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While you only see the final reviews, there’s a lot of day-to-day activity going on to keep me busy –- benchmarking and updating performance results on the latest SSDs over multiple platforms. In order to move around multi-hundred-gigabyte system images as well as test files and benchmarks folders, I’ve been using some of the USB 10 Gbps SSDs that I have on hand. Most of them, unfortunately, can’t keep up with me.
Most external SSDs, like most internal SSDs, feature a fast write cache. Once you transfer 10s to 100s of gigabytes, depending on the specific device, that write cache will fill. Once it does, write performance degrades severely in most cases. That’s a big problem for a creative pro or just someone like me performing lots of large file transfers on a daily basis. The result can set back a workflow schedule significantly.
That is why SanDisk’s Extreme Pro is one of my top picks for my own workflow; our sample doesn’t slow down. Breaking the SATA barrier by leveraging WD’s NVMe SSD was a smart move by the company. SanDisk’s new Extreme Pro is the evolutionary advancement of the Extreme, and it’s not just because of its performance either.
Freezing in Iceland for those photos and videos of cute little Puffins? Trekking in the woods for days on end looking for that perfect landscape shot? Or even enduring a hostile desert as part of your adventure? With a tough, protective design that is IP55 rated, this drive is built to keep up with you no matter what the condition. And, it can connect to almost any computer with its USB interface, unlike most Thunderbolt 3 devices. So you can backup and edit on almost any platform.
Like many professional devices, it will cost you a pretty penny. Current pricing puts it at double the cost of a SATA SSD and a premium over most internal NVMe SSDs as well. For an external device, though, SanDisk’s Extreme Pro is fairly competitive and comes backed by a 5-year warranty to ease any worry about support. If you are in the market for a professional-grade 10 Gbps external, SanDisk’s Extreme will fit the bill nicely.
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