Photography News Issue 68

Photography News | Issue 68 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

G-TechnologyG-DRIVEmobile SSD £129.95

Specs

Prices 500GB £129.95, 1TB £219.95, 2TB £399.95 Availability 500TB, 1TB, 2TB In the box G-DRIVE mobile SSD, USB Type-C to Type-C cable, Type-C Windows Vista, 7, 8.1, 10 and Mac OS 10.10 and newer. No driver needed Interface USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen 2) Hard disk technology SSD Read speed Up to 560MB/s Water and dust resistant Up to IP67 Shockproof Droppable from 3m, 1000lb crush resistance Operating temperature 0°C to 35°C Dimensions (wxhxd) 5x1.45x9.5cm Weight 86g Contact g-technology.com Prices 250GB as tested here, £86.99, 500GB £199.99, 1TB 190.99, 2TB £382.99 Availability 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB In the box Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD, USB Type-C to Type-C cable, Type-C to Type-A adapter Compatibility Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and Mac OS 10.4 and newer. No driver needed Interface USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen 2) Hard disk technology SSD Read speed Up to 550MB/s Water and dust resistant Up to IP55 Shock and vibration resistant Up to 1500G, 10Hz-2000Hz 5gRMS Shockproof Tested to withstand water for three mins. Shockproof up to 2m on a concrete floor, vibration resistant Operating temperature 0°C to 45°C Dimensions (wxhxd) 5x0.9x9.6cm Weight 40g Contact sandisk.co.uk Specs to Type-A cable Compatibility

Verdict

There is no denying that the G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile is a quality device, solidly built and fast. But it is expensive compared to the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD tested on this page and the Samsung Portable SSD T5. It does offer higher levels of protection though, so if you need a drive for the most challenging conditions, then this G-Tech drive could be the one for you.

Pros Great looks, reliability, fast Cons Expensive, big compared to rivals

G-Technology has an impressively broad product range of storage options – portable and desktop. G-Tech and Sandisk are brands owned byWestern Digital and both are renowned for their quality storage products. G-Tech is better known for its desktop storage products, while Sandisk is famous for its memory cards and USB flash drives. However, the area of portable storage is where there is some brand crossover. G-Tech’s rugged G-DRIVE mobile SSD series is available in three capacities, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB, with

high performance, solid build and portability as the big selling points. Transfer speeds are up to 560MB/s via the single USB 3.1 Gen 2 port and two short cables are supplied in the box: USB-C to USB-C andUSB-C to USB-A. The unit features IP67 water and dust resistance and is built to survive a three-metre drop. Plus, it is rated with a 1000lb crush-proof rating. The drive has a very similar footprint to the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD tested on this page (below), but the G-Tech is about twice as thick and over double the weight.

The unit’s extra girth is accounted for by its protective rubber housing, which featuresdeepgrooves that reveal a blue inner case. The grooving and an aluminium core help to dissipate heat and avoid overheating. I tested theunitwith theBlackmagic Disk Speed Test app and then moved data around, timing using a stopwatch. I used a USB 3.1-compatible MacBook Pro and an older 16GB RAMMac Mini withUSB3.0.With the Blackmagic test the G-Techwrite speedwas found to be 435.9MB/s and read was 431.9MB/s. Using the Mac Mini, 51GB of data

took 611 secs to write and 718 secs to read, which equates to 83.4MB/s and 71MB/s respectively, which shows the limit of USB 3.0. With the USB 3.1-compatible laptop, however, the timings were 98 secs for read, giving a speed of 520MB/s and a write time of 135 secs, so a speed of 377MB/s. That was impressive. I used the G-Tech (and the Sandisk) for a couple of weeks, carrying them around side-by-side. And I even took them away on a business trip, too. It is true they both performed reliably over this period. WC

SandiskExtremePortable SSD From£86.99

Verdict

This Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD is an impressive unit, small and fast – and it proved reliable. In fact, I liked the 250GB unit so much, I bought the 1TB version (which, incidentally, runs slightly cooler than the 250GB version) as my backup drive when travelling. Enough said.

Pros Size, reliability Cons Slowish write time, 250GB version gets warm

Its petite body formmakes it truly pocketable, yet it’s designed to be rugged and durable at the same time

The need for fast, portable and reliable storage has never been greater, which is why we are seeing more SSD drives like these ones from Sandisk and G-Tech (tested above). Its petite body form makes it truly pocketable, yet it’s designed to be rugged and durable at the same time. It’s a great-looking unit, too, with rounded-off corners and a cutout in one corner so you can hook it up to your keyring, maybe – you’d need quite a big diameter keyring to do that, though. SSDs have no moving parts, so reliability is good and, in the case of this unit, it is water and dust resistant to IP55standardandisdesignedtosurvive

a drop from2m. There is just one port, a USB3.1 (Gen2) and a shortUSBType-C to Type-C cable is included in the box. To get themost from the SSDdrive, you need a compatible computer port. An USB-C to USB-A adapter is included in the box, too, so no problem using this drive with non USB-C machines, although performance will be less speedy. The lead and the adapter are both good quality and they click into place securely. The unit comes with Sandisk Secure Access 3.02, so you can password- protect content so, if you and the drive part company for any reason, youknow your secrets are safe.

I tested the Extreme SSD with a 3.1GhzMacBook Pro and an older 16GB RAMMacMini withUSB 3.0 using the BlackmagicDiskSpeedTestappandby moving 51GB’s worth of data around. The Blackmagic test showed a read speed of 421MB/s and a write speed of 268MB/s. In my 51GB test on the Mac Mini, I got a read time of 798 secs and a write time of 820 secs, which in data transfer terms is 63.9MB/s and 62.2MB/s, so decent. Using the

Macbook with USB 3.1, you can see the drive’s potential with a read time of 108 secs and a transfer speed of 472MB/s, but the write time of 365 secs and speed of 139MB/s was less impressive I used this (and the G-Tech drive) over several weeks, taking them both abroad as backup. I didn’t manage to disrupt the qualityperformance of both units and the only very minor negative point was that the 250GB unit seemed to run quite warm, but that was it. WC