Hard disk drive versus PCIe-based flash storage

I am trying to decide whether or not I want to get a regular MacBook Pro or a MacBook Pro with retina. I understand that the SSDs have less of a chance of failure (which is great because I've had a hard drive crash before) and that they run faster, but I don't know if I can deal with less storage space. If it's really worth it, I guess I would be able to fork over more for the higher storage SSDs, but I want to first know more about my options (ie, about how much stuff can I really fit onto each of the storage levels, does the storage amount go further on the SSDs, etc). Personal opinions are welcome! Thank you!

If your storage needs will fit on an SSD and you can afford it then it will speedup your Mac considerably.
Consider the size of your storage needs carefully. New rMBPs are not upgradable so you would need to live with the size of the SSD you would choose. How much storage do you use now on your Mac or PC? Are you planning to increase your media use (music, photos, movies)? Media is the biggest disk space usage for many users.
Personally, when I had a 128 GB SSD I was cramped. I upgrade to a Mac with a 256 GB SSD and now my 140 GB of used space fits OK. I have about 60 GB of music and photos and not much used for movies. I have a lot of old files going back a decade and half that I don’t bother to clean out because that would be a pain. My girlfriend uses only 60 GB and I plan to upgrade your machine to a 128 GB SSD. A 512 GB SSD would be wonderful but they are pricey.
On reliability: SSDs will survive shocks better but they have their own failure modes. I have had one fail in my Mac. So whichever way you go, backups are essential. Maintaining two backups is prudent.
13” rMBP prices: Purchasing at least 8 GB of RAM is prudent. If you count that in then a 256 GB SSD costs only $100 more.

Similar Messages

Is the "512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage" on the new mac worth the extra cost? I am comparing with a refurb with better specs (faster CPU, larger hard drive) and from what I undersand the PCIe flash storage is the big differentiator in cost.

hello - i am considering two macbook pros
NEW - http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=ME294LL/A&step=config#
REFURB - http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0ML1LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-27ghz-quad-c ore-intel-i7-with-retina-display
The refurb actually has a faster processor and a larger hard drive. From what I understand, the big difference in cost is the new macbook pro contains "512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage" versus the refurb "768GB Flash Storage".
Is the PCIe flash storage really worth the extra cost (and smaller size)?
PS - Also I believe the brand new one has 2 GB graphics memory as opposed to 1 GB graphics memory. I don't really care about that as much as I won't be doing a lot of video editing or gaming.

RestonManJavaLuver wrote:
Is she wrong - are these actually going to people's homes, being used, then returned and resold?
Some are some are not. Otherwise Apple has a ton of Mac's sitting around that have been returned by customers under their 14 day No Questions Asked return policy.
But they not just Returned and Resold. They go back to Apple, checked out (Tested) any parts that are not up to spec replaced and then repackaged in a plain white box to be sold as refurbs.

How to read from 256GB PCIe-based flash storage

The logic board on the new 15 inch macbook pro retina is busted. I need to recover the data from my 256GB PCIe-based flash storage. Since the macbook pro doesnt boot up - there is no way for me to recover this data. It would be great if there is way to recover this data through a reader or using it as an external hard drive ?

OWC has their slimline, external Envoy enclosure for receiving the PCIe storage card from a MacBook Pro (2012 - Jan. 2013) models. In red ink, they emphasize it is not to be used for Fall 2013 or later MBP technology — so that solution is out.
Here is an iFixit guide on how to remove the PCie storage card from a 2014 MacBook Pro, in case you need to go there.
Out of town right now, so don't have access to a traditional SATA machine to test if Target Disk Mode still works with new 2014 PCIe machines.

How to buy the 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage ?

Hi,
I own a MacBook Pro retina 2012/2013 with 256GB ssd,
I want to upgrade to the new 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage.
I tried talking to apple support and was told they wont upgrade my macbook.
And that i should buy the SSD as a stand alone part and install it myself.
I have no problem installing it myself but I cant find it as a stand alone product.
The guy in support told me I can get it in the apple store. I went there and they dont sell it.
Anyone have the same problem?
Thanks

I want to upgrade to the new 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage.
Honestly, do you NEED 1tb SSD?
You need to change the premise of your SSD use.
see here:
Your Solid State Drive and having enough space inside your Macbook Air & Pro
Solid State Drive usage premise, or the “more space / upgrade SSD” question
There have been questions posed and positions taken by many people who are trying to use their Macbook Air or Pro’s solid state drive (SSD) as a mass media storage device, for either pictures, videos, massive music collections or all three combined; but this should not be the working premise of a ‘limited’ SSD and its use.
In which, it’s the case of those users with either 128GB, 256GB, or even 512GB of internal SSD space, that have or are running “out of space”, that questions are raised. The immediate premise of some users can sometimes be “(how to / if) upgrading my SSD” when in fact in nearly all instances another approach is the logical and sensible one that needs to be looked into and exercised.
Any Macbook containing a SSD should be idealized as a ‘working platform’ notebook containing all your applications, documents, and weekly or bi-weekly necessary files. All collections of media files such as pictures, music, and videos, unless directly needed should be kept off the notebook and on an external hard drive or likewise. While the ‘working platform’ premise is also the case with larger internal conventional hard drives of 1TB+, its implementation isn't as critical except in terms of data protection.
Realistically, you should at most coordinate roughly 20 to 25% of your total SSD space to all audio-video personal use media (picture / music / video collections), leaving the remaining amount on an external HD.
Nobody should consider any notebook a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device; and in the case of a SSD, this is more important for purposes of having sufficient working space on the SSD and reducing SSD ‘bloat’ in which cases someone is wrongly attempting to use the SSD space as a large media storage nexus.
The rare exception to the collective usage and premise of SSD use in which a much larger SSD is truly needed are for those in video and photography professions that require both the extremely fast speeds of the SSD and the onboard storage for large and or many video and photography files. However this also falls under the premise of a ‘working platform’ for such peoples rather than the intent of many who are using the SSD as passive and static data storage for media files very infrequently needed or accessed.
All on-notebook data collections should be logically approached as to necessity, and evaluated as to whether it is active or passive data that likely doesn’t need to be on the notebook, allocations of space-percentages to as-needed work and use, apportioning space for your entertainment media, and questioning whether it should it be on the notebook for more than short-term consumption.
Considerations should be made in the mind of any user in differentiating the necessary system data (System hub) comprising the Mac OSX, applications, necessary documents that both must and should be on your internal SSD, and that of the users personal data (Data hub) comprising created files, pictures, music, videos, PDF files, data created or being created and otherwise, that likely unless being used soon or often should be parked on an external hard drive for consumption, or temporarily loading onto the internal SSD.
You both can and should purchase whichever SSD size you need or see fit, but even in the case of the largest of SSD, unless use-considerations are made, and SSD spaces are allocated as should be the case indicated above, one can easily and immediately run into this quandary of “needing more internal SSD space”, in which instance a different approach in usage must then be implemented.
However it is almost always the case, that such large media files are wanted to be stored internally rather than actually needed, in which case the external HD is both prudent as well as necessary. Additionally costs per MB are infinitely less on an external HD than an internal SSD in any consideration of data expansion needs.
A Professional Example
In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.
You should also never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your Macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’. This is especially what your external HD is for.
Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their notebooks internal SSD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your Macbook has a SSD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your notebook to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.
Slim USB3 1TB external hard drive
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are both extremely cheap and regardless of the size of your internal SSD (or even internal hard drive if the case), you need an external hard drive with your SSD equipped Macbook for several reasons:
1. Data backup and protection.
2. Redundancy for important data.
3. Necessitated ideal space for large media files for collections of pictures, videos, and music etc.
While ever changing in price, typical portable 2.5” external hard drives in USB3 run roughly $65 for 1TB or $120 for 2TB small portable USB3 hard drives. Such drives range in thickness between 5mm and 15mm, with recent improvements in storage of 500GB drives in 5mm profiles.
There is almost no premise in which a small 12mm thick 1 Terabyte USB hard drive cannot be taken along with any Macbook as an external large storage extension inside any Macbook carry case or pouch. Typically such external HD profiles are not much bigger than a deck of cards.
External hard drives are a foregone necessity for purchase with any Macbook for at the very least Time Machine backups, data redundancies, and ideally for large media storage.

PCIe-based flash storage

Can the PCIe-based flash storage in the new Macbook pros be changed out?

Apparently it can. However there are no 3rd party options just yet.
OWC are working on one and have this great buying guid for the new MacBook Pro range.
http://blog.macsales.com/20816-owcs-definitive-quick-guide-to-making-the-most-of -2013-macbook-pro-with-retina-display

What speed 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage? in 13inch retina

I was order (pick-up 6 november) 13" 1tb 16gb and want know what speed have SSD?
or this STORE not SSD?
Thank you!

"...the drive is capable of nearly 2GB/s sustained transfer rates. "
http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/17/owc-gives-mac-pro-users-the-first-pci-express-ssd- option/

Transferring data from 750GB backup drive to new MacBook Pro with 256 Gb PCI-e flash storage?

Yesterday my late-2008 aluminium unibody MacBook died - absolutely and definitively. I've tried SMC reset multiple times to no avail. However, it served me well for almost six years and it's now time to move on. I've decided to buy a 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina with 256Gb PCI-e flash storage. Obviously, it will come with Mavericks installed as the operating system.
When it died, my MacBook was running OS X 10.8.5, the original hard drive had been replaced with a Western Digital 750GB, 7200 rpm drive of which I believe about 350GB was used. I keep two x 1Tb Lacie Rugged backup drives, each of which has both Time Machine and SuperDuper Bootable Clone backups.
My questions are these -
1.     How should I proceed to transfer my data from my external backup drives to my new MacBook Pro Retina, given the difference in storage capacity of my existing backup drives and my new MacBook Pro?
2.     I have over 32,000 photos in my iPhoto Library which, obviously, consume a big slab of disk space. I'm not sure how I go about 'quarantining' the iPhoto Library so that it doesn't use all the flash drive storage.
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
4.     What else should I be thinking about? I know I'm bound to have overlooked the most obvious problems but can't think what they may be ...
Cheers
Tricia

Patricia Henwood wrote:
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
USB3 is backwards compatible with USB2, so you can use the old USB cables. For faster data transfer rates, Firewire 800 would be available using this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r
Firewire 800 is about twice as fast as USB2, theoretically.
Ciao.

Comparison of SSD with hard disk drives

Attribute or characteristic
Solid-state drive
Hard disk drive
Spin-up time
Instantaneous.
May take several seconds. With a large number of drives, spin-up may need to be staggered to limit total power drawn.
Random access time[45]
About 0.1 ms - many times faster than HDDs because data is accessed directly from the flash memory
Ranges from 5–10 ms due to the need to move the heads and wait for the data to rotate under the read/write head
Read latency time[46]
Generally low because the data can be read directly from any location; In applications where hard disk seeks are the limiting factor, this results in faster boot and application launch times (see Amdahl's law).[47]
Generally high since the mechanical components require additional time to get aligned
Consistent read performance[48]
Read performance does not change based on where data is stored on an SSD
If data is written in a fragmented way, reading back the data will have varying response times
Defragmentation
SSDs do not benefit from defragmentation because there is little benefit to reading data sequentially and any defragmentation process adds additional writes on the NAND flash that already have a limited cycle life.[49][50]
HDDs may require defragmentation after continued operations or erasing and writing data, especially involving large files or where the disk space becomes low. [51]
Acoustic levels
SSDs have no moving parts and make no sound
HDDs have moving parts (heads, spindle motor) and have varying levels of sound depending upon model
Mechanical reliability
A lack of moving parts virtually eliminates mechanical breakdowns
HDDs have many moving parts that are all subject to failure over time
Susceptibility toenvironmental factors[47][52][53]
No flying heads or rotating platters to fail as a result of shock, altitude, or vibration
The flying heads and rotating platters are generally susceptible to shock, altitude, and vibration
Magneticsusceptibility[citation needed]
No impact on flash memory
Magnets or magnetic surges can alter data on the media
Weight and size[52]
The weight of flash memory and the circuit board material are very light compared to HDDs
Higher performing HDDs require heavier components than laptop HDDs that are light, but not as light as SSDs
Parallel operation[citation needed]
Some flash controllers can have multiple flash chips reading and writing different data simultaneously
HDDs have multiple heads (one per platter) but they are connected, and share one positioning motor.
Write longevity
Solid state drives that use flash memory have a limited number of writes over the life of the drive.[54][55][56][57] SSDs based on DRAM do not have a limited number of writes.
Magnetic media do not have a limited number of writes.
Software encryption limitations
NAND flash memory cannot be overwritten, but has to be rewritten to previously erased blocks. If a software encryption program encrypts data already on the SSD, the overwritten data is still unsecured, unencrypted, and accessible (drive-based hardware encryption does not have this problem). Also data cannot be securely erased by overwriting the original file without special "Secure Erase" procedures built into the drive.[58]
HDDs can overwrite data directly on the drive in any particular sector.
Cost
As of October 2010, NAND flash SSDs cost about (US)$1.40–2.00 per GB
As of October 2010, HDDs cost about (US)$0.10/GB for 3.5 in and $0.20/GB for 2.5 in drives
Storage capacity
As of October 2010, SSDs come in different sizes up to 2TB but are typically 512GB or less[59]
As of October 2010, HDDs are typically 2-3TB or less
Read/write performance symmetry
Less expensive SSDs typically have write speeds significantly lower than their read speeds. Higher performing SSDs and those from particular manufacturers have a balanced read and write speed.[citation needed]
HDDs generally have symmetrical read and write speeds
Free block availability andTRIM
SSD write performance is significantly impacted by the availability of free, programmable blocks. Previously written data blocks that are no longer in use can be reclaimed by TRIM; however, even with TRIM, fewer free, programmable blocks translates into reduced performance.[25][60][61]
HDDs are not affected by free blocks or the operation (or lack) of the TRIM command
Power consumption
High performance flash-based SSDs generally require 1/2 to 1/3 the power of HDDs; High performance DRAM SSDs generally require as much power as HDDs and consume power when the rest of the system is shut down.[62][63]
High performance HDDs generally require between 12-18 watts; drives designed for notebook computers are typically 2 watts.

I wish I could get my head round the SSD vs HDD with a NLE rig. My builder is trying to persuade me to use a Toshiba 256Gb THNSNC256GBSJ for OS and programs, and it is only NZ$20 more expensive than the 450Gb 10k rpm VelociRaptor I was originally planing to use for the OS. That sounds suspiciously cheap to me, and I am concerned about the finite writes to SSD - mainly because I don't really understand it.
The rest of the new build is
3930K
Gigabyte X79-UD5
8 x DDR3 1600
Coolermaster with 750W PSU
Geforce GTX570
I plan to transfer the drives from my current system as a starting point, and reassess after giving it some use. That means
Either the above SSD or 450Gb 10k Raptor for OS (new drives)
300Gb 10k rpm Raptor (currently used for OS in old box)
150Gb 7k4 rpm Raptor (reserved for Photoshop Scratch in old box)
2 x 1Tb WD Blacks (data drives)
2 x 1Tb WD USB3 externals
I don't know how I would configure the drives in the new box, but have seen Harm's table and will try to follow his advice. It's a dreadful thing to admit, but I don't have a backup strategy, and the above drives are well over half full. Well over! And I am only just getting serious about video, (the rest is mainly CR2 files from my Canon 1Ds3 and 1D4)
I know it must be like banging your head against the wall, but should I avoid that SSD and go with the 450G Raptor? I have read a comment that the WD Blacks don't work well as Raid0. Is that BS or true?
I am about to give the go-ahead so need to confirm the spec.

Increase the hard disk drive capacity on a MacBook Air

is it possible to increase the hard disk drive capacity from 64 to 128 G? How do I do it?

It would appear Apple does not intend for you to do it.
It might be possible, if expensive.
I would consider an external drive.
increase flash storage on macbook air
Can one upgrade Flash Storage
Re: macbook storage upgrade??
increase flash storage on macbook air

Is it possible to access inbuilt hard disk drive in Apple Airbook

is it possible to access inbuilt hard disk drive in Apple Airbook

Kamal666 wrote:
Yes i would like to access contents, files or etc... on hard drive or inbuild flash drive, Same like Windows my computer hard drives access
Finder Preferences > General > check "Hard Disks"

Qosmio X500/00X System Recovery (Factory Reset) From Hard Disk Drive or Separate Disk

Hey Guys,
Looking for your advice and any links if any...cheers in advance
My Situation
In December 2009 I purchased a Toshiba Qosmio X500 - Model No. PQX33A-00X00J
At the time I upgraded my purchase from Toshiba Reseller BD4U, going from the standard 1x 500GB Sata drive + 1x 64GB SSD... to instead having 2x 500GB sata drives. I purchased with 3 year onsite next business day warranty, that is is now expired.
It came loaded with MS Win 7 Premium Home Edition - but no disks provided.
My Needs
I need/want to factory reset my PC - its starting to run slow
I need to re-partition from my existing 4x partitions to just having 2
The Issues
Possibly as a result of upgrading the disk drives at time of purchase, I don't believe I have a hidden Recovery partition in order to do a System Recovery from the Hard Disk Drive - see image of my current partitions attached
I don't have Win 7 OS installation disks or Toshiba Driver disks as they should have been installed by Toshiba
My Questions
Do You agree that I DONT have a Recovery Partition - when looking at the partition image? I'm confused on this point coz people say its hidden!?
Given I have no Toshiba Drivers Disk or Windows 7 OS disks - what should I do? I'm thinking of downloading Win 7 (use my product key from sticker under PC) and making a disk/USB (but need to learn how)
Is this where I get ALL necessary Toshiba drivers for my PC from?
Does Toshiba provide a link on its site and instructions on where to get Win 7 from so I can make a recover disk??
Notes
Tried to email Toshiba support but at step 1 of their email process validation failed due to my PC being out of warranty so will call them on Monday instead
THANK YOU THANK YOU, for any help you can give big ro small
Cheers
Rick

WOW, thanks Macius for that great, full and thorough reply...cheers mate
I suspected I didn't have a recovery partition - so thanks for confirming it as I planned to risk it and try! I guess it doesn't really matter why, and it would be futile to go and blame the re-seller or Toshiba at this late stage in the game in hopes they would help...
Yeah, I just went to Microsoft Software Recovery hoping to download Win 7 OS and create a recovery disk but of course Microsoft would NOT allow it due to it being software that was pre-installed on the device blah blah blah (see error image)
And I didn't bother back then in 2009 to create recovery media as you wisely descibed, mostly due to laziness and mentally putting it in the 'too hard basket'...I didn't really understand it - or much about computers at the time.
Re - your Option #2 - thanks for confirming Toshiba drivers. I could/can do this - but don't really want to buy something I already have, perhaps I'll check out ebay or see if a friend has a disk
Re - your Option #1 - I'm currently based in Vietnam and wont be back in Oz till late in the year, so will see if I can find a reliable Toshiba service provider here - but wont hold me breath on this one
I'm thinking that IF Option #1 is a No-Go then - maybe Plan B or Option #3 could be:
Do an Audit of Programs to identify those I don't need and can safely remove - then remove using Control Panel/ Remove Programs tool
Reformat all other drives (not C:// where OS is)
Then use some re-partition software e.g. Disk-Partiton.com
Any final thoughts???
Anyhow - thanks very much again
Rick

HT4101 I am trying to connect my JVC Hard Disk Drive Camcorder to my IPAD 2 via the Apple camera kit. I am able to down photos, but video files not showing. Camera shows Mass Stoarge. How can I download videos please.

I am trying to connect my JVC Hard Disk Drive Camcorder to my IPAD 2 via the Apple camera kit. I am able to download photos, but video files not showing. Camera shows Mass Stoarge. How can I download videos please?

The file name only has 6 characters and I'm not sure what the .mod format is. So that's why they are not seen by the iPad.
Another way to transfer. You can use a USB flash drive & the camera connection kit.
Plug the USB flash drive into your computer & create a new folder titled DCIM. Then put your movie/photo files into the folder. The files must have a filename with exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus the file extension (i.e., my-movie.mov; DSCN0164.jpg).
Now plug the flash drive into the iPad using the camera connection kit. Open the Photos app, the movie/photo files should appear & you can import. (You can not export using the camera connection kit.)
Secrets of the iPad Camera Connection Kit
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57401068-285/secrets-of-the-ipad-camera-conn ection-kit/
 Cheers, Tom
Look at this link for convertion the .mod format.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/convert-mod-camcorder-video-format-mpg-instantly/
Message was edited by: Texas Mac Man

Portable Hard Disk Drive

Hi All,
I am in the market to purchase a Portable Hard Disk Drive, as I had purchased an EZQ drive that is now DOA. I am interested in the LaCie Rugged line, but I was looking for more storage space for a good price. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Drew

I am a huge fan of the Mercury Elite Pro drives from OWC found HERE. They are very reliable due to their use of the Oxford 911 chipset.
If you are looking for a more portable drive, then take a look at their Mercury On-The-Go drives HERE. They feature the same Oxford chipset and are bus powered, meaning no power adapter is required.

I would like to use removable hard disk drive (portable hard disk) for iphone because of many data, report and so on. I want to receive data for e-mail, so the iphone holds large amounts of data for a long time, and i want to use its at any time

nowadays, people use removable hard disk drive (portable hard disk) & usb flash drive at computer because of usability, easy to carry around.
so, i would like to use these functions for iphone. i want to develop mini portable hard disk for the use of iphone like computer

Not a feature of iphone.

How to stream audio/video files on bb playbook and create different play lists from another pc and/or external hard disk drive connected with a share router

hi guys
i wish to use my external hard disk drive (1tb) connected with a belkin share router as main storage drive and stream audio/ video and other files on bb playbook through wifi.
also wish to create different playlists directly on playbook.
please tell me guys how can I do it.
thank you in advance

Try this...
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-playbook-f222/how-stream-video-music-more-your-mac-pc-your-p...

Hard disk drive versus PCIe-based flash storage

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