Need Help Choosing SSD for Storing Photos

honest1

honest1

Herald
Hey everyone,
I recently got my MBA and treated myself to an iPhone 16 Pro (128 GB). As expected, the storage is already proving to be insufficient—especially since I love clicking photos and shooting short videos.
I’m not a professional photographer, but I’d say I’m an above-average enthusiast. The main reason I chose the iPhone was its camera quality (let’s not get into the iPhone vs. Android debate here )

Now I’m looking for an external SSD to store all my media files. I’ve been researching a bit but I’m honestly confused:
  • Should I go for a pre-built external SSD?
  • Or should I buy an SSD and a separate enclosure?
  • Any particular brands/models you recommend?

And then the bigger question as to which one to take! I am not looking for blazing speed and need to keep an eye for budget as well. So please suggest accordingly!

(Open for used SSD as well, as long as it works perfectly fine !)
 
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Personally I would go with a HDD and an encrypted copy on the Cloud for long term storage
PS : Whatever enclosure you get, try and get one with a fan if possible.
 
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If opting for SSD, option 2 is cheaper - Buying SSD and enclosure.

This is where you buy a high-speed M.2 NVMe SSD (like the ones used in desktops/laptops) and put it inside a USB-C or Thunderbolt enclosure. This approach can give you better performance and value than many prebuilt SSDs. WD and Samsung are good.

You can buy used ones and save another 1.5-2.5K. Enclosures come around 1K.

Otherwise HDD is also a good option if speeds don’t matter as @ibose suggested.
 
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ibose said:
Personally I would go with a HDD and an encrypted copy on the Cloud for long term storage
PS : Whatever enclosure you get, try and get one with a fan if possible.
Click to expand...
I need to have convenience of easy carry as well. Also, I don’t need encryption as I will be taking backup on google photos.
 
A lot of people suggest getting an external nvme ssd with enclosure. It would give better speed without a doubt but with a lot of heat too. Another thing is disconnection issues when using these enclosures. You have to choose the right one so you can avoid those.
My advice is get a pre built external ssd, it can be sata or nvme and format it to APFS so you can install apps on it.
And get another one for purely external storage with an enclosure.
I was in the same boat as you. I went with SATA just to avoid heat issues and I am happy with SATA speeds. Will go NVME when I have more money to burn on real thunderbolt enclosures. Till then SATA it is.

Forgot it add: I edit 4k videos on external SATA drive with no issues.
 
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jdp861 said:
A lot of people suggest getting an external nvme ssd with enclosure. It would give better speed without a doubt but with a lot of heat too. Another thing is disconnection issues when using these enclosures. You have to choose the right one so you can avoid those.
My advice is get a pre built external ssd, it can be sata or nvme and format it to APFS so you can install apps on it.
And get another one for purely external storage with an enclosure.
I was in the same boat as you. I went with SATA just to avoid heat issues and I am happy with SATA speeds. Will go NVME when I have more money to burn on real thunderbolt enclosures. Till then SATA it is.

Forgot it add: I edit 4k videos on external SATA drive with no issues.
Click to expand...
Thats a good idea to go with SATA as well.
As of now, I just need a external storage drive to store my photos and videos. Not looking to have apps installed.


Does SATA drive will support ProRes video which can be stored directly on external drive ?

About Apple ProRes on iPhone - Apple Support (IN)

Learn about Apple ProRes on iPhone. Apple ProRes enables multi-stream, real-time editing performance while delivering professional image quality.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
jdp861 said:
A lot of people suggest getting an external nvme ssd with enclosure. It would give better speed without a doubt but with a lot of heat too. Another thing is disconnection issues when using these enclosures. You have to choose the right one so you can avoid those.
My advice is get a pre built external ssd, it can be sata or nvme and format it to APFS so you can install apps on it.
And get another one for purely external storage with an enclosure.
I was in the same boat as you. I went with SATA just to avoid heat issues and I am happy with SATA speeds. Will go NVME when I have more money to burn on real thunderbolt enclosures. Till then SATA it is.

Forgot it add: I edit 4k videos on external SATA drive with no issues.
Click to expand...

This is not entirely true -

SATA SSDs too heat up as well but to a much lesser extent. It depends on the workload on the device.

Additionally, disconnection issues are a symptom of poor quality or damage due to incorrect insertion. Have seen this on enclosures and Crucial/Samsung ones.
 
 
I will never trust physical drives if the storage of photos is very important. I will always go for cloud storage no matter the price.
Just my opinion
 
honest1 said:
Does SATA drive will support ProRes video which can be stored directly on external drive ?
Click to expand...
Here is blackmagic disk speed test:
One test is when i left it run for 7 iterations continously. Don't look at 10.6 MB/s. I stopped the test when it was about to start another iteration.
Screenshot 2025-06-01 at 9.01.17 PM.png


Second is when I only let it run twice.

Screenshot 2025-06-01 at 9.03.22 PM.png


I use H265 so it works really well for me.
 
Just to be sure, do you already (or intend to) pay for google photos? If you do then your external drive is just an additional backup and the speed difference between ssd/hdd shouldn't really matter.
 
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