SSD Portable hard drives

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Pick

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Looking for recommendations for portable SSD hard drives, that i can use with my MacBook .Will be using it when out and about and downloading and editing pix.I was thinking 500g would be enough.
 
FWIW
I have two off Samsung T7 drives for portable backup purposes.

This is for my Windows system.

A 2TB drive was approx £165
 
If it's just out and about...

I have a few....

I put together a case + nvme for about £35. 256G. The case was like £8, it is 10gbps.

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I like how it doesn't require a cable, the downside is that it will take up 2 USB-C slots due to the width of it. The other downside is because of its size, it gets hot and will throttle sooner than the following.

This case is about £50, add your own nvme of choice. It is 40gbps, USB4 speed.

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For size comparison. The downside is that it is larger, but because it is a big heatsink, it does not throttle.

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Or you can also go in between, the Sabrent, 10gbps, will need to carry cable. £15 enclosure. (the long thin grey one, not the silver one...)

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@Raymond Lin

I think I can see a 'Sharge' in one of the pictures.................how do you find that for performance etc including the heat handling with its mini fan onboard?
 
Box Brownie said:
@Raymond Lin

I think I can see a 'Sharge' in one of the pictures.................how do you find that for performance etc including the heat handling with its mini fan onboard?
Click to expand...

That Sharge enclosure as its pros and cons

Pros - small, 10gbps and it can sustain it due to the fan.
Cons - the fan being noisy. Small fan in high RPM = a higher pitch of noise. I also don't like the holes that inevitably will get dusty. It is also like £35/40.
 
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All in all, there are many ways to skin a cat.

1 - Get a pre-made one, like the Crucial X9, however it will not be fastest, smallest or cheapest or best value for money.

2 - Make your own - and if you do this, your options are
a - Make it big, fast
b - Make it small, slower (but would still match off the shelf speed and then some).

There is a compromise between fast and size, none of the tiny drives are 40gbps, the smallest drives are only 10gbps. It depends on your usage and how you use it. If it's small bursts of data transfer then a small 10gbps one is more than sufficient, if its constant back and forth transfer and you need the speed (assuming your Mac can do it), then you need larger enclosure, with a 4000mbps nvme inside to match.
 
For those who, like myself, have not the foggiest idea what "NVMe" stands for, see this page...

NVM Express

What is NVMe Technology? The NVM Express® (NVMe®) specifications define how host software communicates with non-volatile memory across multiple transports like PCI Express® (PCIe®), RDMA, TCP and more. It is the industry standard for solid state drives (SSDs) in all form factors (U.2, M.2, AIC...
nvmexpress.org nvmexpress.org
 
I have a couple of Samsung T7 Touch drives which have inbuilt encryption and finger print sensor. In principle the finger print system sounds great because you can plug the drive into a PC or Mac or Linux system and use the on-board finger print reader to activate the encrypted section of the drive with no worries about installing utility software. However I found the finger print sensor was a bit hit or miss so if using them encrypted I tend assume that if I want to reliably access them then I need a laptop with the Samsung utility access that allows me to enter the pass code manually.

More recently I have used a Sandisk Extreme 4TB for travel and image backup which is rubberised and feels robust. The rubber exterior surface attracts dust but it is easily wished.
 
I treat those smallest NVME drives as like USB thumb drives, they are that small. The "bigger" enclosure are really more for desktop use but since they don't require external power, it can be portable too.

Pp5ut1Q.jpg
 
Dryce said:
I have a couple of Samsung T7 Touch drives which have inbuilt encryption and finger print sensor. In principle the finger print system sounds great because you can plug the drive into a PC or Mac or Linux system and use the on-board finger print reader to activate the encrypted section of the drive with no worries about installing utility software. However I found the finger print sensor was a bit hit or miss so if using them encrypted I tend assume that if I want to reliably access them then I need a laptop with the Samsung utility access that allows me to enter the pass code manually.

More recently I have used a Sandisk Extreme 4TB for travel and image backup which is rubberised and feels robust. The rubber exterior surface attracts dust but it is easily wished.
Click to expand...

I also have and old Sandisk 1TB, the same "rubber" drives that you have, but last few years they have a really bad reputation, drives failing and Sandisk are washing their hands of it, trying to shift them by massively discounting them.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I also have and old Sandisk 1TB, the same "rubber" drives that you have, but last few years they have a really bad reputation, drives failing and Sandisk are washing their hands of it, trying to shift them by massively discounting them.
Click to expand...
I have been personally bit by one

T7 on the other hand is so far so good 2 years on
 
I like the idea of the Lexar SL500M Magnetic-Set Portable SSD .When i am out I can clip it onto the back of my MacBook and it would be out the way
 
Pick said:
I like the idea of the Lexar SL500M Magnetic-Set Portable SSD .When i am out I can clip it onto the back of my MacBook and it would be out the way
Click to expand...

Speaking of magnetic enclosures, I have had one of these in my basket for ages.

It has an SD card, Micro SD card slow,
3.5mm audio jack (not sure of quality)
PD charging pass through
USB-A port
USB-C port
4k60hz HDMI

So when using it, you are not losing a USB port, in fact you gain one more with a HDMI port out to boot and SD card slots, if you only have a MBA rather than a MBP.

Just need a 2230 nvme SSD.

www.aliexpress.com

Blueendless Multifunctional 8 In 1 M.2 NVME SSD Docking Station USB3.1 10Gbps 100W PD 4K60HZ HDTV Magnetic M.2 SSD Enclosure - AliExpress 7

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
 
Raymond Lin said:
I also have and old Sandisk 1TB, the same "rubber" drives that you have, but last few years they have a really bad reputation, drives failing and Sandisk are washing their hands of it, trying to shift them by massively discounting them.
Click to expand...

Not long after I bought my drive the issue with some models was reported. Sandisk did publish serial number details for the affected drives. The serial number on the drive can be very hard to read (I had to photograph mine and then enhance it to read it).

I much prefer carrying these "rubber" style SSDs compared with metal cased ones. But they can look a bit grubby after a while as the softer material picks up dust/dirt that sticks into it..
 
Dryce said:
Not long after I bought my drive the issue with some models was reported. Sandisk did publish serial number details for the affected drives. The serial number on the drive can be very hard to read (I had to photograph mine and then enhance it to read it).

I much prefer carrying these "rubber" style SSDs compared with metal cased ones. But they can look a bit grubby after a while as the softer material picks up dust/dirt that sticks into it..
Click to expand...

Horses for courses.

The other thing I like about making my own is I am able to basically chop and change the enclosure, or the drive to suit my needs. Like I am probably going to take the 512G nvme out of the Sharge and put it into that hub enclosure above.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
T7 on the other hand is so far so good 2 years on
Click to expand...
I have owned a 2TB T7 for about 3 1/2 years now and it's still serving me well [touches wood]. Certainly a sold choice.

The Crucial SSDs I own (an X8 and an X6) of similar vintage also score well for cost, performance, reliability. If I was buying today, their X9 probably takes the crown as they are faster and better protected, as cheap or cheaper* than any other the other drives I have.

* edit: On Amazon at least, the X9 1TB is £9 cheaper than the T7 500GB

 
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Bought myself a Samsung T7 SSD , very impressed with it.
 
Hiya,

I've recently (last week) purchased the Corsair EX400U external SSD drive. Getting just under 3000MB/S on both read and write speeds on my Mac mini M4 using BlackMagicDesign Speedtest software.

I got the 4TB version to replace 2 external 1 TB drives. They do it in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB versions. It's lovely. It's tiny, and it is even MagSafe compatible if you want to use it with an iPhone.

Ta,
Shane.
 
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