Date: Dec 1, 2019

Yesterday, sine I am at SUTD, so, I decided to give SITEX 2019 a visit.

It is a IT show. They sell all kind of things. They also sell a lot of home kitchen ware too.

So, as I was walking, this caught my eyes. Wow, I paid almost $200 for my 4TB hard disk not many months ago. S$129 is a very good price.

So, immediately, your mind confirmed that things is SITEX is much cheaper.

Well, bad idea. WRONG!

So, if you search the Amazon.sg, S$129 indeed is cheaper.

But then, with the money you paid for the 4TB, you can actually buy a 5TB at S$138.

What?

So, you tell me, where and what is the bargain.

When you visit a a show, your judgement or my judgement are fully clouded, and I forgot to look up to my old friend Amazon, to compare the price.

The biggest mistake perhaps is this.

I just bought a Fast SSD 2TB from SITEX show yesterday thinking it is a good bargain.

So, this is just beside the $129 4TB bargain. Listed price is S$1099, and now selling for S$469. And I remember all stores are selling at similar price as when I walked into the SITEX I saw.

So without much thinking, partly also due to I was happy buying a VR set for my PS4. Haiz…

Later that night, I went to search for the same thing on Amazon.sg, and shockingly, Amazon.sg is selling at S$372.49, almost S$100 cheaper. Haiz. Lesson learned. That is why I am trying to think hard why I had never stepped into the SITEX for the past 10 years…

Mistake already made. So, I hope this blog entry can remind my friends not to be clouded by all these fanciful colourful IT gadgets and marketing messages…

Do your homework, search and compare prices from Amazon, shopee, Lazada, etc. Before you buy.

Anyway, yesterday I was very please with my Fast SSD. This is my first external SSD. My iMac has only 1TB disk space. My Photo library has grown ever since I switched to Mirrorless Camera from Point and Shoot camera. I even deleted all Video files from time to time and RAW files as well but my precious Photo Library keep growing until now reaching > 600GB.

These are the precious photos of my family since they are born. Everything is in this 616GB Library. So, how do you expect me to keep growing this file within my limited 1TB disk space?

So, I tried to copy the Library onto the 4TB external hard disk, but it just take so Long, like few days to copy entire library.

So, yesterday, I decided to try out the external SSD. The seller says it is 5 times faster than external hard disk. Because it has no moving parts to spin.

So, the first try, I am already impressed by the 1 hour timing to copy the files onto the Fast SSD formatted using exFAT.

Wait now, I remember, Apple has revamped their file system into APFS.

So, I quickly cancelled the copying, and re-format the Fast SSD into APFS.

(You will need to select list all drives as you cannot format the Volume, instead, you need to change to format with GUID and APFS on the Drive itself but not the volume.)

After my Fast SSD is formatted to APFS, and I redo the copying. And Guess what, 30min is what it takes to copy the files. Yeah!!!

That means, the read and write are extremely fast using the USB3 port. Ya, I don’t even have a USB-C port on my iMac. That is how old my iMac is .. I think 3-4 years old.

After all files copied. I stopped the iCloud Photo Library in the preference, and I pressed and hold OPTION key and run Photo app again. And select the Photo Library file on the Fast SSD that I just copied. Set that as my System Photo Library (it takes some time) and lastly enable the iCloud Photo Library with full resolutions stored locally.

Don’t forget to configure your TimeMachine to backup the Photo Library on the Fast SSD. By default Time Machine don’t backup the external drive.

And let it run overnight to sync with the iCloud Photos.

And I am a happy man. Hahahahaha

Lastly, don’t forget to label it so you know it is very important. I also labelled the date so I know how old is my disk. I tried not to use hard disk for more than 3 years for my important files keeping. Hahahahaha

Here is the summary:

1. Format the SSD into APFS. You do so, by first Select “Show All Devices” on the top left corner. Then, select “Erase” and choose the APFS. You must have at least a USB3 or USB-C to make everything fast.

2. Copy the Photo Library in the Pictures folder onto the newly APFS formatted SSD drive. For me, 600GB takes about 30min. Compared to previously few days onto a spinning hard disk.

3. Run Photo App. Go to preference, uncheck iCloud Photo Library. (If you have used iCloud Photo Library)

4. Exit Photo App. Press and hold OPTION Key, and run Photo App again. This time, choose the Photo Library On your SSD. Go to preference and make it Default System Photo Library. And then, go to preference, and check the iCloud Photo Library and select full resolution store locally.

5. Time Machine to remove the SSD from the exclusion list. So that Time Machine will start backup the SSD which include the Photo Library.

6. Leave it overnight for the Photo Library to sync with the iCloud photos. All the high resolution files will be downloaded if it is not present on the local copy of Photo Library.

7. I will wait for at least few days and after I verify everything is ok, then, I will delete the Photo Library old copy from the Picture folder.

Yeah, now I can install League of Legends and other games on my iMac.