# Can someone recommend me the best value for money External SSD



## toomanynotes (Nov 2, 2021)

Hi Looking for 2TB SSD/Nvme for my T480 Laptop in the UK, So many options in Amazon UK but I don't know which one is better for the money. WD Blue Nvme is cheapest I think, but I heard the company has cut corners and the next batch are lower in quality?
The Storage is for BBCSO Pro/VST libraries. Cheap is good. 
Thanks.


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## easyrider (Nov 2, 2021)

I have a crucial p5 in mine and it’s been flawless.


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## Technostica (Nov 2, 2021)

For external, you need to know the bandwidth of your connection.
No point in paying for performance you can’t use.


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## easyrider (Nov 2, 2021)

Technostica said:


> For external, you need to know the bandwidth of your connection.
> No point in paying for performance you can’t use.


I read it as he was fitting it INTO his laptop….👍


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## shropshirelad (Nov 2, 2021)

I've got a mixture of Sandisk, Seagate & Crucial 1TB external drives, all ticking along nicely. Usually some great deals to be found around BF on Amazon.


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## robo3000 (Nov 2, 2021)

Maybe a Samsung T5 or T7 depending on your laptops usb connections. No point in getting an external nvme drive as even usb 3.2 will max out at 10Gbps (+/- 1000 MB/s).


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## toomanynotes (Nov 2, 2021)

Thanks guys, Sorry I should have told you my specs - internal is Nvme already taken the slot for the system.
Leaving me with External options as follows from the spec sheet -
Two USB 3.1 Gen 1 (one Always On), one USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 (with the function of Power Delivery and DisplayPort), one USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 2 / Thunderbolt 3 (with the function of PD and DP

Storage
Storage Optane memory Optical System has one HDD slot or one M.2 2280 slot exclusively for storage Some: HDD / SATA 6.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm high, Active Protection System Some: SSD / SATA 6.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm high (e.g. xxxGB SSD) Some: M.2 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 4 Some: 128GB M.2 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 2, in WWAN slot as 2nd Storage, mutually exclusive with WWAN * Installed M.2 SSD is PCIe 3.0 x 4 but run at PCIe 3.0 x 2 due to M.2 SSD adapter limitation Intel Optane memory, PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 2


Many Thanks!


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## Technostica (Nov 2, 2021)

For USB 3.0, a SATA drive is all you need. 
3.1 Gen 2 is better off with a low end PCIe drive as it can reach close to 1GBs v <500MBs for 3.0.
TB3 is much faster and also much more expensive. 

Are you looking to buy an external drive or to buy an enclosure and put your choice of drive in it?


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## newbreednet (Nov 3, 2021)

I've got a few of those WD Blue SN550's. They're cheaper than SATA SSD's! Even the new "downgraded" ones have been fine; I think it's only a problem if you were going to write to it a lot. As sample playback drives they do me just fine


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## Sunny Schramm (Nov 3, 2021)

I love my Samsung T7 2TB (USB 3.2 Gen.2 - max. 1050 read / 1000 write) - which was offered for only 213€ last week. I payed about 250€ some months ago. On my PC with USB 3.1 Gen 2 I got speeds up to the full 1050MB/s - sometimes 1100MB/s which is weird :D

IMPORTANT: Use the cables which came with it. Other cables looses more than half of the speed. Mine is filled with about 1.4TB Kontakt-Libraries right now and still got the high performance


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## Technostica (Nov 3, 2021)

newbreednet said:


> I've got a few of those WD Blue SN550's. They're cheaper than SATA SSD's!


How much are the enclosures and cables?
They used to be expensive compared to the SATA enclosures and cables.

But if using a 10Gbs link, I'd go that sort of route.
Be aware that if you buy a large drive and tend to move libraries around a lot, that some of the lower end PCIe drives have very slow continuous write speeds for sequential data.
They can be 80 - 150 MBs, which is much less than even a half decent SATA drive.
Not an issue in many cases but worth keeping in mind.


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## newbreednet (Nov 3, 2021)

Technostica said:


> How much are the enclosures and cables?


I use them all internally, either on the mobo or strapped into a PCIe NVMe card. Just out of interest though I looked up NVMe enclosures, currently around £20-30 on Amazon.


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## Technostica (Nov 3, 2021)

newbreednet said:


> I use them all internally, either on the mobo or strapped into a PCIe NVMe card. Just out of interest though I looked up NVMe enclosures, currently around £20-30 on Amazon.


The OP is looking for external hence my question.
The SATA enclosures are under £10.
I would generally recommend PCIe, but there are cases where SATA still makes sense.


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## newbreednet (Nov 3, 2021)

Technostica said:


> The OP is looking for external hence my question.
> The SATA enclosures are under £10.
> I would generally recommend PCIe, but there are cases where SATA still makes sense.


Oh, I know OP looking for external; I was just commenting on the quality of the drives OP mentioned


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## Technostica (Nov 3, 2021)

newbreednet said:


> Oh, I know OP looking for external; I was just commenting on the quality of the drives OP mentioned


You also mentioned that they were cheaper than SATA but didn’t indicate if that included the enclosure and cable, hence my response.


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## newbreednet (Nov 3, 2021)

2TB WD Blue NVMe currently £152 + £24 for a USB 3.2 Sabrent enclosure with cable... 

If I was buying another 2TB SATA I would get an MX500 (£157) and as you say <£10 for enclosure. I have one of these drives already, and they are very good...

OP mentioned it was for libraries; if it was me, I would go for the NVMe.


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## newbreednet (Nov 3, 2021)

I should also note that I only paid £140 for my MX500 during an Amazon promo sale in March. If OP can hang on until BF, I highly expect both SATA and NVMe drives to see similar discounts then.


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## robo3000 (Nov 3, 2021)

I was in the same predicament and initially went for a pci nvme (evo 960) in an external enclosure solution but returned it because it got so hot when using it that I was afraid it would break if I used it for a longer period. Also the speed wasn't that good but that was because the cable I used was not capable of 10Gpbs. I swapped it for a 2TB Samsung T7 and use it for BBCSO and HOOPUS which works quite well. Note the max throughput of sata is 6gbps and usb 3.2 can handle 10 gpbs so an external sata drive will not utilize the max speed of your connection.


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## toomanynotes (Nov 4, 2021)

Technostica said:


> For USB 3.0, a SATA drive is all you need.
> 3.1 Gen 2 is better off with a low end PCIe drive as it can reach close to 1GBs v <500MBs for 3.0.
> TB3 is much faster and also much more expensive.
> 
> Are you looking to buy an external drive or to buy an enclosure and put your choice of drive in it?


Thanks to everyone- fun to read! 
Yes looking to buy a drive then to pop it into an enclosure. Cheers!
I’m thinking PCIe for BBCSO Pro and wait for BF sales! I already have a Samsung Evo Plus 500gb - so I may just use that enclosure for the 2TB drive, if that’s the route i take…which is most likely. 😎


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## tc9000 (Nov 4, 2021)

I've had a Samsung T5 for a year or so and its great for loading libraries from. I got a second one recently and it did start to heat up quite a lot when downloading Opus and also BBCSO Pro, which was a concern, but its cool as ice in normal use, and completely silent of course and easily as fast as I need.


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## guerrax (Nov 9, 2021)

Technostica said:


> For external, you need to know the bandwidth of your connection.
> No point in paying for performance you can’t use.


Absolutely. I was about to buy a sandisk 2000MB/s bandwith and finally took the T7 because my Mac Mini 2018 had (3.2 Gen 1 / Thunderbolt 3 ) limited connections. And so it was way cheaper and more appropriate.


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## guerrax (Nov 9, 2021)

Sunny Schramm said:


> I love my Samsung T7 2TB (USB 3.2 Gen.2 - max. 1050 read / 1000 write) - which was offered for only 213€ last week. I payed about 250€ some months ago. On my PC with USB 3.1 Gen 2 I got speeds up to 880MB/s.
> 
> IMPORTANT: Use the cables which came with it. Other cables looses more than half of the speed. Mine is filled with about 1.4TB Kontakt-Libraries right now and still got the high performance


Hey ! Where have you found this best deal ? 
I've just bought mine @249 Euros but fortunately with a 30 day return policy. 
Thanks​


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## GregSilver (Nov 9, 2021)

Last week it was on amazon.de for 213 EUR. Now price is up again. I just bought a Kingston NV1 2 TB NVME for 159 EUR instead and an external case (Icy Box) for my Mac mini. Runs well so far


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## davidson (Nov 9, 2021)

I use six crucial MX500 drives in a combination of sata hubs and enclosures and I havent had a single issue in years. For kontakt libraries and samples, I don't think you'd see much real world benefit going the nvme route. Now if you edit video too, nvme would make a lot more sense.


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## Al Maurice (Nov 9, 2021)

I've just upgraded to a compatible NVMe drive, but just to speed up the OS and app loading times.

Otherwise I just use external drives on a USB-C bus rated to my max bus speed. Samsung have some good offerings, usually more pricier than most. 

Note that some drives give excellent burst performance for a few Gb until the cache (if the have one) is exhausted, then they throttle right back. Others are more consistent but don't have as good throughput. Some also are better at dealing with decompression than others too. I would check out the benchmarks and see which best works for your requirements and budget.


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## GregSilver (Nov 9, 2021)

davidson said:


> For kontakt libraries and samples, I don't think you'd see much real world benefit going the nvme route. Now if you edit video too, nvme would make a lot more sense.


I just use it for samples and libraries but with a total price under 200 EUR it was the cheapest route to go. The Samsung T5 would have been 220 EUR so I went the NVME route. Are there any other drawbacks I am missing? I still have time to refund 

Edit: speaking about EXTERNAL drives


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## davidson (Nov 9, 2021)

GregSilver said:


> I just use it for samples and libraries but with a total price under 200 EUR it was the cheapest route to go. The Samsung T5 would have been 220 EUR so I went the NVME route. Are there any other drawbacks I am missing? I still have time to refund
> 
> Edit: speaking about EXTERNAL drives


Well if its cheaper and a reputable chipset, then I guess it's a no-brainer!


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## thevisi0nary (Nov 9, 2021)

With



Working great but I only use it for samples.


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## Delboy (Nov 9, 2021)

Be good if someone made a hub like system for the thin external passport type drives with spcae for the usb connex cables and power etc and a quality lead usb to usb and usb to usb-c.
All hubs seem to be for 2.5 or above drives


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