Andrew O'Hara
SanDisk, Western Digital's photographer-oriented brand of storage media, has announced new versions of both its Extreme and Extreme Pro Portable SSDs that feature USB-C and up to twice the performance of the prior generation.
These two new mobile USB-C drives are major upgrades over what were already well recieved drives including better performance, better warranties, and higher security.
SanDisk Extreme Pro V2
The most impressive of the two new devices is the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD. Relying on custom NVMe technology, SanDisk says it can get up 2000 megabytes per second read and write speeds, up from 1050MB per second.
It retains the popular design with an aluminum core that acts both as a rigid structure as well as a heat sink. It is coated in liquid silicone for good grip and two-meter drop protection and carries an IP55 water and dust resistance rating.
Another change is the move to 256-bit AES hardware encryption, rather than the software-based encryption it used to have.
The USB-C SanDisk Extreme Pro comes in a 2TB capacity at launch for $499 and a 1TB version will launch this holiday season.
SanDisk Extreme V2
The Pro version pushes the limits of an NVMe drive but may be above what's necessary. That is where the SanDisk Extreme comes in. It is cheaper and still has twice the performance of its predecessor.
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2Many aspects of the SanDisk Extreme have been upgraded, including from a SATA SSD to NVMe media like the Pro. The move to NVMe as well as the move from USB 3.1 Gen 2 to USB 3.2 Gen 2 aids a massive boost in performance. It has improved from 550MB per second to 1050MB per second read speed and 1000MB per second write speed.
SanDisk has increased the warranty now to five years and the drive is protected with two meters of drop resistance and an IP55 rating. It too has 256-bit AES hardware encryption for securing your files.
The SanDisk Extreme V2 is available in 500GB and 1TB sizes at launch for $119 and $199 respectively. A 2TB configuration is arriving this holiday season.
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12 Comments
It’s a shame they don’t have a Thunderbolt 3 version at that high price point. USB speed will be the weak point in transfer speed with an NVMe SSD.
As far as I know no Macs support 20 Gbps USB 3.x 2x2, so the Pro model will be limited to about the same 1000 MBps as the non-pro.
Also the article states that the non-pro version is faster because of the upgrade “from USB 3.1 Gen 2 to USB 3.2 Gen 2”. This is not true. USB 3.1 and 3.2 are the same. (Thanks USB IF!) Speed is determined by the Gen 1 (5Gbps), Gen 2 (10 Gbps) or Gen 2 2x2 (20 Gbps).
Yes this is super-confusing, and adds to the need for journalists to explain more to readers (and complain about stupid naming).
(Yes the upgrade from SATA to NVMe reason for speed upgrade is correct, but the USB bus is now the limiting factor.)
I wish the article had compared the SanDisk drives to the Samsung T7 drives in terms of both real world performance and price. I keep buying the T7 drives as they have been extremely reliable and the price is reasonable. No point in buying slow poorly made thumb drives when a 500 GB T7 costs $80 on sale (which it often is).