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randomdude84

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 27, 2013
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Hey guys, just wondering what external hd you guys can recommend for when I pick up the new m4 air. Not sure what the quickest options are but I would like a nice new quick one that can keep up with the computer
 
Building anything on my own is out of the question lol. Thanks though

It’s building it on your own in the same sense you’re a furniture designer because you shop ikea…. You buy a case from Amazon, then you buy the recommended Nvme and put them together… couldn’t be easier. But hey, why not let the laptop be released first with port specs?
 
interesting, i havent heard of nvme so ill look into it. what are the speeds of the drive that i should be looking at that will keep up with the M4 Air?
 
The internal SSD on the M3 MacBook Air is very fast and I assume the M4 model will be similar.

Simply put…a USB3 connected SSD will probably top out at 15% to 20% of the MBA's internal speed. A Thunderbolt connected SSD will top out at 50% to 60% of that speed.

I'll let you determine what "keep up" means.
 
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Building your own isn't difficult. By that it doesn't mean soldering and making your own - just purchasing the enclosure and the drive separately and installing them together.
Not only is it the best value to money, you'll get the highest speeds currently available on the USB4 protocol....

This one is well priced, and you'll see how easy it is to 'build' in the video!

 
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Engage in heavy research to find one that won't do this...

full

...a VERY aggravating macOS bug through now 5 generations of macOS. Some enclosures work fine, others can't stay connected, unless you hook them to any PC... or Macs running a macOS BEFORE Big Sur and then they are super-reliable.

The best approach is to find an enclosure with many reviews and then search the reviews for "Mac unexpected ejection." If you find review matches for that, move on to the next favorite on your list. This is even more important if you intend to use this fast external for read-write intensive things like- say- video editing. You do NOT want to pull the virtual plug during a video editing WRITE. Else you may lose the project (corrupted file).

I've tested this issue to death with a big mix of enclosures both old & new, direct attached and through powered & unpowered hubs, with multiple cables just to rule out any given cable, etc. I've scoured the internet for all of the "solutions" to the problem and tested through all of them. With so much testing, I've concluded that this is a bug(s) in macOS itself, likely in port and/or power management code. If I'm correct, only Apple can fix it and they haven't since Big Sur. Fingers crossed that the next round(s) of updates will finally get around to addressing this problem.

Shop wisely OP and beware of any enclosure with claims that it does this. Many do from ALL of the brands. Some from any one brand will be fine while others by the same brand do this. It's sort of like playing roulette. Sometimes you get lucky and other times you lose. But just about any of the latter will be fine if connected by the same cable to any PC or any older Mac running macOS before BigSur, which seems to scream where the problem lies.

Caveat emptor!
 
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I did this. The speed issue is with the enclosure, not the SSD NVME which are readily available at competitive prices.
With Mac not all fast externals are fast on Mac hardware as it doesn't support some methods. For instance the Samsung T9 does not give claimed speeds. On Macs, the T7 is just as fast. There are some cheaper options, and I'm sure there will be more, but you need USB 4. You also want an enclosure with good heat dispersion, without a fan. I chose OWC's Express 1M2, for $120. https://www.owc.com/solutions/express-1m2 also knowing their Apple experience. You can buy from them with drive pre-installed, but they are expensive. I shopped around on Amazon and bought the WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe for $266. There were a few other reliable high performing options. It took 5 minutes to put them together. You do want to make sure it's in a fast direct port, and gets priority on startup. This was 6 months ago, so I expect there are more and cheaper options now. It's transparently just as fast as my internal drive, and I've moved a lot of large system default data to this using symbolic links. These are fast in terminal, but there is a free GUI for these as well.
The attached screenshot should speak for itself.
 

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Thanks for all the tips guys, little overwhelming as i know nothing about this. i always just bought wd externals but never looked into specs or anything. glad i asked you guys.

you guys think its worth it to upgrade to the 500gb storage on the m4 air when it comes out or just do the standard 250gb and buy an external. i imagine i will need an external even with the 500gb anyways.
 
you guys think its worth it to upgrade to the 500gb storage on the m4 air when it comes out or just do the standard 250gb and buy an external. i imagine i will need an external even with the 500gb anyways.
500 GB minimum. Assuming you are getting an MBA, not a MBP, because of portability there will be times when you don't want to be carting the external around with you.

I know you used that word and discussion above has been about achieving that, but do you really need "quickest".

Unless you are seriously into video editing (or something else that requires high speed), I suggest you don't need "quickest". A simple SSD (like a Samsung T7) would likely be fine as the external drive.

If you were really into the highest portable performance you would be getting a MBP.

And don't forget a backup drive.
 
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