Media Drive Recommendations

I've always been happy with the local, external storage options from OtherWorld Computing.

Add either MacDrive for Windows (if the drives are formatted for Mac) or Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software (if the drives are formatted for Windows.

I also highly recomment LucidLink (as Neil mentioned) even if you're just using it to get and put files.

I was going to write about how I do the DIY thing and grab an affordable 10Gbps USB 3 enclosure and put a good SSD in it, but because it sounds like you are talking about a possible bulk corporate purchase, the video below might be more helpful. The reason it might be more helpful than most is that he doesn’t just parrot throughput specs off websites, he tests and comments on how factors such as buffer size affect each drive’s real world throughput in a video production environment including live capture. Because some SSDs deliver high speed consistently, while others slow down after a short period of time. (He also echoed cautions about the Samsung T7 that I have also seen reported elsewhere.) I don’t know anything about the presenter, the video popped up in my feed one day.

In order, when possible ...

1) Two large internal SSD drives, one for OS and programs, the other ONLY for cache drives.

2) Several large internal SSDs, for separate use for projects, media/assets, and exports.

3) Large spinning disks for archiving projects/media and documents & such.

Some use large attached RAID units, and if the speeds both internal and to the computer are sufficient both read/write on a sustained basis! ... that can work well.

Some good sized TB3/USB 3 drives can also work ok depending again on how well the drive and computer can sustain the process. Working with the project file internal and media on the external would be easier than say both on the external.

For online work, use the LucidLink service as your transport service! 

It is not like any other file mover, it is BUILT to move video files in the way that an NLE needs to use them.

Our partner is in Cape Town SA, we're in Oregon, USA, and our joint files "live" on an Amazon S3 server in London.

L-L sets up a "virtual drive" on our connected computers, that our OS and all apps see as another literal physical drive. Including Premiere. And works across OS's ... Mac & PC.

Mo calls me on WhatsApp, tells me he's uploading a folder of media from Cape Town to our servers. He's total Mac Dude.

In a few seconds, those folders appear in my L-L drive in Windows Explorer. Within another few seconds, individual files begin to appear.

At that point, I can go into Premiere and import the files. Drag/drop to sequences, even start playback.

And the media is not done uploading to London yet!

Amazed. Highly recommended. NOT a free service, but certainly a very usable one.

Neil

Moved to Hardware forum.