Is TB5 worth it with 512GB internal SSD?

[macman4789]

Hi,

I apologise in advance if I’m missing something here, but am I correct in thinking that for those who have a 512GB SSD M4 Pro which produces read/write of approx 4k/5k GB/sec, would they not be able to access the full speed of external TB5 drives when they arrive? If they can attain speeds of 6k plus?

Therefore, would it only be internal 1TB drives which could utilise the full speed of external TB5 drives?

Thanks

 

[Macintosh101]

I'm not sure I ubderatad the question. All the M4 Pro Chip MBP models (12 core and upwards) have the TB5 ports which can access TB5 drives. The regular M4 models only have TB4 ports

 

[CoastalOR]

I'm not sure I ubderatad the question. All the M4 Pro Chip MBP models (12 core and upwards) have the TB5 ports which can access TB5 drives. The regular M4 models only have TB4 ports

Negative, the 12 core M4 Pro starts at 512 GB SSD & has TB5 ports.

 

[UnifiedMelody]

macbook
Yeah M4 - TB4 only [40Gbps]
&&
M4 Pro/Max - TB5 only [120Gbps]

which makes me think no point upping internal spec that much maybe 1/2tb at most lol

 

[DaveEcc]

The internal SSD should not affect the speed of your external SSD. The only time it would, would be when you're out of RAM and what's current in RAM needs to be swapped to your drive in order to make space of what you're reading. If you have enough RAM, the internal SSD size and speed are irrelevant when accesses the external drive.

 

[macman4789]

The internal SSD should not affect the speed of your external SSD. The only time it would, would be when you're out of RAM and what's current in RAM needs to be swapped to your drive in order to make space of what you're reading. If you have enough RAM, the internal SSD size and speed are irrelevant when accesses the external drive.

That’s what I mean. If I’ve plugged in a TB5 drive and want to transfer say a 200GB file, this file would come from the internal drive and get copied to the external drive. But if my internal drive can only read at say 4GB sec and my external TB5 can write at 6GB + would there be a limitation of only being able to write as fast as the internal drive?

 

[DaveEcc]

That’s what I mean. If I’ve plugged in a TB5 drive and want to transfer say a 200GB file, this file would come from the internal drive and get copied to the external drive. But if my internal drive can only read at say 4GB sec and my external TB5 can write at 6GB + would there be a limitation of only being able to write as fast as the internal drive?

In that case you're limited by either the internal drive's read speed or the external drive's write speed or the cable's transfer speed, whichever limit you hit first.

 

[macman4789]

In that case you're limited by either the internal drive's read speed or the external drive's write speed or the cable's transfer speed, whichever limit you hit first.

Yeah, so what I’m saying is, are those who have bought an M4 Pro/Max with TB5 with a 512GB, will they not be able to get full speeds on a TB5 external drive?

 

[DaveEcc]

Yeah, so what I’m saying is, are those who have bought an M4 Pro/Max with TB5 with a 512GB, will they not be able to get full speeds on a TB5 external drive?

If they're doing their work on the external drive directly, sure. If they're doing their work on the internal, and then copying over when they're done, perhaps not. You can add a bottleneck into any workflow. I would assume people opting for TB5 drives for speed will find a workflow that gets them the speed they're after.