Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? at DVinfo.net

Darin Boville · November 17th, 2017, 03:31 AM

I need a fast, portable 1 TB SSD for editing in Final Cut X. MacBook Pro 2016.

I see the Samsung T5 and the OWC offerings. What are people using in the real world? Anything to recommend or to avoid?

--Darin

Boyd Ostroff · November 17th, 2017, 06:48 AM

I have been using a 1TB Samsung T3 for several months and it's great (the T5 was not available when I got it). I have it setup as a boot drive with Sierra on my 2012 2.6ghz quad core i7 Mac Mini. The Mini has an Apple 256gb internal SSD but I still have Mountain Lion on it for the times I want to use my expensive legacy software.

I've also had two of the 500gb T3 drives for about a year and they are the same speed. Here's how the 1TB drive clocks in the Blackmagic app.

Ricky Sharp · April 11th, 2018, 12:19 PM

That seems quite slow for an SSD over Thunderbolt 3. Are you perhaps connecting to USB-C instead of a T3 connection? They are unfortunately the same physical connector.

I'm getting your posted speeds on a LaCie 2-drive RAID 0 setup (with spinning HDs). Around 400 MB/s reads and writes.

The internal SSD of an iMac Pro gives a whopping 3,000 MB/s. I would expect external SSDs (single unit; non-striped) to give at least 1,300 MB/s.

EDIT: I no longer rely on BlackMagic's (or Avid's) utility. It definitely doesn't know how to handle RAID 10. And it gets tripped up by disk caching on occasion. So maybe try some larger file copies and see if the speed is actually higher than reported.

Boyd Ostroff · April 11th, 2018, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricky Sharp

That seems quite slow for an SSD over Thunderbolt 3. Are you perhaps connecting to USB-C instead of a T3 connection?

"T3" is the name of the product, it does not mean "Thunderbolt 3". I don't think Apple even sold any computers with Thunderbolt 3 in 2016 when this SSD was introduced. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3034...idly-fast.html

And if you read my post again, you'll see that I use it on a 2012 quad core Mac Mini Server which definitely doesn't have Thunderbolt 3. :)

I'm sorry, since the Samsung T3 was such a popular product I just assumed everyone knew that it was a USB 3.0 device, I should have been more specific. It's tiny, inexpensive and bus-powered, certainly not the same product category as a RAID.

Ricky Sharp · April 11th, 2018, 02:32 PM

Thanks for the correction; I did indeed assume that T3 meant Thunderbolt 3.

Jeff Pulera · April 11th, 2018, 02:37 PM

The Atom SSD and Atom RAID SSD models from Glyph are pretty awesome. Very portable and VERY fast! They have a USB-C connection which is compatible with Thunderbolt 3 also.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

November 17th, 2017, 03:31 AM	#1
Darin Boville Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Montara, California Posts: 127	Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? I need a fast, portable 1 TB SSD for editing in Final Cut X. MacBook Pro 2016. I see the Samsung T5 and the OWC offerings. What are people using in the real world? Anything to recommend or to avoid? --Darin __________________ Darin Boville www.darinboville.com

November 17th, 2017, 06:48 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	Re: Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? I have been using a 1TB Samsung T3 for several months and it's great (the T5 was not available when I got it). I have it setup as a boot drive with Sierra on my 2012 2.6ghz quad core i7 Mac Mini. The Mini has an Apple 256gb internal SSD but I still have Mountain Lion on it for the times I want to use my expensive legacy software. I've also had two of the 500gb T3 drives for about a year and they are the same speed. Here's how the 1TB drive clocks in the Blackmagic app. Attached Images

April 11th, 2018, 12:19 PM	#3
Ricky Sharp Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Chicago, IL USA Posts: 180	Re: Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? That seems quite slow for an SSD over Thunderbolt 3. Are you perhaps connecting to USB-C instead of a T3 connection? They are unfortunately the same physical connector. I'm getting your posted speeds on a LaCie 2-drive RAID 0 setup (with spinning HDs). Around 400 MB/s reads and writes. The internal SSD of an iMac Pro gives a whopping 3,000 MB/s. I would expect external SSDs (single unit; non-striped) to give at least 1,300 MB/s. EDIT: I no longer rely on BlackMagic's (or Avid's) utility. It definitely doesn't know how to handle RAID 10. And it gets tripped up by disk caching on occasion. So maybe try some larger file copies and see if the speed is actually higher than reported.

April 11th, 2018, 02:32 PM	#5
Ricky Sharp Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Chicago, IL USA Posts: 180	Re: Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? Thanks for the correction; I did indeed assume that T3 meant Thunderbolt 3.

April 11th, 2018, 02:37 PM	#6
Jeff Pulera Major Player Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Milwaukee WI Posts: 691	Re: Fast, portable 1 TB SSD? The Atom SSD and Atom RAID SSD models from Glyph are pretty awesome. Very portable and VERY fast! They have a USB-C connection which is compatible with Thunderbolt 3 also. Thanks Jeff Pulera