[Rcovell]

I've been thinking about getting an external SSD to use as a backup for my iMac's HDD and I have a question.

Since the new SSD is an external, is the speed of any transfer limited by the interface ie Firewire 400/800 or USB 2? (I don't have USB 3.)

I know that internal SSDs can transfer data very quickly, about 5 times faster than using an external Firewire 800 connection.
So, am I wasting my $$ by paying extra for an external SSD if all I'm looking for is max transfer speed?

Thanks, Bob.

[bastion]

Rcovell, on 27 February 2013 - 10:09 PM, said:

I've been thinking about getting an external SSD to use as a backup for my iMac's HDD and I have a question.

Since the new SSD is an external, is the speed of any transfer limited by the interface ie Firewire 400/800 or USB 2? (I don't have USB 3.)

I know that internal SSDs can transfer data very quickly, about 5 times faster than using an external Firewire 800 connection.
So, am I wasting my $$ by paying extra for an external SSD if all I'm looking for is max transfer speed?

Thanks, Bob.

You'll see improved performance with the SSD attached via FW800. Maybe FW400. Not USB 2. You'll also have a backup drive that's much more robust in the circumstance of physical shock which is not a bad thing. Durability is the reason I replaced the HD in my MacBook with SSD a couple of years ago; the speed for me was just a bonus in that situation.

[Rcovell]

Thanks for the reply.

I know there are significant benefits to an SSD beyond the speed factor. But, I was thinking that the speed increase would be mitigated by the connection,
probably FW 800 in my case. Kind of a weak link in a chain idea.

Do you think an external SSD would be a 'big' jump in performance compared to my existing Newer Tech MiniStack backup drive ? Both would be connected with FW 800.

Thanks for the ideas, Bob.

[bastion]

Rcovell, on 28 February 2013 - 09:34 AM, said:

Thanks for the reply.

I know there are significant benefits to an SSD beyond the speed factor. But, I was thinking that the speed increase would be mitigated by the connection,
probably FW 800 in my case. Kind of a weak link in a chain idea.

Do you think an external SSD would be a 'big' jump in performance compared to my existing Newer Tech MiniStack backup drive ? Both would be connected with FW 800.

Thanks for the ideas, Bob.

Kind of depends how you're using it. For large amounts of data being transferred, your miniStack is probably the limiting factor. Moving to SSD will make the FW800 bus the limiter. You won't see the full potential of the SSD but you will see improvement. On paper. Whether that improvement really makes an impact on you or not depends strongly on your usage patterns. Are you doing something like a Super Duper backup or some other occasional bulk move? SSD will help. Are you instead using it as a Time Machine target? Probably much less of a benefit because Time Machine typically works on small amounts of data in the background. I've seen a couple of installations (literally 2) where for some reason it seems to really impact machine performance, but it shouldn't be and if it is I think there's a better solution to be found than just speeding up the target device.

[smax013]

How much data are you looking to backup? I ask because getting an SSD larger than 256 GB gets REALLY expensive fast.

[Rcovell]

I am primarily using the MiniStack external HD for Super Duper backup copies. I do this weekly. My system is only about 45 Gb.
I also have a bus powered generic external HD that I use occasionally as a redundant backup.

Outside of the speed possibilities, I wanted to 'play' with an SSD as I think they're the wave of the future. I would love to upgrade my iMac to
one of the new ones with a Fusion Drive, even though I'm far from a power user. It's more about 'want' than 'need'.

Thanks for the replies.
Bob.

This post has been edited by Rcovell: 28 February 2013 - 10:12 PM

[smax013]

Rcovell, on 28 February 2013 - 09:50 PM, said:

I am primarily using the MiniStack external HD for Super Duper backup copies. I do this weekly. My system is only about 45 Gb.
I also have a bus powered generic external HD that I use occasionally as a redundant backup.

Outside of the speed possibilities, I wanted to 'play' with an SSD as I think they're the wave of the future. I would love to upgrade my iMac to
one of the new ones with a Fusion Drive, even though I'm far from a power user. It's more about 'want' than 'need'.

Thanks for the replies.
Bob.

if you are only dealing with 45 GB, then it is certainly economically feasible to "play" with an SSD for your backup and/or other storage needs.

In my case, my main Mac has a 256 GB SSD for the boot drive and then a 1.5 TB drive for data. There is simply no way an SSD would be economically feasible for my data drive or backup of my data.

The SSD is nice for its speed as well as its ability to not get hosed by bumps/physical movement. The main thing we really don't know is the longevity of them since they have only really been prevalent for several years. I can say that my first MacBook Air is still going fine with its SSD after 2 years (it has been passed on to someone else).

[ShouldiUseMac]

Should go with FireWire! Never USB 2.0! What's the point of getting SSD then!?!?

[Martian]

Very dramatic benefit of an SSD boot drive is no more slowdowns caused by background tasks such as TimeMachine bakckup and Spotlight indexing. I don’t know if my wife’s 2008 MB actually backs up more quickly now (it definitely indexes more quickly), but with the SSD the machine is no longer sluggish while doing so. Switching to SSD was an even more noticeable improvement than doubling RAM from 2GB to 4GB.

[icerabbit]

I agree that SSD are the way of the future and really put some zip & snap into a computer.

Getting your toes wet with an SSD is a smart idea. We all have to jump ship at one point

However using it as an external drive will not yield the requested benefit.

Copying to/from the SSD will be limited by the interface / port and the speed of the internal hard drive in your computer. Even if you were to connect it via Thunderbolt, if you have a new mac and you buy a Thunderbolt enclosure ... you can't copy faster in and out of your system, than your internal hard drive can serve the data.