External Bootable Storage

[zeva]

Hi,
My M1 Air needs more storage. I'm thinking I'll buy an M2 NVMe SSD in an external enclosure. I've long wanted to boot from an external drive, as my data can be carried and the laptop can easily be replaced if stolen. Would it be possible to boot and run completely off an external M2 NVMe SSD drive?

If not, I'll likely continue to boot from the internal SSD and the M2 just as storage. Unless you have any other recommendations?

I'm budget constrained hence not looking at Thunderbolt. I require a large drive for video 4TB or larger.

Examples of M2 possiblities:
Kingston NV2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Internal SSD 4TB M.2 2280 - SNV2S/4000G
Silicon Power 4TB UD90 NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 SSD R/W up to 5,000/4,500 MB/s (SP04KGBP44UD9005)

Thank you

 

[Weaselboy]

Would it be possible to boot and run completely off an external M2 NVMe SSD drive?

Sure... that will work just fine. Not going to be as portable though.

 

[zeva]

Excellent. Thanks Weaselboy. Please expand on "Not going to be as portable though" - how do you mean?

Just to expand quickly, as I never bought an M2NVMe for this purpose. Is an M2 SSD lesser in quality/reliability/performance than an internal SSD?

Thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

I just meant instead of having a laptop you can just grab and run with, you will have to drag around the external drive.

Those external drives are not usually as fast as the internal storage, but they are pretty fast these days. During normal usage, I would be surprised if you could tell the difference.

 

[zeva]

Gotcha. Yes, a laptop upgrade would be a good way to go.

The advantage however is rather than carrying the laptop in a rucksack or leaving it in a car etc. when not in us (somewhere while out and about), the external drive can slip into a pocket. And be plugged into another machine immediately if the original laptop is stolen or has an issue.

Thanks for your answers.

 

[M3Stang]

Make sure you get one with DRAM. Ones without DRAM can slow to an absolute stand still. I was running one on my M3 Pro 16" for the sequoia beta and it was awful slow. Beach balls all the time.

 

[zeva]

Thank you for the tip @M3Stang I now intend to buy with DRAM 👍

 

[leman]

A more compliant solution would be using the external SSD as a Time Machine backup. It would address all your intended use cases without the performance or reliability drawbacks associated with booting from an external drive.

 

[zeva]

A more compliant solution would be using the external SSD as a Time Machine backup. It would address all your intended use cases without the performance or reliability drawbacks associated with booting from an external drive.

It's a storage capacity issue, hence a larger disk is needed. Thanks

 

[zeva]

Hi, I have accepted that the M2 NVMe SSD provides best performance. I was just reflecting that the SSD will be connected via USB-C. Since it's USB-C and not internal usage, please comment on performance of an M2 SSD, vs a 2.5" SSD disk? Thank you!

 

[drrich2]

I'm budget constrained hence not looking at Thunderbolt. I require a large drive for video 4TB or larger.

Samsung has a couple of 4-terabyte external SSD options:

T7 Shield.
T9 Portable.

Both on sale right now. I've been watching some YouTube videos on external SSDs. From what I've seen, they might be broadly broken down into 3 speed tiers (note: real world measured speeds tend to run lower than these):

1.) 1,000 MB/s.
2.) 2,000 MB/s (but often rely on a 2-lane approach and Macs were said to not support that 2nd lane, so at least some of these drives only give you the 1,000 MB/s speeds on Macs).
3.) 3,000 MB/s (Thunderbolt drives).

That USB-C T7 is on sale around $290; OWC is taking pre-orders for their Thunderbolt 5 4-terabyte drive for $600.

My point is, if you're not going Thunderbolt, and you decide to pay more for higher speed, make sure your Mac can take advantage of that higher speed.

And someone told me buying an external SSD enclosure and external SSD and assembling it yourself may save some money over buying a ready-made product (like the T7 and T9). I value simplicity; you do you.

 

[zeva]

Samsung has a couple of 4-terabyte external SSD options:

T7 Shield.
T9 Portable.

Both on sale right now. I've been watching some YouTube videos on external SSDs. From what I've seen, they might be broadly broken down into 3 speed tiers (note: real world measured speeds tend to run lower than these):

1.) 1,000 MB/s.
2.) 2,000 MB/s (but often rely on a 2-lane approach and Macs were said to not support that 2nd lane, so at least some of these drives only give you the 1,000 MB/s speeds on Macs).
3.) 3,000 MB/s (Thunderbolt drives).

That USB-C T7 is on sale around $290; OWC is taking pre-orders for their Thunderbolt 5 4-terabyte drive for $600.

My point is, if you're not going Thunderbolt, and you decide to pay more for higher speed, make sure your Mac can take advantage of that higher speed.

And someone told me buying an external SSD enclosure and external SSD and assembling it yourself may save some money over buying a ready-made product (like the T7 and T9). I value simplicity; you do you.

Thank you very much for your insights and info @drrich2.

Point 2 is a great one!

The Samsung brand and products are great, safe, and good quality.

Long ago I had a T3 or T5 drive. It worked well, but I didn't favour Samsung's proprietary software. The software was designed to simplify some functionality for non technical users. Part of that was their encryption technology. As a technical person, I found it querky and clumsy. I know many other encryption solutions and this seemed to work in slightly weird ways. But that's just me. It no doubt delights many people.

Checking out the prices today here in the UK, I see the T7 is on sale for just over $400. The T9 for $480.

The purchase of an SSD + an enclosure is an economic path. I've done it many times previously. And at the moment that appears the best option.

I appreciate your ideas and suggestions. My current thought is to determine if the M.2 SSD provides performance benefit over a 2.5" external SSD when they are connecting to the Macbook via USB-C. Perhaps performance gains are lost through USB-C (maybe similar to your point 2).

I've bought an M.2 enclosure as it was on half price sale. It's slightly larger than I expected/had guessed.

I see a 2.5" SSD drive on sale for about $50 less than the M.2. Once I understand if there's a performance gain or not, I'll proceed with an M.2, or cancel that plan and buy a 2.5" SSD.

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

Crucial X9 (USB3.1 gen2).
Smaller than the Samsung t-series, and (in my experience) a bit more reliable as well.