MINI TESTS
LEXAR SL200 PORTABLE SSD £126/$120 lexar.com
SPECIFICATIONS Type: SSDhard drive Capacity: 1TB Interface: USB 3.1 Type-C (works with Thunderbolt 3) Speed: 550MB/s read, 400MB/s write Systems supported: Mac OSX 10.6+, Windows 10/7/8, Android 4.4+ Dimensions (wxhxd): 86x60x9.5mm/3.39x2.36x0.37in Weight: 40.6g/0.09lbwithout cable plastic. But it does look stylish and feels pretty solid, and makes it very lightweight. It also has a small LED that lights up to tell you it’s working as normal. It comes pre-loaded with downloadable encryption software, which allows you to set a password. Our drive came pre-formatted for Mac, so it was as simple as plug in and play. The drive was totally silent, speedy for downloading footage in the field and uploading it to a RAID back in the studio. You can get faster drives if you pay some more, but for the money, this is a compact option and great value. PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 8/10 Fast and compact hard drive, that won’t break the bank Pros: Small, powerful external drive Cons: Not the fastest transfer rates
The advantage of using SSD portable hard drives, instead of HDD, is that they are faster, more rugged, more compact and can be used with the quicker USB-C or Thunderbolt cables. They have always been more expensive, however. But the Lexar SL200 is an SSD drive that won’t break the bank, costing just £126/$120 for the 1TB unit we tested. It wasn’t long ago you could spend that much on a 1TB HDD drive.
The 550MB/s read and 400MB/s write speed is decent, although a long way off the fastest in the market, but those drives do cost a lot more than the Lexar. These results are available in the 1TB and 2TB versions. If you buy the 480GB, 512GB or 960GB options, the speed is 500MB/s read, 420MB/s write. That’s not too much of a difference, anyway. To get the price tag down low, the case is made from high-quality
SPEEDY DRIVE The Lexar SL200 is pretty fast, thanks to its SSD internals, but also very affordable
MEMORY MAMMOTH’S LATEST RANGE
editing machine – it was quick and reliable, with speeds up to five times faster than USB 2.0. But it needs an adapter for the newMacBook Pro. The £28/$30 Professional Multi-Card 3-in-1 reader is for SD, microSD and CF cards. It has a USB-C port and comes with a USB Type-C to Type-A cable. It’s also pretty quick, as it uses USB 3.1 technology, but we’d like to have seen a CFexpress or CFast slot, too.
Lexar’s Professional CFexpress Type B card is ideal for shooting in 4K, at high data rates. It features performance of up to 1750MB/s read and 1000MB/s write –which is very quick. It’s also backwards compatible with select XQD cameras; as the cards are the same shape, with identical connectors. It costs £529/$599, but that’s what you pay for the newest, fastest tech and high-resolution cameras. In comparison, the 256GB Professional 1066x microSDXC UHS-I card is far more affordable at £85/$60, but of course has a much slower speed of 160MB/s read and 120MB/s write. It’s V30-rated and we used it to record in a DJI Air 2S drone in 4Kwith no issues. It also comes with an SD card adapter. We then tried two new, inexpensive Lexar card readers. The £18.71/$20 Multi-Card 2-in-1 accepts SD and microSD cards, connecting via the old-style USB 3.1. We used it on our iMac
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