SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD: Your Excellent Choice!

Are you looking for a kind of fast external USB storage? If so, the SanDisk’s USB 3.1 Gen 2 Extreme Portable SSD can be your best choice.

The fact is that it is a little slower than Samsung T5. But, this SanDisk extreme portable SSD has a svelte and cleverly ergonomic design.

Here, you need to know that the data transfer rate of this USB 3.1 Gen 2 is 10 Gbps, but you can only get this full performance when you connect it to the Gen 2 port. If you connect the drive to a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, the transfer rate will be limited to around 300MBps.

Design and Features

The dimensions‎ of SanDisk extreme portable SSD are 0.348 x 1.951 x 3.787 in (8.850 x 49.550 x 96.200 mm). It is just a little longer than the Samsung T5 and WD My Passport SSD. However, This SanDisk product is more practical.

It has rounded corners and textured surface which IS designed for comfortable grip. Its shape and feeling are unique. Thus you can easily distinguish it from other things in your bag by touching it. The orange makes it is very easy to spot.

This device bundles a USB type-C cable and adapter. Thus, you will be able to attach the drive to the earlier type-A port. The adapter can attach snugly and it hasn’t shown a tendency to part ways via a couple of use for months.

It is attractive that the adapter carries around the second USB type-C to type-A cable. Even so, this SanDisk extreme portable SSD has IP55 level. It can resist water and dust. And of course, you need to dry it before using it. It can also bear two-meter drops.

Here, you need to know that the type-C doesn’t mean it supports USB 3.1 Gen 2. So, you need to check the specifications in advance. All of the modern USB SSDs support Gen 2. However, you will be unable to get the full performance if the port doesn’t support it. Conversely, some older type-A ports support Gen 2.

The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD has four kinds of capacities: 2TB ($560 on Amazon as of this writing), 1TB ($270 on Amazon as of this writing), 500GB ($126 on Amazon as of this writing), and 250GB ($89 on Amazon as of this writing).

It is just a little pricier than the bare internal SATA SSDs. This drive also contains a Windows/Mac OS app which can be used to enable the password protection and encryption. If you get SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD, you will get a 3-year warranty.

Related Article: Samsung Portable SSD T3 Features and Using Tips

Performance

Though SanDisk supplies very few information about its products, you still can get some clues. The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (gold bars) can act almost equally to an internal SATA SSD. After some testing, it is just a little slower than the Samsung T5.

Let’s see some related data.

CrystalDiskMark 6

The test shows that the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is equal to or faster than the Samsung T5. But, the results don’t quite match the real-world performance.

Seek

Seek can be used to measure how long it will take the drive to find the file you are looking for. The results show that the Samsung T5 is quicker although there are some mild deviations in the test.

48 GB Copy

The following 48 GB copy shows that the Samsung T5 is proved to be a little faster than the SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD. Still, there may be some small margin error. Besides, if you format the drive to exFAT, the small file write performance will be even slower.

Summary

All in all, the Samsung T5 wins by its faster speed. But both Samsung and SanDisk are quicker than the WD My Passport SSD.