I switched to this SSD enclosure – and immediately saw faster rendering speeds

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I have several external drives attached to my Mac Studio, all of which are used for video projects. Some are just for storage, while others are for rendering. When rendering video, everything needs to be set up for the best possible performance; otherwise, it could mean the difference between minutes or hours of rendering time.

• Slow drive = slow rendering.
• Slow cable = slow rendering.

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Believe it or not, a poorly designed drive enclosure could also equal slow rendering. You might think a drive enclosure would have nothing to do with transfer speeds or rendering time, but that would be false. Not only do those external drive housings include electronics, but they also have to deal with another factor that can negatively impact a drive: heat transfer.

This brings me to the TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro external NVMe SSD housing. When this arrived some time ago, I didn’t really think much about it. I unboxed it, slapped a drive in it, and attached it to my Mac Studio, assuming it would be just another external drive I would use for video rendering.

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But I soon realized that even though I have multiple enclosures holding the same type of drive, this particular housing would help improve the rendering speeds because of its dual-fin heat sink design. No matter how long a video was being rendered, the process was not hindered at all. 

According to SanDisk, excessive heat during data transfer can affect performance. I’ve personally watched a drive’s performance degrade with excessive heat. 

I render a lot of 4K video, often with a ton of coloring, FX (via plugins and such), and audio. When you have a more complicated timeline to render, the file size can get quite large. The longer it takes to render those videos to a drive, the warmer the drive gets. I’ve witnessed firsthand that as a drive heats up, the rendering time slows down. I’ve watched rendering times increase by nearly 25%, which could make a huge difference on larger projects.

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This has been especially true with cheap, plastic external drive housings, where there’s zero heat dissipation built in. On top of that, excessive heat can shorten the lifespan of an external drive.

How I tested the enclosure

The test was simple: With matching drives and cables, I would render the same video on a drive that used a cheaper, plastic housing and then render the same video on the TerraMaster D1 Pro.

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Every single time I rendered the video, the time was considerably shorter on the drive with the TerraMaster D1 Pro. I took this a step further and switched the housings. The results were the same. Because the TerraMaster was able to keep the drive cooler, the rendering and transfer speeds were not affected. 

In the first test, I rendered the video on a drive using a standard, plastic housing. This was a short but complicated clip with a five-second section in the middle with several layers of effects. On this attempt, at 21% complete, the finish time was listed at 1 minute and 23 seconds.

In the second test, I moved the drive to the TerraMaster housing, and at 21%, the finish time was listed at 56 seconds. Given that the drive and cable were the same, the only logical deduction is heat.

Although that’s not much time, imagine if I were rendering a full-length film. Now, we’re talking about a significant difference in time (by hours).

During rendering, you can feel the heat coming off this enclosure, meaning it’s dissipating it. Conversely, if you hold your hand over the plastic enclosure, and feel nothing, that means the heat is trapped and therefore affecting the drive.

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I also have a drive enclosure with a fan. Although it does a pretty good job of drawing heat from drives, it’s bulky, and the fan can get loud. The Terramaster, on the other hand, is small and silent. The brand also happens to have a solid reputation for storage devices. I’ve tested its NAS options and found them to deliver outstanding performance. The same holds true for this drive housing.

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You might think that the speed and longevity of an external drive are all about the drive itself and the cable. If you overlook the housing, however, you’re missing out on a particular element that can prevent transfer slowdowns and premature degradation of an expensive SSD. And given the rising price of storage, keeping those SSDs healthy is crucial.

On top of all of this, the TerraMaster D1 Pro is built like a tank. Once your NVMe SSD is safe inside this enclosure, you can be sure that it will take a serious beating. 

All you have to do is slip your SSD into the enclosure, put the two sides together, and tighten the lone screw that holds it all in place. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and will work like a champ until your drive gives up the ghost (which, hopefully, will take years).

ZDNET’s buying advice

If you’re in the market for an NVMe SSD housing, skip the cheap options and buy something you can trust to keep that costly drive safe and cool. Yes, the D1 Pro is $212 on Amazon, but given that a 4TB NVMe SSD can run you up to $450, you definitely want an enclosure that will help dissipate as much heat as possible, and the D1 Pro does just that.

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Of all the NVMe SSD external enclosures I’ve used (with various types of gimmicks for cooling), the D1 Pro tops them all.