I just finished spending a few hours with this as long as I format the 980 SSD using exFAT it just works. It sometimes takes a few seconds for the ATEM to recognize the drive, but it never fails to do so.

Yes. But based on the feedback I'm getting from viewers, I'd steer you away from the Sabrent enclosure. It seems that a lot of people are having issues with it. Also, since this video, I've gone back and re-used a couple of my X6 drives and it seems like they really slow down a lot after the first full write cycle, so I'm withdrawing my recommendation for that model.

Yes

We're seeing occasions (like Amazon Prime Day) where the 990s are cheaper, but we haven't officially flipped just yet.

990 PRO is a good choice for a DIY enclosure

Would you say the issues with 980 performance due to firmware issues are now long gone? Would definitely be interested in seeing the performance of 990s as the price point for 980/990 is very similar here in the UK

It isn't so just about the raw MB/sec, but whether the drive has a big enough buffer to be able to cope with momentary spikes as well as the longer-term sustained writes as well. The spikes are where the T7 fails, and the Blackmagic recorders produce spikes regularly. Without a big enough buffer on the drive, it will eventually fail to keep up.

@@djp_video that’s really good to know, Doug. Thank you. I appreciate the insight. I wonder why Samsung went backwards with this model. I’d better get a different drive. For now I’ll use my Hyperdeck (with EVO drives) and avoid using the T7s.

Same here. I had good results with the sandisk extreme non pro BUT recent articles show the sandisk drives can and do fail due to design errrors (soledring) so from that moment on, I no longer would risk it or recommend any sandisk portable ssd

I haven't tried an X9 or X10 yet. And nobody has submitted any performance data using my software tool. I'll get to them eventually, but I already have more drives than I need.

Not necessarily. Cheaper drives tend to fail sooner than more expensive models, but faster doesn't seem to equate to shortened lifespan.

www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=iRVMxFPo3KK9DlIUqYAVPgc

It's on my website: www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=iRVMxFPo3KK9DlIUqYAVPgc

Here's the 980 Pro test: www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=iRVMxFPo3KK9DlIUqYAVPgc And the 990 Pro test: www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=TNlWDGt4BtK2ErQb4ndy-o Check out my website for more test results. www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php

I use a T7 for my ATEM Mini Extreme ISO recording in ISO mode and haven't run into issues yet but now I'm kind of afraid.

How did it go?

@@AndresArosemena Well so far they have been doing great.. We've used them on 2h+ shoots and full day timelapse, no problem. Only exception is shooting on higher framerates (> 30fps) full resolution in BRAW. Then they can't keep up! We use the X8 for that..

@@simonanne_com good to know! thanks for the reply and recommendation.

In theory, yes. In practice, it's more complicated. If the recording device has a decent buffer, or the recording media has a good buffer, you might be able to pull it off.

Typically larger capacity drives tend to be faster

I've seen that happen on the X6 as well since I made this video (never before). If you can, return it and get an X8 instead.

They all get hot under heavy use. If you're seeing them get hot while not really being used there might be something wrong.

That depends on what drive you put in them. WIth the drives I use they get warm, but I wouldn't call them ridiculously hot.

I don't have an X9 yet, and I typically don't spend much time doing intense projects on my iPads, so I don't know if I can be of much help.

@@djp_video Hello thank you very much for your quick response, well i guess im going to take the dive and find out myself. I just ordered the x9. I hoping that being a newer drive it can do well. Ill be back with some info once i receive it. Thanks again

Have been using these too. Was hoping Doug had one of these in this review.

The channel doesn't quite bring in enough income to buy every type of drive out there ;) And recording directly to USB-C devices isn't normally part of my workflow (I primarily use SD cards or SATA SSDs) so I kind of have to make a point of buying and testing devices separate from what I normally do when working for clients.

@@djp_video All good Doug. Appreciate you anyway for what you do for all of us! Hope I didn't come off as putting you down for it. Was just excited to possibly see someone using the PB's as they are pretty new and I was very impressed with what I have seen from them. This Vid was awesome anyway! I record 4-6 hrs at a time and have had issues w ssd's. this vid explains why very well. Thank You Sir!

I've seen speeds upwards of 1000 MB/sec fairly consistently

Most of the complaints I've heard are coming from people who use the T7 with Blackmagic cameras, where they're recording RAW, or people using them with HyperDecks. They just can't keep up with those kinds of speeds. The ATEM Minis record at a much lower bitrate, and the T7 might be fast enough for that application. They're still not a fast drive, though.

@@djp_video so I’ve probably been lucky with mine. I will replace as needed based on your recommendations if & when I start recording RAW. Right now I’m 1080p/30 most times out of my Extreme ISO. All 8 cameras, program and audio. The key for me was adding a fan to my rack to keep fresh cool air blowing over both the T7 and the Extreme. My first use I had the lock up issues that everyone talks about and I identified that the T7 was hot enough to fry an egg on. Keeping it cool has resulted in favorable behavior but I can see how it might not do well with higher transfer speeds. Thanks for staying on top of these issues! If you’re ever in Denver hit me up. I’d love to give you a tour of my production setup for live performance videos.

actually Doug no longer recommends the X6. Read the video description.

I haven't had a chance to test them. They came out just days after I released this video.

Go for the X9 or x10 if you're getting Crucial.

Thanks, will do!@@djp_video

We went with the X9 Pro from Crucial, and it works flawlessly thus far. Record, unplug from HyperDeck, connect to Mac Studio, and edit! Saves a decent amount of time! Thanks, Doug!@@djp_video

I'd try a different USB-C to NVMe interface. There seems to be a compatibility issue going on there. You could try the one I mentioned in this video, but it seems that some users are having compatibility issues with it too. Another one I've tried and had good luck with these: amzn.to/40yTOmy or amzn.to/3SuEXYl

The Evo 970 and its Plus variant seem to do pretty well.

Not yet. But from what I'm hearing, I'm not optimistic about them.

If you want a cable that you can feel confident is always going to work, you can go with a Thunderbolt 4 cable. They're designed for the higher speeds of Thunderbolt, so they work really well with the slower speeds of USB. amzn.to/4bUT13N

I appreciate the support! The USB-C enclosure/Samsung SSD pairing works really well. I have heard from some people that they've had a hard time getting it to work with Blackmagic cameras and switchers, so if that's your intended use case make sure to test it well during your return window.

@@djp_video ohh? And there I thought you adviced these for combination with black magic? Anyway, It does work with the atem extreme but I have not tested it while feeding it with 8 active camera's because I want to add better heat pads first. Somewhere else I red that the sabrent house does not connect well with the lower part of the samsung 980pro and therfor can get to hot.

I did. I've never had any trouble with it myself. But perhaps Sabrent changed something, because I've gotten reports from a few viewers who have indicated that they were not able to get their Blackmagic devices to recognize the Sabrent enclosures.

@@djp_video I have no problem with Atem Mini Extreme ISO recognizing the samsung980pro 2TB in the Sabrent USB Type-C as can been seen on the photo I just took of it being connected and recording. I have only not yet tested it with recording a lot of camera's at the same time (The ISO functionality) www.janvalk.com/sabrent980pro.jpg edit: I red a comment further down saying he formatted on a mac. I like to add that I did the create drive and formatting to ex-fat on a windows 10 computer.

@@djp_video mm it looks like youtube deleted my comment. maybe because I had a link to a photo is which I show the atem mini extreme connecting and recording with the samsung980pro in a sabrent enclosure exactly like the one you show in this video. So I can say that mine does work. janvalk(dot)com(slash)sabrent980pro(dot)jpg

It seems that this isn't that uncommon. I haven't experienced the problem myself so I haven't taken any time to troubleshoot (the 980 Pro has worked okay for me).

I'm in the same situation. Doesn't register at all with the ATEM.

I have the problem as well with two BMD mini record decks that have the alpha output. I have 4 mini records that have the SDI loop through and the 980s work great

UPDATE: My problem was NOT the 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD, but rather the Sabrent enclosure. I moved the Samsung SSD to a KingWin NVMe enclosure and it works great on both ATEM Mini Extremes and a Mini Pro. It is too bad because I really like the Sabrent enclosure Doug recommended and I will use it elsewhere, but not with the ATEMs. I suspect Sabrent has changed something in their firmware or chipset to make the ATEMs not like it. Anyway, I hope this helps somebody. Thanks for the video Doug.

This may seem counterintuitive, but I'd consider looking at a model a couple years old, preferably new in box if you can find such a thing. Newer drives use a different generation of technology which packs the data in more tightly into available space and it makes them both less reliable and much, much slower. If you can get your hands on a TLC (triple-level cell) drive from Samsung or Western Digital or Crucial that's likely going to be your safest, and maybe fastest, option.

@@djp_video brilliant. Thanks for your response. Much appreciated 👍

Eventually you probably will. I literally see people complaining about losing recordings multiple times per week on Facebook, Discord, email, etc.

As long as you can connect a device to a Windows computer my Drive Tool software (djp.li/drivetool) can be used to test it.

Depends on the model. You can compare using my Drive Tool software (djp.li/drivetool) to run tests for yourself if you'd like.

Lexar sl500 the best

It would store them okay, but if you're writing a lot of big files all at once you can run into a situation where you fill the buffer and it slows down to a crawl. All drives these days will do that, so you have to pick a balance between what you're willing to spend on a drive and how much patience you have when saving the files.

I'm going to go with your last recommendation of the enclosure with the samsung HD. Thanks! @@djp_video

All of the SSDs out there will get warm under heavy use.

At a minimum you'll drop frames, or repeat frames, but it could also cause the recording to just fail and stop altogether.

I haven't tested them. In my mind they don't seem worth the price premium.

Mostly for recording. But the same principles apply... the T7 is going to slow down on you significantly when you copy a lot of data on a computer as well.

I don't know all of the technical differences, but I do know cost-cutting was involved. The newer drives also seem to have lower long-term write speeds with smaller DRAM buffers.

I don't believe so. When you were looking, did you compare the results for both the SanDisk reader as well as the other readers? The performance difference is huge. I tested it with multiple readers, including one of SanDisk's own, and the results were consistent. Both models are UHS-I, which is limited to about 95 MB/sec, but those cards allegedly can be pushed to higher speeds using the official SanDisk reader (using non-standard extensions to the UHS protocol, which also means you'll never see those higher speeds in any devices). The bottom line is that those speeds aren't achieved following the UHS-I standard so you'll only get them on very specific models of card readers. But, at the same time, SanDisk has been one of the worst companies about exaggerating their performance. Between that and very poor compatibility with Blackmagic Design equipment, I don't buy cards from them any longer.

There are definitely SSDs out there that cost less than the 980 Pro, but it's kind of a "you get what you pay for" kind of thing. The cheaper SSDs will slow down drastically on large file write operations, just like ALL of the portable USB SSDs do. The main reason I recommend the 980 over other options is that it goes a lot longer on write operations before it slow down than nearly anything else I've tested. In a lot of cases, you'll never see that slowdown. That said, the new Lexar NM790 series ( amzn.to/49Q0LnA ) has performed amazingly well in my testing -- better than the 980. And it's priced similarly, or even a little bit lower, than the 980 Pro. This is one of those areas where you don't really want to go cheap if you have a choice. You do get a lot more by spending a little bit more. One note---there seems to be a number of people that are having issues with compatibility with the Sabrent enclosure, especially when used with video production equipment. This enclosure ( amzn.to/3QK3jL2 ) seems to be better about compatibility.

Have you tried formatting on the 6K Pro?

It appears that there is a firmware issue and requires updating of the firmware through “Samsung Magician”… which only runs on PC. From the research I’m doing so far, the Samsung 980 pro looks like a dead end for Mac users, as there’s no way to update it. Strange that it will mount on a Mac, but not on the ATEM or 6K pro.

Yes I tried formatting in the 6Kpro. I’ve tried everything! I’ve discovered there is a ton of information on line discussing the need to update the 980 and 990 firmware. I want it to work! But it seems that it’s just easier to return it and go with the crucial X-6 if you own a Mac. At least that’s the way it appears to me right now.

Expanding on your question… the 6kpro will not even see the 980 pro, so it’s impossible to format it

In long, intense write operations it slows down to about 60 MB/sec. But all modern drives slow down at some point. Virtually all drives utilize a high-speed buffer to cache write operations, and once that buffer fills up writes slow down to the native write speed of the underlying storage cells. The big difference from one drive to the next is how large the buffer is. In the case of the 2 TB X8 that I use and tested, it was around 160 GB before it slowed down. Filling an entire 2 TB drive took around 6 hours. I recently performed a re-test of the 2 TB version, and the results are here: www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=H8TJQNQFJdiu9-B1IfwHe. The drive was half full. And you can see where the write performance drops at 160 GB, then speeds up again as it reaches the empty portion of the drive about half way. I've also tested an X10 Pro since this video. Results here: www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=6E6HU8s1Gs6u-dTe72Ul82I. The overall performance is considerably better. But it does start buffering earlier -- around 50 GB. It did recover periodically and would cycle back and forth between buffering and writing. That would indicate that it has a small buffer, but the overall storage write speeds are considerably higher. Keep in mind that you have to push either of these drives pretty hard to get the buffer to fill. Like if you're copying data from another high speed drive. For many workflows, like recording on a camera or ATEM, you'd probably either never fill the buffer. or it would take a very long time. When compared to drives from other manufacturers, both of these are better than other drives in their price class. You can't avoid buffering altogether, but going with a high speed NVMe drive in a USB enclosure gives you your best bet of not having the buffering impact your ability to use the drives for operations that require consistent high speed. Like the Samsung 980 Pro / USB enclosure recommendation I made in this video. www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=iRVMxFPo3KK9DlIUqYAVPgc (Sabrent enclosure) or www.djprod.biz/diskperformance.php?id=R896PzWPPbeBSlCuFbAm (ORICO USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 enclosure).

@@djp_video Thank you so much for this response. I really appreciate it. By your assessment, is a write speed of 60MB/sec still sufficient for recording from the ATEM? Also, do you reckon getting a similar behavior to the X10 pro on the X9 pro? Sorry for the bother, it's just I'm about to decide between getting the X8 and the X9 pro (as I don't have the ports to take advantage of the X10 pro speeds and both have reduced prices) and I want to know if the sustained performance of the X9 Pro is worth splurging a bit more

You'll never hit that issue with the ATEMs. They don't create enough data to ever fill the buffer. The X8 will be plenty fast for what you're doing. You can get an X9 if you want something newer, but it won't be any more reliable when used with ATEM switchers.

I finally got my hands on a T7 Shield and X10 Pro. Despite what some are saying, the T7 Shield absolutely does slow down and doesn't perform when writing a lot of data. The X10 Pro is an impressive drive. I was able to write a full terabyte of data to mine without it slowing down at all. It looks to be a great drive (so far).

@@djp_video super, thanks, there is one other thing that is confusing me - it is the password protection of both these drive. I am told/read that samsung t7 shield needs password protection switched off in order to be used on android phone or you need to use an app that is not very reliable. do you maybe know what is the case with crucial x9/x10 pro - does these devices work as expected when connected to an android phone with password protection on, or does the password protection need to be removed in order to be connected to and files shown on an android phone?

I don't know for sure, but my gut tells me that unless a drive has its own buttons/screen/interface to enter a password, the password protection will need to be turned off for all drives to be usable on a phone or tablet. Since password protection of that type isn't something that is part of the USB standard, it requires software to make it work, and I don't believe anyone is making drivers for Android to make that happen.

@@djp_video thank you for providing us with this updated data. :) very helpful!

I’m going to look into this. I haven’t seen this behavior myself.

I just finished spending a few hours with this and I haven't been able to recreate the problem. As long as I format the 980 SSD using exFAT it just works. It sometimes takes a few seconds for the ATEM to recognize the drive, but it never fails to do so.

It records a single video source, just like all of the other HyperDecks.

@djp_video ok, thanks

If that particular enclosure doesn’t have sufficient cooling for your workflow, you can try another. The 980 Pro itself is a fantastic drive for video editing.

The T7 Shield models are better, but still not as good as the Crucials I mention in this video.

For my BMPCC4K I have a small rig cage and there is a T5/T7 holder for it, which can hold both the original T5 and the T7 shield. I think its the SmallRig SSD Mount 3272.

@@FSdarkkilla I have the tilta cage, but i am happy to look at the small rig holder. thank you

@@jadefinchscene5644 I guess the small rig SSD mount should be compatible just fine on a tilta cage as long as you have a screw hole left to screw it into. So good luck/have fun with trying the SSD mount, I'm sure it'll work.

@@FSdarkkilla i still need to buy a t7 shield first, but will likely order both at the same time.

It's compressed video. In the case of recording directly from some models of cameras, it could be a RAW stream rather than MP4/MP5, but still lower bitrate than uncompressed. The problem is when the drives get 'busy' and can't keep up with the non-stop stream of data coming from the camera/switcher/recorder. If their buffer fills up, the delay while trying to empty it can cause the recording to fail, or at least drop frames. The fact that you're using a computer gives you a real advantage over dedicated recording devices, because the computer itself acts as a buffer, so you can get away with drives that might not work when connected directly to a recorder.

Extreme Pro, yes. And it does work just fine.

Go with a name brand. It doesn't matter that much which one, with the possible exception of SanDisk, which seems to be having reliability issues.

The ATEM Mini is recording in h.264 which requires a lot less bandwidth than the ProRes you're using on the HyperDeck. If you had a faster drive, like the Crucials I mention in this video, you'd be able to keep up on the HyperDeck in ProRes as well.

I started down the path to try to do a roundup of headphone options, and bought more than a dozen models of both wired and wireless variety, but it was so disappointing that I never finished that project. I'm also not sure I'm ready for the amount of vitriol that would come from such a video. People have such different tastes and strong opinions. And every manufacturer's interpretation of 'good' sound is so wildly different. For example, I bought a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones a couple years ago based on the fact that they were getting just phenomenal online reviews everywhere. And I absolutely hated them. They sounded awful! They were the worst pair of headphones I'd heard outside of budget (basically disposable) models. Audio sludge. The low end was just a muddy disaster and vocals were nearly indistinguishable from everything else in the mix, and the noise reduction had a tinny ringing that was painful to listen to. I haven't been impressed by any other models that I've tried, from any manufacturer, either. Plus, with most using Bluetooth, the audio quality is only ever going to be so-so, and it's always going to have quite noticeable latency, making them suitable only for casual listening. I've stopped trying and just accept that a wire is going to be a reality for me. The best bang for the buck I've found there is the Sony MDR-V6 (not the 'similar' but not nearly as good MDR-7506) -- it's too bad they were discontinued. I also like the Philips Fidelio series, beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, and most everything I've heard from Grado. But I still haven't heard a good pair of wireless headphones -- the trend in the last decade or so has been way over-boosted, muddy bass and overly bright, harsh treble, and at thes same time burying vocals so deep they can barely be heard less understood, and I can't stand any of them. In terms of in-ear models, I've tried a whole bunch from some pretty reputable companies and keep coming back to the Shure SE215. Phenomenal quality for the price. Even the Bluetooth version is really good. I don't use the earbud style that much because they just don't stay in my ears very well, but when I do I've landed on the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro just because I can't justify spending any more than that on something I'm probably going to lose. The sound quality is just okay, but at that price point that's about as good as you're going to get.I've heard that the Galaxy Buds+ are also quite good.

With the Sabrent enclosure and 980 Pro drive I consistently see just under a Gigabyte per second. With a 20 Gbps enclosure, those speeds could be double when plugged into a compatible USB port.

I use the Refresh mode for these tests.

@@djp_videoDo you have "Write simulation" enabled? I have completely different results enabling this switch

No. The Write Simulation option turns off all writes entirely (to avoid overwriting data), reading data from the disk instead.

What do your results look like?

Not sure. I’m going to look into it.

I just finished spending a few hours with this and I haven't been able to recreate the problem. As long as I format the 980 SSD using exFAT it just works. It sometimes takes a few seconds for the ATEM to recognize the drive, but it never fails to do so.

I have the 1TB version, and it has definitely failed on me recording 1080p59.94 ProRes. I wouldn't trust them for that particular scenario.

@@djp_video Ok - Thank you Doug, i will then look for another drive for my Extreme Iso recordings

If you need consistent performance, the only way to achieve that is to assemble your own drive from a USB/Thunderbolt enclosure and NVMe SSD. NONE of the commercially available options that I've had the opportunity of testing offers consistent, high speeds when writing large files like we typically find ourselves managing in the video world. The ALL slow down quite a lot with big files. And, unfortunately, the situation seems to be getting worse, with price and capacity being the two things that manufacturers are focusing on, and performance being an afterthought. For example, in the Samsung "T" series, the T5 had the most consistent write speeds of the family, and with the T7 and now T9 they slow down even more than the T5 did.

thank you so much for the response. that is quite unfortunate.. 😢 do you still recommend the sabrent enclosure with the samsung 980 pro or do you have something better now? i have no problem assembling my own but i’m just worried the enclosure isn’t as hardy as i want it to be.

The X6 has been discontinued now. But the replacement X9 and X10 product lines would work pretty well for that task as long as the number of writes you are doing is reasonable. These drives, like most others, have an SLC cache to make the drive responsive, but once it fills up the NAND flash is much slower so writes to the drive slow down until the drive has the chance to flush the cache.

@@djp_videoThanks for that - really appreciate it. I went for the X9 pro 4TB in the end, as it was only an extra 50euro...., I was getting a TLC Nand (so hopefully a little better) .

That's mostly a function of how much writing is going on, and to a lesser extent how much reading. If you're working with many high bandwidth files, yeah, they could start to get warm. But they all do that. It certainly isn't unique to Crucial. If it's a concern, go with a drive with more thermal mass to it, or maybe even active cooling.

The problem with the T5s is that they haven't been manufactured for some time now, so you're either buying old stock at inflated prices, or a used drive with unknown history.

@@djp_video agreed. This is why I’ve switched over to buying SSDs and enclosures. The biggest issue at this point is finding an enclosure with fast throughput. Advertised speeds of 40Gbps aren’t always accurate and oftentimes just a straight up lie so you need to be careful. I’d like to see someone do a side-by-side test of a fast SSD using different enclosures. Maybe I’ll do one?

The X6 is a bit of a mystery to me. When I performed this testing, everything seemed great. It flew through the tests with flying colors. And using it to record video from a HyperDeck or BMD Camera, everything seemed great. But when I connected it to a computer to copy 1 TB of footage, half way through the copy the drive slowed down to a crawl. It seems that through all of my testing the drive's buffer ws big enough and fast enough to dump everything to the NAND to keep up. But once I used it to copy footage for a client, about 500 GB into the write it slowed down drastically and took forever to finish.

@@djp_video I recently got the x6 for drive image backups. Basically it has a fast slc cache which is roughly 25% of the drive when empty. During my backups, it’s very fast till around 250GB(1tb drive), but post that it crawls at 20 to 40MB/sec, even slower than my WD external HDD., which consistently maintained around 100 MB/sec. Basically this drive is only good for bursts of write activity, and not for intensive stuff like video recording / rendering or backups. Once the drive is partly full, the slc cache is only around 20 to 30GB, after which it slows down again.Was a bit surprised you didn’t hit this issue

@@srideepprasad I too have seen similar performance in subsequent use. I have no idea why it didn't show up when I was testing the drive. I'm still scratching my head over that one.

If you use a properly built cable (like the one it comes with) and plug into a USB 3.2 Gen 2 compatible port, you'd be able to achieve the full 10 Gbps communication speed and the transfer rates wouldn't be any different than USB-C. If the USB port you plug into only supports USB 3.1 you'd max out at 5 Gbps. But with that said, since this video, I've discovered that the X6 slows down pretty dramatically as it fills up. Go with a Crucial X9/X10 instead. With those the USB-A adapter isn't included, so you'd need to supply your own.

@@djp_video i just have usb 3.0 .. better internal ssd i guess

@@sandalero Internal is better if it’s an option. But USB 3.0 is still 5Gbps, which is more than 500 GB per second, so it’s nothing to sneeze at.

@@djp_video all my 3.2 sticks only do 120 MB/sec

Sustained write speed is often an issue. A lot of consumer SSDs can’t keep up that rate for a long period of time.

HyperDecks? All current models can record on USB drives as well.