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I have a Mac Mini, 2020, with M1 and Monterey.
Question: I have a media drive (HDD) connected to the Mac Mini USB. If is use an Apple adapter to run the drive through the Thunderbolt port will it impove performance?
Thank you.
Mac mini, macOS 10.15
The "issue" of using SSDs for media, especially music & video, is that SSDs cost more than HDDs of the same capacity; and there is no improvement in playback performance vs. an HDD. You can only listen to music or watch a video at a certain speed, and that speed is far less than the read/write speed of either SSDs or most modern HDDs.
And while native SSD read/write speeds per se are faster than HDDs, the drive interface is the significant limiting factor (SATA, USB, FW, Thunderbolt, take your pick ... for example, an SSD in a USB2 enclosure is a total waste of money, as you would only ever get USB2 speeds out of it).
As for video editing with SSD, IMHO the issue is more about APFS "copy-on-write" scheme than anything else. At this point I would not use APFS on any drive (SSD or HDD) for video editing/production.
Also, a significant benefit of HDDs that in the case of drive failure there is usually the possibility of data recovery. Not so with SSDs - when they fail, everything is gone.
The "issue" of using SSDs for media, especially music & video, is that SSDs cost more than HDDs of the same capacity; and there is no improvement in playback performance vs. an HDD. You can only listen to music or watch a video at a certain speed, and that speed is far less than the read/write speed of either SSDs or most modern HDDs.
And while native SSD read/write speeds per se are faster than HDDs, the drive interface is the significant limiting factor (SATA, USB, FW, Thunderbolt, take your pick ... for example, an SSD in a USB2 enclosure is a total waste of money, as you would only ever get USB2 speeds out of it).
As for video editing with SSD, IMHO the issue is more about APFS "copy-on-write" scheme than anything else. At this point I would not use APFS on any drive (SSD or HDD) for video editing/production.
Also, a significant benefit of HDDs that in the case of drive failure there is usually the possibility of data recovery. Not so with SSDs - when they fail, everything is gone.
Thank you very much for the link.
Yikes, those are very expensive -- I use the drive mainly for videos.
Since you were kind enough to reply, I'd like to ask another question: a while ago I'd read that an SSD is not recommended as a media drive; is that correct?
MichaelJonas wrote:
I have a Mac Mini, 2020, with M1 and Monterey.
Question: I have a media drive (HDD) connected to the Mac Mini USB. If is use an Apple adapter to run the drive through the Thunderbolt port will it impove performance?
Thank you.
I'm happy you feel your original question was resolved. I'm sorry I wasn't at least helpful.
Not if it's not a Thunderbolt drive.
Thank you very much. Actually, I've never heard of a Thunderbolt drive.
Welcome.
In theory you could write to a HDD more times than to an SSD. How significant it is I can't say.
Again, thank you. Unless there's a compelling reason to change to an SSD for media, I'll stay with what I have.
I very much appreciate your help.
Stay well.
You're welcome.
Thank you very much...not only for the very helpful information, but also for saving me money.
Thank you very much...I'm grateful that when I post a question here, I get very helpful replies.
Thunderbolt to USB Performance
