What SSD to get for macOS Catalina/Big Sur?

[WhitetailAni]

I've been looking to escape hard drives for boot devices for awhile now, but I'm not sure what to look for as I've never bought a storage device before.

I'd like to get one for my Mac Mini to boot Catalina on, and one for my Ryzen PC to boot Big Sur on (yes I'm going to install it, no you can't change my mind).

I'm thinking 250GB for the Mac Mini as I already have a 500GB HDD there, and 250 or 500GB for Big Sur.

So my two questions are this:

1. Should I get 250 or 500GB for Big Sur?
2. What SSDs should I get?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

What mac mini?

 

How much space do you want? Get how ever much you need, os doesn't need much on its own, its basically all user data.

 

Id go nvme drives if you can, other wise sata drives. Basically any drive will work with osx as long as its standard(sata/nvme)

[LIGISTX]

1 minute ago, FakeKGB said:

I've been looking to escape hard drives for boot devices for awhile now, but I'm not sure what to look for as I've never bought a storage device before.

I'd like to get one for my Mac Mini to boot Catalina on, and one for my Ryzen PC to boot Big Sur on (yes I'm going to install it, no you can't change my mind).

I'm thinking 250GB for the Mac Mini as I already have a 500GB HDD there, and 250 or 500GB for Big Sur.

So my two questions are this:

1. Should I get 250 or 500GB for Big Sur?
2. What SSDs should I get?

 

For the PC, any SSD is fine as it doesn't care. The Mac, possibly there are some that have proven to play nicer, but I am not sure. Last time I swapped an SSD into a macbook was in ~2010.

 

Can you run macOS on Ryzen..? There are drivers? Its hard enough to get hackintosh happy on Intel, but.... sure? 

[WhitetailAni]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What mac mini?

Mac Mini 2011, running Catalina on a 500GB hard drive. It's not fun.

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much space do you want? Get how ever much you need, os doesn't need much on its own, its basically all user data.

I'll probably go 250GB then. I don't like 120GB.

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id go nvme drives if you can, other wise sata drives. Basically any drive will work with osx as long as its standard(sata/nvme)

No NVMe slots open on my PC, so SATA for both.

Just now, LIGISTX said:

Can you run macOS on Ryzen..? There are drivers? Its hard enough to get hackintosh happy on Intel, but.... sure? 

https://hackintosher.com/guides/amd-ryzen-hackintosh-guide-installing-macos-high-sierra-10-13/

I have no idea if Big Sur will work, but I guess we'll find out.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

Mac Mini 2011, running Catalina on a 500GB hard drive. It's not fun.

I'll probably go 250GB then. I don't like 120GB.

No NVMe slots open on my PC, so SATA for both.

Id just get 860 evos then. Pretty cheap, pretty reliable, pretty fast.

[kpluck]

Whichever SSD you choose, you may want to check the manufacturer's support page and see if they offer a firmware updater for Apple hardware/macOS. Bootcamp might be an option for firmware updates but that will cut into your space for macOS so you will want to keep that in mind.

 

-kp

[ProjectBox153]

My vote is for the Crucial MX500 for both the Mac mini and the desktop. I'm running multiple MX500s on different Macs, and they've been excellent in terms of cost, reliability and performance. Last I checked they were also cheaper than the 860 EVO. For Big Sur I'd get a larger drive. 500GB should be fine. 

 

Also, I've heard there are some issues with the 650 Ti in macOS. Good luck with that. You really should look into getting an AMD card when the prices come back down if you're wanting to run macOS on a regular basis. 

21 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

For the PC, any SSD is fine as it doesn't care. The Mac, possibly there are some that have proven to play nicer, but I am not sure. Last time I swapped an SSD into a macbook was in ~2010.

 

Can you run macOS on Ryzen..? There are drivers? Its hard enough to get hackintosh happy on Intel, but.... sure? 

Yes, macOS runs very well on Ryzen in most cases. It was easier to install macOS Catalina on my Ryzen machine than on some Intel machines in the past. 

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, ProjectBox153 said:

Also, I've heard there are some issues with the 650 Ti in macOS. Good luck with that.

Is there a difference between the 650 Ti and the 650 Ti BOOST?
I did hear something about that but I didn't see any mentions of the BOOST version.

1 minute ago, ProjectBox153 said:

My vote is for the Crucial MX500. I'm running multiple MX500s on different Macs, and they've been excellent in terms of cost, reliability and performance. Last I checked they were also cheaper than the 860 EVO. For Big Sur I'd get a larger drive. 500GB should be fine.

Just looked and the MX500 is cheaper...

I do have a slight bias towards Crucial, so I guess I'll be picking up an MX500.

Thank you all for the advice!

[ProjectBox153]

2 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

Is there a difference between the 650 Ti and the 650 Ti BOOST?
I did hear something about that but I didn't see any mentions of the BOOST version.

This post says there are issues with the BOOST. I don't know much about said issues though, as I don't own any of those cards.