At a look
Skilled’s Ranking
Professionals
- USB4 gives good efficiency
- Aggressive worth
- Rugged design for out of doors use
Cons
- Lacks full Thunderbolt assist
- Bigger than many moveable drives
Our Verdict
The Excessive Professional With USB4 isn’t the quickest SSD round, but it surely’s greater than quick sufficient for many non-professional customers, and much more inexpensive than high-end Thunderbolt drives. It’s sturdily constructed too, making it a sensible choice for out of doors use and dangerous climate.
Value When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Finest Pricing Right this moment
About 10 years in the past, SanDisk was taken over by Western Digital, however the two corporations lately determined to half firm once more, with SanDisk specializing in solid-state drives and reminiscence merchandise whereas WD sticks with its conventional vary of laborious drives. And, to have fun its independence, SanDisk has been launching a flurry of latest merchandise in current months, notably specializing in moveable storage and backup.
We lately reviewed its Excessive Moveable SSD, which was an inexpensive entry-level drive that used a USB-C interface with assist for USB 3.2 (Gen 2). That was adopted by the Excessive Professional Moveable SSD, which stepped as much as the quicker USB 3.2 (Gen 2×2). Nevertheless, Macs don’t assist USB 3.2 (Gen 2×2) in order that wasn’t essentially a great choice for Mac customers. SanDisk wasn’t completed, although, because it has simply launched yet one more moveable drive referred to as the Excessive Professional With USB4, which – you guessed it – now adopts the even quicker USB4. And sure, USB requirements are a complicated mess as of late, so that you do must pay shut consideration to the technical specs when shopping for drives from SanDisk or another producer. Learn: Thunderbolt 5 vs Thunderbolt 4 and three vs USB4 for extra in regards to the completely different requirements.
As you would possibly anticipate, the Excessive Professional With USB4 is quicker than its predecessors – in actual fact, USB4 is definitely primarily based on Thunderbolt 4 and SanDisk even recommends utilizing the drive with a Mac or PC that has Thunderbolt 4 as a way to get the very best efficiency, which makes it a great choice for Mac customers who want a quick, moveable backup drive.
Obtainable with both 2TB or 4TB of storage, the Excessive Professional With USB4 seems to be similar to its predecessors, with the identical rounded corners, orange trim and a useful cut-out part in a single nook that can be utilized with a lanyard to connect it to a belt or backpack while you’re travelling. There’s a USB-C cable included within the field, however there’s no lanyard so that you’ll want to supply that for your self.
Nevertheless, nearer inspection reveals that the Excessive Professional With USB4 is sort of a bit bigger than different SanDisk drives that we’ve examined previously, measuring 11.9mm thick, 58.7mm large, and 140mm lengthy. It’s virtually as massive because the iPhone 16e – and, at 172g, it’s truly heavier than the 16e – but it surely’s nonetheless sufficiently small to slide right into a pocket or bag, and its sturdy design makes it a great choice for travelling and for individuals who must work open air.
The primary physique of the drive is made out of cast aluminium, which is then wrapped in a silicon sleeve for added safety. SanDisk says that it will probably survive being dropped from a top of 2m, and it’s rated IP65 for water and mud resistance (which signifies that it will probably survive heavy rain, however not complete immersion in water). And, to again it up, SanDisk gives a five-year guarantee as effectively.
However, in fact, the primary attraction is using USB4 to supply excessive efficiency for storing your essential recordsdata and Time Machine backups. SanDisk quotes a most write efficiency for the Excessive Professional With USB4 of as much as 3700MB/s, and skim efficiency as much as 3800MB/s though, as talked about earlier, it does advocate utilizing the drive with a Mac or PC that has Thunderbolt 4 for finest outcomes.
That’s good for Mac customers in fact, and once we examined the drive with the BlackMagic Disk Velocity Check utilizing a MacBook Professional with Thunderbolt 4 we obtained very robust efficiency of 3400MB/s for each learn and write efficiency. And, simply out of curiosity, we additionally examined the drive with an M4 Mac mini that has Thunderbolt 5, and had been stunned to see that the write efficiency jumped fairly drastically to 4400MB/s. That write efficiency stayed constant even after a number of repeated checks with BlackMagic, though the drive’s learn efficiency with the Mac mini was unchanged at 3400MB/s.
Ought to You Purchase The Excessive Professional With USB4?
Skilled customers who want prime efficiency for working with massive video or graphics recordsdata would possibly favor to pay extra for a solid-state drive with full assist for Thunderbolt. Nevertheless, the Excessive Professional With USB4 is way extra inexpensive than most Thunderbolt drives and nonetheless gives spectacular efficiency that might be greater than ample for most individuals who simply want a quick, sturdy moveable drive for his or her Time Machine backups.
Check out the Finest SSDs for Mac for alternate options to the SanDisk Excessive Professional
