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Portable External Storage (for video editing)

K

Kiri

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
176
Hi guys, I'm looking for a portable external storage solution for video editing (also photo and audio work).

I've looked at a few options and the one that seems to stand out for me as offering the best compromise between cost, capacity, and speed is the Seagate Backup Plus Fast 4TB.
I believe this enclose actually contains 2 HDs configured in RAID 0. I could also then get a 2nd (standard) drive as a backup and for files that don't need the added speed.

What do you think? Are there any other high speed drives in this price range?

All the thunderbolt and SSD options seem to be considerably more expensive. ($400+)

Thanks for the advice :)

 
Whatever you choose, with that much storage, make sure you also have something to back up your work to.

It would really suck if a drive in something like that goes bad and you lose everything... especially with RAID-0.

How "large" of a unit size-wise are you willing to go with?

How fast do you need/want it to be?

What computer/laptop are you using?
 
cyclone3d said:
Whatever you choose, with that much storage, make sure you also have something to back up your work to.

It would really suck if a drive in something like that goes bad and you lose everything... especially with RAID-0.

How "large" of a unit size-wise are you willing to go with?

How fast do you need/want it to be?

What computer/laptop are you using?
Click to expand...

I'll be working with 4K video and high res photos, so I need quite a lot of space and speed (for the video editing). But I guess I only really need a high speed drive for the current project I'm working on.
So another option could be to go with that little Samsung 500gb SSD drive that a lot of people seem to be using, and then transfer to a bigger / slower drive after. But that could get a bit annoying too.

I'll be doing everything from the new Dell XPS 15, and that will be my only machine, as I will be traveling indefinitely. So portability is an issue.
The seagate I mentioned above seemed like the best compromise between capacity and speed and cost. But I was just wondering if there are other options I don't know about.

And as you suggested, I could get a 2nd large hard drive to back up my work .
 
Kiri said:
I'll be working with 4K video and high res photos, so I need quite a lot of space and speed (for the video editing). But I guess I only really need a high speed drive for the current project I'm working on.
So another option could be to go with that little Samsung 500gb SSD drive that a lot of people seem to be using, and then transfer to a bigger / slower drive after. But that could get a bit annoying too.

I'll be doing everything from the new Dell XPS 15, and that will be my only machine, as I will be traveling indefinitely. So portability is an issue.
The seagate I mentioned above seemed like the best compromise between capacity and speed and cost. But I was just wondering if there are other options I don't know about.

And as you suggested, I could get a 2nd large hard drive to back up my work .
Click to expand...

Which XPS 15 do you have? Is it the latest version? What drive is in it now?
 
I actually haven't received it yet. I ordered it online last week and still waiting for it to arrive.
Its the latest version though.
i7
512GB SSD
16GB RAM
4K screen
GTX 1050
 
Kiri said:
I actually haven't received it yet. I ordered it online last week and still waiting for it to arrive.
Its the latest version though.
i7
512GB SSD
16GB RAM
4K screen
GTX 1050
Click to expand...

Ok, so since you already have a 512GB SSD built in, why not use that to do the video processing and then move it to something else when you are done.. and have a second "backup" as well. Processing video on an SSD is going to be soooooo much faster than on an external HDD.

If you really want to do the processing on an external drive, get either an eSata or lighting enclosure and put a 1TB SSD in that. Much cheaper than buying a prebuilt external SSD.

As a side not, I sure hope that they have fixed the scaling on the 4k laptop screens. Trying to use it at 100% scaling will drive you bananas. You will need a magnifying glass to read text.
 
cyclone3d said:
Ok, so since you already have a 512GB SSD built in, why not use that to do the video processing and then move it to something else when you are done.. and have a second "backup" as well. Processing video on an SSD is going to be soooooo much faster than on an external HDD.

If you really want to do the processing on an external drive, get either an eSata or lighting enclosure and put a 1TB SSD in that. Much cheaper than buying a prebuilt external SSD.

As a side not, I sure hope that they have fixed the scaling on the 4k laptop screens. Trying to use it at 100% scaling will drive you bananas. You will need a magnifying glass to read text.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I could do that. I just wonder if it would be enough space. That drive will also hold my OS and programs. But yeah, it should work.
I thought it would be faster to have my project files on a separate drive from my OS though?

Getting an enclosure and putting an internal SSD in is also a good idea. The Crucial MX300 1TB is going for $270. For the enclosure, something like this would be good?
https://www.amazon.com/Tool-free-Inateck-External-Enclosure-FE2004/dp/B00JQTO8TU/
 
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If you're comfortable editing with proxy footage, you can pick up one of the new Samsung T3 500GB SSD's which are quite portable and very fast. You would just need a larger storage solution to store the larger 4k files. I routinely deal with 4.6k footage that I edit using a DNxHD proxy at 1080p

My current setup for mobile editing involves the aformentioned drive and my Razer Blade.
 
Kiri said:
Yeah, I guess I could do that. I just wonder if it would be enough space. That drive will also hold my OS and programs. But yeah, it should work.
I thought it would be faster to have my project files on a separate drive from my OS though?

Getting an enclosure and putting an internal SSD in is also a good idea. The Crucial MX300 1TB is going for $270. For the enclosure, something like this would be good?
https://www.amazon.com/Tool-free-Inateck-External-Enclosure-FE2004/dp/B00JQTO8TU/
Click to expand...

Make sure the enclosure is UASP and USB 3.1, that one is not.
Here is an example of one that is: https://www.amazon.com/Optimized-In...d=1486936961&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+3.1+uasp+2.5
 
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