Best External Ssd for Video Editing – When buying an external SSD for the purpose of Video Editing there is a lot to look out for. We have created a list of some of the most important factors for using an external ssd for video editing. Which resulted in the above list of external drives that are suitable for video editing wether on Mac or Windows that will work with a variety of video editors such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, Final Cut Pro, iMovie and many more.
We’re sure that as costs come down even further we’ll see larger storage capacities, and as new versions of USB and Thunderbolt are released we’ll see faster models as well, including the currently expensive nVME drives becoming more affordable. We’re excited to see what results from these future technologies!
ROUND UP
It’s easy to take external SSDs for granted these days. The ability to have these tiny little lightweight, sturdy, resilient drives that can store ridiculous amounts of videos and let us edit without taking up space on the internal drive is a godsend to many editors and filmmakers.
back to menu ↑1.SanDisk 1TB Extreme
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2.Sabrent Rocket
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3.JOIOT 250GB
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4.RAVPower External
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5.VAVA External SSD Pro
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6.Glyph Atom RAID
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7.G-Technology
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8.LaCie
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9.SAMSUNG T7
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10.GNARBOX
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Best External Ssd for Video Editing – BUYER’S GUIDE
Storage Capacity
You’ve probably heard size isn’t everything, that may be true but when it comes to capturing Ultra HD video that isn’t necessarily true. As a YouTuber or filmmaker you’re constantly producing large amounts of video in high resolutions that need storage. Therefore we would recommend at least 1TB for your needs.
Transfer Speed
Time is money my friend and YouTubers know this. Transfer speed is important and if a drive can shave down the agony of the waiting to write or read off of a drive then the external drive was definitely worthwhile.
SSDs come in 2 main categories of speed 500-600MB/s range as seen with the Samsung T5, Sandisk Extreme and the G-Technology Rugged SSD and the RAID 0 SSDs with a transfer speed of 750-950MB/s. These are exceptionally faster than traditional hard drives.
What is the difference between an SSD and an SSD in RAID 0?
RAID 0 are meant for Speed, but with speed comes a cost. A physical dollar cost as they are a lot more expensive but also at the cost of data redundancy which means the failure of one drive will cause the entire array to fail. Because the array has data striped across all of the drives, the failure will result in total data loss. However, SSDs are less prone to failure than traditional hard drives but glitches may still occur.
Therefore, RAID 0 in my opinion are not for long term storage but more for the capture, editing and transfer, a working drive.
Portability & Durability
Portability is key with external drives, wether you’re working from home but moving around with your laptop or travelling and exploring the size and durability of an SSD is quite important.
Most SSDs come with shock resistant drives and a rugged exterior, some are even water, dust and crush proof and drop proof of up to 2-3M. The most durable SSD mentioned above is the is the G-Tech Rugged SSD which has an IP67 Rating but is marginally larger than its competitors.
Hard Drives in comparison are not drop proof and are very fragile due to the moving parts in it, this is why we reccomend using an SSD.
Portability is also a key factor, if you’re someone who’s is travelling in lot on planes, trains and ubers or goes to co-working spaces most of these SSD drives are highly portable with the Samsung T5 being the sleek portable drive of choice.
Hard Drives are typically a lot heavier, larger and slower thanks to all the moving parts.
However, if you are looking for a middle-ground with ruggedness, portability and speed we would recommend the Sandisk Extreme.
Compatibility
Most PCs & Macs nowadays have USB 3.0. Its the most common. A lot of drive performance in terms of speed depends on your own setups specifications in terms of USB and how fast your internal drive can read/write too.
The latest USB 3.1 Gen 2 are backwards compatible with 3.0 and even 2.0 but you’re probably not using the outdated USB 2.0. If your computer/laptop does not have USB C it probably has a USB A Connector (Most Common USB) and these cables come available with most of the SSDs.
USB 3.0 performance tends to test with SSDs around the mid 400MB/s. While USB 3.1 (often referred to as USB 3.1 Gen 2) clocks in over 500 for most non-raid drives, and with RAID in the high 700’s-800MB/s. Mac users with Thunderbolt 3 and thunderbolt three drives have the fastest transfer speeds as highlighted with the Glyph Atom.
Frequently Asked Questions
back to menu ↑Should You Make Your Own Portable SSD?
If none of the drives we’ve selected for this roundup sounds appealing to you (or you already own an internal SSD that’s hanging around the house or office), there’s one more option available: SSD enclosures. These are plastic or metal housings into which you can put your own SATA 2.5-inch or M.2 solid-state drive to take with you on the go.
Enclosures come in 2.5-inch form factors (into which you would put a 2.5-inch SATA SSD) or M.2 ones. The stick-style M.2 SSD is much smaller and lighter, but know that M.2 drives themselves come in both SATA and PCIe bus flavors. You need to be sure your enclosure supports the kind of M.2 drive you’re putting in it.
back to menu ↑WRAP UP
Long gone are the days of needing some bulky huge external hard drives for your general storage needs. While video editors and photographers have typically had drawers full of drives taking up a ton of space, the reliance on slower spinning hard disks for daily use is thankfully coming to a close. You can now work directly off of USB attached solid-state drives, making video editing much easier, especially while traveling. There are a lot of choices out there, but we’ve narrowed down our picks for the best SSDs for video editing.
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