Given that Thunderbolt SSDs are unusual and expensive, should you buy a USB4 model that claims to be compatible with Thunderbolt? Watch out for the traps.
SSD
Apple silicon Macs are designed and built for reliability. Using old techniques to safeguard from disaster isn’t wise: they need to be reappraised, and contingencies planned accordingly.
How does copy on write work, and how do clones grow apart? What effect do they have on the use of space and performance?
How well do USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSDs mix with Thunderbolt 3 SSDs when connected to the same Thunderbolt 4 hub?
If you want it to have full TRIM and SMART support, it’ll need to have an NVMe interface and a Thunderbolt connection.
Adds the ability to check some key SMART health indicators for Apple Fabric and PCIe SSDs.
There’s a big difference between the storage that’s available, and what’s advisable. Whether it’s affordable is another question.
Why should you trim an SSD? How to tell whether an SSD needs trimming, finding out whether it has trim support, and whether it does trim.
Enabling the TRIM command was once thought important to maintain good write performance on SSDs. What has happened to it? Should we still be enabling it?
Traced from recognition of the cable connection, through establishing PCI streams, to mounting the volume with APFS, and the bonus of a good trim at the end.
