New 2020 27" iMac...smaller internal SSD with external M.2 NVMe 1.3 or larger internal SSD?

[camner]

I know that the internal SSDs on the 27" iMac are wicked fast, so in some ways it makes sense to pay for the larger internal SSD. But I really don't want to spring for the 2TB internal SSD, which is nearly $500 more than the base 512GB. For that I could get an external TB3 2TB M.2 NVMe 1.3.

So one option would be to get the base 512GB internal and buy a fast TB3 external SSD and use that for pretty much everything except booting. Another option would be to get the 1TB internal, and get a slower external to hold photos, videos, and music (the things that take up a lot of room).

Thoughts?

 

[James_C]

I would get the 1TB internal and a External SSD. Run Photos and iTunes off the external SSD. The 1TB would give you some extra wriggle room to have the fastest SSD while working on projects etc. A USB3 external SSD would be quick enough for this purpose without having to pay extra for TB3.

 

[Fishrrman]

I wouldn't pay for a large internal SSD.
How much stuff would you put on it, that in reality almost NEVER got accessed?

I'd get a decent-sized SSD (512gb is good), and "offload" the less-used stuff to an external drive (either SSD or platter-based hard drive). Think of this as your "primary-external drive".

On your internal 512gb, keep the following:
- OS
- Applications
- Trimmed-down home folder
By "trimmed-down", I mean your most-frequently-accessed photos, music, perhaps a few movies, etc.

Use the external for photos, movies and music that you don't access often, but don't want to toss out, either.

That's the way I do things right now.

One thing to be aware of:
You have to keep BOTH the internal and external drives backed up to prevent against loss.
I ALWAYS recommend either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create bootable cloned backups. This is also THE BEST way to backup an external non-booting drive as well. The backup will be an exact copy of the source, impossible to tell apart other than from the drive name and external enclosure.

 

[camner]

Thanks, @James Craner & @Fishrrman. Using a trimmed-down internal drive + an external makes a lot of sense.

I do make regular Carbon Copy Cloner bootable cloned backups. I have a rotating set of 4 drives that I backup to on a weekly basis, so I always have 4 weeks of bootable backups. I think I have only needed to use the backups once (to recover a hosed system drive), but once is enough to make it worthwhile to stay on top of backups!

 

[pldelisle]

Why not just have a single Time Machine backup ? It's the simplest backup ever created.

 

[jazzer15]

FYI, I asked a similar question HERE. You don't say what you are using the computer for. Do you have large projects that you would like a larger internal SSD for so you have some breathing room? I keep my Lightroom library on the internal and will usually keep several months to a years worth of photos and my most recent Garagband/Logic and iMovie projects. Periodically I shift them over to my external. Then there are things like Garageband loops (if you use them) that take up a lot of space etc.

And personally, I like to keep all of my music on the same drive (either external or internal) so I don't have to keep track of where things are.

It's all doable with a smallish internal and external, but there is convenience to consider also. In a perfect world I would get a large internal SSD, but the cost gets pretty high. I feel like 1TB is the sweet spot at the moment.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I know that the internal SSDs on the 27" iMac are wicked fast, so in some ways it makes sense to pay for the larger internal SSD. But I really don't want to spring for the 2TB internal SSD, which is nearly $500 more than the base 512GB. For that I could get an external TB3 2TB M.2 NVMe 1.3.

So one option would be to get the base 512GB internal and buy a fast TB3 external SSD and use that for pretty much everything except booting. Another option would be to get the 1TB internal, and get a slower external to hold photos, videos, and music (the things that take up a lot of room).

Thoughts?

I would get at least a 1TB drive. You never know what you're going to need in terms of space to install things. Sure, you can add additional storage later, but depending on your specific use cases, not all storage (internal and external) is the same. For instance, with Steam, you can tell it to install and run all games from an external. But some apps don't want to be installed to an external drive. Better to have the storage and not need it than to need it and not have it. You can always get a bigger Thunderbolt 3 external SSD for projects and whatnot, but it's often just easier to deal with to have a bigger internal drive for all of your apps, plug-ins, and stuff of that sort.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I would get at least a 1TB drive. You never know what you're going to need in terms of space to install things. Sure, you can add additional storage later, but depending on your specific use cases, not all storage (internal and external) is the same. For instance, with Steam, you can tell it to install and run all games from an external. But some apps don't want to be installed to an external drive. Better to have the storage and not need it than to need it and not have it. You can always get a bigger Thunderbolt 3 external SSD for projects and whatnot, but it's often just easier to deal with to have a bigger internal drive for all of your apps, plug-ins, and stuff of that sort.

The problem is that with all T2 Macs (excluding the Mac Pro and maybe even the iMac Pro), your storage is soldered to the logic board and is not upgradable whatsoever. Even on the 4TB and 8TB 2020 27" iMacs, only half of the storage is on a module; the second half is still soldered to the logic board. I'm not at all suggesting that you'll need a 4TB or 8TB, or even 2TB drive. Just that you consider that once you click the "buy" button, internal storage on that iMac is permanently fixed.