best external SSD's in 2023 *with* a DRAM cache?

[Splashboy3]

Hi all. Narrowing my list of a working SSD drive for a heavy-use daily video editing workflow.

I don't think i'm going to use an enclosure+M.2 nVME just because honestly the low-mid end enclosures seem really cheap/have wishy-washy heat dissipation solutions.
I'd gladly spend $100 on a *good* enclosure but I'd seen one too many stories of a throttling nVME in an enclosure to go that route, for now.

I'm been going back and forth between the samsung T7 and the lacie 2TB SSD, though what im really asking is:

Are there more reliable(or faster) external SSD's out there with a DRAM cache I should be considering?  Or an external M.2 enclosure that you would trust in a professional workflow? 

Thanks in advance

[PDifolco]

17 minutes ago, Splashboy3 said:

Hi all. Narrowing my list of a working SSD drive for a heavy-use daily video editing workflow.

I don't think i'm going to use an enclosure+M.2 nVME just because honestly the low-mid end enclosures seem really cheap/have wishy-washy heat dissipation solutions.
I'd gladly spend $100 on a *good* enclosure but I'd seen one too many stories of a throttling nVME in an enclosure to go that route, for now.

I'm been going back and forth between the samsung T7 and the lacie 2TB SSD, though what im really asking is:

Are there more reliable(or faster) external SSD's out there with a DRAM cache I should be considering?  Or an external M.2 enclosure that you would trust in a professional workflow? 

Thanks in advance

Got recently a crucial X8 2TB (to replace my failing 12 years old backup  240GB external 2.5 HDD USB 2.0 )

So it performs well, faster than Samsung T7 according to reviews, max speed is really 1GB/sec on USB-C

 

[Splashboy3]

2 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Got recently a crucial X8 2TB (to replace my failing 12 years old backup  240GB external 2.5 HDD USB 2.0 )

So it performs well, faster than Samsung T7 according to reviews, max speed is really 1GB/sec on USB-C

 

I read that the write cache fills quickly, though I can't imagine any faster than the T7's TLC?

[Zando_]

51 minutes ago, Splashboy3 said:

Are there more reliable(or faster) external SSD's out there with a DRAM cache I should be considering?

Get a Team Group MP34 drive and a decent USB-C 10gbps external housing. MP34s have a 5 year warranty and a stupidly high TBW rating. Speed isn't really a concern, over 10gpbs USB you're capped at ~1GB/s or so anyways. If you want a premade option, +1 for the Crucial X8 @PDifolcomentioned. Have a 1TB one at work that some of our editors use off and on, peaks at ~1050MB/s. Had 0 reliability issues so far. 

[Splashboy3]

Awesome info

24 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Get a Team Group MP34 drive and a decent USB-C 10gbps external housing. MP34s have a 5 year warranty and a stupidly high TBW rating. Speed isn't really a concern, over 10gpbs USB you're capped at ~1GB/s or so anyways. If you want a premade option, +1 for the Crucial X8 @PDifolcomentioned. Have a 1TB one at work that some of our editors use off and on, peaks at ~1050MB/s. Had 0 reliability issues so far. 

Awesome info; thanks! What kind of external housing do you use for the MP34? Concerned about the heat transfer; over time, depending. 

[Zando_]

14 minutes ago, Splashboy3 said:

Awesome info

Awesome info; thanks! What kind of external housing do you use for the MP34? Concerned about the heat transfer; over time, depending. 

I haven't used the MP34 myself, we have a Crucial X8. Haven't looked into external housings as we moved straight to a NAS to do most editing off of. I'd say heat shouldn't really be an issue, PCIe 3.0 SSDs aren't terribly hot and you won't be able to run it at full speed over 10gbps USB-C anyways. 

[Splashboy3]

13 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

I haven't used the MP34 myself, we have a Crucial X8. Haven't looked into external housings as we moved straight to a NAS to do most editing off of. I'd say heat shouldn't really be an issue, PCIe 3.0 SSDs aren't terribly hot and you won't be able to run it at full speed over 10gbps USB-C anyways. 

Great point about the heat via speed transfer, hadn't thought about that. Probably going to do the X8 for now; really appreciate the insight

[Splashboy3]

23 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

I haven't used the MP34 myself, we have a Crucial X8. Haven't looked into external housings as we moved straight to a NAS to do most editing off of. I'd say heat shouldn't really be an issue, PCIe 3.0 SSDs aren't terribly hot and you won't be able to run it at full speed over 10gbps USB-C anyways. 

When the drive nears like 70% full, I see that the crucial slows down a ton, would this be similar on the T7? Im not versed enough into SLC to know what to look for in that regard 

[NewMaxx]

If you're looking for sustained performance, the T7 Shield is hard to beat.

[Doobeedoo]

We are still yet to see much faster external ones. Maybe with expensive fast enclosure multi GB/s speeds with fast SSDs though yeah. Wish USB4 starts showing up more that would offer amazing speeds.

[Splashboy3]

18 hours ago, NewMaxx said:

If you're looking for sustained performance, the T7 Shield is hard to beat.

Do you know of any graphs charting it's sustained performance via the X8 or the standard T7? Sustained performance is definitely what im looking for

[NewMaxx]

1 hour ago, Splashboy3 said:

Do you know of any graphs charting it's sustained performance via the X8 or the standard T7? Sustained performance is definitely what im looking for

Tom's Hardware. It is limited by the 10 Gbps USB interface, to escape that you need a 20 Gbps USB or Thunderbolt 3/4/USB4 drive/enclosure. Drives can sustain up to 1.7+ GB/s. The X8 isn't really in play with its QLC. The T7 Shield lacks DRAM, but that's not a factor for sustained write performance in this case. It's effective and cheap but it's certainly possible to get higher write speeds with DRAM if you can go above 10 Gbps.

[Splashboy3]

3 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Tom's Hardware. It is limited by the 10 Gbps USB interface, to escape that you need a 20 Gbps USB or Thunderbolt 3/4/USB4 drive/enclosure. Drives can sustain up to 1.7+ GB/s. The X8 isn't really in play with its QLC. The T7 Shield lacks DRAM, but that's not a factor for sustained write performance in this case. It's effective and cheap but it's certainly possible to get higher write speeds with DRAM if you can go above 10 Gbps.

i would go tb4 if my mobo supported it. its an asus prime pro x370; so, quite old, im limited to like 5gbps on the USB-C 3.1 front port 

[NewMaxx]

54 minutes ago, Splashboy3 said:

i would go tb4 if my mobo supported it. its an asus prime pro x370; so, quite old, im limited to like 5gbps on the USB-C 3.1 front port 

I think it does have at least two 10 Gbps ports. The T7 Shield is not objectively the best drive for that, but it can sustain writes and it's usually priced pretty well.