Photography News Issue 30

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Photography News Issue 30 absolutephoto.com

First tests

Portablememory

Samsung T3 SSD 2TB £596.99

Specs

G-Tech G Drive ev ATC £145 If you need a conventional hard drive to survive the most arduous conditions this G Drive ev ATC could be your dream partner. The core unit is the G Drive ev RAW which is a standalone external drive that can be used on its own via its USB 3.0 connection or in the G-Dock ev swappable drive housing via its SATA connection. Adding the ATC case takes protection levels up a couple of notches and that is the combination on test here. Slide the unit into the ATC case, lock it in and it’s watertight and protected from pressure, shock and dust. The case has a built-in USB lead which tucks away when not in use and the end has a rubber protective cap to stop dust and sand getting in. The whole unit does feel impressively robust so even though the combination is bulky the price for that reassurance is not high. Clearly, you’re not going to need this level of protection in normal situations but perhaps if you are going on safari or on a photo holiday to the tropics where the extra protection will be well worth considering then it will be worth it. According to the Blackmagic Design app write speed was 39.2MB/s and in practice the tested speed was 35MB/s using the USB 3.0 port of a Mac Mini. WC

Specs

Price 250GB £98.99, 500GB £151.99, 1TB £301.99, 2TB £596.99 Interface USB 3.1 (Gen 1), USB 3.0 and 2.0 Data transfer speed 450MB/s Compatibility Windows 7 or higher Mac OS10.7 or higher AndroidKitKat v4.4 or higher In the box T3 SSD 2TB, USB 3.1 Type C to Type A cable Dimensions (lxdxw) 74x58x10.5mm Weight 51g Contact samsung.com

Price ev ATC 1TB USB 3 £145, ev ATC 1TB Thunderbolt £186, ev Raw 1TB £105 Interface Drive USB 3.0 and SATA (for use with G-Dock ev), case USB 3.0 Data transfer speed 136MB/s Compatibility Windows 8, 8, and 7 via reformat Mac OS10.7 or higher In the box All terrain case with USB cable, G-Drive ev RaW, USB cable

Samsung has been at the vanguard of solid state drive (SSD) development and the T3 is its latest introduction. The T3 is a premium SSD and very compact with it – it’s smaller than an average business card – so it’s eminently pocketable and an excellent and very portable data storage solution. It is also rugged. The metal case is shock resistant and will survive a two metre drop or a force of 1500G. There is an integrated Thermal Guard to prevent overheating in extreme temperatures. While I didn’t kick the drive around the office to test its robustness I did leave it unprotected at the bottom of my work bag for a couple of weeks and regularly data transferred to and from the drive. It proved totally reliable in that time. The drive comes complete with 256-bit encryption software to protect your SSD’s contents should it fall into the wrong hands. It is a useful security measure. Of course, if you do forget the password your data is at risk so while Samsung can supply a reset password, the stored information will be lost if it’s used. The SSD T3 has an USB 3.1 (gen 1) interface and a USB C to USB A cable is supplied. Using the Blackmagic Design app the tested write figure was 38MB/s while a data transfer test of 5GB of data showed the speed to be 34.6MB/s which is better than CrystalDiskmark tested write speed of 32.6MB/s. WC

Dimensions (lxdxw) Drive 135x83.5x16.5mm Case 164x108x30.5mm Weight

Drive 180g Case 230g Contact g-technology.com

Verdict

The Samsung SSD T3 2TB is not cheap but SSD drives relative to conventional hard drives are expensive. Prices will come down in time but right now, the Samsung SSD range is a little expensive for its capacity, technology and build quality. So while this 2TB device from Samsung is close to £600 for your money you get a high capacity SSD that is tiny, reliable and very rugged too.

As far as normal external hard drives go the price of the G-drive ev ATC is on the high side, but this is on a TB by TB comparison. This G-Tech unit is worth a serious look is because of the ATC case that gives a very high degree of protection to the drive inside. The fact that the drive can also be used in a G-Tech dock gives it an extra appeal.

Pros High protection levels, system compatible Cons Size, price

Pros Small, SSD reliability and speed Cons Price

WDMy Passport Wireless 2TB £169.99

Specs

Price 500GB £113.99 , 1TB £134.99, 2TB £164.99 Interface SD card slot, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi Data transfer speed USB 3.0 up to 5GB/s, SD 2.0 up to 25MB/s Compatibility Windows 8.1 or higher, Windows 7, Windows Vista Mac OSX Lion, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and Maverick

In the box Wi-Fi mobile storage, USB 3.0 cable, USB power adaptor, quick install guide Battery life 6hrs (claimed) continuous video streaming Dimensions (lxdxw) 127x86x29.8mm Weight 355g Contact wdc.com

We are very much living in a wireless age and features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, among others, are must-have features. That includes storage now with peripherals like this 2TB portable hard drive fromWestern Digital. Compared with a wired hard drive, the My PassportWireless unit is quite heavy, probably because of its battery – it weighs in at 355g. Battery life is a claimed six-hours continual video streaming. Charging is via the unit USB 3.0’s connection. The unit also has an SD card slot, so with your laptop you can back up your cards when travelling. Power the unit up and 25secs later a blue LED confirms the Wi-Fi is working and then you can connect up to it, assuming the appropriate app has been installed. On a Mac, you can access the drive by going to Go>Network and then you’ll see the drive and SD icons on the computer. Now you can move information between the computer and drive. With a tablet or phone you need to install the WD My Cloud app and join the My Passport network to view, download or share JPEG images. Connecting up and using the My Passport Wireless proved no problem at all. Wi-Fi range seemed good too. There is the option of

connecting wirelessly directly to the unit or using your home network or public Wi-Fi. For our timing tests we connected directly to the Passport. Upload/download speeds wirelessly are slower than when hard-wired. Moving 3GB of data wirelessly from the Passport to the iMac Mini took six minutes for around 9MB/s while with the USB3.0 connection it was under one minute for around 50MB/s. Using the Blackmagic Design Disk Speed Test app gave a write speed of 89.4MB/s. CrystalDiskMark quoted a much slower 32MB/s. Backing up an SD card with 6GB worth of pictures took 35 minutes for less than 3MB/s. Speed is not always the priority while reliability is, and I had no issues. WC

Verdict

The My Passport Wireless proved a reliable hard drive and the wireless connection option worked well. I suppose the question is, as a photographer, do you need it? On the plus side, you can back up SD cards so handy for travel, but you need a laptop so might as well take a wired hard drive – the weight of a cable and standard external hard drive will be lighter than the Passport Wireless. Being able to view JPEGs on the large high-res screen of your tablet while on location could be a benefit. More and more cameras have Wi-Fi but the process of viewing a number of images is slow but with this drive, you can go through JPEGs on your SD card quickly without having to download them.

Pros Reliable, SD card slot, decent battery life, fast through USB3.0, wireless works Cons Weight, no compelling reason to buy