Thunderbolt versus USB 3 external hard drive

[afellowlinguist]

Hey folks,

I'm in desperate need of an external hard drive to store my movies/music on, and plan on picking one up today.

Can someone let me know whether it would be a better idea to purchase a Thunderbolt external hard drive or a USB 3 one? What are the pros and cons of each?

I have an rMBP, and as such, have 2 TBP and 2 USB3 ports. One of my TBP is usually occupied by a TBP/ethernet adapter.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[barredfreak]

I would assume that the Thunderbolt external HDD would have faster transfer speeds. I own one, and it's pretty darn quick.

 

[waw74]

if all you're doing is putting music and movies on it, USB3 will be fine, much cheaper, and easier to find.
even USB 2 can handle a raw blu-ray rip.
for speed comparison- numbers are approximate, and from my own experience, don't have thunderbolt numbers.

blu-ray - 4-5 MB/s
USB2 - 20-25 MB/s
USB3 - 100 MB/s

both USB3 and 7200RPM drives have about the same top speed, so if all you're doing is external storage, unless you get a RAID or SSD, the limit on your speed will be the drive itself and not the interface.

 

[afellowlinguist]

Thanks, guys. USB 3 it is, then. Any recommendations on a quality USB 3 drive? Anything between 500 GB and 1 TB will be good for me.

 

[jcpb]

If you're buying external hard drives, you need multiples of them before you'll run into the USB3 speed limit, so get the highest capacity drive you can afford from a brand that has historically screwed you the least.

 

[Rmafive]

Thanks, guys. USB 3 it is, then. Any recommendations on a quality USB 3 drive? Anything between 500 GB and 1 TB will be good for me.

Seagate makes great USB 3.0 drives for reasonable prices. I have one and it works great.

 

[flo-o-rama]

but has anyone made real world speed comparisons yet? something like a lacie 2big thunderbolt compared to a lacie 2big quadra usb 3.0?

I'm wondering if a 7200 rpm hard drive can output the 10 Gbps at all or if the hard drive tops out at the 5 Gbps which USB 3.0 gives us.

 

[peeaanuut]

the issue is that USB3 like USB2 wouldnt reach is max potential even if only 1 device.

For your purposes the USB3 drive will be more than adequate. You can also go with a bare USB3 enclosure and than add a drive so that you dont have to get a locked in unit.