2 TB SSD under $70

[Robert M]

RAM,

I'd been using an Inland Performance NVME stick in an Envoy Express as the boot drive for my '19 iMac since May 2022. Rock solid fast and reliable. I recently switched to an Inland performance plus NVME in an Envoy Express enclosure. Instead of nuking a Mojave configuration on a Inland PErformance stick in an Envoy Express enclosure, I decided to keep it intact and get a new stick for a Sequioa psuedo-clone.

There was nothing wrong with the Inland Performance stick/Envoy Express combo with Mojave on it. So, I moved that stick into an Orico USB 3.1 Gen 2 box. In turn, I bought an Inland Performance Plus 2TB stick and put it into the Envoy Express. Cloned my Sequioa configuraiton it it, made it the boot drive and went back to work.

I've no doubt the Inland Performance Plus stick in the Envoy Express will prove just as reliable as all of the other Inland SSDs I've used over the years.

At some point, when I move to an Apple Silicon box, I'll purchase another OWC Thunderbolt box and Inland Performance Plus stick. I'll turn that into the boot drive of the new machine. Just did that with a different NVME stick and an Envoy Pro SX enclosure. It's the boot drive for my office's Mini M4 Pro.

I really like OWC's Thunderbolt enclosures. The Envoy Express is good. Great build quality. Overall well designed. Rock solid reliable. The Envoy Pro SX is a notch above the Envoy Express in nearly every way. I wish OWC still sold them as bare enclosures. Hopefully they'll bring it back. If not, the Envoy Pro FX as a bare enclosure might become its replacement. That and I hope they offer the Envoy Ultra as a bare enclosure.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-ultra

I'd love to drop one of the Performance or Performance Plus sticks I'm using as boot drives into the Envoy Pro SX, FX or Envoy Ultra. Maybe they'll be available as bare enclosures by the time I'm ready to move to an Apple Silicon machine at home. This assumes, of course, Apple still allows us to boot Macs off an external drive. I dread the day Apple kaiboshes this feature.

Robert

[rz]

Still waiting for a good deal on an 8TB SSD. They were in the $350 range a couple of years ago, then shot up to over $600. They’re still in the $550 range for a decent one.

[RAMd®d]

I've got two Envoy Pro SX and one 1M2 boxes, all as empty boxes.

The design of both cases is impassive.

One of the SXs will probably end up as a boot drive for my old 2015 iMac, and just use the internal 1T Fusion for storage.

That SX will be strapped to the iMac stand as a heat sink.

I don't remember what sticks I put in the SXs, and am waiting for some fast 4T for the 1M2.

I'll try to wait for a decent deal on larger capacity sticks.

1T and 2T are just something I no longer wish to trifle with.

[freeradical]

Can someone monkey around with the firmware in an SSD so that a 4 GB drive appears to be a 4 TB drive?

[Black]

freeradical wrote:
Can someone monkey around with the firmware in an SSD so that a 4 GB drive appears to be a 4 TB drive?

I think so... eBay is full of those scammy "EVO 870" listings that they refuse to take down.

[Robert M]

Free,

Definitely when you see a high capacity SSD available for a ridiculously low price and especially common from no-name brands. It's one of the reasons I stay with known brands even if they are less well known. The irony is the few SSDs I've owned that failed were actually from name brands: Crucial, Adata and OWC. I own and use regularly SSDs from various less well known brands and they have performed admirably. They include Inland, Silicon Power, and Mushkin (who I know for optical media, not SSDs).

Robert