OWC Envoy Pro Elektron portable SSD
Rugged, fast data storage for people on the go
$99 (240GB), $149 (480GB), $199 (1TB), $369 (2TB) From OWC, owcdigital.com
Features USB–C, IP67 rating, aluminum case
Portable storage is especially important for people working with photos and videos who often need to back up many gigabytes of data when out in the field. OWC’s Envoy Pro Elektron comes in capacities from 240GB all the way up to 2TB. Compact and well–built in aircraft-grade aluminum, it’s dust–proof and waterproof to IP67. OWC says it’s also crush proof, and while we didn’t test that particular claim it does feel extremely solid.
Powering over USB–C, it comes with a 10GB/s USB–C cable and a USB–A adapter for connection to older systems. It works with Macs, PCs or iPad Pro, and on first use you’re prompted to format it for your system. It’s also a bootable drive so can be used to run your entire operating system if required.
OWC states that the drive uses NVMe technology to deliver performance up to twice as fast as other portable SSDs. Using our standard BlackMagic test of reading and writing a 4GB file and taking an average of three tests, we found an average write speed of 936 MB/sec and a read of 895 MB/sec. In a more practical example, an 8.5GB movie file copied across in six seconds, and a 500MB folder of MP3s copied so fast that the Finder didn’t have time to open a copy dialog. This was performed connected to a 2019 16–inch MacBook Pro.
This is a blazingly fast drive that does get a little warm in use, but not such that it’s something to worry about. You’re also best using the bundled cable as not all standard cables will offer the full speed. The waterproofing is a big plus, especially for photo and video professionals.
THE BOTTOM LINE. An ultra–portable, rugged and fast SSD that will be especially welcomed by creative pros. HOLLIN JONES