External SSD vs paying $$$ for Apple SSD

[theanimala]

I'm currently running a late 2012 MacMini that I upgraded to a 1TB SSD where I run all of my programs and it also has a 2TB HD for my media storage. I would like to get a new M1 MacMini but I cannot justify the crazy premium Apple is charging for the storage.

I watched Maxtech on Youtube where they recommend building your own external SSD with a TB3 enclosure NVMe Gen 4 PCIe M.2 drive. Will this give me close to the same performance as the internal SSD? I can add 2TB of storage for $533 vs $800 to Apple, plus I will still have 256GB internal to the Mac. If I drop to Samsung 970 Evo Plus M2 I can do the same upgrade for just $378.

I do plan on getting 16GB of ram as that is not upgradable and I know that M1 uses a lot of swap memory due to the unified memory architecture. Looking to get as fast of a system that will last me as long as my 2012 Mac did without breaking the bank...

 

[hugodrax]

Internal drive os fast as heck even write speed is 3300mb/s

 

[Gnattu]

M1 uses a lot of swap memory due to the unified memory architecture

Who told you that? SWAP has nothing to do with unified memory architecture.

TB3 enclosure NVMe Gen 4 PCIe M.2 drive

TB3 does not support Gen4 speed, save your money for a cheaper one.

 

[zamin]

I'd definitely prioritise going for 16GB to maximise the M1's potential. 8GB will bottleneck in no time, as well as wear out the internal SSD over time due to the constant need for virtual memory, resulting in lower read/write speeds over time. Storage can be upgraded later, RAM cannot.

 

[Sarpanch]

External SSD storage makes sense for Mac Mini as its a desktop. Based on your usage, you can opt for one of the following options:

1) SATA SSD in an external enclosure or something like Samsung T5. I use 2*2TB Crucial MX500 SSDs in external enclosures and speed is great for keeping documents, and photo editing. This will be the most economical option

2) NVME SSD in a USB-C enclosure or Samsung T7. This will be the next best option giving you around 900MBps speeds and allowing the drive to be used on computers that don’t have TB3. NVME SSDs are generally pricier than SATA SSDs (trend is slowing changing though)

3) NVME SSD in a TB3 enclosure or Samsung X5. This will provide the highest performance of the 3 options but also the priciest. I suspect that TB3 enclosures may not be backward compatible with USB-C computers and may need TB3/USB4 devices to connect.

TLDR version: If speed and performance is paramount, go for TB3 external SSD. Otherwise, SATA/USB SSDs will offer more saving

PS: I am curiously waiting for USB4 External enclosures that may support 20GBps or even 40Gbps speeds. Right now, TB3 enclosures are pricey due to Intel certification

 

[Juicy Box]

I can add 2TB of storage for $533 vs $800 to Apple, plus I will still have 256GB internal to the Mac.

You might be able to get a better deal than that.

Newegg had a deal today or yesterday for a 2TB NVMe for $190. Then get a TB3 enclosure for $130ish.

Not saying that was the one to get, but with the holidays, you might be able to find something cheaper.

You you want to really save some cash, but still want the speed, you could get a 2TB SATA drive, and set it up with the internal SSD as a Fusion Drive. Depending on what you are doing on your Mac you may not even notice the slower SATA SSD.

 

[theanimala]

Thanks everyone for the replies. So it looks like an external drive is a strong option, just need to decide which one/how much to spend. Interesting thought on the Fusion drive. I've never done fusion because I was always afraid one drive failure would corrupt the entire volume so I have always kept my drives separate. Something to think about though...

 

[Juicy Box]

Interesting thought on the Fusion drive. I've never done fusion because I was always afraid one drive failure would corrupt the entire volume so I have always kept my drives separate. Something to think about though...

I few things about this...

First, no matter what option you go with, you should always have a back up of your data, and preferably a bootable back up. If something would happen to the Fusion Drive or any other drive, you should have another drive ready to go.

Second, if went with a Fusion Drive, and lets just say you accidentally disconnect your external drive while running, it wouldn't be catastrophic in my experience. The OS might not even notice until you attempted to access data from the external part.

I don't think it would corrupt anything, just not open the files that was on the external drive.

 

[Strangedream]

Or you can just buy a T5. They're pretty fast, relatively affordable, solid, and compact.

 

[Juicy Box]

Or you can just buy a T5. They're blazing fast,

Do you mean the X5?

The T5 is only around 500MBps.

I have nothing against getting the Samsung T5, T7, X5 (I use the X5 on my Late 2012 iMac), etc., but one could usually save some money by purchasing the drive and enclosure separately.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

You can get a 1TB external SSD from a company like Sandisk or Samsung for around £80 on Amazon. They're very small, light, and handy. I chuck media on it and share it between computers and even my iPad Pro. Especially useful pre-Covid when travelling was still a thing.

Speed on those is around 500MB/s. So it's not super blazing fast but you're getting a portable 1TB SSD for under £100 and for most use cases it is "fast enough" if budget is your priority - as I'm assuming it is since you don't want to pay the Apple tax for storage and a super fast external SSD would cost Apple prices anyway.

Before I got my MBA I even used one of those as extended storage for my rMBP. Worked absolutely fine. Honestly noticed no difference between that and the internal SSD on the rMBP.

It is gonna be slower than the cutting edge SSD's on the new M1 Macs but again you will save a good chunk of change especially if you want to add multiple terabytes of storage to your system. And in most use cases you probably won't notice. Unless you are constantly reading and writing large files to the external drive it really won't be a noticeable bottleneck honestly.

Personally I went for 8GB RAM on my MBA so I could bump the internal storage up to 1TB instead. But since you are going for a Mac Mini you shouldn't have any problem having your cake and eating it too while saving money, just tuck the drive neatly behind the machine and you are good to go.

One little tip, if you plan to keep the drive plugged into the Mac Mini 24/7 or only plug it into Macs, make sure to go into Disk Utility and format it as APFS so you can enable encryption. Keep your data safe in case anything happens to the drive.

 

[poorcody]

I definitely think that is the way to go for a MacMini. It's with the laptops where I think it's often worth the convenience of paying extra for an internal drive. With a desktop, you can tuck it away and not notice it. The speed might be slightly less, but at 2500 vs 3000MB/s or whatever, I doubt you would really notice (they both scream!). And you have a lot more flexibility. You might even find it economical to get a cheaper slower drive for something like storing photos, and a more expensive faster drive for other workloads.

 

[neuts]

One little tip, if you plan to keep the drive plugged into the Mac Mini 24/7 or only plug it into Macs, make sure to go into Disk Utility and format it as APFS so you can enable encryption. Keep your data safe in case anything happens to the drive.

I am in a similar scenario. I am using a M1 Mini 8gb, 512GB ssd and I purchased a Samsung T7 drive. Disk utility does not initially give the option to erase and reformat as APFS. Only provides EX-fat and Mac OS Extended. To fix this, under View select show all drives and select the highest level for the external drive. This will allow you to change the partition table and then the APFS system shows up.

My plan is to run Photos and other editors from this drive as the videos and pictures are my biggest source of space. Considering that is about the biggest use (other than long term storage), I think it will be sufficient for speed.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

To fix this, under View select show all drives and select the highest level for the external drive. This will allow you to change the partition table and then the APFS system shows up.

Good info thanks for this. Surprised Apple doesn't make APFS a more prominent option in Disk Utility.

My plan is to run Photos and other editors from this drive as the videos and pictures are my biggest source of space. Considering that is about the biggest use (other than long term storage), I think it will be sufficient for speed.

Yeah if you are using the drive primarily for long-term storage of media you don't need a super fast drive to be entirely honest. You need a quick drive if you are often moving large files around but for "cold storage" of photos and videos you would be fine with 500MB/s.

 

[wyrdness]

I've just tested my external SSD (encrypted) vs M1 Air internal 1TB using Blackmagic.
Read speed: External 356.8MB/s, Internal 2772.3MB/s
Write speed: External 349.6MB/s, Internal 3193.5MB/s

External is fine for anything that you don't need often, such as archives.

 

[Juicy Box]

I've just tested my external SSD (encrypted) vs M1 Air internal 1TB using Blackmagic.
Read speed: External 356.8MB/s, Internal 2772.3MB/s
Write speed: External 349.6MB/s, Internal 3193.5MB/s

External is fine for anything that you don't need often, such as archives.

The external was most likely a USB3.2 Gen1 SATA drive, which is now on the slow end of what external SSDs are capable of.


SATA3 and NVMe over USB3.2 Gen1 can get about 400MBps
NVMe drives over USB3.2 Gen2 can get about 900MBps
NVMe over TB1 can get about 900MBps
NVMe over TB2 can get about 1500MBps
NVMe over TB3 can get about 3000MBps

But, I agree, if the OP is using the SSD for general storage, the slower SATA3 would be perfectly fine. If the OP plans on booting from the drive, then I would recommend something faster, and preferably TB over USB as TRIM is not supported on USB over Mac (unless this has changed with Big Sur). Even still, many people boot from USB drives without issue.