External hard drives

[OWC_TAL]

Check out the Express 4m2 if you are looking for an alternative NVMe option. Or a Mercury Pro U.2 Dual.

Might even be able to get away with a bus powered SSD like the Express 1m2 and then archive footage to HDDs after a project is done.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I'm doing a lot of 4k video editing. I have an 18 tb G Drive where the media is kept. I've been experience a LOT of spinning beach balls in Final Cut Pro X every time I drag a clip to the timeline. I have a Mac Studio with an M2 Max chip, so I can't imagine that's the problem. And I have a TB 3 cable connected directly to the drive. The claimed throughput on the drive is 260mbps. I suspect that's just too slow for the work I'm doing. What I'm wondering is what external drive should I get for the type of work I'm doing. I've been looking at two in particular:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HNRL2LL/A/promise-pegasus32-r4-16tb-raid-system
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3TBL8X16/

The Pegasus is supposedly fast and reliable but noisy. Noise is a big concern for me because I do a lot of vocal recording. The Thunderblade is completely silent, extremely expensive and has iffy reviews for its RAID performance. Any suggestions?

Check out the Express 4m2 if you are looking for an alternative NVMe option. Or a Mercury Pro U.2 Dual.

Might even be able to get away with a bus powered SSD like the Express 1m2 and then archive footage to HDDs after a project is done.

The option to use an Express 1M2 as a working drive and continue using the G Drive and/or other HDDs as mass storage and backup is a good one.

OWC Express 1M2 Review - Incredible USB4 SSD Speeds

The OWC Express 1M2 offers a USB4 connection, user-replaceable drives, and incredible real-world SSD performance for photographers and video editors.

shuttermuse.com

I decided on the 1M2 after using several of the ‘stick’ form NVMe enclosures because, while they are okay, the 1M2’s thermal dissipation centric design is practically essential if you’re subjecting the NVMe drive to long/sustained workloads. Furthermore, as noted by OWC, USB4 is actually faster regarding (most) storage uses.

Because we’re widely considered the Thunderbolt experts and work very closely with Intel, we know all the little details that others overlook. While specific OWC solutions are certified for full speed on Thunderbolt, we (and everyone else) are limited to half that speed with DIY enclosures. USB4 unleashes the Express 1M2 performance capabilities so you can build the drive of your dreams. Unlike budget brand pretenders that do not follow Intel specifications – and will leave you feeling fooled and disappointed in far lower speeds – the Express 1M2’s USB4 connectivity assures you of the maximum speed and reliability you count on and expect from every OWC solution.

TB3 enclosures/docks are often rated up to 2800 MB/s for NVMe speeds.

My own speed test results:

 

[VitoBotta]

Another option is to use the Express 1M2 as a working drive, and continue using the G Drive and/or other HDDs as mass storage and backup.

OWC Express 1M2 Review - Incredible USB4 SSD Speeds

The OWC Express 1M2 offers a USB4 connection, user-replaceable drives, and incredible real-world SSD performance for photographers and video editors.

shuttermuse.com

I decided on the 1M2 after using several of the ‘stick’ form NVMe enclosures because, while they are okay, the 1M2’s thermal dissipation centric design is practically essential if you’re subjecting the NVMe drive to long/sustained workloads. Furthermore, as noted by OWC, USB4 is actually faster regarding (most) storage uses.


TB3 enclosures/docks are often rated up to 2800 MB/s for NVMe speeds.

My own speed test results:

That's impressive, it's even faster than my Acasis+Firecuda combo which I thought was the fastest until now. I get almost 3.2GB reads and similar write speeds

 

[jayducharme]

Update: it was definitely the Gdrive. I copied the troublesome libraries to the Studio's internal drive and they work fine from there. So after checking over my options, I've ordered the Thunderblade X8. The price was a bit hard to swallow, but at least it should work properly. Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

[JamesMay82]

I’ve used a LaCie 2 big fir Time Machine and general storage for the last 6 years and it’s been faultless.

I’ve had a number for WD drives which always let me down so I stay clear of them now but I think that was just down to personal bad luck as I know many people still rate them.

For day to day stuff I also use a Samsung T5

 

[ChrisA]

Thank you for writing. I want a good EHD for Time Machine backup and for general storage. Thank you for any thoughts.

No. Never use the same physical drive for both Time Machine and general storage. If you need that then buy two drives.

There is nothing special about Apple Silicon Macs that would affect yout choise of disk drive. Well, except that some people want the fastest drive possible but I assume if you are looking for s spinning mechanical drive you don't car about speed.

For Time Machine, speed does not. matter at all. Just buy a big drive (at least double the size of all your data combined. Tripple would be better. For general storage, speed does matter for most people and I'd recommend an SSD.

Never use the time machine drive for any other purpose. and yes, it needs to be much larger than the combined total of all the data on all your other drives.

 

[bzgnyc2]

The option to use an Express 1M2 as a working drive and continue using the G Drive and/or other HDDs as mass storage and backup is a good one.

OWC Express 1M2 Review - Incredible USB4 SSD Speeds

The OWC Express 1M2 offers a USB4 connection, user-replaceable drives, and incredible real-world SSD performance for photographers and video editors.

shuttermuse.com

I decided on the 1M2 after using several of the ‘stick’ form NVMe enclosures because, while they are okay, the 1M2’s thermal dissipation centric design is practically essential if you’re subjecting the NVMe drive to long/sustained workloads. Furthermore, as noted by OWC, USB4 is actually faster regarding (most) storage uses.

I am curious if you are getting SMART and/or TRIM support from your drive in that configuration? Performance looks good (to say the least) and I like that enclosure's thermal design.

However, all else being equal I prefer Thunderbolt over USB. My understanding is that NVMe drives on Thunderbolt almost appear like they are on the PCI bus to the host while USB drives add a layer. Sometimes that layer means that SMART and similar diagnostics aren't passed along and/or TRIM isn't supported.

Or does anyone know if the latter is even a thing with the latest macOS? Older versions of macOS required manually enabling TRIM after agreeing to a lengthy disclaimer.

 

[OWC_TAL]

are getting SMART and/or TRIM support

Yes the Express 1m2 supports both SMART and TRIM.

 

[TVreporter]

Can't go wrong with Samsung's SSDs. I've been using a 1TB T7 model for years never an issue.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I am curious if you are getting SMART and/or TRIM support from your drive in that configuration?

Yes the Express 1m2 supports both SMART and TRIM.

 

[steve123]

However, all else being equal I prefer Thunderbolt over USB. My understanding is that NVMe drives on Thunderbolt almost appear like they are on the PCI bus to the host while USB drives add a layer. Sometimes that layer means that SMART and similar diagnostics aren't passed along and/or TRIM isn't supported.

The 1M2 supports Thunderbolt connections with PCI tunnelling.

 

[HDFan]

I would greatly appreciate recommendations regarding external hard drives.

You actually need 2 recommendations.

1. A drive enclosure that won't unexpectedly eject
2. Reliable hard drives

For (2) the best source of information is from Backblaze:

Hard Drive Test Data

Hard Drive test data from the Backblaze data center. Backblaze is affordable, easy-to-use cloud storage.

www.backblaze.com

 

[Bigwaff]

A drive enclosure that won't unexpectedly eject

A Thunderbolt external drive/enclosure that isn’t bus powered or any drive connected to a Thunderbolt hub which isn’t bus powered.

 

[jayducharme]

Well, I got the new Thunderblade drive. What a difference! The only confusion was with the setup process. The TB drive was trying to force me to install their SoftRaid, which I didn't want. I simply reformatted the drive with Disk Utility and all seems well. The difference in speed compared to the G Drive is night and day, just amazing.

One other thing: in Disk Utility, the drive shows up as a 16 tb unit, but there are also eight 1.92 tb "OWC Aura Pro III Media" drives that show up. I assume those are the individual SSD sticks that are combined in RAID.

 

[bzgnyc2]

The 1M2 supports Thunderbolt connections with PCI tunnelling.

Thanks steve123 and MacCheetah3 for sharing these kinds of details on this enclosure. Looks good and now the top of the list when I go to buy my next.