tethering into external ssd via new macbook pro

[NN261571UL]

hi, I am having to purchase a new macbook pro 15 inch. I am reluctant to shoot to the internal ssd as i shoot a lot over multiple days and pulling the images off is time consuming after each day. I had an idea of shooting to a fast external SSD as a master so it can be taken away by an assist and backed up after the shoot without taking my mac away.

a couple of questions for anyone who does this-

If i shoot to a fast SSD USB-C like this (with 7000mb read/write)-
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... table.html
Will it be any slower than the apple internal? or will there be other bottle necks?

cheers paul

[Horseoncowboy]

I prefer to use a software tool like ccc to backup from time to time or during breaks it fast, reliable and save. if your file size and volume is not to high it maybe also work as a background process.

[ben_US]

If i shoot to a fast SSD USB-C like this (with 7000mb read/write)-
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... table.html
Will it be any slower than the apple internal? or will there be other bottle necks?

Likely, yes, it will be a bit slower. More importantly, however, you'd be relying upon the two USB-C ports and USB-C cable to maintain a solid connection while writing your original image files. We don't recommend that, and (speaking with firsthand experience) you do not want to find out that the port on the drive has become unreliable in the middle of a tethered capture session.

[afrothang]

From personal experience this past week. Tethering to a fairly new mbp and writing directly to ssd's was extremely fast and smooth. Yes it probably was slower technically speaking, but not noticable. What we did notice was the extremely fast access/read speed of the drives. Pulling up images was quick, as if they were local. We backup locally with an identical ssd drive, using Chronosync, and timed about 20 gbs in under 1 min. There is always the risk of failing cables and ports, but there is risk in anything. A new laptop and drives should be solid for many years barring careless user error.

workflow:

camera-tether-owc 12port hub-ssd drive and backup