I want to get a new M3 iMac with a 1TB har drive. However, there would be like a week or so delay if I added extra hard drive. Do you think I should just get the 512GB hard drive model that’s available now with 16GB of memory or should I wait a week to 10 days to get 1 TB model? I have 2 external hard drives that equal 2TB already that I could use for storage. I’m a photographer and love to take photos of wildlife and nature. I only do it as a hobby and not as a business. I wanted to get the computer before or around Christmas but if I up the hard drive to 1TB there is a delay.
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iMac hard drive
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I would get the 512. You’re going to need a second disk anyway, even if you get the 1T. I look at the one in the computer as a system drive. The cloud or a secondary drive is my data drive.
Check this out, you can put a M.2 SSD in it.
Check this out, you can put a M.2 SSD in it.
USB C HUB for iMac 24 inch 2021/2023, PULWTOP 7 in 1 USB Hub Adapter iMac Accessories for iMac M1/M3 with USB C 10Gbps 3*USB A SD/TF, Docking Station Support Expand M.2 SSD (Not Included),Sliver
7 in 1 USB C Laptop Docking Station Dual Monitor Hub for iMac , Plug and play, no need to install any driver or software. 1x USB 3.2 & 1x USB C ports, up to 10Gbp/s connect smartphones, tablets, and hard drives for effortless data transfer with a USB port. 1x USB 2.0, speed up to 150mb/s, it all...
www.amazon.com
I’m not a tech type person so I would prefer the SSD hard drive already installed in it. Is that possible?I would get the 512. You’re going to need a second disk anyway, even if you get the 1T. I look at the one in the computer as a system drive. The cloud or a secondary drive is my data drive.
Check this out, you can put a M.2 SSD in it.
USB C HUB for iMac 24 inch 2021/2023, PULWTOP 7 in 1 USB Hub Adapter iMac Accessories for iMac M1/M3 with USB C 10Gbps 3*USB A SD/TF, Docking Station Support Expand M.2 SSD (Not Included),Sliver
7 in 1 USB C Laptop Docking Station Dual Monitor Hub for iMac , Plug and play, no need to install any driver or software. 1x USB 3.2 & 1x USB C ports, up to 10Gbp/s connect smartphones, tablets, and hard drives for effortless data transfer with a USB port. 1x USB 2.0, speed up to 150mb/s, it all...www.amazon.com
Yes. The iMac comes with one drive. Larger sizes are available at time of order. You cannot put in a new drive later so order what you think you’ll need.
My comment about a second drive relates to doing a backup. How are you planning to do your backups? Extrapolating that IMHO, will lead you to having a separate drive.
They’re all over. Personally, I prefer a Samsung. Here’s one that’s pretty common:
www.newegg.com
I saw some from Crucial and Western Digital that were around $60 for 1T.
SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7S1T0B/AM - Newegg.com
Buy SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7S1T0B/AM with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!
I saw some from Crucial and Western Digital that were around $60 for 1T.
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As a photographer, I suggest consider 2TB drive. Same ordering delay as 1TB.
Remember, if SSD is more than about 90% full it starts to slow down, and has little room for caching, snapshots, etc.
My last iMac had 1TB drive and was almost full, and it was a hassle juggling files and drives.
By the time you add in cost of hubs, enclosures, external SSDs, cables, etc, you don't save much going external, at the expense of inconvenience and (possibly) lower speed.
Remember, if SSD is more than about 90% full it starts to slow down, and has little room for caching, snapshots, etc.
My last iMac had 1TB drive and was almost full, and it was a hassle juggling files and drives.
By the time you add in cost of hubs, enclosures, external SSDs, cables, etc, you don't save much going external, at the expense of inconvenience and (possibly) lower speed.
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I personally don't like any extra wires sticking out of the iMac. So I'd wait for 10 days and get 1-2TB version with plenty of internal storage. It's faster and just a proper way of doing things. You're buying the machine for 5-10 years, so getting the wrong spec just because you will receive it 10 days earlier seems rushed.
The hub is less than $100. A 2TB M.2 drive is less than $200. The upgrade for the $1,699 model iMac to go to 2TB is $600. There is one cable and it’s supplied with the hub. At some point, it’s much cheaper to upgrade with external components.
I’ve decided to get a Mac Studio. I think it will be much better for photography. Now I need to find a good 27 inch monitor for it that won’t be real expensive. I’m looking for that now. Do you have any suggestions? I want good color accuracy and not very glossy.
If you're OK with 4K, then there are loads of monitors.
If you'd like to keep the native 5K resolution, then there are just two options for 'not real expensive': used Apple Studio Display with Nano-glass on eBay or LG UltraFine 5K. I've asked the same question in my thread and no-one was able to suggest any other alternatives.
You'll want to hook up some sort of external storage regardless, which is less of a pain with a desktop Mac. My wife is a professional photographer and her setup is a 2020 iMac 5K with 1TB SSD internally, and an 8-bay RAID with 50TB of hard drives inside right now, 40 of which are in a RAID 5 config and 10 of which are RAID 1 as our Time Machine backup drive for all of our Macs. We also have a 2014 Mac Mini in the same office running as our Plex server and always-on home server. It's getting a little slow, so I'll probably replace it with an M1 model eventually.
Not necessarily. Being a Pro it looks like she needs a lot of storage.
For a hobbyist, with roughly 100 times less volume of photos, a combination of 2TB iCloud + 2TB of internal storage might be more than enough. Old photos are only stored in iCloud and newer stuff lives locally on the iMac. This has been my wife's setup for around 7 years now and it works perfectly.
I purchased the Sandisk Extreme Pro and it works great It is always connected to my M3 iMac and give you all the storage you could ever need. Easy to install and very fast! Do not believe is storing my stuff on the cloud so this works for me!
2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD - Up to 2000MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, IP65 Water and Dust Resistance, Updated Firmware - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE81-2T00-G25
2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD - Up to 2000MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, IP65 Water and Dust Resistance, Updated Firmware - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE81-2T00-G25
Isn't that the one from the recent scandal? Are we sure the new ones are fixed? AFAIR they promised once and didn't deliver.
I went from an iMac Pro to Studio + Studio display, and I couldn't be happier (and I'm a photographer too). The Studio Display has a lot of plusses (of course there's the big price minus). I got the height-adjustable one because that's important to me, but sheesh, the cost.
I've had the setup since July and have had no regrets. The Studio is the M2 Max version with 64 gb and 2 TB. Yeah, the whole rig was expensive and I did have to wait -- but I spend most of every day in front of it (I do other work besides photography with it) and so getting something that's just right for me was important.
"For me" is the key. I think you should try as hard as you can to figure out what's just right for you, and then worry about timing (and money) later. You're probably going to have this rig for a long time.
Says software updated. I have had zero problems. They have delivered now.