Storage media for M1 Studio

[AfterglowMP]

My M1 Studio has an internal 2TB drive but with multiple ongoing video editing projects, managing the media can be tricky. Usually, I back up footage to external HDDs, make proxies and edit from those off the M1's internal SSD. I saw a cheap Samsung T7 2TB SSD and thought that could be plugged in as a semi-permanent extra drive. Would it be risky to edit from this either using original 4K or proxy footage? The other advantage of this would be as daily back-up for system and other app info (admin docs, email, etc) which at the moment I only do every few days.

If I did this, could it be plugged into a simple two-way Thunderbolt/USB C hub with another cable getting good speeds on connection with my Mac Air?

 

[ewu]

I hope Apple consider to make mac mini/mac studio's internal storage upgradable by user.
although now we could buy some "nvme liked, upgradable ssd" for mac min/mac studio to upgrade.
but eventually it is not offical support. Windows PC can be upgraded to 8 or 16TB 5GB/s nvme SSD in super cheap price.

My suggestion is to buy a 4TB external SSD, install mac os in external ssd and boot from external ssd.

and then you could use like you have "internal" 4TB SSD and use internal 2TB SSD as "external" storage.

 

[edubfromktown]

A single drive will be slow for what you describe.

On my M1 Max Studio, I went with 2x1 TB Kingston KC3000 NVMe's (setup RAID-0) installed in Sabrent EC-T3NS TB enclosures, connected to two TB ports (on different "lanes") the back of the Studio. Benchmarked them with AmorphousDiskMark 4.0 as follows:

One KC3000 drive in an enclosure mounted by itself hovers around 1650 read / 1490 write MB/s

An improvement over a SANdisk ExtremePro that I use for other things which comes in at 1021 read /1021 write MB/s

Both drives configured RAID 0 come in at a respectable 3340 read and 2940 write MB/s.
(Note: I periodically back it up to a 14 TB external drive since there is no redundancy with RAID 0)

Ends up ~50% of the internal Studio storage 7000 read / 5400 write MB/S though still plenty fast for my purposes.

You could also consider spending more for higher performance external RAID array with the OWC Express 4M2.

 

[drrich2]

I saw a cheap Samsung T7 2TB SSD and thought that could be plugged in as a semi-permanent extra drive. Would it be risky to edit from this either using original 4K or proxy footage? The other advantage of this would be as daily back-up for system and other app info (admin docs, email, etc) which at the moment I only do every few days.

So, you deal with large volume files, need a lot of storage, daily backup is desired and you've got 2 computers you'd like to have access to this, plus you are concerned about whether it's 'risky' to edit from a single drive (due to potential for drive failure?).

Hard to believe the term NAS (network attached storage) hasn't entered the discussion. I don't own one; I've been researching options, particularly UGreen offerings. NAS could...

1.) Offer expandable high volume storage.
2.) Accessible by both Macs.
3.) In a RAID 5 setup let your data survive failure of one of the drives. (People will tell you to still have a separate backup for your RAID array).
4.) Let you use HDDs, SSDs, or mainly HDDs with the addition of SSDs (such as for caching).
5.) Some offer pretty fast connection options, such as 10-gigabit ethernet, USB-C or Thunderbolt.
6.) Accessible online from most anywhere you travel without hauling the NAS with you.
7.) Additional functionality - like making it a server for some of your video files.

One I researched: UGREEN NASync DXP4800 4-Bay Desktop NAS, Intel N100 Quad-core CPU, 8GB DDR5 RAM, 32G eMMC, 2 * 2.5GbE, 2 * M.2 NVMe Slots, 4K HDMI, Network Attached Storage (Diskless)

To be fair, by the time you bought, say, 3 12-14 terabyte server/NAS-class hard drives (e.g.: Seagate Ironwolf or Ironwolf Pro) and a 1 or 2 terabyte SSD (or two), the cost would be drastically more expensive than just buying that 'cheap Samsung T7 2TB SSD.' What I'm proposing is less a simple solution to a simple problem and more an expansive, multi-faceted system to not only solve that problem but enhance other areas.

 

[AfterglowMP]

Thanks to you all. Aware of NAS solutions but already have external back up systems.

My question is if others have used the Samsung T7 as a semi-permanent external drive to keep video files on? (I should just get it and see, I guess.)

And, if I use the Thunderbolt hub, can I connect the T7 drive as well as have a second Thunderbolt cable ready for connection to other devices like my Mac Air? Would there be a substantial data rate loss?

 

[wdhpgx]

Thanks to you all. Aware of NAS solutions but already have external back up systems.

My question is if others have used the Samsung T7 as a semi-permanent external drive to keep video files on? (I should just get it and see, I guess.)

And, if I use the Thunderbolt hub, can I connect the T7 drive as well as have a second Thunderbolt cable ready for connection to other devices like my Mac Air? Would there be a substantial data rate loss?

I recently picked up a T7 2tb for my m1 studio as "permanent" external storage, to replace an nvme+enclosure from 2022 that had started a repeated pattern of going offline unexpectedly. So far it's performing without any problems. I use it for storing various application-related files moved (and symlinked) from the internal drive. I don't currently use it for any video files though.

 

[drrich2]

And, if I use the Thunderbolt hub, can I connect the T7 drive as well as have a second Thunderbolt cable ready for connection to other devices like my Mac Air? Would there be a substantial data rate loss?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm a little confused trying to picture how your proposed setup works. I get the idea of having your Mac Studio connected via a Thunderbolt cable to a Thunderbolt hub, and your proposed USB-C external Samsung SSD connected to the hub (I have such a setup now with a CalDigit TS3+ dock, though I'm not really using the T7 Shield for anything lately).

But when you ask about also having a 2nd Thunderbolt cable to connect to other devices like your Mac Air, I don't get the purpose. From your 1st post:

If I did this, could it be plugged into a simple two-way Thunderbolt/USB C hub with another cable getting good speeds on connection with my Mac Air?

A 2-way Thunderbolt hub? What is that? Some Thunderbolt docks/hubs have passthrough capability; my CalDigit TS3+ has 1 downstream Thunderbolt port, Thunderbolt 4 docks often have more, but that mainly lets people connect peripherals to the hub. The only other connection I can think of is when people daisy chain Thunderbolt perhaps, but that'd be like a drive to a drive to a hub, not a MacBook Air to a drive to a hub to a Mac Studio.

So, my questions to clarify are:

1.) What do you mean by '2-way' Thunderbolt/USB-C hub? Maybe I just haven't heard of them before.

2.) Do you intend to somehow have the Mac Studio and MacBook Air both be connected to the Samsung T7 external USB-C SSD at the same time, or to use some sort of 'switch' (like people use a KVM switch of share a display between computers)?

3.) Why use a 2nd Thunderbolt cable (more expensive) for a USB-C external SSD? It would work like a USB-C cable, if you already have one.

I don't think data transfer rate speed loss will be an issue unless you connect the SSD along with enough other devices to the hub to tax the available bandwidth, but I doubt we have enough info. to judge that.

 

[AfterglowMP]

Existing Thunderbolt ports on Studio are taken except for the one that currently has a cable that is sometimes connected to Mac Air for moving video files. This is where the hub would go, a hub like OWC's with two or more ports. One port would have above cable, the other the T7 SSD.

 

[drrich2]

This is where the hub would go, a hub like OWC's with two or more ports. One port would have above cable, the other the T7 SSD.

Thanks for the clarification. So, you've used the Thunderbolt cable to directly connect the Studio and Air to move video files, but you propose to instead run that cable from the Mac Studio to a Thunderbolt hub, and from the hub one Thunderbolt cable to the MacBook Air, and one USB-C cable to the T7 USB-C external SSD drive.

I haven't worked with a setup with 2 Macs communicating via Thunderbolt through a hub, so I don't know how well that would work, or whether the MacBook Air could 'see' the T7, but at least I understanding what you're aiming for.

If you try this out, please report back here and let us know what works and what (if anything) doesn't.

P.S.: If the MacBook Air doesn't 'see' the T7, perhaps you could enable File Sharing on the Mac Studio and assign it to share the T7 with the MacBook Air? I haven't done that; just a hypothetical workaround that might come in handy if you need it.