Looking at the broader range of tests I ran, probably the most representative of overall performance is CrystalDiskMark with default settings, where read performance was 597MB/s and write 653MB/s. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Without those ports, this drive isn’t any quicker than its predecessor, as the 5MBits of USB 3.1 Gen 1 (aka USB 3.0) will cap performance at around 550MB/s. He started writing in 1986 and had contributed to MicroMart, PC Format, 3D World among others. Now: $69.99 ($29.99 off) Anyone with a PS5 can store and launch PS4 games from this device, as they can from any external USB drive, but they can’t run PS5 titles from it.

Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices That indicates that this is the same technology used in the SATA SanDisk Extreme Pro drives, and in the original version of that device, it didn’t offer encryption. No mention is made of hardware encryption in any documentation, which begs the obvious question. The quoted speed of the drive is 1050MB/s reads and 1,000MB/s writes, making it identical to the Pro version of the original Extreme Portable SSDs. I should say that IP55 water resistance is much less than the IP67 and IP68 standards, and the V2 won’t handle being submerged. He started writing in 1986 and had contributed to MicroMart, PC Format, 3D World among others.

SanDisk must be confident that the V2 is more robust as it has extended the warranty period from three years before to five years now. It does have a flashing LED that indicates activity, but in terms of features, there aren’t any more to talk about here. Now: £1,499.97 (£400 off) Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors What they Toyota Platz both share is two-meter drop protection and IP55 water and dust resistance. Alternatives with similar performance levels but sharper pricing include the Samsung T5 and SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (also made by Western Digital). Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you.

Now: $24.98 ($24 off off) Subjecting it to the ignominy of digital callipers, the new Extreme is also a tiny bit longer, wider, and thicker. However, it is important to talk about compatibility, especially if you’re going to use the D30 with a next-gen console. Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors The problem for SanDisk here is that there is a slew of rival portable SSDs, most notably the Crucial X8, that offer the same performance for less outlay. But the patterning on the enclosure, placement of the USB-C port and protective rubberised coating all look the same, although I didn’t have a previous model on hand to directly compare them. It is perfectly stable on its side without any support, but users with limited space might find it useful.

So if you see it at cheaper prices, it’s an even better deal. To be clear, this isn’t the old box, since it mentions the new speeds that only the V2 can achieve. A small plastic foot attaches to make the drive stand upright. The new design has double the speed and encryption baked in. Now: £649 (£150 off) A short cable is annoying and console owners, as per other drives, will have to be ok with storing and not launching games.

Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors A much better option than the previous Extreme Portable SSD. They were repackaged SATA SSDs bundled with a SATA to USB 3.0 adapter, capping their performance at the same level as SATA-connected internal drives. A deeper dive into the various IDs that this hardware generates when connected to a PC revealed the SSD hardware inside has the designation ‘SanDisk SDSSDXPS960G SCSI Disk Device’. Currently, the excellent Crucial X8 1TB sells for £128.39/US$134.99), direct from the makers, but can be found cheaper with online retailers. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices So PS5 and Xbox Series X/S owners will have to be ok with simply storing games here rather than launching them.

Now: £679 (£120 off) Now: Up to $550 off (With free Galaxy Buds 2) But, WD Security and WD Drive Utilities aren’t offered at this time. Out of the box I immediately had déjà vu because, ostensibly, this SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2 looks just like the previous product and has an almost identical name. What compounds this opacity is that the box doesn’t mention V2 at all, only ‘SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD’, precisely the same name as the product it replaces. And, that’s about it.

From: Laptops Direct In the US, it’s on WD, Amazon, Newegg and BestBuy. Not sure what to buy? Check out our chart of the best portable hard drives and SSDs.

As the D30 is inherently another WD external drive that might be used by PC owners for numerous tasks, the reasonable expectation might be that the owner would be directed to get the same utilities that Western Digital provides with the My Passport series. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Now: $599 ($360 off) Equally, Microsoft doesn’t allow Xbox Series X/S games to run from external drives or Xbox One games that have been upgraded. The drive and cable combination are remarkably light, at just 80g, making this one of the most lightweight external drives we’ve tested at Tech Advisor.

By Mark Pickavance, Contributor | 13 Aug 2021 Now: £37 Clubcard Price (£13 off) And, at a similar price point is the Sabrent Rocket Pro. For those with only USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a bandwidth capped ceiling of around 500MB/s should be expected. Interestingly I noticed in testing that the D30 is better at writing than reading, hinting that the cache is biased towards write operations. Overall, performance on this drive is decent if you have USB 3.2 Gen 2, and almost identical to the first generation Pro drives.

These are priced at £99.99, £164.99 and £304.99 respectively and are available direct from Western Digital’s store – WD owns SanDisk, in case you weren’t aware. He also covers storage including SSDs, NAS drives and portable hard drives. Now: £899.90 (£100 off) The original version of the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD had a quoted speed of 550MB reads, and 500MB writes, as tested by the often optimistic CrystalDiskMark. Putting aside the confusion between old and new models, the hardware in the V2 is worth purchasing for those with 10Mbit/s USB-C ports.

I’m not sure where I fall in that spectrum, but for those who like it, the small size of the D30 does make it more charming than the larger D10 model. The quality of construction is good but not exceptional, and it is not as robustly made as a Crucial X8 or any of the G-Technology drives. It’s highly portable, has unique styling, and comes ready to be deployed. Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you.

When compared with other USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives, it’s also on the expensive side. The drive comes exFAT pre-formatted, making it ready to use with a wide range of systems and games consoles. Out of the box, you get the drive, a noticeably short 20cm long cable and a small adapter. The top-end 2TB costs $354.99 direct from the Western Digital Store, but was $249.99 in the sale.

Was: £596.33 upfront or £49.94 p/m Though, if extra space is your only concern, and not speed, the WD_Black D10 with 8TB for £214.95/US$259.99 is dramatically cheaper per GB. The V2 weighs less, but I’d contest it is less damage resistant than the X8. Now: $99.99 ($50 off) Now: £899.90 (£100 off) For comparison, the previous Extreme 1TB sells for £135 or $139.99, so could be a money-saving option for those who need the space and are less interested in the speed and encryption advantages of the V2 model. Plus, for those that don’t have a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, the original SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is still available, and more affordable.

Retailers such as Amazon and Ebuyer haven’t picked up the V2 yet but you can still buy the older model. I’m reviewing the Extreme here, a drive that looks remarkably like the one it replaced until you run some benchmarks. However, some of its potential value has been royally undermined by both Sony and Microsoft, at least for console owners.

Although, note this isn’t WD’s fault and is the same for rival drives. Learn more. Now: £679 (£120 off) Mark is an expert on displays, reviewing monitors and TVs. The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2 has already dropped in price a bit since I started this review and I hope this continutes as the external SSD storage market is becoming increasingly competitive, and this is a well-engineered device that performs admirably.

For the D30 1TB in my tests, the optimal port is USB 3.2 Gen 2, an interface that enables a maximum of 10Gbps transfers, or 1200MB/s in alternative currency. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. But those are both more expensive choices, and to get the outstanding performance of the Pro V2 requires a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port, something that very few computers have, or ever will have. Along with the drive are some installation notes, a single 20cm cable that is USB-A at one end and USB-C at the other. Depending on how you view the WD_Black aesthetic, this might evoke the do-anything attitude of military equipment trunks or remind you of a repurposed shipping container.

Mark is an expert on displays, reviewing monitors and TVs. If you like what you’ve seen here, just make sure you’re getting the V2 when buying and that the listing quotes 1050/1000MB/s and not 550/500MB/s. And, using the same synthetic benchmark I achieved 1,027MB/s reads and 958MB/s writes, almost exactly double. Encryption is new for this range and, along with the extra speed, is one of the virtues of choosing the new model. Therefore, when USB 4.0 becomes available, this drive won’t go any faster, as it will still be connecting using the USB 3.2 Gen standards.

Now: $24.98 ($24 off off) Now: Up to $550 off (With free Galaxy Buds 2) Those prices make the larger capacities proportionally cheaper per GB, and the 500GB the least cost-effective purchase. Now: $59.95 ($40 off) Now: £362.21 upfront or £30.34 p/m (Up to £234.12 off) Benchmarking USB SSD drives isn’t without a few critical caveats since to get the maximum speeds available requires the correct port on a system that can fully resource that interface. That makes sense, as disconnection during a write could corrupt the drive, where the consequences during a read are much less hazardous. For a system with NVMe main drives, external storage can be the bottleneck in any transfer between the two, and SanDisk has set out to address this with new Extreme and Extreme Pro variants of its portable drives.

Now: $99.99 ($50 off) For PC owners, more cost-effective solutions are available, and for those with Thunderbolt ports, even higher levels of performance are possible. Those prices make the V2 more expensive than the similarly specified Crucial X8 and Samsung T7. Most external SSDs usually include an adapter or dual function cable, but Western Digital chose not to.

From: Laptops Direct Overall, the D30 offers respectable performance that justifies using USB 3.2 Gen 2, but we’ve seen faster drives that could sustain optimal performance for longer. Is there anything genuinely special about the WD_Black D30, or it is a by-the-numbers external USB SDD with a cosplay makeover? As part of a potential solution, the company has been focusing some storage niches towards specific sub-brands, like the gaming orientated WD_Black devices.

Now: From £21 per month You can only run Xbox One games that aren’t upgraded, Xbox 360 games, and original Xbox titles. The documentation provided and the box doesn’t mention either, but those who go looking for support at wd.com will find that Acronis True Image is available for both PC and Mac to use with the D30. At that time, fewer PCs and laptops had NVMe M.2 storage, but these days it’s the norm, rather than the exception. Now: $69.99 ($29.99 off) It has a total bandwidth allocation of 10Mbits, and once the various packaging protocols and error checking overheads are removed, around 1,100-1,000 Mb/s is the absolute limit.

From: Virgin Media He also covers storage including SSDs, NAS drives and portable hard drives. Now: $599 ($360 off)

SanDisk Extreme Portable SDD V2 review

<

p>By Mark Pickavance, Contributor | 16 Dec 2020 Now: £362.21 upfront or £30.34 p/m (Up to £234.12 off) On close inspection, and we’re talking near-forensic, it appears that on the new design the hole on the top right of the unit is marginally larger on the new model. The drive has a USB-C port, and an adapter for a USB Type-A socket, if you don’t have USB-C on your computer. Peak performance was a more impressive 934MB/s reads, and 838MB/s writes, but these high levels can’t be sustained over large file operations.

The D30 is a good product that provides much-needed external storage that operates at the top end of what USB 3.2 can do, without resorting to uncommon technologies like USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors And, WD quotes 900MB/s without saying if that’s for reading or writing. Back in 2018, SanDisk launched a new generation of portable SSDs under the ‘Extreme’ branding, and they were generally well received. Learn more.

What confuses reviewers and customers alike is that often these devices compete with each other, along with those brands not owned by Western Digital. Those that want ultimate performance can buy a Thunderbolt 3 SSD if they have that port. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Or, the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2.

Now: $59.95 ($40 off) The performance limitation here isn’t the NAND modules inside, but the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. As these types of activities are what people buy these drives for, that hardware makers don’t provide the software to exploit them properly is disappointing. You can buy it direct from WD as well as Amazon, while Ebuyer says it’s coming soon. Now: £649 (£150 off) However, ports with Gen 2×2 are rare, and it isn’t a mode that will be supported under USB 4.0 when that arrives.

Western Digital has entered a slightly odd period as a creator of external storage, where it makes many drives under the three tentpole brands of WD, SanDisk and G-Technology. It’s an assumption, but those companies that product carry cases might need to make only small if any, adjustments to cope with both designs. Those with Apple Mac systems or Linux can easily reformat it to an appropriate structure if required.

Now: From £21 per month In the USA, the 500GB model is $119.99 (but discounted to $94.99 when I checked), and the 1TB version is $199.99 (on sale at $149.99). It needs saying that the technology behind the port is the critical factor, not that it is USB-C or USB-A. Where the previous version of this product came with a 250GB option, the ‘V2’ comes in just 500GB, 1TB and 2TB options.

The drive comes pre-formatted using the exFAT structure and on the drive are utilities to access the encryption features from Windows 8 and 10, and also the Apple Mac OS. Depending on how many games you need to cache, the D30 costs from £94.99/US$99.99 for the 500GB option, increasing to £159.99/$169.99US for the 1TB and £269.99/US$289 for the 2TB capacity unit. The D30 has more potential for PC users, although regardless of what you’re plugging it into, a longer cable would be much appreciated along with a USB-C to USB-C option as well.

Hopefully, that will change in the future. The D30 is a solid enough external SSD and is ready to go from the box for a range of tasks. Was: £596.33 upfront or £49.94 p/m Now: £37 Clubcard Price (£13 off) But a little cheaper than the LaCie Portable High Performance External SSD, and G-Technology G-Drive Mobile. While I didn’t test the Pro version, that design offers 20Mbit USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 mode, with double again the bandwidth and resulting performance. It is an external USB drive that you can connect and use as you would any other, and it can be used with desktops, laptops, and even some mobile devices.

And the previously mentioned console restrictions on where titles can be stored generally don’t apply. Due to the vagaries of USB, error correction, and the background tasks that run on any computer, a more realistic transfer speed is somewhere between 850MB/s and 1050MB/s. We’ve got our hands on the latest WD Black SSD, the D30, designed for PC and console gamers that need extra storage that performs like an internal SSD. With a recent update, you can now put PS5 games on the D30, freeing space on the internal storage for other games to live, and move them back to play later, but that’s not what PS5 owners want, is it?

From: Virgin Media The cable is doubly disappointing in that it is remarkably short, especially for those using it with a desktop PC, and no USB-C to USB-C option included. What you don’t get are any tools to sync the contents of folders on the PC to the drive, although it should work with any third-party applications designed to achieve this task. Unless both of these console makers become more attuned to their customers, perhaps enabling a test that an external drive can perform to prove it’s fast enough to be used to hold launchable titles, then the D30 (and others) is just a console themed external drive.

Now: £1,499.97 (£400 off) Now: $499.99 ($50 off) Now: $499.99 ($50 off) It’s certainly worth checking if the devices you plan to use this drive with support Gen 2, otherwise you won’t see transfer speeds this fast.