Fast External Mac Storage. What I've Learned

30 points

2 years ago

I'm in the process of getting a new Mac and am pondering my storage options. Apple's internal SSDs, beyond the base configurations, are super expensive.

Because all Macs have super fast Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, I started researching what's available via TB4. This was surprisingly complicated, so I'm sharing what I learned for others who are pondering what to consider for external storage for Macs (and possibly other systems).

For transparency let me say that I am not affiliated with any manufacturers mentioned here. I've not purchased or used any of the product here. I'm just sharing my learnings and some links to speed up the research for others.

- USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 are more emerging standards rather than commodity interfaces. (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/thunderbolt/thunderbolt-4-vs-usb-c.html)

- M.2 SSD drives utilizing the NVMe and M.2 standards are established and the price and terabyte wars are well underway. Cost/terabyte for name brand drives is now under $60. (https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-m2-solid-state-drives)

- External enclosures for M.2 NVMe SSD drives have been around for a few years. They have solid performance but run super hot--like 80°C hot. (https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/post/Understand-SSD-overheating-and-what-to-do-about-it)

- The fastest mainstream enclosures in 2023 are from companies like Acasis and Orico and are labeled for 40Gbps speed over Thunderbolt 4 (more on that below). The street price in the US is about $120 for the enclosure and a short cable. (https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-ssd-and-hard-drive-enclosures)

- Benchmark performance with high quality NVMe SSDs are far below the labeled spec: 2,700MB/second per the BlackMagic SSD benchmarks. Yes less than 40 Gbps, but still super fast.

- Standards confusion. I won't pretend to understand the standards experts are discussing (PCIe and USB 3.2 2x2 anyone?), but the current generation of enclosure manufacturers are actually feeding confusion about the standards and most Thunderbolt4 and USB4 enclosures appear to be mislabeled. (https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-ssd-and-hard-drive-enclosures)

- As 2023 ends, one vendor, Zike, stands out as having a unique product that uses a different chipset, produces faster BlackMagic benchmarks and is making strides in addressing the heat issue. (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/zikedrive-usb4-ssd-benchmarked)

It took me about 4 elapsed days and a few hours of internet research to advance my research to this point. Hope I'm saving y'all some time by sharing. Feel free to update. I don't think I'm "done."