As a passionate photographer, ensuring you have sufficient and reliable storage for all your photos and videos is crucial. The massive 20MP+ files from modern DSLR and mirrorless cameras quickly fill up laptop and desktop hard drives. That‘s where upgrading to high capacity external storage comes in.
But with so many drives out there with varying speeds, build quality and prices – how do you pick the optimal one? As a tech specialist and photography enthusiast, I‘ll share my industry insights to cut through the confusion. Read on to learn:
- How to calculate your total storage needs
- Ideal interface speeds for photo workflows
- Key durability factors to protect your data
- Must-have security features
- Cost saving tips when buying storage
Let‘s get started!
Storage Requirements RISING RAPIDLY
First, how much storage capacity do you actually need? While 1TB drives may have been sufficient five years ago, today‘s 20-30MP photo and 4K video files demand way more space.
Let‘s examine the stats – the average image file size has grown 6X from 2MB to 12MB between 2010 and 2022. For video, 4K clips require 7X more capacity than 1080p footage. At 60MB per raw image and 4GB per minute of 4K video, storage needs skyrocket.
Doing some quick math, if you shoot:
- 10,000 photos and 100 minutes of 4K footage per month – You would need around 1.2 TB of new storage per year
That‘s for a relatively average photographer. If you are a:
- Full-time Pro Wedding Photographer – Shooting 30,000 high res photos and 8 hours of 4K video per wedding, you may need over 10 TB of fresh storage annually!
The takeaway? Plan for at least 500GB of capacity, ideally 1TB to start. Add more drives as your photo and video libraries grow through the years.
Transfer Speed Impacts Post-Processing
Once you have sufficient capacity, transferring and editing all those large files quickly becomes the next challenge.
That‘s where your drive‘s interface and resulting real-world transfer speed makes a huge difference in your photography post processing and backup workflow.
Interface Technology Data Transfer Rate
| Interface | Max Transfer Speed |
|---|---|
| USB 2.0 | 60 MB/s |
| USB 3.2 Gen1 | 625 MB/s |
| USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1250 MB/s |
| Thunderbolt 3 | 2500 MB/s |
| USB4 | 4000 MB/s |
As you can see above, the USB 2.0 drives peak at just 60 MB/s. So transferring 50GB of photos or videos would take 17 MINUTES!
In contrast, a blazing fast Thunderbolt 3 SSD can copy the same 50GB in just 2 minutes flat.
Clearly, a USB 2.0 drive can completely bottleneck your post-production workflow when importing and exporting files. I strongly suggest buying drives with the much faster USB 3.2, Thunderbolt 3 or cutting edge USB4 interfaces instead. They work with both Windows and Mac setups.
Those faster protocols give your computer and apps plenty of bandwidth to transfer and process all those megapixels without wasting your time.
Durability Safeguards On Location Photoshoots
You likely carry external drives along on photography trips to back up images and video from your DSLR or drone camera‘s memory card while still on location.
But what happens if you drop the drive, it gets knocked over or your bag gets soaked suddenly? Lost data could mean disastrous re-shoots instead of seamless post-processing back home.
Common causes of permanent storage failures:
- Accidental drops account for 37% of drive failures
- Electrical surges cause 11% of crashes
- Liquid spills make 9% of drives unreadable
- Dust / debris and physical shocks also harm drives
So having durable and redundant external storage is vital for photographers on the go. Tough SSD and HDD options now allow working through demanding on-site environments. Key traits for maximum data protection include:
- Shock and drop rating – MIL-STD-810 military rating
- IP67/IP68 water / dust resistance rating
- Fire and pressure resistance certification
- Redundant RAID 1 disks to limit data loss
Some standout durable drive series I recommend are:
- LaCie Rugged SSD Pro
- Samsung T7 Touch Portable SSD
- G-Technology ArmorATD
Backup & Security Essentials
All the storage capacity and speed means little if ransomware encrypted your external drive‘s contents or it gets stolen at airport security with last wedding shoots memories!
Here are three backup and security capabilities that are absolutely mandatory to protect irreplaceable photo libraries:
- Encrypted Private Folder Capability: Sets up password protected virtual vaults to storing sensitive shoots
- Drive Level AES-256 Hardware Encryption: Strong defense against data theft if devices get misplaced
- Backup Software With Versioning: Allows restoring previous intact versions of corrupted files
Set those data protection measures up the moment you start using new external storage drives for maximum security and minimizes any disruptions to your photography workflow if incidents happen down the road.
Cost Saving Tips When Buying
With those technical considerations covered, external SSDs and HDDs these days provide photographers immense storage capacity starting under $100. Costs climb for added speed, durability and security features.
If you have investment budget constraints as an aspiring or part-time creative, follow these tips to save on drive purchases:
Buy HDDs Instead of SSDs
At similar capacities, HDDs cost 60% less than SSDs – a 6TB HDD is around $120 vs $300 for 6TB SSD
Opt For External Hard Disks Over RAID Enclosures
Self contained drives are cheaper over having to buy separate external RAID case and internal disks
Wait For Season Sales
Hard disk prices fluctuate year round – they drop around Black Friday / Cyber Monday, are cheapest in Jan-Feb
Consider Used Enterprise Drives
If buying old used datacenter pulls for personal backups, can get drives under $15 per TB
Share Group Drive If Possible
To save costs, small groups of photographers can split higher capacity drives with partitioning
Key Takeaways
We covered a lot of ground around picking the optimal external drives for photographic needs. To summarize:
- Calculate yearly storage capacity required
- Get fast interface like USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt
- Pick durable HDDs/SSDs if shooting on location
- Enable drive encryption and backup tools
- Shop sales and deals to maximize value
Hope this gives you a structured way to evaluate options for storing all your wonderful images safely for the long term. Feel free to reach out with any other questions!
