External 2tb thunderbolt recommendations please

[gregoryahunter]

Hey yall. I need some advice to try to extend the life of my 2019 16 inch MacBook Pro. Im getting intermittent random notifications from Drive Genius that my 2 TB internal drive is having issues. I keep an up to date Time Machine backup of the drive on a big external drive. What I'm looking for is a recommendation for a 2TB thunderbolt drive or enclosure/and drive to use as the Startup drive for when the internal drive eventually dies. Any specific advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

If I wanted a fast, reliable external SSD, I’d build my own using this kit (it has a huge heatsink and a fan!). This enclosure offers maximum cooling, and an NVMe SSD is way faster than the older SATA ones:

Inateck M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with Fan, 10G Transmission Speed, M Key/B&M Key Supported, Aluminum Shell, Tool Free, Applicable Sizes 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, FE2022
$27
https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Enclosure-Transmission-Supported-Applicable/dp/B097M8WQ6T/

with

Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM
(This NVMe includes DRAM, for excellent performance.)
$179
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S1T0B/dp/B07MFZXR1B/?th=1

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I should point out that you can find cheaper external SSD's than what I've suggested above, that don't require assembly, such as:

Crucial X6 2TB Portable SSD – Up to 800MB/s – USB 3.2 – External Solid State Drive, USB-C - CT2000X6SSD9
$128
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-1TB-Portable-SSD-CT1000X6SSD9/dp/B08FSNKNSV/ref=sr_1_3?th=1

But the above product throttles down precipitously when doing larger file transfers or backups, and it has little or no cooling to the SSD. You get what you pay for.

 

[gregoryahunter]

If I wanted a fast, reliable external SSD, I’d build my own using this kit (it has a huge heatsink and a fan!). This enclosure offers maximum cooling, and an NVMe SSD is way faster than the older SATA ones:

Inateck M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with Fan, 10G Transmission Speed, M Key/B&M Key Supported, Aluminum Shell, Tool Free, Applicable Sizes 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, FE2022
$27
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097M8WQ6T/?tag=macforums0e4-20

with

Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM
(This NVMe includes DRAM, for excellent performance.)
$179
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MFZXR1B/?tag=macforums0e4-20

Thank you so very much - this is exactly the data I was looking for - I really appreciate it

 

[pigoo3]

I'm getting intermittent random notifications from Drive Genius that my 2 TB internal drive is having issues.

What exactly is Drive Genius saying? Since internal SSD's in 2019 16" MacBook Pro's cannot be upgraded after purchase...definitely want to get to the bottom of this.

Nick

 

[gregoryahunter]

What exactly is Drive Genius saying? Since internal SSD's in 2019 16" MacBook Pro's cannot be upgraded after purchase...definitely want to get to the bottom of this.

Nick

I didnt write down the exact wording that Drive Genius spit out but when I try to run "Drive Pulse" on the Drive Genius app - it causes a hard system freeze every single time. And when I try to do a "Repair drive" it keeps having troubles making a "Bootwell" drive. SOOOOO - my plan is to use the external 2TB drive to copy the internal SSD (or use my Time Machine backups) and then set the external drive as the startup disk. Then see if Drive genius can completely wipe the internal drive and see if any repair magic can happen. Hopefully the computer will work with the external drive as the startup drive for a while - but Im thinking it must be fate that Apple just announced 14 inch M2 MacBook Pros TODAY! ("Gee Honey - my laptop had died - looks like a I need to order a new one - goshdarnitall")

 

[pigoo3]

SOOOOO - my plan is to use the external 2TB drive to copy the internal SSD (or use my Time Machine backups) and then set the external drive as the startup disk. Then see if Drive genius can completely wipe the internal drive and see if any repair magic can happen.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest.

My wife's 2015 MacBook Air had a similar issue. I tried all sorts of stuff (run Disk Utility...SMC Reset, PRAM Reset, etc)...and nothing cured the hard-freezing/kernel panic.

Backed up all important stuff...then decided to reformat the SSD...and fresh install of the macOS (Monterey in this case). Been less than a week...but so far all seems to be good.

...but I'm thinking it must be fate that Apple just announced 14 inch M2 MacBook Pros TODAY! ("Gee Honey - my laptop had died - looks like a I need to order a new one - goshdarnitall")

Yes new M2 computers announced today (14" & 16" MacBook Pro's and new Mac-Mini).

Hang in there...16" 2019 MacBook Pro still a very good computer. Maybe a re-format & reinstall of the macOS will cure the issue.

Nick

 

[ced89]

I don't think you'll be able to use the Time Machine disk as boot disk at any given point, TM is a backup through system snapshots, as far as I know, you can only restore from it...

Boot with external disks is not advisable, it can break at any time and it's not easy as fixing the Windows or Linux boot loader... You may not even be allowed to do that due to security in place between the key held in the external chip (your master key) and the disk required to unlock your disk with that key.
Also Windows has such protection, but it's optional in the group policies and not an easy reach for the average user.

 

[gregoryahunter]

I don't think you'll be able to use the Time Machine disk as boot disk at any given point, TM is a backup through system snapshots, as far as I know, you can only restore from it...

I wasn't planning on trying to boot from the Time Machine backup - just using it to restore the internal Startup SSD to the External SSD - and then use the external SSD as Startup Drive and wipe the internal drive and see if it can be salvaged by any of the drive utilities....

Boot with external disks is not advisable, it can break at any time and it's not easy as fixing the Windows or Linux boot loader... You may not even be allowed to do that due to security in place between the key held in the external chip (your master key) and the disk required to unlock your disk with that key.
Also Windows has such protection, but it's optional in the group policies and not an easy reach for the average user.

Hmmmm - I'll experiment and see what happens. If it all falls apart - "Honey - My laptop died and the internet couldn't get it running again. I guess I need a new laptop!"

 

[MacInWin]

I don't think you'll be able to use the Time Machine disk as boot disk at any given point, TM is a backup through system snapshots, as far as I know, you can only restore from it...

Actually, you CAN boot from TM, but it boots to the Recovery Panel, from where you can reinstall the OS and do the restoration from the TM backup.

Boot with external disks is not advisable, it can break at any time and it's not easy as fixing the Windows or Linux boot loader... You may not even be allowed to do that due to security in place between the key held in the external chip (your master key) and the disk required to unlock your disk with that key.

I would not go so far as it being "not advisable," nor does it "break at any time," and fixing it is dead easy if it does not boot properly. It will be slower to boot than an internal drive, but on any Intel Mac, it is definitely an option. For Mx Macs, it is an option, but requires that the internal storage be functional so that the first steps in the boot process can run (they only run from internal storage on Mx Macs). As for "fixing," all it takes is to reboot using the Option key and make the external the default drive again.

Will that do to extend the life of a Mac whose internal storage has failed? As I said, yes it will, but it's going to be a slow boot process.

 

[ced89]

Actually, you CAN boot from TM, but it boots to the Recovery Panel, from where you can reinstall the OS and do the restoration from the TM backup.

I would not go so far as it being "not advisable," nor does it "break at any time," and fixing it is dead easy if it does not boot properly. It will be slower to boot than an internal drive, but on any Intel Mac, it is definitely an option. For Mx Macs, it is an option, but requires that the internal storage be functional so that the first steps in the boot process can run (they only run from internal storage on Mx Macs). As for "fixing," all it takes is to reboot using the Option key and make the external the default drive again.

Will that do to extend the life of a Mac whose internal storage has failed? As I said, yes it will, but it's going to be a slow boot process.

More than a slow boot process, I was just concerned about updates/upgrades, it's easy to mess the boot process with those and rely on an external SSD it's something you should never do with a Mac, it's not supported by Apple, as you noted, especially on Mxx Macs.

 

[MacInWin]

it's not supported by Apple, as you noted, especially on Mxx Macs.

Not true. If it were not supported, it would not be possible. It is possible, and there are lots of use cases to do it (To run beta versions, or an older version when a new one is released, or to test a new release before committing to it, etc.). Update/upgrades do require some thinking, as they are applied to the boot drive, so one would have to boot from the internal to get those updates/upgrades back to that drive, but then the same issue is there if you have a bootable clone and want it to stay up-to-date as well. And the Mx Macs will boot from a TM backup to Recovery, as long as that same internal Container is there and functional.

What I did say was that unlike the Intel Macs, the Apple Silicon Macs have to start the first part of the boot process from a very small Container that is on the internal storage area of the Mx chipset. So, if that Container is faulty because the storage has failed, the Mac cannot be booted at all and a new logic board is required.