For an iPhone user, one of the most important decisions that is made when purchasing a new phone is, of course, storage space. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t allow users to add micro SD storage, despite recent advances in storage quality and speed; your only option is to pay many hundreds of dollars extra if you want greater capacity. Today, that is why we’re excited to bring you this DIGIERA 1TB iPhone storage drive review!
For an iPhone 15 or 16, the price range can be astronomical, from around $700 for a “modest” iPhone 15 with 128 GB of storage, to a staggering $1,600 for an iPhone 16 Pro and 1 TB of storage. Aside from whatever other technology upgrades Apple puts into their new generation phones, is that jump from 128GB to 1TB really worth such a high price? In our opinion, no.
If you’re into photography or video, however, oftentimes, the honest answer may feel like a yes. Having as much storage as possible is often very necessary! Especially if you want to capture 4K video, and/or Apple’s ProRes video format.
Unfortunately, however, there is another caveat. If you’re an aspiring filmmaker and you are hoping to use an iPhone 15/16 Pro to record 4K ProRes video, …you can’t do it. That is, not without a compatible external storage device!
Apple probably made the right decision with this restriction, of course, since just one minute of ProRes video can gobble up about 10 GB of storage space! After you account for the operating system, apps, and various other snapshots, you would barely be able to record very much at all before completely filling your phone’s storage.
So, maybe this is a blessing in disguise? In other words, you don’t really need that 1TB iPhone in order to be an aspiring filmmaker. What you need is a high-speed, high-capacity external storage device such as the Digiera. With a price tag of just around $150 for a 1TB model, you will not only enable your phone to capture ProRes video, but you’ll also get far more storage for less money! With that in mind, let’s dive into this review…
DIGIERA PSSD Magnetic External Storage Drive | Specifications
Storage Type: 3D NAND TLC
Read Speed: up to 2000 MB/s
Write Speed: up to 1800 MB/s
Connection Type: USB-C 3.2 (2×2)
iPhone Compatibility: iPhone 15 and newer (with USB-C port)
iPhone 15 Pro & iPhone 16 Pro: ProRes video recording in 4K 60p
Android Mobile Phone Compatibility: USB type C port phones
(functions as a standard external storage drive)
Computer Compatibility: Windows 7 and newer, Mac OSX 10.6 and newer
Colors: Black, White, Gray, Pink (all the same price!)
Weight: 46g (1.62 oz)
Dimensions: 58.0 x 11.8mm (2.2×0.46 in.)
DIGIERA PSSD Price: 512 GB: $89.99, 1 TB: $149.99, 2 TB: $239.99
DIGIERA PSSD Magnetic External Storage Drive Review | Value
First, let’s do a brief comparison against the general value of the DIGIERA storage options and various iPhone options. Looking at all the different options from the iPhone 15, 15 plus, iPhone 16, 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, there is a common price format: To go from 128GB to 512 GB of storage, you’ll pay about $300 extra. Then, to go from 512 GB to 1 TB, you’ll pay another $20 extra, for a total of $500 more than any 128GB option.
This means that across the board, the DIGIERA PSSDs quite literally cost less than half as much for nearly twice as much added storage! So, whether you are looking to save money, and/or increase your storage capacity, either way the DIGIERA provides huge value.
Of course, this is all partially overshadowed by the simple fact that if you want to record 4H video in Apple’s ProRes format, built-in storage is not even an option; you must use an external SSD anyways! This clinches the overall value of the PSSD.
Simply put, the more you wish to accomplish with your mobile device, the more you’ll need this SSD storage drive!
DIGIERA PSSD Magnetic External Storage Drive Review | Features & Performance
Let’s talk about actually using an external storage device for your iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 Pro! It is incredibly simple to set up and use; in fact, most folks will probably not even need the user guide. Having said that, the DIGIERA does come with a very clear, simple instruction booklet that walks you through the exact steps to get your device set up.
All you really need to know is, once you’ve got the SSD plugged into your phone, you can set it up to record ProRes video in 4K 60p. (Or maybe also 4K 120p, but we’ll talk about that later…) The place to look for this option is within the phone’s main Settings menu; look for Camera, and then in “Formats” look for “ProRes”. Once this option is enabled, when you are actually using the camera you will see the option to turn on ProRes/HDR, and below the REC button you will see “USB-C” appear. That’s it! You’re ready to capture some of the highest-possible quality videos around…
Can you record ProRes video without a compatible external SSD? Yes, however, depending on which iPhone you have, ProRes video may not be available, or you may be limited to recording1080 30p. See the notes below for more about the compatibility, and keep in mind that all of the limitations are related to which iPhone you’re using.
A 1TB PSSD can be expected to record just over 70 minutes in 4K 60FPS, or almost 150 minutes in 4K 30FPS. For very serious filmmakers, of course, there is the 2TB storage option to consider as well.
NOTE 1: Only iPhone 15’s and iPhone 16’s have a USB-C connection; older iPhones have the old “Lightning” style connector and are therefore incompatible with this SSD.
NOTE 2: To record ProRes video, you will need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro, or a “Max” iPhone. (Regular iPhone 15’s and 16’s will be fully compatible with the DIGIERA; they are simply not able to capture ProRes video.)
NOTE 3: The DIGIERA is officially stated to record 4K 60p ProRes video, which is the more common format for the types of iPhones that can record ProRes 4K video. The iPhone 16 Pro can also record 4K 120p ProRes, however, this is not officially listed on the DIGIERA spec sheet. Based on the transfer speed requirements, we can assume it is possible.
Magnetic Connection For Stability & Security
One very convenient feature is the Magnetic / “MagSafe” magnetic attachment, which allows the storage drive to stay “connected” to your iPhone. This makes it very easy to record video in a very professional way, instead of having an external device just flopping around and dangling from a USB cable!
You can easily mount your phone to a gimbal, for example, to create even more smooth, cinematic footage. Also, by the way, if your phone is not actually made of metal, then you can also use the included stick-on ring which turns any phone into a magnetic-capable device! (See above)
Transfer Speed
As anyone who has ever done very much data transferring will know, the rated speeds of any storage device, whether a memory card or a hard drive, is always subject to many different factors.
The rating of 2000 MB/s read and 1800 MB/s write is an impressive spec, however, in the real world you will always be limited by multiple factors that are mostly beyond your control. For example, if you are writing 4K ProRes video to a storage device, that is very optimal because it is one big giant video file.
(Transferring hundreds or thousands of smaller photos or other data files will be much slower, because the storage device must “start” and “stop” transferring each file, and this adds considerable time to any transfer.)
With that in mind, the DIGIERA does offer an impressive transfer speed performance, indeed. When transferring more than 50 GB of miscellaneous data files, including a mix of large video files, still photos, and other smaller files, it consistently finished the task in just 30-40 minutes. This is, of course, much lower than the rated speed, but it is above average for most types of data transfers.
It’s also realistic to consider transfer speeds between the SSD and a computer, too, because not every computer is going to have a port that is fully compatible with USB-C 3.2 (2×2).
Portability
Not only is an SSD storage device blazingly fast compared to traditional disk-based storage; it’s significantly more portable as well! Even compared to most USB-powered external disk drives, the DGIERA is a fraction of the size and weight. In fact, even with the USB-C cable, it will slip right into almost any pocket.
Furthermore, the physical build quality of the device means that not only is it portable, but also, it will actually survive an active, mobile lifestyle! This is obviously very important, and has been one of the major downfalls of storage devices in the past. The physical build quality itself, and the very nature of solid-state storage, both mean that your data is very safe on this PSSD.
DIGIERA PSSD Magnetic External Storage Drive Review | Pros & Cons
It’s honestly difficult to find any drawbacks to the DIGIERA phone storage drives, since the value is incredible, the quality is excellent, and the performance is impressive. In brief, here are the key highlights and potential drawbacks that you should be aware of when considering purchasing the LPS2000M:
Pros
- Incredible value (each capacity) for any type of iPhone user
- Build quality is on par with Apple (luxury product)
- Performance is as good as most devices can allow (Optimal USB-3 transfer speed)
- Portability is perfect for both everyday use, travel, and on-location professional work
- Magnetic feature makes general use very convenient!
Cons
- Transfer speed will naturally be slower than maximum rating
(This is true for essentially all USB devices) - ProRes 4K 60p video is officially supported; 4K 120p video is not specified.
(DIGIERA transfer speed rating should be enough!)
DIGIERA PSSD Magnetic External Storage Drive Review | Conclusion
Whatever type of phone you use, having external storage can be extremely useful! We would recommend the DIGIERA to anyone who is shopping for extra mobile device storage in general.
For an iPhone user, the DIGIERA PSSDs offer particularly special value. This is partly because you simply cannot add your own storage to an iPhone after purchase, of course, but also because if you want to record ProRes video, a high-speed external SSD device is, in fact, your only option!
With that in mind, we give our highest recommendation of all to the aspiring filmmakers, or any content creators who use an iPhone 15/16 Pro/Max, and want to take their video quality to the highest level possible.
You can purchase the DIGIERA PSSDs in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities, for $89.99, $149.99, and $239.99, respectively. Each capacity comes in four color options; black, white, gray, and pink. For more information, be sure to check out the DIGIERA store here.
