Hi all, new to the forums) Is anyone using U.3 NVMe storage for editing?

[Bob Zelin]

Hello –

I use U.2 NVMe drives all the time. I install them in QNAP TS-h1290FX and QNAP TS-h2490FU systems. U.2 (and U.3) NVMe drives are the fastest drives on the market. I have only used them in a RAID configuration – never as single drives. Another new product that uses U.2 NVMe drives is the Blackmagic Design Cloud Dock 4 and Cloud Dock 2, that are both very inexpensive (but only offer a 10G interface). The QNAP’s offer a 25G interface, so you will get faster performace with a 25GbE interface on your computer.

The price of 15 TB U.2 NVMe’s are dramatically more expensive than the 7.68 TB models. You can get a 7.68 TB U.2 NVMe from Samsung or Kingston for about $600 US.

If you are on a budget, and can’t afford the QNAP’s, you should look at this –

Blackmagic Cloud Store – Tech Specs | Blackmagic Design

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Rodion,

As Bob described, it’s possible to use U.3 SSDs for editing, in a RAID form, inside a NAS.

For your use case, using one 15TB $2000 U.3 SSD may be overkill.

A U.2 or U.3 SSD will deliver that speed only if the interface supports it. Like if it’s installed on a PCIe card, or directly in a U.2/U.3 compatible slot internal to your PC.

If you’re on a Mac, you’ll need to be using a Thunderbolt to U.2/U.3 adapter of some kind (OWC makes enclosures which are U.2 SSD compatible). Used in this manner, a U.2/U.3 SSD will work at about 2,500-3,000 MB/sec which is fast enough for 8k video file processing. But then these speeds are also achievable with M.2 NVMe SSDs.

You could also take a look at Iodyne which makes SSD based storage which can be connected to multiple Macs simultaneously.

Also, bear in mind that U.2 and U.3 in some situations/enclosures/adapters are not interchangeable.