External Hard Drive

[MahaB82A]

Is it advisable to have external hard drive for video editing? I am asking this because eventhough you change the computer external hard drive can use with any computer. So that without any histation you can spend more money on external HD

[John T Smith]

Only if the connection is fast enough to work with the data transfer requirement

USB2 is far too slow to use for video editing

USB3 is better

eSata is even better

[MahaB82A]

I know about seagate external hard drive. But I do not know about eSata HD. Please give me the link. 

[John T Smith]

SSD is a solid state drive... eSata is a type of connection

I don't use an external drive for editing, only backup copies

I use a Sata docking station and several 'bare' drives for backup
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-External-docking-station-drives/dp/B00U8KSLA8/

[MahaB82A]

USB3 is slim compare with this and it is 4TB

https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/wd-4tb-usb-30-wd-my-passport-portable-external-hard-drive/apd/aa8885...

[Andy 1968]

There is no difference between internal and external hard drives. You can partition and format them all to EXFAT so they can work on Mac and PC. An internal RAID is the least expensive option to have a large capacity drives an fast throughput. You can stripe 6, 7, 8 or even more hard drives in a RAID zero array and get read and write speeds of over 2000 MBPS. That is megabytes per second not megabits.  They do have external RAID systems and extenal USB enclosure for internal hard drives. I can swap internal hard drives between Mac and PC super easy and super inexpensive. The videos below might be helpful. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfT9ivfbJ98
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnLu3n6IRNE

[MahaB82A]

Thanks for the information. There is a huge price different between the SSD internal & external HD. If there is no difference between internal and external hard drives it is good to have external HD. Because external HD can fit with any computer.

Dell M.2 PCIe NVME Gen 3x4 Class 40 2280 Solid State Drive - 1TB CAD $480

WD 4TB USB 3.0 WD My Passport portable external hard drive - 4TB CAD $179.99

[Andy 1968]

As I stated prior internal hard drives can be formatted to EXFAT. If you edit H.264 a single mechanical hard drive will probably work just fine. If not you can get an external RAID system. 

https://www.newegg.com/seagate-skyhawk-st4000vx007-4tb/p/N82E16822179014?Item=9SIAS68FK49440&quickli...


https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rx234-dock/p/N82E16817182145?Description=usb%20hard%20drive%20enclos...


https://www.newegg.com/orico-9558u3-enclosure/p/0VN-0003-001J7?Description=usb%20hard%20drive%20encl...

[Andy 1968]

It is up to you if you want to get an external drive. Having said that if you see an external hard drive like this there might be a mechanical SATA drive inside instead of an SSD. I say that because the read and write speed is only 140 MBPS. The drive is also kind of big. 

https://www.newegg.com/model-wdba3a0040bbk-wesn-4tb/p/N82E16822234386?Description=WD%204TB%20USB%203... 

[Conrad_C]

The huge price difference is because the two drives you listed are very different in speed:

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@MahaB82A wrote:

Dell M.2 PCIe NVME Gen 3x4 Class 40 2280 Solid State Drive - 1TB CAD $480

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As an M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, it could be between 1000MB and 2400+MB/sec, but the Dell page doesn’t seem to say how fast it actually is. Based on the interface and price, it should be fast enough for almost any kind of video editing.

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@MahaB82A wrote:

WD 4TB USB 3.0 WD My Passport portable external hard drive - 4TB CAD $179.99

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That is a consumer hard drive, OK for general office use and backups, but is not recommended for video editing. Its throughput is probably between 100-150MB/sec, or only one-tenth or less of that SSD. It could be used for some types of lower resolution video editing, but is probably not fast enough for  use as a Media Cache for Adobe video applications or for higher video resolutions.

If you want an external that can transfer data at speeds similar to the Dell SSD but costs less, simply shop for an external NVMe SSD such as a Samsung T7. If you are on a budget, shop for an external SATA SSD such as a Samsung T5. Both types of external SSDs should be good for most kinds of video editing. Also, both are extremely popular with video editors. (This is not a product recommendation. I personally do not own those storage devices and have not used them; I use other brands.)

[MahaB82A]

Thanks for the information but I have already bought the above external HD. As a biggner no problems crop up with above external HD. In the future I may need HD of you recommended.