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
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Recommendations for External HD for New M4 Air
- Thread starter randomdude84
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The cheapest fast option would be a build-your-own…NVME SSD in a 40gbps housing.
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?
No "building" involved. You buy a thunderbolt nvme enclosure and choose an nvme ssd to install into it, plug it in and format it.
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.
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.
There’s a Reddit post where someone has benchmarked lots of different 4TB drives in different enclosures and ranked them all. I think I found it whilst looking for “best external drive for Mac” and then it kicks off with a comment about spending 1000s of dollars on enclosures.
Here it is:
Here it is:
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!
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!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Engage in heavy research to find one that won't do this...
...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!
...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.
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.
Attachments
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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This might also be interesting: https://eclecticlight.co/2025/01/14/thunderbolt-ports-arent-all-the-same/
Grab an OWC 1m2 enclosure (USB 4), then put a quality NVMe drive (WD SN850X or Samsung 990 Pro) in it. That will give you a solid external with roughly 3000MB/s to 3200MB/s transfer speeds (read & write). For reference, that means a 6GB file moves from your laptop drive to the external in 2-3 seconds.
OWC 1M2 + 4th WD SN850X (AFPS)
OWC 1M2 + 4th WD SN850X (AFPS)
Curious, why not just go with a slower ssd to use in these? You’re only getting half the rated speeds of these drives anyways, seems like a waste of money. Plenty of other quality drives out there that are closer to the speeds you’re getting. A 990 pro or sn850x is overkill in these enclosures
Samsung T7 are reasonably priced and reasonably fast (~1 gig/sec). Best? No. But good reliable compromise.
I use mine to work off, routinely transferring very large (photos, videos) files. A drive with DRAM is a must have for my use, plus the SN850X/990Pro generally have superior specs (endurance, IOPS, etc.) compared to the cheaper options. Those are more important features than the absolute speed. I have a SanDisk Extreme Pro (USB 3.2, ~1000MB/S) for the lighter stuff (system and document backups).
If the drive was only used for light duty use (e.g. office work, game storage, or backup purposes), then the cheaper drives might be worth considering. I can't justify them, especially considering the current difference in price from the 4TB SN850X ($279.99) and the other quality options [990 EVO Plus ($249.99), Crucial P3 Plus ($239.99), WD SN500 ($249.99)] is negligible.
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Someone mentioned the Samsung T7 as well. I won't, as the OP asked for one that could "keep up with the computer". USB 3.2 drives (SanDisk Extreme, Samsung T7, Crucial X9) cannot do that. They're limited by the 10Gb/s speed of USB 3.2. The SN850X in the 1M2 gives me almost identical performance as the internal 512GB SSD in my MBA, regardless of the type of transfer (small files, up to 300+GB files). A USB4 or TB5 drive will be the only ones capable of doing so.
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Absolutely right. The OP disk ask for the quickest, and USB 3.2 drives are not that. But, some of us are questioning whether the OP needs the fastest. And the OP has said "Building anything on my own is out of the question lol" which makes quickest drives rather expensive. We could do with something about the OPs intended usage and why he is getting an Air if performance is a key consideration.
The OP also asked for a "hard drive" ("external hd"), so... I'm a power user, can count the number of times I've felt limited by 1GB/sec in 30 years of computing on 1 hand. And that was storage vMotion of virtual servers.
Hey guys, lots of great info here. Ended up getting the MBP M4 14” 1TB 16GB UM. The 15” Air I had decked out with the same specs and it was only $200 cheaper.
So I will be using this computer for recording guitar and using logic as well as a video editing software. I’m not a pro, just a hobbyist who will be posting some of my playing to a YouTube channel.
The goal is to run and store some of this software off the external. Not really sure if I need to run it off the external since I have the 1Tb storage in the computer but I’m gonna hold off and do some more research with the links you guys sent, and see how everything runs off the computer as is. Again, I’m just a hobbyist but I do want a nice external.
Just an fyi, I’ve been using a 2TB WD Elements external. Just ran the speeds on that in Black Magic and oh boy is it slow. Read and write speeds were around 100mb lol. Took about 45min to transfer almost 90GB of iTunes lol.
I’m also coming from using a late 2013 27” iMac with a Fusion Drive. I’ve been in the dark ages for a while now. Very excited to bring this stuff up to date as well as speed.
Anymore info, feel free to send it. I am reading it.
So I will be using this computer for recording guitar and using logic as well as a video editing software. I’m not a pro, just a hobbyist who will be posting some of my playing to a YouTube channel.
The goal is to run and store some of this software off the external. Not really sure if I need to run it off the external since I have the 1Tb storage in the computer but I’m gonna hold off and do some more research with the links you guys sent, and see how everything runs off the computer as is. Again, I’m just a hobbyist but I do want a nice external.
Just an fyi, I’ve been using a 2TB WD Elements external. Just ran the speeds on that in Black Magic and oh boy is it slow. Read and write speeds were around 100mb lol. Took about 45min to transfer almost 90GB of iTunes lol.
I’m also coming from using a late 2013 27” iMac with a Fusion Drive. I’ve been in the dark ages for a while now. Very excited to bring this stuff up to date as well as speed.
Anymore info, feel free to send it. I am reading it.
Good stuff!
One material difference it might be worth being aware of, is that SSDs need power once in a while. If you use Time Machine or some other backup system then backing up your HDD is slower but more reliable from that perspective.
SSD is better in almost all cases, but cold backup is a notable exception.
