Over the years I have become a master of mobile production. I haven’t always had the fanciest editing setup, but I built my entire workflow around portability. Since 2006 I have spent good portions of the year filming and editing on the road in hotel rooms, cafes, trains, and airplanes.

In the early days I travelled with large 1TB external drives that utilized FireWire 800, and weighed a figurative ton. As the years have gone on video files have become larger, but thankfully the hard drives have become smaller. What used to weigh over 5 pounds and cost $500-700 dollars is now a little larger than a credit card and weighs mere grams. 4TB SSD drives now pack enough punch in a small package to be a serious tool in mobile video production.

Here are my current favourite SSD drives for video editing:

Samsung T7 Shield
These are small and durable with their rubbery coating. They stay reasonably cool and I have used them for a number of projects using the Sony X-AVC-I codec as well as ProRes RAW. They are available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities, but I feel like splurging for the 4TB is a worthwhile expenditure as the prices continue to come down. Look out for sales on Amazon and at your favourite retailer as they tend to go on sale from time to time. This has been a reliable workhorse for me.
USB-C 1050mbps
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

Samsung T9 (Coming Soon!)
The next generation of Samsung’s T series SSD drives promises industry leading performance in terms of speed and performance. The integrated temperature control ensures that the drive won’t overheat, and drop resistance to 3 metres gives added assurance in the case of slippery hands. If the previous reliability of the T7 series is any indication this should be the new standard in SSDs for video editing.
USB-C 2050mbps
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

Crucial X8
A slick metal exterior adds some lustre to the look of this drive. I picked this up on sale and the price was well worth it. If you poke around on Amazon you can typically find a good sale price on these as they have now released an X9 and X10 model. The X8 has proven itself to be as good as my Samsung T7 drives in terms of performance. The only thing I miss is the rubbery coating, but if you’re not tossing the drives around it’s perfect for working at a desk.
USB-C 1050mbps
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

Crucial X9
Similar in spec to the X8, but with a redesigned exterior.
USB-C 1050mbps
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

Crucial X10
Next generation performance brings the read speed up to 2100mbps and the write speed up to 2000mbps. My experience with the Crucial X8 has led me to a trusting relationship with these drives. The pricing tends to be reasonable and I use my Crucials interchangeably with my Samsung drives for editing at a desk.
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

Sandisk Pro-Blade System
Next generation performance brings the read speed up to 2100mbps and the write speed up to 2000mbps. While Sandisk has taken a beating lately for a string of SSD failures, this particular line of drives seems to be unaffected. I would give them a try as I like the form factor, and ability to mount into a larger drive station, but the additional cost puts them into a different category and make them slightly harder to justify.
See current pricing: Amazon | B&H

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