I’ve been testing out an external SSD from SanDisk that’s designed for smartphones. It’s called the Creator Phone SSD, and it attaches magnetically to the back of your MagSafe compatible phone. If you’re not using an iPhone with MagSafe, there’s a ring included in the box to help with the mounting. The drive connects via USB-C, so it’s compatible with just about any device that has a USB-C port including Android phones.
You can see it in action in my latest review.
Once connected via USB, your phone can record video directly to the drive using apps like Final Cut Camera on iOS or Blackmagic’s Camera App that works on both platforms.
You can find it on Amazon and see the latest prices at this compensated affiliate link.
Physically, there’s not much to it—just a USB port and the magnetic mount point. One limitation is the lack of a pass-through port, which means the phone’s USB-C port is completely occupied when the drive is connected. That rules out charging your phone or connecting something like an external microphone while recording. It’s a tradeoff that could matter for certain workflows.
There is a five-year warranty on the product, which adds some peace of mind for professional users. Out of the box, it’s formatted with the exFAT file system, which works across most devices—iPhones, iPads, Windows, Macs, and Linux systems. Some older Android phones might not mount the drive properly due to lack of exFAT support, but reformatting to FAT32 can help with compatibility in those cases.
One frustration I had was with the bundled app, SanDisk Memory Zone. If installed, it auto-launches every time the drive is plugged in. It’s useful for things like photo and contact backups, but it also tends to interfere with other apps, particularly Final Cut Camera. Even worse, if you don’t install it, your iPhone will keep prompting you to do so. The only workaround I found was to install the app and then uninstall it, which stops the prompts and lets other video apps access the drive properly.
Once I removed the app, Final Cut Camera immediately recognized the drive, and I was able to record without issues. Using HEVC compression, the 1TB drive can store a lot—up to 18 hours of 4K 120 fps footage, or 36 hours at 60 fps. With ProRes, that drops to about 1 hour and 9 minutes at 4K 60 fps, which is still respectable for the format.
SanDisk seems to have done a good job managing the drive’s power draw, which is important for iPhones. The iPhone will cut off power if a connected accessory pulls more than 4.5 watts, and I didn’t encounter that problem during extended testing at 4K 60 fps or 120 fps.
But in order to manage power draw, the drive will throttle its write performance. While I was able to achieve 4k 60 fps ProRes recordings without any dropped frames, I did have some frame drops shooting 120 fps with the ProRes codec. I did not have issues with fast frame rates at 120fps, however.
I ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on my MacBook Air to get a sense of the drive’s performance. It clocked write speeds around 917 MB/s and read speeds near 881 MB/s. Those are solid numbers, but I did notice some variation in earlier tests, with write speeds occasionally dipping to around 400–500 MB/s. Apple says ProRes 4k 120 needs a minimum of 440 megabytes per second in sustained write speeds.
For users who need consistent, reliable performance at 4K 60 fps using ProRes, I think this drive holds up. It didn’t overdraw power, and I didn’t see dropped frames during long recordings. I’d like to see a future version of this drive with pass-through power and maybe a USB hub for audio gear, and it would be a big improvement if the software didn’t interfere so much. Still, the hardware itself seems reliable, and that counts for a lot if you’re shooting professionally with a phone.
Disclosure: Sandisk sent the drive to the channel free of charge. However no other compensation was received and they did not review or approve this post or my video prior to publication.
