SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD

amazon SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD reviews

SanDisk’s Extreme Pro Portable SSD has a lot to offer, from its silicone-coated aluminum housing to blazing-fast data transfer speeds, but it’s not as rugged and well-designed as some of its competitors.

There are many good portable solid-state drives to consider, so your choice depends on a combination of affordability, speed, convenience, and value-added features. SanDisk’s Extreme Pro Portable SSD ($229.99 for 1TB) does a great job in some of these areas—it’s fast, and it comes with two USB Type-C cables, one with a Type-C header and the other with a USB Type-C cable. A Type-A connector gives you a computer instead of an easy-to-lose USB-C-to-A adapter. But its cost is 23 cents/gigabyte, which isn’t high, but it’s a bit high and not as sturdy as some of the competition.

The Extreme Pro’s convenience is diminished a bit due to its form factor: Primarily to provide room for the corner loop to which one can attach a carabiner or other clamp, the carrying case is larger than it is. Not that it’s huge; we’re talking 1TB of storage in a 6.1-ounce package that measures 0.4 x 4.3 x 2.3 inches. However, it is a bit bulky compared to other external SSDs.

Attaching the carabiner and the keys would be a mistake – not only will it add a potentially uncomfortable bulk in the bag, but the keys will almost certainly damage or deepen the silicone rubber covering. Loops look great, but the utility is limited. It’s best and most practical to use if you want the drive to be clipped to a belt or pack for easy access.

Another problem is the lack of active lights. Some manufacturers offer them, but many do not, perhaps to save weight and cost. But by the sound of it, a lamp works great; How else would you know that data is being read or written since SSDs don’t make noise or vibrations like hard drives? A small LED would be helpful, especially since you’re paying a little more for this drive than others. (If you can live with the slower interface and no “Pro” word, SanDisk’s own SATA- and not the NVMe-based 1TB Extreme Portable SSD is about 17 cents per gigabyte.)

On the plus side, SanDisk comes with some very useful extras. As mentioned, the company includes two USB cables, one USB-C-to-USB-A and one USB-C-to-USB-C. (The device’s interface is USB 3.1 Gen 2; it’s backward compatible with older USB specifications, but if you use it with a USB 3.0 connection, your peak read and write speeds will be affected.)

In addition, the drive comes pre-installed with SanDisk’s proprietary SecureAccess data encryption utility. (The drive is formatted for Windows; Mac users will want to reformat the drive and download the Mac version of the utility from the link provided in the PDF file.) The software creates a protected “vault” with a password (OK, it’s a folder) on your SSD. Pro Tip: Don’t lose your password. If you do, SanDisk cannot help you.

Finally, the Extreme Pro comes with a five-year warranty, while most competitors are limited to two or three years. It’s a nice touch.

It’s fast, but is it enough?

As a sealed block containing no moving parts, any SSD is somewhat solid. The SanDisk Extreme Pro carries an IP55 Ingress Protection rating, so it goes beyond being reasonably shock, dust, and water-resistant. However, while the SanDisk can withstand drops from 6 meters or the occasional splash of water, you can’t submerge the device nor expose it to beach sand or dust storms. If you drop it in the surf, bath, or koi pond in your backyard, it may disappear.

That is pretty obvious since there’s no cover for the drive’s USB port, which remains exposed at all times if you need an almost indestructible pocket SSD.

On a more positive note, the Extreme Pro Portable SS passed our benchmark tests. That promises transfer speeds in the 1,000MBps range, and it delivers in style. As noted earlier, the internals of this drive, like those on the ADATA, Crucial, and CalDigit, are PCI Express-based and support NVMe; compare the numbers these drives deliver with what we’ve seen from the SATA-based HyperX Savage EXO. These newer generation PCI Express-based drives will require a USB 3.1 Gen 2 compatible USB port for peak speeds, but you should choose one of these newer models if you’ll be doing a lot of transfers continuously large.

Disk Speed ​​Test Blackmagic 3.1

The Blackmagic drive test tool, available only for Macintosh computers, was created by an Australian video hardware and software manufacturer and is commonly used by videographers to determine how a drive is performing disc when working with large video files. Extreme Pro passed this test, scoring the highest in a pile. Crucial X8 has three times faster read speed, but SanDisk has ditto write speed. It is a cleansing.

In the end, most of the SSDs tested, except for the SATA-based HyperX Savage EXO, scored very well in this benchmark.

PCMark 8

The PCMark eight storage sub-test mimics typical productivity workloads such as word processing and video conferencing. The Crucial X8 surpassed the SanDisk Extreme Pro by a negligible amount.

This test also proves that the raw speed of the SSD (PCI Express or SATA) doesn’t matter much for workday tasks like this.

Crystal DiskMark

Crystal DiskMark’s sequential read/write tests measure drives’ performance by reading and writing contiguous large blocks of data. Here, the Extreme Pro is the champion in terms of write speed, reading data at 957MBps, and writing at 970MBps.

Once again, HyperX Savage EXO delivers the latter, better read and write than half the speed of the SanDisk SSD.

Impressive but not perfect

SanDisk’s Extreme Pro Portable SSD is an attractive drive that will be perfect for videographers, photographers, and anyone else who generates large amounts of data and needs to store and transfer it regularly, quickly, and efficiently. This drive is nice and fast, comes with useful cables and utilities, not to mention the longest warranty you can find on a product of its kind.

However, is it the ultimate external SSD? Not necessarily. First, it’s a bit expensive in terms of cost per gigabyte. Second, the lack of an activity light reduces the drive’s appeal. Its mere partial durability (including the permanently exposed USB port) puts it at the top of some of its cheap or low-priced competitors. It’s a very good SSD, but just an excellent hard drive.

Advantages

Rated IP55 for shock, dust, and water resistance.

Aluminum housing with rubber is easy to grip.

Excellent read/write speed.

Includes USB-A and USB-C cables and a 5-year warranty.

Defect

Quite expensive.

The USB port is exposed, so it is quite rugged.

No activity indicator light.

The cable is quite short.

where can you get a SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD online

SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 1TB for Laptop, Computer, Tablet, Phone with USB Type-C Port (SDSSDE81-1T00-G25) External Solid State Drive – Bundle with Everything But Stromboli Microfiber Cloth: Buy it now

SanDisk SSD Extreme Pro Portable 1TB: Buy it now

SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD – Up to 2000MB/s – USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 – External Solid State Drive – SDSSDE81-2T00-G25: Buy it now