Using 4TB USB-C SSDs for Photo/Video Backup, Which One? (Clear Choice!)
Related: backup, hard drive, Other World Computing, OWC Envoy Pro, OWC Envoy Pro FX, OWC Thunderbay, Samsung, SanDisk, SSD, USB, USB-C, weather events
Discount on SSDs and hard drives are terrific right now for World Backup Day. Prices likely to revert to higher amount starting April 1st.
While I backup everything to very large hard drives in OWC Thunderbay 4 and OWC Thunderbay 8 enclosures, my most frequent backups are of my main working drive and/or travel setup, and for that I always use bus-powered SSDs and never use hard drives.
And while I would of course prefer ultra high-performance SSDs like the OWC Envoy Pro FX, doubling the cost for higher performance with incremental backups is not the smart move.
TESTED: 4TB Samsung T7 Shield USB-C SSD
TESTED: 4TB Crucial X6 USB-C SSD
TESTED: 4TB SanDisk 4TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2
TESTED: OWC Elektron USB-C SSD
TESTED: OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 3 SSD
UPDATE: —the Crucial 4TB X6 Portable SSD delivered an astonishingly strong performance on initial tests, which at $230 makes it an unbeatable value. Or does it? The trouble with testing SSDs is that brand-new performance can break down with usage, sometimes quickly.
Conclusion: the 4TB Samsung T7 Shield is far and away the best value. That, and my years of problem-free usage of the SanDisk T5 and 2TB T7 make me strongly favor it. Need faster? Make the leap to a full 2.8GB/sec Thunderbolt 3 SSD such as the OWC Envoy Pro FX.
4TB SSD at Amazon... @AMAZON and View Discounted storage at B&H...
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$180 SAVE $105 = 36.0% Samsung 2TB T7 Shield Portable SSD (Blue) IN STOCK in Computers: Drives and Storage
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$320 SAVE $680 = 68.0% SanDisk 4TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 IN STOCK in Computers: Drives and Storage
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Hard Drives
If your data grows as large as mine (nearly 20TB), then SSDs are not a viable option for backup for all your stuff, neither in cost or capacity. You’ll need big hard drives.
And because hard drives slow as capacity is used, always buy 25% more capacity than anticipated ~3 years out from today.
Your best way to house these hard drives is in the OWC Thunderbay 4 or OWC Thunderbay 8 or as standalone drives in the OWC Mercury Elite Pro single-drive enclosure.
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$600 SAVE $134 = 18.0% WD 22TB Purple Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5" Internal Surveillance… IN STOCK in Computers: Drives and Storage
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$450 SAVE $150 = 25.0% WD 22TB Ultrastar 7200 rpm SATA 3.5" Internal Data Center HDD (O… IN STOCK in Computers: Drives and Storage
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