Question about external SSDs

[Ian S 195]

I need to add some more space, primarily to store by Orbx folder.

I am looking at a 1TB external SSD. 

I can see a Samsung 860 EVO for $245 (AUD), or for an extra $155 I can get a Samsung T5.

Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on what I will get for the extra money, is it worth it, and whether anyone is successfully using a Samsung 860 for the their flight sim. 

cheers

Ian

[vortex681 806]

5 hours ago, Ian S said:

I am looking at a 1TB external SSD. 

Why not internal? Unless you use one of the more unusual interfaces like Thunderbolt, in an average system an internal SSD will almost always be faster than an external one, particularly so if you use an NVMe drive. The only compelling reason to go for an external drive is portability.

[vc10man 731]

Just downloaded a heap of Orbx downloads. A good post by OP. Where are they stored so can make a back-up?

[beechcaptain 87]

This question is valid for laptops, I am interested in following this thread.

[costamesa 88]

19 minutes ago, beechcaptain said:

This question is valid for laptops, I am interested in following this thread.

+1 There is not always available slot for an additional SSD

[Ian S 195]

3 hours ago, vortex681 said:

Why not internal? Unless you use one of the more unusual interfaces like Thunderbolt, in an average system an internal SSD will almost always be faster than an external one, particularly so if you use an NVMe drive. The only compelling reason to go for an external drive is portability.

Exactly, portability. 

I am hoping to future-proof things as much as possible. In the event I change my motherboard I dont want to worry about compatibility and instead just plug the drive into the new system 

[Ian S 195]

2 hours ago, vc10man said:

Just downloaded a heap of Orbx downloads. A good post by OP. Where are they stored so can make a back-up?

Just to clarify,  this will be for my primary Orbx folder, not the backup files used for reinstallations 

[vc10man 731]

1 hour ago, Ian S said:

Just to clarify,  this will be for my primary Orbx folder, not the backup files used for reinstallations 

Probably did not phrase it correctly, but what I meant to say was that I have just spent 3 days downloading all my Orbx purchases now that I have a larger drive, but wanted to ideally know how to create a backup folder, as slow broadband speeds takes ages to download

[vortex681 806]

2 hours ago, Ian S said:

I am hoping to future-proof things as much as possible. In the event I change my motherboard I dont want to worry about compatibility and instead just plug the drive into the new system.

You could still use an internal drive. If you use a SATA3 SSD it will almost certainly be faster than an external drive and you can still easily swap it between systems - the SATA3 interface is likely to be around for some time yet. Additionally, it will probably cost less than an external drive and it guarantees that you won't have any potential USB connection problems that pop up occasionally.

Edited November 7, 2018 by vortex681

[Trumpet1 0]

Plus, an internal SSD can be double-foam-sided-taped almost anywhere inside the case. You don’t need an empty slot.

[costamesa 88]

21 minutes ago, Trumpet1 said:

Plus, an internal SSD can be double-foam-sided-taped almost anywhere inside the case. You don’t need an empty slot.

Hmm..how do you mean?

[Bob Scott 6,376]

TBH, an external SSD somewhat defeats the purpose of buying the fast media in the first place.  The device is faster, but the transfer speeds from it to the data bus are quite a bit slower than an internal nVME or SATA III connection.  Faster (and more expensive) device on a slower bus...not really an improvement.

Also, placing scenery (except photoscenery) onto an SSD does not generally help with performance, because P3D/FSX's lookahead precaches the scenery to RAM before it's processed anyway, making the speed at which it's accessed essentially irrelevant (within the range of currently-available storage devices).

So...if you have to put scenery on an external drive, it's probably just as well to buy a much cheaper (and probably higher-capacity) 7200 rpm HDD.  The only performance difference you might notice is slightly longer loading times when starting the sim.

Regards

[Ray Proudfoot 7,372]

On 11/7/2018 at 5:08 PM, w6kd said:

TBH, an external SSD somewhat defeats the purpose of buying the fast media in the first place.  The device is faster, but the transfer speeds from it to the data bus are quite a bit slower than an internal nVME or SATA III connection.  Faster (and more expensive) device on a slower bus...not really an improvement.

Also, placing scenery (except photoscenery) onto an SSD does not generally help with performance, because P3D/FSX's lookahead precaches the scenery to RAM before it's processed anyway, making the speed at which it's accessed essentially irrelevant (within the range of currently-available storage devices).

So...if you have to put scenery on an external drive, it's probably just as well to buy a much cheaper (and probably higher-capacity) 7200 rpm HDD.  The only performance difference you might notice is slightly longer loading times when starting the sim.

Regards

Bob,

I moved FS Global files to a slower HDD from a SSD to generate more space and the load time of P3D was considerably slower. Moved them back the next day.

FS Global covers the entire world in enhanced mesh and comes on 8 DVDs so it’s quite a lot of data. Less data would be read quicker but I would always store scenery on SSDs.

[Bob Scott 6,376]

46 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I moved FS Global files to a slower HDD from a SSD to generate more space and the load time of P3D was considerably slower. Moved them back the next day.

FS Global covers the entire world in enhanced mesh and comes on 8 DVDs so it’s quite a lot of data. Less data would be read quicker but I would always store scenery on SSDs.

I think the difference here is the OP is asking about using an external drive, which is likely to be limited by the speed of the interface.  No doubt about it, initial load times are much faster on an internal SATA III or nVME SSD when compared to an internal HDD.

[Ray Proudfoot 7,372]

17 minutes ago, w6kd said:

I think the difference here is the OP is asking about using an external drive, which is likely to be limited by the speed of the interface.  No doubt about it, initial load times are much faster on an internal SATA III or nVME SSD when compared to an internal HDD.

I agree but wasn't he asking about an external drive presumably connected via USB3? How do the speeds of that compare to internal SSD? Slow, very slow or take the dog for a walk?

Edited November 8, 2018 by Ray Proudfoot