Tip #031: What Determines Storage Speed?
… for Codecs & Media
Tip #031: What Determines Storage Speed?
Larry Jordan – https://LarryJordan.com
Storage performance is key to successful video editing.

As you might expect, storage performance is dependent upon multiple factors – and how it connects is only a part. Storage speed, which is often called “bandwidth,” is determined by:
- How it is connected to your computer, including the protocol used for communication
- The number of drives or devices it contains
For example, Thunderbolt 3 is very, very fast – up to 3,000 MB/second! But, if that device only has one spinning hard disk inside, the actual speed will be closer to 150 MB/second. Here are three typical examples:
- A single spinning hard drive transfers data about 150 MB/sec.
- A single PCIe SSD transfers data around 400 MB/sec
- A single NVMe SSD transfers data around 2,500 MB/sec
Think of it this way: The Thunderbolt 3 protocol is a very, very large water pipe. The devices connected to it determine how much water flows inside that pipe.
You can have a very large pipe, but if you are only filling it with a garden hose, you won’t get a whole lot of water through of it.
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