external ssd for After Effects

I like the Samsung T-7 SSD and use them for most of my portable external SSD needs. I have four 2TB units and four 4 TB units. They are dependable and relatively affordable, and their speeds are adequate for HD and 4K projects. The transfer rates are a little more than 1000 MB/s if you use the right cables. They live in my laptop case and I use them in the field to backup and archive footage and still photos.

If you need more speed and want to stick with a portable SSD, consider the Samsung T9 series. They are also dependable and about twice as fast, with transfer speeds of around 2000 MB/s. I have three T9 4 TB drives, and I use them when dealing with 6K footage from my Red Komodo X or 8K footage. I have tried SSDs from three other manufacturers, and the Samsungs have been by far the most reliable and rugged solutions. The T9 drives are used in the field to create safety copies from my Red camera, and also when I am editing projects on my M4 Max MacBook Pro.

If you need more speed and have the budget for a drive array, I recommend the G-Raid Shuttle 8. It also has transfer speeds of around 2000 MB/s, which makes it compatible with all footage up to 8K. The G-Raid Shuttle 8 has a capacity from 40 TB to 192 TB. I use one of these as my Archival Storage and primary storage for my video projects. If you need that kind of transfer speed and a lot of storage, you must shell out a lot of cash. Far less expensive storage solutions are available, but the speed will go way down. You can still use them, but you'll have to preview at lower resolutions and wait a lot longer to move footage around.

I have had no problems with any of these recommended drives. I hope this helps. Just make sure that you buy really good Thunderbolt cables. A cheap cable can reduce the transfer speed by about 90%, so make sure you get good ones.