Need a lot of high-speed storage for your video projects? Check out the best SSDs for video editing that can help you get the job done.
Video editing is demanding work that requires specialized equipment, from powerful laptops to slick video editing software. What is often overlooked (but won’t be for long once you start actually editing videos) is storage. The best SSDs for video editing need to be fast and offer enough capacity to store large files, and there’s a good chance the drive that’s already inside your computer is not up to the task.
If that’s the case, and it’s time for an upgrade, read on. We’ve rounded up the best SSDs for video editing right here, with picks ranging from high-speed NVMe and SATA SSDs to an external drive that allows you to move large files between devices easily. All of these SSDs also come from the top brands in the digital storage market, so you can be sure they’re speedy and reliable enough for even the most demanding video editing needs.
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Samsung 990 PRO SSD 4TB
Editor’s choice
$340 $450 Save
$110The Samsung 990 Pro offers almost the fastest transfer speeds we’ve seen on a Gen 4 PCIe SSD. It’s surpassed only by our premium pick, the Corsair MP600 Pro NH (although not by a wide margin). It’s not much more expensive than slower Gen 4 drives, too. And because it’s from Samsung, you know you can count on its reliability.
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WD Black SN850X 4TB
Runner-up
$300 $700 Save
$400The WD Black SN850X is a high-speed SSD marketed to gamers, but it’s more than fast enough for video editing. It delivers comparable performance to other top-tier PCIe SSDs like our top pick, the Samsung 990 PRO, with max read speeds of 7,300MB/s. It’s also available with a heatsink.
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Solidigm P41 Plus
Best value
If you’re looking for a cheap SSD for video editing, the Solidigm P41 Plus is about as affordable as a PCIe Gen 4 drive can get. It’s not as fast as our other picks, but it’s incredibly affordable and offers respectable read/write speeds of up to 4,125MB/s. However, it’s only available with up to 2TB of storage space.
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Corsair MP600 Pro NH
Premium pick
The Corsair MP600 Pro NH is a top-tier PCIe 4.0 SSD and the fastest Gen 4 model we’ve tested. It even comes out ahead of the Samsung 990 PRO in read/write speeds, but what makes this one our premium pick is that it’s available with up to 8TB of storage. It’s a premium, professional-grade SSD for serious video editing.
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SanDisk Extreme Pro V2 SSD
Best external SSD
$108 $150 Save
$42External hard drives feature slower transfer speeds than internal drives, but the SanDisk Extreme Pro V2 SSD is a viable option if you need to move files between devices frequently. It offers speeds of up to 2,000MB/s, which is good for a portable SSD. 256-bit AES encryption and IP55 dust and water resistance also keep your data safe when you’re on the go.
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Samsung 870 QVO SATA III 2.5-inch SSD
Best SATA SSD
$155 $185 Save
$30If a PCIe SSD isn’t an option, and you need a 2.5-inch SATA SSD for video editing, the Samsung 870 QVO is an excellent choice. It offers outstanding SATA III transfer speeds and between 1TB and 8TB of storage space, giving you plenty of space for video footage and projects.
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Western Digital Red SA500
Best SSD for NAS
$90 $143 Save
$53Network-attached storage allows you to access your data remotely, which can be a boon for video editors as it frees up your on-device storage. The WD Red SA500 is a SATA SSD perfectly optimized for use in a NAS enclosure thanks to Western Digital’s 3D NAND technology. It’s also available in M.2 2280 SSD format if you need it.
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Crucial T700 4TB SSD
Best PCIe 5.0 SSD
$275 $350 Save
$75Gen 4 PCIe delivers fast enough speeds for most users, but if you want even faster transfers, the Crucial T700 is a blazing-fast PCIe 5.0 SSD. Its Gen 5 speeds crank up to an eye-popping 12,400 MB/s, but you need a PC that can take advantage of PCIe 5.0. It’s overkill for most people, but this is it if you want the fastest SSD for video editing. Just be prepared to pay a premium for it.
How to choose the right SSD for your video editing needs
Generally speaking, the standard 256GB to 512GB SSD inside most laptops isn’t really ideal for video editing. You want at least one terabyte of storage for video editing and even more than that if you’re working with large projects and files regularly, such as in a professional environment. That’s before you even consider transfer speeds. The best SSDs for video editing must offer fast read/write speeds and sufficient capacity for large files.
Our picks tick those boxes, but the Samsung 990 PRO SSD is our top recommendation. It’s not the cheapest option, but it delivers superb speeds for Gen 4 PCIe, and it’s available with as much as 4TB of space (we’d like to see an 8TB option, although that’s overkill for most people). If you’re on a tight budget or just a casual video editor and don’t want to spend a lot on a basic SSD, the Solidigm P41 Plus is very easy on the wallet. It’s a solid, no-frills storage solution, provided you set up the correct drivers and aren’t fussy about having the fastest speeds.
On the other hand, if speed is a priority, then our premium pick, the Corsair MP600 Pro NH SSD, beats even the Samsung 990 PRO. It’s pricier, but you get what you pay for in this case. It’s about the fastest Gen 4 PCIe SSD we’ve tested, inching just ahead of Samsung’s offering. But what clinches it as our top-tier pick is that it’s available with up to 8TB of storage space, whereas most SSDs are limited to 4TB. That makes the Corsair MP600 Pro NH the best SSD for professional-level video editing.
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source: https://www.xda-developers.com/best-ssds-for-video-editing/
