MP 6,1 Any recommendations for external SSD (2013 Mac Pro)?

[richmlow]

Hello MacRumors community,


Does anybody have recommendations for a particular external SSD drive for the 2013 Mac Pro?

Currently, I have macOS Mojave installed on the internal SSD. I would like to install macOS Monterey on
an external SSD.

Any info. is greatly appreciated.


richmlow

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

This a great question. It seems to me, it should be at least theoretically possible to get an NVMe stick that can do around 3GB/sec throughput, and I've seen some thunderbolt external cases that claim to let you get 2800MB/sec.

Of course, there is theory and reality, and getting a combination that delivers that, particularly through a thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter, will be interesting. With thunderbolt 2, your theoretical max should be around 2500MB/sec, but again, do not know if anything actually will translate to that speed through the adapter.

 

[Fravin]

In thread thread you can find serious contenders.

 

[Freeangel1]

why spend huge amounts of money for the fastest. The 2013 Mac Pro is older tech. I have 2 of them small and convent to use

Your also still on Mojave A 32 Bit compatible macOS.

Just spend $200 to the the Samsung 2TB External SSD and be done with it. It will do the job

Portable SSD T7 USB 3.2 2TB (Gray) | Samsung US

www.samsung.com

 

[apostolosdt]

I have a 6,1 nearly identical to that of the original post. Monterey is running from the internal; I keep various files from a previous Mojave in a VM on Parallels 17, along with several other VMs. All VMs operate from an external LaCie Thunderbolt 2, so they do not occupy internal disk space. Not extremely fast, but very capable combo and CHEAP!

Perhaps not what you are looking for, but it's just a different scheme.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

why spend huge amounts of money for the fastest. The 2013 Mac Pro is older tech. I have 2 of them small and convent to use

Your also still on Mojave A 32 Bit compatible macOS.

Just spend $200 to the the Samsung 2TB External SSD and be done with it. It will do the job

Portable SSD T7 USB 3.2 2TB (Gray) | Samsung US

www.samsung.com

first the cpu is not a bottleneck and io still is, so that’s why. Second, it’s not really more expensive. It’s a matter of finding the right case and nvme stick and cable.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I've been curious about this also. A TB3 external NVMe SSD maxes out around 900 mb/s attached to a TB3 dock or Mac mini in Target Disk mode using the TB2 to TB3 adapter. I'm not sure if you can get faster.

 

[Heindijs]

With APFS you can also of course create a new container on the existing internal hard drive to install Monterey onto. The beauty of apfs means that both installs share the same storage space. Meaning that Monterey will only take what it needs and you will not be stuck with a specified partition size.
I have it set up like that on my 2012 Mini

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I've been curious about this also. A TB3 external NVMe SSD maxes out around 900 mb/s attached to a TB3 dock or Mac mini in Target Disk mode using the TB2 to TB3 adapter. I'm not sure if you can get faster.

i definitely have had faster thunderbolt 3 ssdd hooked up to my m1max laptop and my 2019 16” intel MacBook Pro. 40mbs mean you could in there get 5GB/sec throughput. I’ve gotten 2GB/sec on those laptops.

 

[richmlow]

Hello all,


Thank you for all the valuable insights and suggestions! Please keep them coming, as I decide what to do.


richmlow

 

[TECK]

I personally use a Trebleet 2 in 1 Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.2 SSD enclosure with a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD. It gives me the freedom to transfer files at blazing speeds in any environment. I discarded the cable that comes with the Trebleet enclosure and I'm using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) 0.8m cable, transfers are rock solid. The included cable gave me unreliable reads/writes.

When I purchased the enclosure, I noticed the case was not getting really hot, as expected. That is because the provided 2mm thermal conductor is very thin and cheap, the contact with case was not adequate. I purchased a Thermalright Extreme Odyssey thermal pad 120x20x2.5mm for a proper fit. To give you an idea, my 980 Pro (which has better thermal protection than other products) makes the case hot to a point I can barely hold it in my hands, after 15min of usage. It is normal and by design.

Make sure you don't touch the Thermalright thermal pad surface with your fingers when you install it and avoid reposition it. For optimal thermal transfer, the diamond pattern side of the Thermalright thermal pad should be in contact with the Trebleet case. I experimented with various thicknesses and products, the best for me was the Thermalright 2.5mm thermal pad, as is not squishy and provides excellent contact to Trebleet case.

One thing is sure, the 980 Pro installed into Trebleet enclosure and the Apple Thunderbolt 3 0.8m cable produces the same read/write speeds as my Intel MacBook Pro 2019 internal disk.

 

[MisterAndrew]

i definitely have had faster thunderbolt 3 ssdd hooked up to my m1max laptop and my 2019 16” intel MacBook Pro. 40mbs mean you could in there get 5GB/sec throughput. I’ve gotten 2GB/sec on those laptops.

I was specifically referring to the 6,1 which has TB2.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I was specifically referring to the 6,1 which has TB2.

agree but hat means theoretical maximum is 2.5GB/sec and real world I bet you could get something around 2GB/sec. But just depend on the use case if it’s worth the research hassle to find the right combo. It’s easy to get something that does 1.2GB/sec on the 6,1

 

[MisterAndrew]

agree but hat means theoretical maximum is 2.5GB/sec and real world I bet you could get something around 2GB/sec. But just depend on the use case if it’s worth the research hassle to find the right combo. It’s easy to get something that does 1.2GB/sec on the 6,1

Okay, what's that something?

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

SABRENT Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD | up to 2700 MB/s in Thunderbolt 3 Mode or up to 900 MB/s in USB 3.2 Mode (SB-XTMQ-2TB)

SABRENT Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD | up to 2700 MB/s in Thunderbolt 3 Mode or up to 900 MB/s in USB 3.2 Mode (SB-XTMQ-2TB)

www.amazon.com

It's rated to do 2700MB/sec but real world I get around 2GB/sec on my 16" laptops.

 

[MisterAndrew]

SABRENT Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD | up to 2700 MB/s in Thunderbolt 3 Mode or up to 900 MB/s in USB 3.2 Mode (SB-XTMQ-2TB)

SABRENT Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD | up to 2700 MB/s in Thunderbolt 3 Mode or up to 900 MB/s in USB 3.2 Mode (SB-XTMQ-2TB)

www.amazon.com

It's rated to do 2700MB/sec but real world I get around 2GB/sec on my 16" laptops.

A 16" laptop is not a 6,1. Did you get 2 GB/sec on the 6,1?

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

A 16" laptop is not a 6,1. Did you get 2 GB/sec on the 6,1?

No way. I was getting around 1.2GB/sec if I recall.

 

[DRDR]

I use a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus and a 1 TB SanDIsk Extreme Pro in separate TB3-Sabrent enclosures in Raid 0 and get around 2 GB/s.

 

[julik_tar]

@DRDR is this on a MP6,1 with a TB2-TB3 adapter?

 

[DRDR]

It was a Mac Pro with TB2 adapter and TB3 docks and is now a Mac Studio, where the speeds are the same. The Studio rocks but the trashcan was a really nice computer and is missed.

 

[julik_tar]

This is very odd, because I have a Sabrent enclosure with an nvme in it, with Apple's TB3-TB2 adapter, I am getting no more than 930MB/s write and ~1300MB/s read, which seems to be in line with what TB2 can do. The same NVMe stick connected to a PC i7 mobo does 2500MB/s both ways.

 

[DRDR]

In a perfect world TB2 should do 20 Gbit/s which would be 2.5 GByte/s.

But I agree, that the NVMe world is a strange world on the Mac, because on the Mac Studio a single NVMe in a TB3 case should perform at least as good which it does not on my setup. In short: The Mac Pro was pretty good at TB3-TB3-NVMe-Raid 0. It also had a lot of TB2 ports, three of them on different buses.