HP Reverb G2
A faster version of the Extreme Pro with a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface.
Sandisk has rolled out a third version of its award-winning Extreme portable rugged solid state drive, one that sports a distinct orange carabiner loop. Confusingly, it looks exactly the same as the other Extreme products, the original Extreme Portable and the original Extreme Pro Portable. The model that we received is the Extreme Pro Portable SSD v2 (SDSSDE811T00-G25) with a 1TB capacity and a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface, making it, in theory, the fastest rugged USB storage to date.
No surprise here, the Extreme Pro adopts the same form factor and material as the Extreme and the Extreme Pro. Designers used a forged aluminum chassis-silicon shell combination to offer what Sandisk calls “a premium feel with added protection”. The textured skin gives it a sporty look while the enclosure acts like a heatsink to dissipate heat generated by the internal components.
The NVMe drive is based on the ASMedia ASM2364/SanDisk 20-82-007011 bridge/controller pair and uses SanDisk BiCS 4 96L 3D TLC NAND.
The Extreme Portable Pro SSD comes pre-formatted as an exFAT device which means that it can work on Windows and Mac out of the box. Reformatting it to the NTFS file system will limit compatibility to Windows but will enable TRIM, which will improve the longevity of the drive.
You will need to have a compatible host device to make the most out of this Extreme Pro v2. Sadly, we didn’t have anything at hand with a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface to test its claimed performance. We suspect that a lot of potential customers will buy the drive and expect read/write speeds of up to 2GBps (as per the numbers on the box).
They will be lucky to reach even 55% of that number which puts it slightly ahead of the Extreme Pro Portable (v1) and could explain the relatively modest price premium between the two.
We tested the Sandisk Extreme
Pro 1TB external portable SSD using a Dell Latitude 7490 business laptop which is equipped with a Thunderbolt 3 port. Note that the Extreme pro Portable SSD v2 includes support for hardware encryption via the Sandisk SecureAccess application.
Our tests show that the Sandisk Extreme Pro V2 performs on par with current USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives and that’s not a surprise. CrystalDiskMark, for example, hit more than 1GBps on sustained read and write speeds using default settings.
The Extreme Pro will appeal to a particular niche, one that craves for speed and wants something that is portable and can withstand more than a few bumps. It comes with a five-year warranty and its size and weight will turn it into a favourite storage companion especially with the hardware encryption.
Desire Athow