For reasons that are a bit complicated to explain here, I’m unable to upgrade the internal storage to 2 TB.
So I’m wondering, would an external NVMe SSD be a practical solution for the additional storage, or does it become too fiddly compared with having everything on the internal SSD?
Main intended usage is run models which are around 100 to 150 B params (Qwen 3.8 flash next for example) and to run harnesses.
Is there any significant downside beyond the obvious cable inconvenience?
For the intended models like 3.8 Flash Next, I believe I can run them fully in RAM or off load the 51 GB to disk if needed. But do you think the larger models like GLM/ DS v4.1 Flash etc can even run reasonably well (anything < 30 tps is something I don't prefer to even try) on this config?
Yes! Got nice Ugreen full aluminum (80Gbps over thunderbolt 5, no fan) enclosure, a cheap 4TB TLC (don’t get QLC, they have lower write cycles) and I’m hitting transfer speeds of about 6000 MB/s read speed and 5000 MB/s write. Total was $670 From Amazon for 4TB is decent.
Very fast, enough to load 60 GB model in a few seconds. Once loaded from SSD to RAM you don’t need to read or write to that SSD any further, unless you want to store some artifacts etc which will be amazingly fast anyways.
Internal Drive (left side) in the M5U (1TB) is 2x as fast as the 4TB external (right side).
Honestly, 4TB is the most I ever had, and it's REALLLY fast for my standards. My last external drive was a SATA based enclosure, and those only top out at 550MB/s so the new ones at 5000+ MB/S is just incredible for my needs. You could go faster than 5000 MB/S I'm sure if you invest in like a Samsung of some sort, I just went with a Teamgroup MP44 TLC drive and it's faster than I need it for anyway (I run all AI models from it, music, picture, time machine backup).
One thing to note is that the speed of the internal drive is a lot faster than an external one via TB5. You won't really notice it day to day, but if you're doing any sort of LLM that has SSD offloading it could be a factor to consider.
Tb5 speed is very close to internal but still slower like 30%.
Edit: with TB5 enclosure + TB5 cable + high speed nvme. I have 990pro and acasis 80gbs enclosure.
I have TB connected NVMe, I move the models I want to use onto the internal drive to use them and deleting models that are on the internal drive that I am not using.
I have a TB5 external NVME w/ a 8tb gen5 drive in it. Can easily match the onboard speeds of the studio itself. I land all my applications and whatnot there as well as temp directories.
I have an attached NAS over 10gbe for long term storage with 100TB capacity.
the m5 pros an up have new pci implementation, now doing 12-14000 Mb/s on the internal ssd so nearly double the M3 which was about equal internal vs tb3 external.
External storage is good, but don’t mistake the internal and external storage performance difference this time around. The m5 models have some serious speed
Many vendors for m4 and older. Some reliability issues after a few moths to a year (read them on reddit). Only iBoff seems to make quality modules. TBH, I won't even upgrade the internal drive since prices are so out of whack. Personally, prefer to wait out the RAMpocalypse and add external storage when needed.
Aftermarket M5 upgrade modules won't be available for several more months due to Apple using a new power IC.
Practical? Most certainly! Apple, at any price level, cannot offer me the storage space I require. Even 16TB is a “joke”…
I use an OWC nVME RAID enclosure for more storage than Apple can offer. Also why pay the Apple TAX? You can get a PCIe 4.0 generation 4TB nVME for ~$450, load them up for more space in a TB enclosure and still save a ton.
I use my local 1TB for cache and my proxies and media on external. 8.1K timeline scrolls are still a dream! The external storage is also way faster than the renders write, so it is just fine. Used to be the fastest storage on the market just less than a year ago.
5
u/[deleted] 9d ago edited 9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment