LaCie claims read/write speeds of up to 6,700 MB/s and 5,300 MB/s, which it says are adequate for real-time editing of 8K and 6K RAW footage. In testing the highest speeds, file transfers were 5,787 MB/s read and 5,188 MB/s write—which, while not quite matching the claim, still make it far and away the fastest drive in this guide. But raw speeds are just numbers for spreadsheets; I was more interested in real-world performance. I threw some 6K ProRes RAW at the Pro5 and was able to edit it on the MacBook Pro in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
The downside here is the price. It started at $600 for the 4-TB version (the minimum you’d want for working with ProRes RAW video files). That was already pricey, but these days that’s climbed to insane heights ($1,600 as of this update), making it a less compelling value. Still, if you need the speed, this is the drive to get.
Best Padded Drive
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Samsung’s T9 has been my go-to portable drive for a couple of years now. While I like the LaCie drives that usually dominate this category, the Samsung is plenty fast, clocking in at over 1,350 MB/s and handily beating the Crucial X9. The T9 also seems to draw less power, or at least when I plug it into my Android tablet, it drains the battery far less than any other drive I use regularly.
The padding on the T9 is less substantial than the LaCie’s, but it’s also considerably cheaper and has held up well to life on the road. The only catch is that it’s not waterproof or dustproof. The padding stops on the ends, so it’s not completely sealed. I haven’t had any issues, but if you get it wet, it will be a problem. If you’re worried about that, check out the T7 Shield below.
Another Great Padded Drive
The Best DIY Drive Enclosure
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Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
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Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
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Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
With hard drive prices skyrocketing, repurposing an internal NVMe SSD you already own for an external drive is a compelling alternative. Plenty of DIY drive enclosures are available, with some promising speeds up to 80 GBps (with compatible USB 4 ports). The D1 SSD comes in two flavors: the 80-GBps Pro drive I tested and a slower 40-GBps Plus version, which makes more sense if you don’t have USB 4 (there’s also a base 10-GBps option that’s much slower but cheaper). If you do, though, this is an incredibly fast drive, and thanks to the heat-dissipating design, it never throttled on me.