SSD Comparator for underwater photographers

More and more underwater photographers are swapping laptops for iPad Pros when it comes to sorting and editing on the road. The weight savings are significant, but the backup workflow changes completely.

The iPad Pro (M2 and later) supports external SSDs via USB-C at speeds up to 10 Gbps over USB 3.2. In practice, transferring a 128 GB SD card of RAW files takes about 4 minutes through a USB-C hub to the SSD. Lightroom for iPad reads files directly from the external drive without importing them into internal storage.

Choosing an SSD for an iPad workflow comes down to three points. The form factor should be compact (NVMe stick SSDs like the Samsung T9 or Crucial X10 Pro fit easily in a waterproof pouch). The connector should be native USB-C (no adapters, no USB-A with cable). The IP rating should be at least IP65 to withstand boat conditions.

A common trap: some SSDs advertise impressive theoretical speeds (2,000 MB/s) but throttle after 30 seconds of continuous transfer due to overheating. For full card transfers after each dive, check sustained speed benchmarks, not just peak numbers.