External SSD Recommendations

Hi all!

 

I know there are various threads on here related to SSD's and their performance, but what I'm actually looking for is a recommendation (or two). I'm in the market for a 2TB external SSD (either Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C). One partition will be a time machine backup disk and the other will hold all of my Logic, Native Instruments, Spitfire Audio and Spectrasonics sound libraries.

 

Has anybody been using an external SSD with LPX that they would recommend?

 

Thanks a lot!

Dave.

I bought a Crucial ssd and threw it in a cheap snap together Orico ssd external case and it’s never once given me a problem.

 

I assume any good brand for the ssd will be fine.

I too am using a crucial 1Tb drive. Seems reliable and fast as well as a fair price. The have a 2Tb version as well.

Any SSD with a SATA interface (approx. 400-500MBytes/sec) should be just fine. If you need extreme speed, then make sure the enclosure has proper heat dissipation - I'm using an OWC Envoy that behaves well.

 

I have SanDisk and WD SSDs in $10 snap in enclosures - USB3 interface - USB3 to USB-C cable. For my backup devices I plug them in with USB3-USB-A cables.

I recently spoke with an Apple Care rep on the phone who told me I couldn't partition an SSD to run Time Machine and house the Logic sound library on the same drive.

 

I am a computer doof (hence the call to Apple Care) so don't flame me if I'm wrong! But I had the same idea and called to see if it was possible and was told I would need 2 separate SSD drives.

I recently spoke with an Apple Care rep on the phone who told me I couldn't partition an SSD to run Time Machine and house the Logic sound library on the same drive.

 

I am a computer doof (hence the call to Apple Care) so don't flame me if I'm wrong! But I had the same idea and called to see if it was possible and was told I would need 2 separate SSD drives.

Officially you're supposed to use a drive only for Time Machine: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250 - and while there are ways to store other files on a Time Machine drive (see https://www.howtogeek.com/212445/how-to-use-a-time-machine-drive-for-both-file-storage-and-backups/) I wouldn't recommend attempting to do it to relocate Logic's Apple Sound Library (I have actually never tried to do it).

Good to know. I also contacted Google One to ask if I could connect Google Drive to an external drive (to use it as cloud backup of my files). The answer was a firm "No," but there are people with workarounds on reddit, etc.

 

I just received this follow-up email from Google One support:

 

"Backup & Sync have 2 ways to sync (My Drive and My Computer). My Drive can connect directly to sync between 2 PC or more. But, My Computer cannot connect directly to sync between different PC because it is created for each PC. If you want to sync the external HDD it needs to be connected to your PC."

 

I mean, of course the external drive would be connected to the computer. I'm a noob, but sheesh. XD XD

 

My takeaway is there are "official" responses from Apple, Google, etc. but people better at computers than I am have figured out perfectly workable solutions.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

I now have a Samsung T5 SSD for my Native Instruments, Spectrasonics and Spitfire Audio sample libraries only. My old external HDD is split between an APFS formatted partition which I'm using as a copy of the sample libraries SSD (just as a backup) and a 'MacOS Extended (Journaled)' formatted partition which I'm using as a Time Machine backup disk.

 

One thing I haven't done yet as I'm not quite sure how to go about it....

 

I have a ton of Logic sampler instruments that I have created myself down the years that are 'connected' to different sample packs I have. Right now these sampler instruments reside in Macintosh HD >> Library >> Application Support >> Logic >> Sampler Instruments. I now want to move all of my old sample packs over to my new external SSD, but I want to open up old projects and have Logic automatically figure out that the samples have been relocated. Do I just move the sample packs and then open the old projects and follow the on-screen instructions? I'm afraid to try anything in case I totally mess up.

 

Thanks in advance for your help,

Dave.

I was closed to buy a Samsung SSD this week end until I read on the next a review which says SSD trim was not abble on OSX for this one. So I think it is a feature to look at if you want your SSD last longer.