Looking for the fastest external drive for an intel MacBook Pro?

[afavreau]

Hi,

I'm looking for the fastest external drive possible. It's for a sound library.
I record music and play keyboards Live, so I need something that responds fast.

I have a MacBook Pro 15" 2018 with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen2.

Thanks for your help

 

[apostolosdt]

NVMe in enclosure with PCIe 4.0 connectivity?

 

[afavreau]

Yes. I'm looking into the Orico and Acasis NVMe PCIe 3.0 enclosures with an NVMe PCIe 4.0 drive of some kind with 2 or 4TB.

I also contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 3.0. It's actually going to make it slower. I think they mean the enclosure. Maybe not the Drive.

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.

ca.macsales.com

 

[dawnlight]

Yes. I'm looking into the Orico and Acasis NVMe PCIe 3.0 enclosures with an NVMe PCIe 4.0 drive of some kind with 2 or 4TB.

I also contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 3.0. It's actually going to make it slower. I think they mean the enclosure. Maybe not the Drive.

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.

ca.macsales.com

I think they misspoke. Your Mac is Thunderbolt 3, which is PCIe 3.0. A 4.0 drive won't make much of a speed difference in this case (except for potentially better sustained speeds). You're going to have the same max speed if you are using a 3.0 or 4.0 drive.

SX would be a great enclosure for a 2018 machine.

 

[afavreau]

Sorry, you're right. I meant they said: "I contacted Macsales.com about their Envoy Pro SX, but they tell me an Intel MacBook 2018 is not going to benefit from PCIe 4.0." Not 3.0.

But they were saying if you use PCIe 4.0, your results will be worse than 3.0 since I have an Intel MacBook Pro 2018.

From what I understand, it's more like you say. It's just that it's not worth the extra cost, but your writing speed might be a little faster.

I think I'll go with the Acasis enclosure after all. It also has USB 4 compatibility at a good price.

Thanks