Fastest drive: LaCie Pro5

LaCie claims read speeds of up to 6,700 MB/s and write speeds of up to 5,300 MB/s—enough for real-time editing of 8K and 6K RAW footage. In our top-speed test, the drive reached 5,787 MB/s read and 5,188 MB/s write. Although those results did not quite match LaCie’s claims, the Pro5 was still the fastest drive in this guide by a wide margin.

Raw speed is only part of the story, so real-world performance mattered more. After loading 6K ProRes RAW footage onto the Pro5, I was able to edit it in DaVinci Resolve Studio on a MacBook Pro.

The downside: an extremely high price

The main drawback is the cost. The 4-TB version originally started at $600, which was already expensive for working with ProRes RAW video files. As of this update, its price had risen to $1,600, making it much harder to recommend as a value. Still, if maximum speed is your priority, the LaCie Pro5 is the drive to get.

Best padded portable SSD: Samsung T9

For the past few years, Samsung’s T9 has been my go-to portable drive. LaCie drives usually dominate this category, but the T9 is also extremely fast, easily beating the Crucial X9 with speeds of more than 1,350 MB/s.

The T9 also appears to use less power when connected to an Android tablet, draining the battery considerably less than other drives I regularly use.

Good protection, but no water or dust resistance

The T9’s padding is less substantial than the LaCie’s, but it costs considerably less and holds up well to life on the road. Its main weakness is the lack of waterproof and dustproof protection. The padding stops at the edge, so the drive is not completely sealed. I had no problems using it, but exposure to moisture could be an issue. If you need better protection from the elements, consider the Samsung T7 Shield.

Best DIY drive enclosure: TerraMaster D1 SSD

With hard-drive prices soaring, repurposing an internal NVMe SSD you already own as an external drive is an attractive option. Many DIY drive enclosures are available, including models with speeds of up to 80 GBps when used with compatible USB 4 ports.

TerraMaster offers two versions of the D1 SSD enclosure: the 80 GBps Pro model and the slower 40 GBps Plus version. I tested both. If you do not have USB 4, the Plus model makes more sense and is also available in a base version through the 10 GBps option.

The 10 GBps version is much slower but cheaper. Once set up, however, the D1 SSD is an incredibly fast external drive. Its heat-dissipation design also kept performance consistent without noticeable slowdowns.