Blackmagic Forum

Hello,

I've been researching this for 2 weeks without stopping and instead of clearing my doubts I just get more confused

I have the blackmagic 6k pro, I need an SSD that allows me to record at a constant speed in 5:1 without interruptions. In the blackmagic recommendations I can't find the answer to this configuration, I also don't understand why they recommend a 500gb and 2tb ssd of the same brand and yet I can't use 1tb.

I can only afford to buy a 1TB SSD and would preferably like it to fit in the smallrig 3270. I have been about to buy a t5 ssd, but many say it gives problems at high speeds (don't know if 5:1 on 6k would do), later I wanted to buy a LaCie Portable SSD, but I don't think it will fit in the smallrig and also as I can see "it is only recommended to record with the 2tb capacity".

I'm in a mess and I need to buy a space now, can you help me? Will a t5 ssd work for me? do you opt for another ssd?

I shoot 6K BRAW 5:1 24fps on the Samsung T5 and never had a problem. Although I use the 500Gb x 2 instead of 1 x 1Tb for fail safe reasons, I cannot speak for the 1Tb. If you are looking at the 1Tb drives, the known ones that works well on the Pocket 6K are the Wise 1Tb, the Delkin Juggler 1Tb, and the Angelbird 1Tb SSD.

I usually shoot Cfast but the few times I went SSD I never had an issue with the 1TB T5 on the 6k but I've heard lots have. Maybe just dumb luck.

I would go with 2 512s for safety.

Ellory Yu wrote:I shoot 6K BRAW 5:1 24fps on the Samsung T5 and never had a problem. Although I use the 500Gb x 2 instead of 1 x 1Tb for fail safe reasons, I cannot speak for the 1Tb. If you are looking at the 1Tb drives, the known ones that works well on the Pocket 6K are the Wise 1Tb, the Delkin Juggler 1Tb, and the Angelbird 1Tb SSD.

Thanks for your answer, for now I have chosen to buy the Delkin Juggler 1Tb to make sure, let's see how it goes!

I use the Samsung 1TB SSD and shoot Constant Bitrate 3:1 24fps and have never had an issue.

I did just pick up an Angelbird CFast 256 GB card for more then I paid for the T5. I bought it for when I use the Gimbal but it will only record 16 minutes of footage at that quality. But no issues with this either.

if you want to record to an external SSD, 2 factors are crucial:
stable connection
very good USB-C cable

I would recommend the SSD from wise or angelbird
(just like CFast 2.0 cards from these manufacturers)

mgonzalfer wrote:I have been about to buy a t5 ssd, but many say it gives problems at high speeds (don't know if 5:1 on 6k would do),

I cannot comprehend why so many insist on going for the Samsung SSDs – they’re proven to be worthless, unless you’re lucky enough to get a good unit.

G-Technology’s G-DRIVE SSD 1 TB comes at a similar or lower price and has a track record of being robust and reliable.

If the T5 is recommended for the Pocket 6K Pro for 5:1, then it’s likely that G-Technology’s G-DRIVE SSD will work fine.

Get the SmallRig 3272 and try going for the G-DRIVE SSD, Angelbird SSD2GO PKT MK2, or the Wise PTS-1024 Portable SSD - they all come in a terabyte size.

We use T7 with the 6k pro. Have 7 of them. Never had any problem, except a poor cable.

Mostly 6k braw 3:1 and 5:1 in 50fps.

Sent fra min ELE-L29 via Tapatalk

Bromine 18 wrote:
G-Technology’s G-DRIVE SSD 1 TB comes at a similar or lower price and has a track record of being robust and reliable.

Just wanted to check on this. I have tried to find the answer but no luck so far. Hoping you can help!

In the BMD list of recommended drives, they say "G-DRIVE Mobile SSD 1TB" for Pocket 4k.

Looking at the Western Digital website in the UK (who I believe make G-Drives), there is both a "G-Drive Mobile SSD" and Just "G-Drive SSD".

Mobile SSD - https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/pr ... #0G06053-1

SSD - https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/pr ... 001T-GBANB

The Mobile SSD is rated up to 560MB/s, and the SS is rated to 1000MB/s.

Then on the Western Digital US website, they don't even list the Mobile 560MB/s SSD. They only have the 1000MB/s SSD. So I wonder if BM are talking about that.

The point of the above is... should I be getting the 560MB/s Mobile SSD (which would be my guess if I want to follow BM recommendations word-for-word), or the 1000MB/s, which has much higher specs (and I could also pick up from USA when I am next there for significantly cheaper than the UK one!), which could help with editing directly from the drive and future-proofing.

And, also, if I do get the 1000MB/s, do you think it would be safe going for over 1TB?

Really, I just want to know it works. But if I can get the faster drive from the US for significantly cheaper, and that will also definitely work, then I will go for that.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

The 1050 MB/s is the Professional version, an update of the Mobile version, both claimed suitable for video. Both are USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. The Pro datarate is described as sustained Read, but unless BMD includes them on their approved list, you take your chances.

rick.lang wrote:The 1050 MB/s is the Professional version, an update of the Mobile version, both claimed suitable for video. Both are USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. The Pro datarate is described as sustained Read, but unless BMD includes them on their approved list, you take your chances.

Thanks Rick.

Yeah, after reading around further, I decided to stick with the approved list! Thanks for your help.

Bromine 18 wrote:I cannot comprehend why so many insist on going for the Samsung SSDs – they’re proven to be worthless, unless you’re lucky enough to get a good unit.

One reason is availability. I need to recommend a drive to students, who are not going to shop in obscure places and then compare different similar-named models. Even I find this process tedious and error-prone.

Another reason is price. Samsung sells more, so their products are often deeply discounted.

I could not find the exact G-Tech model recommended in this thread. So I either take my chances on a different model, at twice the price, or take my chances on a T7 which some people are successfully using and others slag into the ground.

What to do?

Why not get the T5? At least the 500 GB model is still around and that should suffice for students.

I have 13 Samsung T5 drives in operation. They work flawlessly with P4K and P6K. With the included cable (!).
This is for the EU market, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany (where I sourced them).

Maybe there are regional differences, maybe there are fake ones ?

Anyway, out of the 13, two of them had old firmware, and had slow write speeds. I already & repeatedly mentioned this on this forum. It is my guess this could account for a few of the bad experiences with T5 drives (I got 110 MB/s constant write speed, instead of around 400 after the update).

Also, some people are unknowingly quite abusive to their material. Stories about broken USB-C ports and power connections make me think some USB cables must have been caught between scissors or lids of perfectly sealing hard cases ?

Even the big boss of Blackmagicdesign pulls and reconnects USB drives to cameras while being powered on ! IMO that is an accident waiting to happen. I would not do that on a BMD livestream explaining things about a new model, it sets a very bad example.

My 2 cents : if you can still source T5 drives from a known reseller, they are quite reliable. Just install the Samsung Magician utility on a pC, check drive health and firmware version before shooting away.

I used T7 (non-shield). Recording at 6K BRAW, 50FPS, 5:1 with no issues. But if I want to shoot at 3:1 the frame droping appear.
One guy gived me a tip on Crucial MX500 1/2TB because he use it a lot with rec.settings 6K BRAW, 50FPS, Q0 !!!

Uli Plank wrote:Why not get the T5? At least the 500 GB model is still around and that should suffice for students.

Sorry for the very late reply.

Indeed we did recommend T5 to students but last summer there were none in retail. Now I can recommend the Samsung T7 Shield model with no reservations.

Been using a SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO (V2) for 6k DCI @ Q3 with no issues. It’s rated for the 12k camera. There are a few things to consider beyond the stated speed. Many SSDs have a speedy cache that, once full, will drop speed well below what’s needed. Lots of folks know about this, but you also need to be careful about watts that the SSDs require coming from the port. USB 3 only provides a guaranteed 4.5v while many SSDs can spike higher leading to dropped frames, etc.

Best place I’ve seen to help is Anandtech’s SSD reviews. You go to the last page of the reviews and look for Worst-Case Performance Consistency. They fill the disk to 90% tracking speed, wattage, and temperature. Here’s an example: https://www.anandtech.com/show/16120/sa ... 020-review