If you work with libraries of large image files, or in audio or video production, you need to be selective about your external hard drive. Reading and writing files directly to or from an external drive can incur some hefty performance demands, so it's best to determine your needs before you buy a drive. With the ever-increasing data-transfer demands brought on by more megapixels, higher audio bit rates, and higher-resolution video—keeping up with all of that data can be a burden.
The first thing to determine must be how much overall storage space you need and, then, what data-transfer speed your projects will require. Each medium is different, as is every user. To break it down, we'll discuss the writing of data to an external hard drive while editing video, for use in photo editing and running audio projects.
Drives for Video Production
No one creates a greater need for media storage than a videographer, especially those working in 4K. To prevent getting bogged down by a sluggish external hard drive, you need fast drives. These days, the bare minimum spin rate is 7200 rpm, though even faster drives, such as solid-state, are available for a premium.
Next, you need to consider your interface. Are you using FireWire, USB 3.0 or USB 3.1 Type-A or Type-C, Thunderbolt™, Thunderbolt™ 2, or possibly Thunderbolt™ 3? Do you intend to use eSATA or set up a RAID array because a single drive can't handle your output, so you need multiple drives?
Interface Speeds: USB, Thunderbolt™, and Beyond
You need to prepare for 4K and greater resolutions. Working with DCI 4Kp24 ProRes HQ files requires at least 94 MB/s. Compressed files straight from the camera or proxy workflows can alleviate a lot of this strain and are arguably becoming more important in editing, but you should still be able to play back your files smoothly. When searching for a drive, you will want to make sure you comfortably exceed these data rates to ensure uninterrupted performance.
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