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Post by plinker on Dec 1, 2023 7:37:39 GMT -6
This thread reminded me to do the annual search for affordable Thunderbolt 3 or 4 drives.
Found a 2TB for $230. Score!!!
Thanks.
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Post by doubledog on Dec 1, 2023 8:50:37 GMT -6
mine are 1TB Toshiba (now Kioxia) if I recall correctly, and are the M.2 2280 size (other brands are ~$80 on Amazon for 1TB) One of them is installed on a x1 PCIe card - not this exact one, but something similar -- www.amazon.com/AMPCOM-Adapter-40Gbps-Desktop-Speed/dp/B0876MLNY6again, I'm running a desktop PC so I had a slot for it. there used to be some PCIe external expansion chassis' available, but it looks like most of them are now TB connection, which means you would be limited by the TB port's throughput (which is still slower than multiple PCIe lanes), but that might not be such a big deal and is likely faster than any USB options right now. Probably the simplest, if you have TB (which I do not). btw, M.2 format drives can generate some heat, so you have to be careful that they either get enough airflow, or they have sufficient heatsinks. When they do overheat, they have a thermal shutdown (to protect themselves - all NVMe have this) and then they just stop - which generally f#*#s your PCIe bus and you crash. |
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Post by longscale on Dec 2, 2023 13:06:22 GMT -6
I considered buying one of these before deciding to go a different route. My great hesitation was that the bright red rings would make me crazy if they really light up to show drive activity. It's probably not a big deal for most people, but it just seems a bit out of scale to the function. I like to work in a darkened space. I had the same initial worry. I too sometimes like to work in a darkened space; use lights as a mood source. The lights do go on with drive activity but they are far from a bright light source. They are a fairly dim warm light. Plenty of my hw outboard gear lights are way brighter (I'm looking at you REDDI). I do not find them disturbing, and find they actually provide a cool mood. They are in my line of sight to my monitor. All of this is true with my unit which is several years old now fwiw. |
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Post by plinker on Dec 3, 2023 8:00:00 GMT -6
I received my Thunderbolt drive yesterday -- it is blazingly fast. Based on the Blackmagic speed tester, it's nearly as fast as the internal memory in my M1.
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Post by doubledog on Dec 3, 2023 9:18:36 GMT -6
I received my Thunderbolt drive yesterday -- it is blazingly fast. Based on the Blackmagic speed tester, it's nearly as fast as the internal memory in my M1. SSDs are a funny beast - when they are brand new, the speed is incredibly fast (sorta by design and a long story) but once they start to fill up, or as you store and change or delete files, then the speed will slow down and plateau. This is why benchmarking of SSDs require that you write data to the drive in an amount that is 2-3x the capacity of the drive before you run the benchmarking test (that's a simplified version and yes, I used to do this kind of crap in a former life). |
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