External SSD Deal!

[Randy B. Singer]

Samsung makes a wildly popular external SSD, the T7. It is fast, reliable, and usually reasonably priced. They also make a "ruggedized" version of it, that is more or less identical, but it is designed for on-the-go use to better withstand bumps and jiggles.

It is currently on sale for a dynamite price. In fact, it's on sale in your choice of size, and even in your choice of color, with all three sizes being very well priced.

I thought that folks might be interested in this sale.

SAMSUNG T7 Shield 1TB, up to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Rated, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, Portable External Solid State Drive (MU-PE1T0S/AM, 2022), Black

1TB $80
2TB $100
4TB $200

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHZQGN26/

 

[nickyr]

I've been using these drives and the T5 before them for quite some time now. They are fast (paired with a decent cable) and reliable (touch wood) and that those prices they're cheaper than buying an SSD and enclosure and "making" your own!
Sadly here in the UK the prices aren't that low with a 4TB coming in at £238.
Still makes the prices Apple charge seem exorbitant!

 

[Rod]

Pity we're not where you are Randy. No Amazon in Indonesia.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Pity we're not where you are Randy. No Amazon in Indonesia.

I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to be helpful to folks in other countries, but generally the only deals that I hear about are in the U.S.

Folks in other countries might want to participate in local Macintosh discussion forums to find out about local deals.

Or...you can do what I've done in the past for folks in my (very large) Macintosh user group. You can contact developers/manufacturers directly, and tell them that you have X number of local friends who use Macs who would be interested in purchasing their product, and see if they could offer you a deal for one big order that you all make directly.

 

[pm-r]

Still makes the prices Apple charge seem exorbitant!

Now, that's one huge understatement!!! ;-)



- Patrick
=======

 

[Groovetube]

I got a few of the sheild ones last sale they had, great drives.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Still makes the prices Apple charge seem exorbitant!

Apple doesn't sell external SSD's, so I'm not sure what you are comparing these prices to.

With regard to the internal SSD's that Apple includes in their Macs, the quality and features of those SSD's are several steps above the cheap consumer-class SSD's that most companies sell to the public. If you want to make an apt comparison, compare Intel's premium internal SSD's, both with regard to price, features, and performance, to the price that Apple charges for internal SSD's

 

[krs]

Any comments on this 2 TB Crucial X8 SSD foe a SD backup of macOS 10.11 at $108 Cdn.
I usually use 2 TB Seagate or Toshiba spinners at around $75 cdn for back, but with an SSD the backup should complete much quicker.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08C3XVP2P/

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Any comments on this 2 TB Crucial X8 SSD foe a SD backup of macOS 10.11

These drives are popular for being impressively inexpensive for an external SSD, and for running unusually cool.

However, they are also known for being unusually slow for an SSD.

That said, they are still faster than just about any rotating disk hard drive. So, it's up to you whether those are the sort of tradeoffs that are acceptable to you.

 

[Groovetube]

I don’t know… I understand the differences between external ssd drives like the Samsungs and the internals in the new apple stuff, but 750 bucks to go from 512gig to 2tb?

apple has always been very well known to charge handsomely for their drive and certainly the ram upgrades.

 

[krs]

These drives are popular for being impressively inexpensive for an external SSD, and for running unusually cool.

However, they are also known for being unusually slow for an SSD.

That said, they are still faster than just about any rotating disk hard drive. So, it's up to you whether those are the sort of tradeoffs that are acceptable to you.

Thanks Randy,
Getting a faster backup would be nice (2 TB Crucial SSD vs 2 TB Seagate spinner), but more important is long term reliability.
Every year I keep one of the backups in longer term storage - just sitting there.
People claim they have lost images when upgrading macOS, then I want to go back, dig out a backup from 2013 and an old Mac that will run that old macOS and have them look for those "lost" images.
I have actually been able to access external spinners from as far back as the year 2000.
So I'm wondering if an SSD like the Crucial or a spinner like the Seagate has the best chance to be accessed 10 to 15 years from now.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

So I'm wondering if an SSD like the Crucial or a spinner like the Seagate has the best chance to be accessed 10 to 15 years from now.

I don't know that anyone has done a long term study to see which is more reliable as part of an archival strategy. But my guess is that RDHD's would be far superior.

I do know that SSDs were not designed to be used for archival storage. Data loss occurs at varying rates and is dependent on a variety of factors. The general consensus online seems to be that data loss from solid state devices is inevitable over time. That time period varies based on whether the SSD is connected to some sort of power source, and the temperature that it is stored at.

See the Tom's Hardware forum "Permanence of data storage on Un-powered SSD?"
https://web.archive.org/web/2020042.../permanence-of-data-on-un-powered-ssd.653781/

https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24#ssds-evidence-storage-issues

For client application SSDs, the powered-off retention period standard is one year while enterprise application SSDs have a powered-off retention period of three months. These retention periods can vary greatly depending on the temperature of the storage area that houses SSDs.

In a presentation by Alvin Cox on JEDEC's website titled "JEDEC SSD Specifications Explained", graphs on slide 27 show that for every 5 degrees C (9 degrees F) rise in temperature where the SSD is stored, the retention period is approximately halved. For example, if a client application SSD is stored at 25 degrees C (77 degrees F) it should last about 2 years on the shelf under optimal conditions. If that temperature goes up 5 degrees C, the storage standard drops to 1 year.