Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Hi I'm replacing my 6 year old iMac and looking for an external SSD upon which I'm going to install Mac OS and Logic. It's a hardware question but the continuation of a Logic project depends entirely on getting things right. Can anyone suggest the fastest external SSD I can run both Logic and Mac OS on please? Speed is my primary concern although drive size needs to be taken in to account. As I say, it's a hardware question but I'm concerned about any hiccups I'm likely to encounter with Logic on a brand-new system Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisherking Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 logic itself gets installed on your mac's drive, but you can place it's content on an external, and, of course, record to that external. i just got a samsung T7, and it's amazing; fast, small, light ('small' & 'light' don't matter that much, just mentioning it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 No - I'm actually running both the OS `and Logic on a Samsung X5 SSD as it's much faster than my current iMac Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polanoid Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 8 minutes ago, fisherking said: logic itself gets installed on your mac's drive, but you can place it's content on an external, and, of course, record to that external. i just got a samsung T7, and it's amazing; fast, small, light ('small' & 'light' don't matter that much, just mentioning it). You can install macOS and Logic (and everything else) on an external SSD with no problems 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 If you have a old iMac, you won't be able to get the fastest current SSD speeds because you don't have an interface that supports it. I'm not even sure if you'll have USB-C or Thunderbolt, so you might be limited to USB 3.2 speeds - in which case, a Samsung T7 or similar is about the fastest you can use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polanoid Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 3 minutes ago, Archaeopteryx said: on a Samsung X5 SSD So why don't you keep using that one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Thanks - I know - i just said that! I'm looking for a faster SSD I have both USB-C and Thunderbolt, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polanoid Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 1 minute ago, Archaeopteryx said: Thanks - I know - i just said that! If that was addressed to me: I was replying to fisherking's post, not yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Apologies polanoid. I justrealised 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Do you have USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbit), or just the regular USB 3 (5 Gbit)? If the latter, you're probably already going as fast as you can go. Have you tried benchmarking your current drive to see where you are now? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Thanks des - I will look a little more closely. I'm not technically gifted To risk another hardware question, what is the latest iMac model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Sorry I should be Googling all this Apologies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 16 minutes ago, Archaeopteryx said: To risk another hardware question, what is the latest iMac model? https://www.apple.com/imac/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution des99 Posted April 11 Solution Share Posted April 11 Basically, your choices are USB vs Thunderbolt for the enclosure/interface (TB ones will be a lot more expensive), and SSD versus NVME (NVME are faster, but also run hotter). A Samsung T7 (I have two) comes with USB-C cables and over USB 3.2 Gen 2 gets about 700-800 Gbps, so about 80% of the available bandwidth. If your Mac doesn't support Gen 2, then you'll get more like 450 Gbps... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Thank you des - that's great 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanRad Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Jumping on this.. I am using the Samsung SSDs. Does anyone else find the USB connection kind of janky? I know it's a small interface, but I have two, and neither seem to make a solid feeling connection with the plug. It always feels like I'm about to get the "The drive was not ejected correctly..." etc. Is there a more robust connection we can use for SSD drives? Thanks DanRad 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 I've got the Samsung X5 using the Thunderbolt connection. It's been very reliable for several years now. I'm just looking around for something faster. No complaints about it at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 52 minutes ago, Archaeopteryx said: I'm just looking around for something faster. The Samsung X5 is super fast already. What limit are you hitting? I have one system where I boot macOS and run Logic from a (much slower) Samsung T7 and it works well. When you "run" macOS and Logic Pro from a drive, all you're doing is storing the macOS and Logic Pro code on those drives when not in use, that's all. When you boot your Mac, the macOS code is transferred from the drive to RAM. When you launch Logic Pro, the Logic Pro code is transferred from the drive to RAM. While working on Logic Pro, everything runs from RAM and it no longer matters which drive Logic Pro was. installed on. So in that regard, the drive's speed affects only how long it takes for the Mac to boot and for Logic Pro to open. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmitch57 Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 One thing to keep in mind is that booting from an external drive is a bit of a PITA for new Macs. Specifically, creating a bootable drive is fairly convoluted: https://www.macworld.com/article/331916/how-to-start-up-your-m1-mac-from-an-external-drive.html Also - one crucial performance aspect of the system disk's location is its use as a swap disk: the OS has to store temporary data on the system disk constantly (because there is never enough RAM for it to do what it needs to do). The speed of Mac internal disks is just blazingly fast - 2800 MB/s on my M2 Pro Mini. External disks are not going to run that fast any time soon. I'd recommend leaving the OS on the internal disk and putting your stuff, and big things like sample libraries, on the external disk. The Samsung T7 claims a faster transfer rate than I've been able to measure with my Mini (800 MB/s, give or take) so it doesn't make sense to get a disk that's rated faster than that. And that is plenty fast for Logic. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeopteryx Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 Thanks Originally, the Mac hard disk just couldn't handle any more than 5 or 6 KONTAKT tracks in Logic before stuttering and eventually freezing. With the OS and Logic on the Samsung X5, I've been running smoothly for roughly 5 years. My post was a general question about the fastest external SSD because reviews can muddy the waters. As I said in an earlier post, I'm not a technical wizard but I certainly know what's worked for me and this has been a very effective solution to my problem. I could be the exception that proves the rule? Sorry if I didn't explain very well. I appreciate all of your help - I keep copies of all advice received! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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