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TESTED - The Fastest Thunderbolt SSD for YOUR M1 Mac and Intel Mac!

8:37 video

If you want the fastest external storage for a Mac, Thunderbolt SSDs are your best option, versus buying your own SSD and enclosure, a ready-to-go SSD, a RAID or a NAS. I tested four Thunderbolt 3 SSDs, from Western Digital’s G-Technology, LaCie, OWC and Samsung, to find the fastest and best value. I chose 1 TB models without a built-in Thunderbolt cable. Each claims up to 2,800 MB/s, and except for the LaCie (about $400), they run about $350 for 1 TB. They each come with backup software, which I didn’t review.

I tested Thunderbolt SSDs over USB-C, RAID or a NAS because the performance is much higher, the footprint is smaller and they’re bus powered, with no external supply. They’re good for editing video directly, temporary super-fast storage, backups or a boot drive. Even the new M1 iPad Pro can use faster storage, with apps like LumaFusion announcing editing straight off an external drive. If you have an older Mac with a slow SSD or spinning disk, installing macOS on an external Thunderbolt drive can make it feel new.

The drives

  • Samsung X5: all plastic with a back status light, slightly grippy bottom and shiny top. I like the red accents (it looks cool, so it must be fast). A magnesium alloy structure survives a 6 ft drop; a 3-year warranty.
  • G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile Pro SSD: mostly soft-touch plastic with a visible blue heat sink and a front status light. A 5-year warranty, a 3 m drop and 1,000 lbs of crush resistance.
  • LaCie Rugged SSD Pro: fully encapsulated in a soft silicone case, the most compact. The most expensive, with IP67 water and dust resistance, a 3 m drop and a 5-year warranty.
  • OWC Envoy Pro FX: feels like a brick, with a solid aluminum body (probably a big heatsink), basic gray with a white logo. A 3-year warranty, IP67 and military-spec drop testing.

Test setup

I connected each to an M1 MacBook Pro and an Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro with a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 cable (backward compatible with Thunderbolt 3, USB4 and USB-C). The Thunderbolt controller on M1 Macs seems different from Intel’s, so I show both. I used the free AJA System Test Lite (not Blackmagic) with a 16 GB, 4K video test file, cache off, with drives formatted APFS.

Results

  • Intel 16-inch, initial: all performed exceptionally well and very similarly: about 2,100 MB/s write and 2,400 MB/s read, a few MB/s apart.
  • M1 MacBook Pro: a dramatic drop in write speed on all drives, but read speeds rose by 200 to 300 MB/s. The G-DRIVE lost the least write speed (I re-ran every drive). The write drop matches what I’ve seen on M1 for six months and appears universal.

Sustained 10-minute test (Intel 16-inch)

SSDs can heat up and slow down, so I ran AJA continuously for 10 minutes. Reads changed only slightly, but writes dropped:

  • Samsung X5: 2,200 to about 780 MB/s, a loss of about 65%.
  • LaCie: about 2,100 to 1,000 MB/s, about 50%.
  • G-DRIVE: about 2,100 to 1,400 MB/s, about 32%.
  • OWC Envoy Pro FX: no loss: 2,100 MB/s both times. I double and triple checked.

Longer tests on the M1 gave similar results. The drives with the fastest speeds after 10 minutes were also cooler, so I believe thermal dissipation helped the OWC and G-DRIVE.

Recommendation

There’s no clear winner; it depends on whether you want a 5-year warranty, whether you have an Intel or M1 Mac, and whether your workflow is short bursts or constant transfers.

  • M1 Mac: the G-DRIVE Mobile Pro, fastest for M1, with a 5-year warranty and good extended performance.
  • Intel Mac: the OWC Envoy Pro FX, whose sustained performance may surprise you; about $50 cheaper than the G-DRIVE, with a 3-year warranty.
  • Rugged and compact: the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro, for another $50.
  • Samsung X5: I can’t recommend it over the others at this time.

Are you looking to add fast storage to an ailing Mac, or do you have a project that needs the boost?

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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