What is the fastest way to transfer data to an external hard drive?

1

What is the fastest way to transfer files between my computer and an external hard drive given currently available products?

Thunderbolt SSD? USB3 SSD?

Are there any good benchmark tests out there that compare Thunderbolt SSDs vs Thunderbolt HDDs vs USB3 SSDs vs USB3 HDDs?

A little background on my setup: I'm a photographer and I'm always running out of space and buying new external HDDs - LaCie - G Technology. I'm currently still on a 2010 Mackbook Pro (USB2), but soon I'm going to upgrade to the latest Macbook Pro and I'm curious what the fastest external storage option will be for transferring files (and potentially working from with Lightroom/Capture One).

Corey

Posted 2015-12-08T23:04:57.827

Reputation: 233

Question was closed 2015-12-20T14:15:59.097

Questions seeking product, service, ..recommendations are off-topic because they become outdated quickly and attract opinion-based answers. – Hennes – 2015-12-18T12:39:40.017

"Instead, describe your situation and the specific problem you're trying to solve." Which is there, hidden in the last part. But as written the questionis a poor fit. – Hennes – 2015-12-18T12:40:13.217

Answers

4

On your 2010 MacBook Pro, FireWire 800 was probably your best bet. Or maybe a fast NAS on Gigabit Ethernet.

The latest (2015) MacBook Pro has Thunderbolt 2, which can use both of Thunderbolt's channels for a 20 Gbps link.

USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (which the 2015 MacBook Pro has) is 5 Gbps. USB 3.1 SuperSpeed+ (which the 2015 MacBook Pro does NOT have) is 10 Gbps.

So a fast SSD (or HDD RAID) on Thunderbolt 2 has potential to be faster than anything you can connect via USB 3.0 on the 2015 MacBook Pro.

However, you're wise to want to see real benchmarks of external mass storage solutions. Cheap equipment often has under-specified interface chips and can't really keep up with the interface it's connected to. I'm sure someone can find a poorly implemented Thunderbolt 2 SSD that's slower than a well-implemented USB 3.0 SuperSpeed HDD.

Spiff

Posted 2015-12-08T23:04:57.827

Reputation: 84 656

What kind of speed would I get out of something like this with on my current Macbook? USB3 from my external hard drive to my ethernet adapter? http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Adapter/dp/B0095EFXMC

– Corey – 2015-12-09T02:48:59.100

@Corey - That entirely depends on your other network equipment a Gigabit Ethernet port connected to a network device with only a 10/100 Ethernet port would be obviously limited to those speeds. – Ramhound – 2015-12-09T13:12:42.760

Asked: 2015-12-08T23:04:57.827

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Active: 2015-12-09T16:19:29.910