The Monkey Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 Now I need external Thunderbolt Drive recs. Or should I go USB 3.0? Help me.
jp11801 Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 (edited) USB 3 is fine unless you need HUGE data throughput. Cost to speed is still unfavorable IMO Edited January 27, 2013 by jp11801
agile_one Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 (edited) Dinny ... what external drives do you already have? What will you use external for? I had two FW 800 externals, so just bought the Apple TB to FW converter for $29 and use those. If/when I want to replace or add additional, I'll go TB, but will likely wait out pricing a bit longer. USB 3 specs look good, but TB likely will sustain performance with continued access, and you can chain devices. If you have Seagate drives, either GoFlex, GoFlex Desk, or Backup Plus, you can get a TB adapter to convert to TB. Tempting for me, as I have a 2tb GoFlex Desk already. Best deals I've seen on Tunderbolt are Buffalo for $199, and Seagate GoFlex for $240 - both are 1tb capacity. Edited January 27, 2013 by agile_one
Grahame Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 Now I need external Thunderbolt Drive recs. Or should I go USB 3.0? Help me. Both, Duh!
Grahame Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 If you insist on just thunderbolt, Team d-_-b suggests over kill
morphsci Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 If you are using a mechanical drive versus an SSD you will not see any speed advantage with TB over USB 3.0.
TMoney Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 Also FWIW I have one of these and find it works great with both my Mac and PC. The data transfer times are very respectable over USB3. I wouldn't use it for an app drive, but it gets the job done for media and backups. http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/expansion-hard-drive/ 1
morphsci Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 ^ unless its a big ol raid array. Yep, but that may be a bit spendy also.Also FWIW I have one of these and find it works great with both my Mac and PC. The data transfer times are very respectable over USB3. I wouldn't use it for an app drive, but it gets the job done for media and backups.http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/expansion-hard-drive/ I agree, USB 3 seems pretty quick for most storage needs IMO. I do prefer the drives where you can upgrade the connector such as the Go-Flex or Backup-Plus line of drives, although they do cost more. That also reminds me, is it now possible to set up a Bootcamp drive over TB, or are you still limited to using an internal drive? That would certainly make my life easier and lighter when I get my new MBA.
The Monkey Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 I currently have 2 old FW HDDs that need to be upgraded in terms of connectivity and capacity. I use one for media and one for backup. I don't think I need a big RAID setup, but I do want SSD. JBOD should be fine for the likes of me, right? EDIT: just realized SSD is not really feasible in the size I need/want. Duh. 1
Salt Peanuts Posted January 27, 2013 Report Posted January 27, 2013 (edited) I currently have 2 old FW HDDs that need to be upgraded in terms of connectivity and capacity. I use one for media and one for backup. I don't think I need a big RAID setup, but I do want SSD. JBOD should be fine for the likes of me, right? EDIT: just realized SSD is not really feasible in the size I need/want. Duh. Just buy moar and daisy-chain them. FYI, Lacie do make 1TB SSD Thunderbolt drives. It does cost $1K each, though. Edited January 27, 2013 by Salt Peanuts
TMoney Posted January 28, 2013 Report Posted January 28, 2013 Just buy moar and daisy-chain them. FYI, Lacie do make 1TB SSD Thunderbolt drives. It does cost $1K each, though. The Lacie drives are just a pair of crappy SSDs raided IIRC. Probably not a good idea buy. That being said, what is it that you need so much SSD space for, Monkey? I have a 512GB SSD and it is total overkill. I could easily get by with 256GB As long as you are smart about what you put on there, its generally not a big deal. Either that, or use Apple's new fusion drive technology to let the OS handle it for you. This article is good reading.
The Monkey Posted January 28, 2013 Report Posted January 28, 2013 I just need drives for music and backup and shit. I already have the big SSD in my iMac, so maybe I'll just store music there and use one external as backup. I'm just terrified of the internal hard drive going kaput. As for Fusion, consider me skeptical at this point. I've read some bad things and I hate that the SSD portion is only 128GB. Doesn't matter, though, as I got the internal SSD.
TMoney Posted January 28, 2013 Report Posted January 28, 2013 Did you read that article I posted? If anything I think it gives quite a bit of confidence for those considering using the Fusion Drive. Also, even if you didn't choose the fusion option from Apple it isn't particularly difficult to turn any SSD/HDD drive into a Fusion Drive. I can't really think of any reason why you'd want to store music on an SSD other than that the drive failure rate is lower? As long as you back up regularly though, that should never be a problem.
morphsci Posted January 29, 2013 Report Posted January 29, 2013 Ignoring cost, since this is HC, 13" rMBP. Fini!
Dusty Chalk Posted January 29, 2013 Report Posted January 29, 2013 It's not a question -- rMBP -- screen resolution is better, pretty much everything else is even or on par or balance each other out -- what's the question?
grawk Posted January 29, 2013 Report Posted January 29, 2013 11" mba Or go play with the rMBP and make sure it doesn't get laggy. If it doesn't, then that's definitely the sweet spot in the laptop world right now.
morphsci Posted January 30, 2013 Report Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) I played with the 13" rMBP at our bookstore last week. Messed around with it for about 1/2 hour and did not get any lags. Not sure if it was much of a test as it did not have any software that would have stressed the GPU on it. The screen sure was pretty. I'm still going with the 11" MBA because inverse size matters. Edited January 30, 2013 by morphsci
TMoney Posted January 30, 2013 Report Posted January 30, 2013 "All of that being said, I don't really view the 13-inch rMBP as an alternative to the 15, but rather a step up from the MacBook Air. The MBA may be lighter, but Apple definitely blurred the line between the MBA and MBP with the 13-inch Retina. Performance is very similar between the two machines, but the rMBP's display is worlds better. For any power user, I don't know that I'd recommend the 13-inch MacBook Air over the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. It really is the best of both worlds." From Anandtech
The Monkey Posted January 30, 2013 Report Posted January 30, 2013 Thanks everyone. I went with the 13" rMBP. In addition to the stuff mentioned already, the build quality is noticeably better. It simply feels sturdier--with a smaller footprint. It is a touch heavier, but not dealbreaker heavier at all. And the screen is exceptional. Retina definitely makes a noticeable difference to me. And since I'm doing more writing these days, that is nice. I was concerned about having less screen real estate than on the MBA, but then realized that I have a 27" iMac for that. So this was the way to go. I tried hard to make it lag in the store and couldn't. We'll see about Aperture, but that was laggy anyway on my MacBook so I'm sure it won't be any worse. I got 7 years out of my iMac and 4 years out of my MacBook and they both are still serviceable for other tasks. Macs fuckin' rock. And, yeah, AppleCare. 2
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