GEAR
BUYERS’ GUIDE
SANDISK PROFESSIONAL G-DRIVE PRO SSD From £258.99/$189.99 westerndigital.com
SAMSUNG PORTABLE SSD T7 TOUCH
LACIE 1BIG DOCK SSD PRO From £1149/$1299 lacie.com
From £95/$90 samsung.com
This very rapid SSD external drive comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB versions, from £258.99/$189.99. With the newest iteration of Thunderbolt 3 and a quicker PCIe drive, the SanDisk Professional G-Drive Pro SSD allows for continuous transfer rates of up to 2800MB/s. You can edit multi-stream 8K footage at full frame rates and transfer up to 1TB of data in around seven minutes. It’s the performance to match the very latest crop of super high-resolution cinema cameras. Like the Mobile version, it withstands a 3m drop and has a crush resistance of 454kg/1000lb.
Storing your data safely is what the Samsung SSD T7 Touch is all about, as it has a built-in fingerprint sensor to stop anyone accessing your files. The compact unit has USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard, with read speed of 1050MB/s and write speed of 1000MB/s. As well as the first built-in fingerprint scanner on an SSD, there is password protection and AES 256-bit encryption. Available in black or silver, it comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes, for £95/$90, £134/$170 and £250/$270, respectively. The drive comes with a USB-C cable and USB-C to A cable.
Lacie’s 1big Dock SSD Pro is a Thunderbolt 3 storage hub featuring accelerated NVMe SSD speeds of up to 2800MB/s, cinema-grade card slots tailored for 8K cinema workflows, and a range of USB ports that let you dock, daisy chain and charge a 70W laptop. Inside is a Seagate FireCuda NVMe SSD, to transfer up to 165GB worth of high-res footage in 60 seconds. The drive comes with a DisplayPort 1.4 and dual Thunderbolt 3 sockets, plus USB 3.0 and card slots to fit SD, CFast and CFexpress. There’s also a 4TB version for £2500/$2499.
Pros: One of the fastest SSD drives Cons: Not the cheapest
Pros: Fingerprint recognition Cons: Not the quickest SSD
Pros: Fastest desktop drive Cons: Definitely not cheap
SEAGATE LYVE MOBILE Rental only seagate.com
LEXAR SL210 PORTABLE SSD From £105/$79 lexar.com
Seagate’s new Lyve Mobile system comes with a fast hard drive you have to rent, which then merges with cloud communication and storage – ideal for virtual and remote productions. On location, footage is stored on super-secure Lyve Mobile Arrays. Back at base, this is quickly stored in modular storage racks, then uploaded to the Lyve Cloud. The mobile arrays come in a variety of configurations and options that are simple and reliable.
Lexar’s SL210 is resistant to drops, shocks and vibration, featuring an advanced security solution with 256-bit AES encryption. Create a password-protected ‘safe’ to guard files against corruption or accidental deletion. The SL210 is a decent-quality bit of kit in its sleek metal outer, available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB of storage. It has transfer speeds up to 550MB/s and write speeds up to 400MB/s – also coming with a handy three-year warranty.
Pros: Low upfront cost Cons: Some prefer to own hardware
Pros: Great-value drive Cons: Not as rapid as most
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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