Buying guide

Portable SSDs

Our pick

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 2TB

Choose the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 2TB for everyday file backups and travel.¹²

Why this one

Its IP65 and stated 3m drop ratings match the T7 Shield 2TB’s ratings, with about 47g less weight to carry.¹²³⁴⁵
It connects over USB 3.2 Gen 2, and its five-year warranty provides two more years of cover than the T7 Shield’s.³⁶

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The alternatives

Other contenders

Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 1920GB
For sensitive work files needing separate administrator and user credentials, choose the Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 1920GB; an administrator can restore forgotten user access.⁷⁸
LaCie Rugged SSD4 2TB
Choose the LaCie Rugged SSD4 2TB for a USB4 setup when its included three-year data-recovery service matters to your files.⁹
SEAGATE Ultra Compact 2TB STMX2000400
Choose the Seagate Ultra Compact 2TB when low carried weight is your priority: its stated 24.04g weight is less than the SanDisk’s approximately 51g.¹¹⁰ It has an IP54 rating and three-year warranty, compared with the SanDisk’s IP65 rating and five-year term.²⁶¹¹¹²

Buying advice

Plan long writes using post-cache evidence as well as the peak rating: the Pro5 4TB is specified at 5,300 MB/s within its 50GB cache and 1,800 MB/s after it fills.¹³

For computers with USB4 or Thunderbolt

Choose for the host’s actual protocol and operating system; a USB-C connector alone does not establish compatibility.¹⁹⁴² For USB4, choose the Corsair EX400U 2TB, rated for reads up to 4,000 MB/s and writes up to 3,500 MB/s.¹⁹ For a Thunderbolt 5 setup needing more capacity, choose the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 4TB; Windows requires version 11 23H2 or later, and Windows Thunderbolt 3 is unsupported.¹³²⁵⁴²

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4 models compared. 20 models have incomplete measurements.

Capacity (TB); higher is preferred · 0 to 7.68

Rated read speed (MB/s); higher is preferred · 0 to 250

Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 960GB Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 1920GB Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 3840GB Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 7680GB

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 2TB

Rated read speed: No exact comparable value
Capacity: No exact comparable value

Specification	SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 2TB	ADATA SE920 1TB	Apricorn Aegis Fortress L3 SSD 1TB	Apricorn Aegis Fortress L3 SSD 2TB	Apricorn Aegis Padlock SSD 1TB	Apricorn Aegis Padlock SSD 2TB	Corsair EX400U 1TB	Corsair EX400U 2TB	Corsair EX400U 4TB	DataLocker DL4 FE 1TB SSD	DataLocker DL4 FE 2TB SSD	DataLocker DL4 FE 4TB SSD	Glyph SecureDrive+ SSD 1TB with Keypad	Glyph SecureDrive+ SSD 2TB with Keypad	Glyph SecureDrive+ SSD 4TB with Keypad	Glyph SecureDrive+ SSD 8TB with Keypad	Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 960GB	Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 1920GB	Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 3840GB	Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 7680GB	Kingston XS2000 2TB	LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 2TB	LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 4TB	LaCie Rugged SSD4 1TB
Write speed after cache	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	1,800 MB/s¹³	Not published
Interface	USB 3.2 Gen 2⁶	USB4¹⁴	USB 3.0¹⁵	USB 3.0¹⁶	USB 3.2 GEN. 1¹⁷	USB 3.2 GEN. 1¹⁷	USB4¹⁸	USB 4.0 Gen 3x2¹⁹	USB4²⁰	USB 3.2²¹	USB 3.2²¹	USB 3.2²¹	USB 3.2, Gen 1²²	USB 3.2, Gen 1²²	USB 3.2, Gen 1²²	USB 3.2, Gen 1²²	USB 3.2 Gen 1⁷	USB 3.2 Gen 1⁷	USB 3.2 Gen 1⁷	USB 3.2 Gen 1⁷	USB 3.2 Gen 2x2²³	Thunderbolt™ 5²⁴	Thunderbolt 5²⁵	USB 40 Gbps²⁶
Rated read speed	Up to 1,050 MB/s (Environment: Windows® 10 Professional (64-bit); Host: ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING ASSEMBLEED PC (Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller), 1TB WD_Black SN750 NVMe™ SSD, Intel® Core™ i7-7700 CPU @ 4.20GHz, Windows® 10 Professional (64-bit); Host interface: Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller; Protocol: USB 3.2 Gen 2; Test method: Based on internal testing)⁶	3,800 MB/s¹⁴	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	4,000 MB/s¹⁸	4,000 MB/s¹⁹	4,000 MB/s²⁰	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	250 MB/s⁷	250 MB/s⁷	230 MB/s⁷	230 MB/s²⁷	2,000 MB/s²³	Up to 6,700 MB/s²⁸	6,700 MB/s¹³	Up to 4,000 MB/s⁹
Capacity	Not published	Not published	1 TB¹⁵	2 TB¹⁶	1 TB²⁹	2 TB³⁰	Not published	Not published	Not published	1 TB³¹	2 TB³²	4 TB³³	1 TB²²	2 TB²²	4 TB²²	8 TB²²	0.96 TB (960 GB)³⁴	1.92 TB (1920 GB)⁸	3.84 TB³⁵	7.68 TB²⁷	Not published	Not published	Not published	1 TB²⁶
Rated write speed	Up to 1,000 MB/s (Environment: Windows® 10 Professional (64-bit); Host: ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING ASSEMBLEED PC (Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller), 1TB WD_Black SN750 NVMe™ SSD, Intel® Core™ i7-7700 CPU @ 4.20GHz, Windows® 10 Professional (64-bit); Host interface: Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller; Protocol: USB 3.2 Gen 2; Test method: Based on internal testing)⁶	3,700 MB/s¹⁴	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	3,500 MB/s¹⁸	3,500 MB/s¹⁹	3,600 MB/s²⁰	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	250 MB/s⁷	250 MB/s⁷	250 MB/s⁷	250 MB/s²⁷	2,000 MB/s²³	5,300 MB/s²⁵	5,300 MB/s¹³	Up to 3,800 MB/s⁹
Measured write speed	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
Measured read speed	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
Weight	51.029141625 g (Reported test result)¹	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
Warranty	5 years⁶	5 years¹⁴	3 years³⁶	3 years³⁶	3 years¹⁷	3 years³⁷	3 years³⁸	3 years³⁹	3 years²⁰	3 years²¹	3 years²¹	3 years²¹	3 years²²	3 years²²	3 years²²	3 years²²	3 years³⁴	3 years⁷	3 years⁷	3 years²⁷	5 years⁴⁰	5 years²⁴	5 years²⁵	3 years²⁶
Drop rating	≈2.99 m (9.8 ft)¹	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	3 m¹³	3 m (Test method: Internal testing/shock resistance: MIL-STD-810G method516.6, Procedure IV Transit Drop)²⁶
Hardware encryption	Not published	Not published	Yes³⁶	Yes³⁶	Yes¹⁷	Yes¹⁷	Not published	Not published	Not published	Yes²¹	Yes²¹	Yes²¹	Yes²²	Yes²²	Yes²²	Yes²²	Yes⁷	Yes⁷	Yes⁷	Yes⁷	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
Drive unlock method	Password protection⁴¹	Not published	Separate Admin and User Modes / PINs (Protocol: In order to use any Apricorn secure drive, the Admin must first establish a complex PIN.)³⁶	Separate Admin and User Modes / PINs (Protocol: In order to use any Apricorn secure drive, the Admin must first establish a complex PIN.)³⁶	Separate Admin and User Modes / PINs (Protocol: In order to use any Apricorn secure drive, the Admin must first establish a complex PIN.)¹⁷	Separate Admin and User Modes / PINs (Protocol: In order to use any Apricorn secure drive, the Admin must first establish a complex PIN.)¹⁷	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	10+1 keypad²²	10+1 keypad²²	10+1 keypad²²	10+1 keypad²²	multi-password (Admin and User) option with numeric PIN or passphrase modes⁷	multi-password (Admin and User) option with numeric PIN or passphrase modes⁷	multi-password (Admin and User) option with numeric PIN or passphrase modes⁷	multi-password (Admin and User) option with numeric PIN or passphrase modes⁷	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
Console licence	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published

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The alternatives

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Buying advice

For computers with USB4 or Thunderbolt

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SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 2TB

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