Sequoia 15.3 results in significant improvements in read-write speeds of SSDs connection through Thunderbolt 5 docks and hubs. Here are the details and implications for choosing SSDs.
SSD
Early testing of TB5 SSDs show they do deliver much faster speeds that even USB4 models, although not as high as some claim. But their cache size may limit streaming large amounts of data.
Deciding which file system to use for hard disks can be difficult. Here are the advantages and disadvantages explained in detail, for HFS+ and APFS.
How to connect a USB4 SSD to get better performance from an Intel Mac. Should you buy a Thunderbolt 4 hub, or a Thunderbolt 5 dock? Do any of these live ‘up to’ their claimed performance?
Why pay an extra $600 for a 2 TB internal SSD, after all fast external SSDs are cheaper. Maybe you need to check whether disk performance becomes a rate-limiting factor.
What TB5 actually provides in its Symmetric and Asymmetric modes, why those are most important to connect Mac to dock or hub, and how that can go wrong.
Is an M4 next week a better risk than the promise of a better model next year? Understand how to select the M4 chip suited to your needs, and specify your new Mac.
Sparse bundles (UDSB), read-write disk images (UDRW) and sparse images (UDSP) compared on two SSD, with and without container encryption.
How much faster should a Thunderbolt 3 SSD be for making Time Machine backups? How can you speed up backups to your NAS? Here are representative speeds from real testing.
What can cause low copy speeds for very large and possibly sparse files, such as VMs? Causes explained, and tools you can use to discover why.
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