External drives · Choosing a drive
Can I use a spinning hard drive (HDD) instead of an SSD?
Short answer: You can, if it passes Storage Studio's speed test — the app judges drives by measured speed, not type. Hard disks suit archives and rarely opened folders; for apps and active work an external SSD is a much better fit.
You can try, but an SSD is strongly recommended. Storage Studio doesn't refuse a drive because it spins — it judges the drive by a short read and write speed test. A drive that's too slow is blocked, and a merely slow one is allowed with a warning you have to confirm.
In practice a hard disk is fine for things you rarely open — old projects, archives, finished footage — but apps and active folders opened from it will feel slower, and a sleeping disk can take a moment to spin up before something opens.
If you already have one, open Choose Drive, select it and click Run benchmark to see the verdict before you commit.