Resolved Looking for External Thunderbolt 3 SSD 4TB or Higher (No less than Thunderbolt 3 wire connections)

[Adam1988]

The "Infamous" External SSD (solid state drive) Thunderbolt 3
(Thunderbolt 3 cable, & SSD 4 TB storage drive)​

Hi Everyone!

Well, I did some research for my MacBook Air 2019. I have been looking for some external Drives...but not just whatever external drive....

I been doing some research for several weeks, though, it is difficult to find that "INFAMOUS" SSD drive. Well, I went through google's search engine, but no luck whatsoever. Anyways, checked out CNET, 9toMac, OWC, and other sites that sell external SSDs. It is difficult to find that "EXACT" solid state drive. (SSD) specially with a cable that runs pure Thunderbolt 3.
I do understand that there is external HDDs which is not the same as SSDs, out in the market.
The complexity of this situation or dilemma is.. Finding the exact SSD that uses Thunderbolt 3.

Well, to my understanding from the research I have been doing, is.. that there is no actual External SSD as the one that I am looking for. So I have been checking out several SAMSUNGs and OWC brands even LaCie 2.0 wireless SSD, but none complete my appetite for the INFAMOUS 4TB SSD EXTERNAL DRIVE WITH THUNDERBOLT 3 CABLE (usb-c).

Therefore, the situation is critical, does anyone...
I mean ANYONE....know or heard of that "Infamous" External SSD 4TB Thunderbolt3?

Here I got some links to the maximum capacity of 2TB external SSD with thunderbolt 3 cable running at 40GB per second.

(THUNDERBOLT 3 & SSDs THAT DON'T REACH 4TB)

If Anyone LUCKY enough... that knows about this "Infamous" External SSD running 4TB with Thunderbolt 3 cable...

Please let the public know about it... I am looking EXTREMELY into it..

Thank you everyone! for reading this mediocre post I made... but, I am super confident that NOT ONLY ME is looking forward for this...

Probably manufacturers haven't even made one yet.. and yet.. I am here struggling my head and stressing over it.

Thank you Mods and everyone else out there that has an answer to my questions!

Always and forever,
May the technology follow you wherever you go!

?‍??

 

[HDFan]

Is there any specific reason that need a drive with these specific specifications? The OWC Envoy Pro EX with USB-C (thunderbolt 3) was announced as the "Fastest USB-C SSD Ever". My BlackMagic results with the 2 TB are ~2406/2854.6 MB/s W/R. At ~22 Gbps that is over 50% of the theoretical thunderbolt 3 40 Gbps. In most cases with protocols you max out at less than the theoretical rate, maybe 80% or so (?). That's darn close.

I believe there is a similar Samsung drive which is more expensive. Maybe there is an enclosure in which you could RAID several of these, or a Samsung equivalent:

MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 80mm (2280-S3-M) M.2 PCI Express 3.1 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe SSD (1TB (960GB))

MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 80mm (2280-S3-M) M.2 PCI Express 3.1 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe SSD (1TB (960GB))

www.amazon.com

 

[Adam1988]

Is there any specific reason that need a drive with these specific specifications? The OWC Envoy Pro EX with USB-C (thunderbolt 3) was announced as the "Fastest USB-C SSD Ever". My BlackMagic results with the 2 TB are ~2406/2854.6 MB/s W/R. At ~22 Gbps that is over 50% of the theoretical thunderbolt 3 40 Gbps. In most cases with protocols you max out at less than the theoretical rate, maybe 80% or so (?). That's darn close.

I believe there is a similar Samsung drive which is more expensive. Maybe there is an enclosure in which you could RAID several of these, or a Samsung equivalent:

MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 80mm (2280-S3-M) M.2 PCI Express 3.1 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe SSD (1TB (960GB))

MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 80mm (2280-S3-M) M.2 PCI Express 3.1 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe SSD (1TB (960GB))

www.amazon.com

Sorry i was living in Asia for a while and didnt have any time and i just got into "mac rumors" and i want to say thank you!

Well i found this one but im not sure if is the same power or more effective due to the research of the drives.

The OWC Envoy Pro EX runs at this speed.
Data Transfer Rate (Max)

• USB 3.1 gen 2 : 10 Gb/s (or 1250 MB/s

---------------------and----------------------

Sabrent Rocket XTRM 2TB Thunderbolt 3 External SSD
(Up to 2400MBs/2400MBs R/W) (SB-XTRM-2TB)
Up to 2400+ MB/s read, and 2400+ MB/s write for sequential transfers.


So i dont know which one is better you told me the OWC is very good and i see on the specs of the site that it runs on 1250, and then i found this sabrent that runs at 2400. So i am more confused now...

And thank you so much for your sincere help!

 

[HDFan]

So i dont know which one is better you told me the OWC is very good and i see on the specs of the site that it runs on 1250, and then i found this sabrent that runs at 2400. So i am more confused now...

For OWC you want the thunderbolt, not USB-C version. Listed spec is up to 2800 MB/s.

OWC Envoy Pro SX - Thunderbolt Bus-Powered Portable SSD

The incredibly fast and rugged portable SSD drive for storage and backup tasks. Perfect for production-level audio, design, and photography workflows.

eshop.macsales.com

Since it is been a while may be other options now.

 

[Adam1988]

For OWC you want the thunderbolt, not USB-C version. Listed spec is up to 2800 MB/s.

OWC Envoy Pro SX - Thunderbolt Bus-Powered Portable SSD

The incredibly fast and rugged portable SSD drive for storage and backup tasks. Perfect for production-level audio, design, and photography workflows.

eshop.macsales.com

Since it is been a while may be other options now.

I was reading some comments of the older OWC Envoy the first that you mentioned and also read about the sabrent.

Well, it seems both seem to get super hot when using them do you know if the OWC Envoy Pro EX TB 3 is reliable and not get hot?

 

[HDFan]

Well, it seems both seem to get super hot when using them do you know if the OWC Envoy Pro EX TB 3 is reliable and not get hot?

Nope. Mine is only rarely used, when creating test cases.

SSDs do run hot:

Safe SSD Operating Temperature: Is Your SSD Running Too Hot?

Find the safe operating temperature range for your SSD. SSDs that run too hot will slow down and can cause data loss or complete failure of the drive.

harddrivegeek.com

The Envoy is a portable solution and therefore has a very small enclosure. If you are worried about heat you might want to consider an SSD in a larger enclosure, maybe with a fan.

 

[Adam1988]

Nope. Mine is only rarely used, when creating test cases.

SSDs do run hot:

Safe SSD Operating Temperature: Is Your SSD Running Too Hot?

Find the safe operating temperature range for your SSD. SSDs that run too hot will slow down and can cause data loss or complete failure of the drive.

harddrivegeek.com

The Envoy is a portable solution and therefore has a very small enclosure. If you are worried about heat you might want to consider an SSD in a larger enclosure, maybe with a fan.

I'm a newbie on the SSD systems but i wanna say thanks for explaining me about it, because its rare to find someone that cares and tries to help others nowadays. Thank you for your help and i am thinking of buying the OWC ENVOY PRO THE RUGGED BLACK COLOR SSD. I really like OWC but now i am understanding the SSD.

I asked for this type of help because, i will be moving to japan and live there, so i gotta be prepared for my new journey as an editor or blogger and of course for future storage running as well as the same that is installed into the system.

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[HDFan]

One thing I didn't ask is why an SSD for an external drive? What will it be doing? It is certainly indicated when there are poor environmental conditions (dust, vibration, etc.), when used as a boot drive, or when you need extremely fast access. However SSD's have a limited lifetime, which can be 8 times less than a hard disk (extreme case). They are also more expensive.

See my 2020.02.01 in post https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/storage-ssd-or-mechanical.2221924/

 

[Adam1988]

One thing I didn't ask is why an SSD for an external drive? What will it be doing? It is certainly indicated when there are poor environmental conditions (dust, vibration, etc.), when used as a boot drive, or when you need extremely fast access. However SSD's have a limited lifetime, which can be 8 times less than a hard disk (extreme case). They are also more expensive.

See my 2020.02.01 in post https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/storage-ssd-or-mechanical.2221924/

Because i want the machine to run as it if was native from the ssd installed internally with the thunderbolt cable and at the same speed as the Internal SSD i run on my macbook air. For future use due to a plan i have on traveling abroad and living in Asia for many years.

That is why i want 4 TB on thunderbolt 3 at the fastest speed as well or running at the same speed as the SSD installed in my macbook AIR. For future and editing jobs.

 

[ARJR84]

Why can you not just buy a fast ssd with a usb-c enclosure?

 

[chrfr]

Why can you not just buy a fast ssd with a usb-c enclosure?

True Thunderbolt SSDs are faster.

 

[ARJR84]

True Thunderbolt SSDs are faster.

what is a thunderbolt ssd? Thunderbolt connects an ssd to a computer, it isn't a type of ssd. Are current nvme drives faster than regular ole usb C ports can provide? Don't usbc gen 2 support 10gbps?

I used to chase speed in my ssds until I realized it made little difference in my workflow, whether they transferred at 3500mbps or 4500mbps. At that point it is no longer your bottleneck, especially in a laptop.

 

[Adam1988]

Why can you not just buy a fast ssd with a usb-c enclosure?

it depends on the wiring and ssd so i checked with black magic reading and writing speed and it does run about the supposed information i won’t specify because i already specified in the thread.

 

[chrfr]

what is a thunderbolt ssd? Thunderbolt connects an ssd to a computer, it isn't a type of ssd. Are current nvme drives faster than regular ole usb C ports can provide? Don't usbc gen 2 support 10gbps?

I used to chase speed in my ssds until I realized it made little difference in my workflow, whether they transferred at 3500mbps or 4500mbps. At that point it is no longer your bottleneck, especially in a laptop.

Yes, NVMe SSDs are faster than 10Gbps USB-C can provide. A drive like the Samsung X5 which uses Thunderbolt to connect and has an NVMe drive internally can realistically transfer data at about 20Gbps.