GEAR
BUYERS’ GUIDE
SANDISK PROFESSIONAL PRO-BLADE
LACIE RUGGED SSD PRO From £359/$400 lacie.com
Samsung’s Pro Plus and Evo Plus microSD cards will provide improved protection to withstand water, extreme temperatures, X-ray, wear out, drops and magnetic fields. Pro Plus cards are aimed at more data-heavy users, available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. They offer read and write speeds of up to 160MB/s and 120MB/s. Evo Plus microSDs are built for high reliability, with transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s. These come in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities – and the 64GB version is a lower spec. SAMSUNG PRO PLUS/ EVO PLUS MICROSD From £22/$28, £11/$14 samsung.com
From £230/$239.99 westerndigital.com
Lacie’s SSD has faster and safer drives inside the flagship Pro model – plus a new all-black look. This comes in 1TB and 2TB versions and is a Thunderbolt 3 portable drive, offering quick USB 3.1 compatibility – fast enough for 8K editing, thanks to 2800MB/s speeds. Priced at £359/$400 for a 1TB unit. The drive has a black rubber coating, protecting it from knocks and vibration, and is IP67-rated to withstand rain and dust. It works on the latest USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 and 4, but not on Macs with older Thunderbolt ports.
SanDisk’s modular Pro-Blade SSD ecosystem uses light, high-capacity SSD mags, a transport enclosure and desktop SSD enclosure for a streamlined workflow solution. Once you’ve recorded to the SSD NVMe drive, fit it into the Pro-Blade Transport enclosure. Back at base, up to four Pro-Blade SSD drives slide inside the Station enclosure. The Transport portable SSD enclosure will be available in 1TB at £230/$239.99, 2TB at £346/$359.99 and £634/$659.99 for 4TB. You can buy SSD mags alone. The Station price is yet to be announced.
Pros: Affordable and fast Cons: Easy to lose!
Pros: Blazing fast and rugged Cons: Not compatible with some Macs
Pros: A simple system Cons: Only four slots per Station
The SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD V2 has transfer speeds of up to 1050MB/s, a rugged case, and is available up to 4TB capacity. It has an IP55 rating for water and dust resistance, and comes with a five-year warranty. The SanDisk Extreme Pro is compatible with both PCs and Macs, plus USB Type C and Type A connectors. The SanDisk Memory Zone app lets you unlock, access and back up your phone’s files. SANDISK EXTREME PRO SSD V2 From £189.99/$179.99 westerndigital.com
LACIE MOBILE SSD SECURE From £119.95/$129.95 lacie.com
The Lacie Mobile SSD Secure is available in sizes up to 2TB, delivering read speeds approaching 1050MB/s and write speeds 1000MB/s. It comes with additional hardware encryption, such as a lock/unlock feature in the Lacie Toolkit software. The drive uses USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB-C technology, compatible with USB-C and USB 3.0 computers and tablets. Lacie’s latest SSD costs £119.95/$129.95 for 500GB, £199.95/$219.95 for 1TB and £339.95/$379.95 for 2TB.
Pros: Good value SSD Cons: Not the most sturdy
Pros: Easy hardware encryption Cons: Not from the rugged line
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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