What external SSD should I buy: FireWire 800 or USB?

I have this iMac (and I'm still very happy with it):


I want to be able to quickly restore my Windows 10 virtual machine of about 45 GB from an external SSD drive if necessary. Restoring it from a LaCie FW drive took about 2 hours yesterday :(.


I'm not sure whether my iMac has USB 2 or already USB 3.


What SSD device do you advise?

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Mar 18, 2023 1:25 AM

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Posted on Mar 19, 2023 5:04 PM

It has USB3 ports. Get a USB3 drive which also supports the UASP protocol as this protocol will help with the transfers. If the drive is not connected directly to the Mac, then make sure each item in the direct chain to the USB3 SSD also supports the UASP protocol.

https://www.startech.com/en-us/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uasp


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 19, 2023 5:04 PM in response to Hans Elting

It has USB3 ports. Get a USB3 drive which also supports the UASP protocol as this protocol will help with the transfers. If the drive is not connected directly to the Mac, then make sure each item in the direct chain to the USB3 SSD also supports the UASP protocol.

https://www.startech.com/en-us/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uasp


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What external SSD should I buy: FireWire 800 or USB?

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