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Suggestions for reliable external SSD for TM use

S

Sonoran49

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 27, 2022
36
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As I impatiently wait for my M2 16/512 Mini, I have been thinking I need to get a reliable USB 3 SSD to use for Time Machine. Right now I'm using an 8 year old HD for my TM backups and it's probably on the last of its 9 lives. 🤔 And it's going to look really clunky next to the Mini.

Looking for reliability over raw speed. I've read that the SamsungT7 drives are good. Any other names I should look at? I'm retired now so a 1TB drive will work fine. I no longer have to worry about client files and images. Thanks in advance.
 
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Yes you can configure it as you described, and yes OWC products are reliable and durable. I personally wouldn't want to listen to a cycling hard drive and constant fan right under my Mini so I'd look at this unit first.
www.owc.com

OWC ThunderBay 4: Thunderbolt 4-Bay RAID Storage

Compact, high-capacity RAID storage solution perfect for handling 4K video, audio production, and high-volume photography with confidence and speed.
www.owc.com www.owc.com
 
I had so many people recommend the Samsung T5 SSD a few years ago that I got one. It has performed wonderfully (and still does). I recently had the need to add more storage options and got the Samsung T7 (2TB SSD). The drives are fast, extremely small and very reliable. They're USB-C connection, but come with both a USB-C to USB-C and a USB-C to USB-A cable.

The 1TB version is priced at $95 right now, with the 2TB at $160. And while it comes in three colors seems frivolous, I like it because I use the different colored drives for different things and the colors allow me to instantly identify which one I need to grab.
 
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You don’t exactly need an SSD for TM though. It runs in the background so speed isn’t an issue. Get a cheap conventional HDD - that’s what I did.

I followed Wirecutters recommendation and got me a Toshiba Canvio Flex.

www.nytimes.com

The Best External Hard Drive

If you need a lot of storage that you can move around, an external hard drive is a no-brainer, and we have options for almost everyone.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
FFabian said:
You don’t exactly need an SSD for TM though. It runs in the background so speed isn’t an issue. Get a cheap conventional HDD - that’s what I did.

I followed Wirecutters recommendation and got me a Toshiba Canvio Flex.

www.nytimes.com

The Best External Hard Drive

If you need a lot of storage that you can move around, an external hard drive is a no-brainer, and we have options for almost everyone.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
Click to expand...
I certainly don't need speed for a TM backup drive, but is it quiet?
 
I'm currently using a Samsung T7 Shield 2TB SSD as a Time Machine drive (and also an old Apple Time Capsule as a second TM backup).
The T7 is quite speedy, plus bus-powered and of course silent since it's an SSD.
 
So I just ordered a Samsung T7 Shield and will start using it on my 2013 iMac 27'. Unfortunately this old girl only has Thunderbolt 2 ports so I'm stuck with running the T7 Shield via USB A for now. I searched for a TB 2 to USB C cable but could not find one. When the new Mini arrives (2-3 weeks) I'll be able to use Migration Assistant on the TM backup and get things moved over more quickly.
 
I have both T5's and T7's. Love them both. Fast, small, light, and don't take up a lot of room. Also, I like the different colors for different function separation. Only thing I could beef about it that mine do get rather hot to the touch at times.
 
Sonoran49 said:
So I just ordered a Samsung T7 Shield and will start using it on my 2013 iMac 27'. Unfortunately this old girl only has Thunderbolt 2 ports so I'm stuck with running the T7 Shield via USB A for now. I searched for a TB 2 to USB C cable but could not find one. When the new Mini arrives (2-3 weeks) I'll be able to use Migration Assistant on the TM backup and get things moved over more quickly.
Click to expand...
I'm actually using mine on USB-A (my USB-C/TB ports on my TB4 hub are otherwise occupied). Still plenty fast for Time Machine backups.
 
Here is a followup on my new SSD. I corrected the T7 to a USB-A port and set up the SSD as a new TM drive. I only have about 400 GB of data and the first complete backup took a bit less than 4 hours! I was very surprised. I'll check the TM backups every day to be sure the incremental backups are being done.
 
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Very late to this post but am looking for an SSD for Time Machine back ups as well and had read the Samsung T7 was good. How is yours doing after all this time?

Also, about your question on the OWC one, I thought I’d mention that I purchased an OWC 18TB ministack to go with my Mac mini M1 to save all my TV shows on that I download from the Internet. It’s been perfect so far and I have had it a couple of years now. It does make a little whirring noise when it starts up but doesn’t bother me. I paid $500 for the 18TB but now I see that a 2TB is going for that same price. Not sure what the difference is unless mine is HDD and the 2TB is strictly SSD.
 
Earlier in this thread, I recommended the Samsung t7 shield drives.
However, over some use, I've run into glitches with them, not providing the proper write speeds when first connected to my Mac (generally, a 2018 Mini running Mojave).

I put up a post explaining this in detail here:

However, more recently I bought a Crucial X9 SSD (even smaller than the t7), and it exhibits no problems with writes nor reads -- fast every time.
 
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Fishrrman said:
Earlier in this thread, I recommended the Samsung t7 shield drives.
However, over some use, I've run into glitches with them, not providing the proper write speeds when first connected to my Mac (generally, a 2018 Mini running Mojave).

I put up a post explaining this in detail here:

However, more recently I bought a Crucial X9 SSD (even smaller than the t7), and it exhibits no problems with writes nor reads -- fast every time.
Click to expand...
I have the same issue on one of my 2Tb T7, it suddenly dropped speed. For moving bigger files it initially gives the right speed but after approx 13GB then is slows dramatically. I fear that the drive is on the way out, reformatting etc did not help. Same with swapping known good cables etc,I was also using the original Samsung cable most of the time, the cable is good - the drive isn't.
 
pdxa4 said:
I have the same issue on one of my 2Tb T7, it suddenly dropped speed. For moving bigger files it initially gives the right speed but after approx 13GB then is slows dramatically.
Click to expand...

This is normal. Once the internal cache is filled up, the speed drops.
www.legitreviews.com

Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch Drive Review - Page 2 of 2 - Legit Reviews

- Page 2 of 2 Samsung recently introduced the Portable SSD T7 Touch – which features a built-in fingerprint sensor to take securing your data to the next level.
www.legitreviews.com www.legitreviews.com
 
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