a significant boost, up to about 3400-3500MB/s R/W.
That's with a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro in a Qwiizlab USB4 enclosure.

Do you subjectively notice that in use? Is there any particular use case that does or doesn't make the difference palpable?

 

[PaulD-UK]

@drrich2 "Is there any particular use case that does or doesn't make the difference palpable?"

Blackmagic Disk Speed test is an analytical tool for video editors, and the difference of faster speeds for loading/exporting video data into the editing program makes a difference that is noticeable when you are dealing with multiple streams for multi stream compositing or effects rendering.

Specifically, for the USB4 boost through a TB5 port of an additional ~200 frames per second extra 4K ProRes HQ
or ~2500 fps of 4K H.265 - on a base speed of ~700/~8000, which would be a fairly high-end workflow. 😃
Noticeable if you hit these sort of limits, and more responsive up to that point.


The OP will find the corresponding limits if he pushes photo management or editing programs into pro workflows.