I found the MagSafe accessory you didn’t know you needed – especially for power users – ZDNet
‘ZDNET Recommends’: What exactly does it mean?ZDNET’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.ZDNET’s editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.The iPhone is a fantastic tool for both budding and professional videographers, and it can easily capture stunning shots. However, the downside of using your smartphone for recording video is that you quickly realize video files are huge, and you soon find yourself battling storage issues.The good news is that if you have one of the newer iPhones with USB-C ports, you can easily add more storage using an external drive. But then you start running into another problem — an external drive dangling from your iPhone dampens the inner Christopher Nolan in the best of us. Clamps and mounts are available, but that’s just another thing to carry (or forget).Fortunately, the memory and storage experts at Lexar have come up with a solution, and it’s rather brilliant. They’ve combined their impressive SL500 SSD with a magnetic silicone case that connects to the MagSafe ring on the iPhone and added a super-flexible USB-C cable to connect the two — resulting in the perfect cinematography setup!The Lexar SL500 Portable SSD with Magnetic Set is perfect for the iPhone videographer who wants more space for their files.At the core of this kit is Lexar’s SL500. I’ve covered this drive before, and it’s a beast. It offers USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 performance of up to 2,000 MB/s read and 1,800 MB/s write.This is the SL500 out of the silicone case.This drive is fast enough for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot up to 4K 60 FPS directly to the drive. The SL500 supports Apple ProRes recording, a massive file format in which one minute of video shot in ProRes 4K takes up 6 GB of storage space — but the detail it captures is stunning. The silicone case has a built-in magnetic ring compatible with the iPhone’s MagSafe attachment.I’ve tested the drive on several different systems, and my benchmark results were within 10% of the speeds listed on the spec sheet, which is more than acceptable.The SL500 is thin and light, roughly the size of a credit card, measuring only 4.8 mm thick and weighing just 43 g. Its slim, solid aluminum unibody construction fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, slips unobtrusively into a pocket, and fits onto the back of an iPhone.The silicone case adds protection to the SL500 without adding much bulk or weight.To make it fit, a silicone sleeve with its own magnetic ring allows the drive to clamp onto the MagSafe ring. The connection is solid, and because the drive itself is light, the kit doesn’t add much weight or bulk to the iPhone.Also: The thinnest external SSD I’ve ever tested is also really fast, but there’s a catchLexar has also supplied a very flexible USB-C-to-USB-C cable for connecting the drive to the iPhone, a lanyard to prevent dropping the drive, and even a sticky magnetic ring so you can affix the drive to something else — such as a spot on your desk, the lid of your laptop, or even an Android device.The whole kit is very sleek.The drive comes in 2 TB and 4 TB versions, so you can choose the capacity that best suits your needs.The Lexar SL500 SSD was already a superb SSD and perfect for iPhone videographers. However, the magnetic silicone sleeve and accessories transform it into a very neat and streamlined piece of kit that leverages the convenience of MagSafe. The kit retails for $206 for the 2TB drive, and $329 for the 4TB version.Also: The best external hard drives you can buyIf you already have an SL500 drive and need a mount to attach to your iPhone, I recommend the SmallRig 2-in-1 SSD Mount.
