jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

I have both the older Samsung T5 and T7 and SanDisk Extreme...2TB and 4TB.
If you are only looking to use these as backups; then you don't need the fastest read/write speeds available. The only impact this will have will be with the initial backup--will take longer with slower speed; and with a restore for the same reason.
If you will be using these for storing your photos and videos as 'referenced files' and therefore constantly reading/writing to the drive during editing--I would consider only the drives with the latest connections that will take advantage of the speeds of your new MBP M2. Otherwise, what was the point?
Take a look at this video for a nice comparison of the most popular SSDs and suggestions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrqpJc02X4A

jcwall396 Loc: Roswell, GA

I've been using SanDisk SSD drives for a couple of years and they are awesome. Very fast, very small, and come in a variety of sizes. B&H has them in stock.

runakid Loc: Shelbyville, TN

Buy the best. What are you going to do when your photos go bye bye with a cheap backup? What will you do with the $50-100 that you save buying cheap?

runakid Loc: Shelbyville, TN

Buy the best. What are you going to do when your photos go bye bye with a cheap backup? What will you do with the $50-100 that you save buying cheap?

runakid Loc: Shelbyville, TN

Buy the best. What are you going to do when your photos go bye bye with a cheap backup? What will you do with the $50-100 that you save buying cheap?

brian43053 Loc: Buffalo, NY

Thank you . I will check them out

brian43053 Loc: Buffalo, NY

What drive is it?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

It’s a a Western Digital Black SN850 m.2 NVME drive in an adapter case. Note that unlike some of the drives mentioned with direct Thunderbolt/USB C interfaces, you’ll need the adapter case as well as the drive to use it as an external.

Rodwil

Just bought a 2 tb Samsung T7 Touch through Costco. On sale for $70 off. Has fingerprint security. Nice and small. $149.00

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Don't believe the advertising the drives offer. Look for comparisons and reviews online. Is it really going to matter to you if one drive is ten seconds faster than another but costs $50 more? I have two or three M.2 drives in small enclosures. They're small and fast, and they don't mind being dropped. M.2 prices have dropped ridiculously, but I would still look for reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=m.2+drive+1tb&crid=3FY0XR3LMHXU0&sprefix=m.2+drive+1tb%2Caps%2C475&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

There are many choices that work well. I use Samsung T7 2TB SSDs. They are tiny, about a quarter inch thick and the size of a credit card or so. They are USB 3.2 (10 Gbps max) drives, but plenty fast enough for what I do with them. I never wait on them.

The fastest alternatives are appropriate if you do MASSIVE amounts of still photo processing, or if you do high-bit-rate video editing of 4K or 8K files. These would be NVMe M.2 drives in heatsink enclosures or fan-equipped RAID enclosures. For these, I'd look at enclosures or complete drives sold by OWC (they've served the Mac community since 1988 and I've dealt with them off and on since then!). For the SSDs themselves, the 970 EVO Plus NVMe® M.2 SSD 2TB is a good choice, but you need a Thunderbolt 4/USB4 enclosure for it to get the best from it. Put two in a RAID enclosure and you have a lightning fast 2TB RAID array, or two independent, yet still very fast, 2TB drives.

I'm sure you will enjoy your MBP. My son has the M1 Pro 14" version with 32 GB memory, 1TB storage, and maximum cores, and I'm using an M1 Air with 16GB and 1TB. They just rock. My M1 MB Air is 18 months old and just does what I ask of it.

At some point, you may need a hub or a dock to connect all your drives and peripherals. Look at the ones sold by OWC and Cal Digit for desktop use. For portability, it is hard to beat the CharJen Pro ULTIMATE USB C DOCK GEN 2.

photoman43

If I were getting an external drive that is SSD, I would get the Sandisk 2TB SSD external drive. Make sure the SSD drive ports are compatible with your computer.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1595432-REG/sandisk_sdssde61_2t00_g25_2tb_extreme_portable_ssd.html

Another option is to buy the two components and build your own. This is my preferred approach and I have two of them. These involve an external SSD hard drive case made of aluminum and a the SSD drive. Just make sure that the ports on the external drive case are compatible with your computer and that the drive case is compatible with the SSD drive.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1454172-REG/samsung_mz_v7s2t0b_am_2tb_970_evo_plus.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1635758-REG/sabrent_ec_snve_usb_3_2_type_c_tool_free.html

I prefer aluminum over plastic cases so the heat gets dispersed faster.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Some enclosures come with heat pads.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

A heat pad between the aluminum case and the NVMe M.2 is about as good as it gets for heat dissipation. If the case is "finned" like a heat sink, all the better. It might not be pretty, but it will keep the drive cooler!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

As I was typing that, I hoped that no one thought I meant a pad for heating. "Thermal pad" is the correct term.