Portable backup storage devices seem to be hot commodities at CES this year. With companies like Dell, Sandisk, Seagate, and even DJI throwing their respective hats into the portable storage ring, it seemed like a good time to take a look at several options. While you could, of course, continue to lug your laptop and an external drive into the field in order to transfer and backup your data, you no longer have to. Here are 4 portable SSD backup devices you can throw in your camera bag instead of your laptop.
Dell Performance Portable SSD
These are among the fastest portable SSD you can buy and they're tiny. The pocket-sized Dell Performance Portable SSDs are touted as the "world's most compact Thunderbolt storage devices". Though their tiny size is impressive, the big news is their speed. These drives use the same SSD technology found in Dell's PCs and boast ridiculous transfer speeds faster than 2.6GB/second. These incredible transfer speeds are thanks in part to Dell's implementation of USB-C ports which allow for faster data transfer.
The Dell Performance Portable SSD will be available on February 28th in 500GB and 1TB versions priced at $439 and $799, respectively.
Pluggable Thunderbolt 3 SSDCredit: Plugable
Pluggable Thunderbolt 3 SSD
This drive is also capable of super fast transfer speeds. Clocking in at a crisp 2.4GB/second read speeds and 1.2GB/second write speeds this drive is an excellent backup/storage option for content creators on the go. The drive is exclusively compatible with Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptops and PCs, so if yours doesn't have a Thunderbolt 3 connection, you'll need to use a dongle or adapter (which may have performance effects).
The Pluggable Thunderbolt 3 will be available in Spring of 2018 and as now, pricing has not been released.
Patriot EVLVR Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD
Patriot EVLVR
Built on the Phison E8 PCIe controller, the EVLVR is a tiny bus-powered SSD that utilizes Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and advertises read/write speeds of 1.5GB/1GB per second respectively.
The Patriot EVLVR will launch in March, 2018 and will be available in three capacities: 256GB ($199.99), 512GB ($289.99), and 1TB ($489.99)
Seagate Fast SSD
Seagate Fast SSD
From Seagate, we're seeing a portable backup and storage solution that prioritizes durability and affordability over speed. The Fast SSD utilizes a Gen 2 USB 3.1 over USB-C and provides read/write speeds of 540/520MBps. The Fast SSD is sturdily built to be shock-resistant and includes software for cloud backup/syncing.
The 256GB, 500GB, and 1TB models are set to be released in Spring, 2018 with price points of $99, $169, and $349 respectively
https://youtu.be/on0B70waoM8
Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD
According to the company, the Extreme Portable SSD from Sandisk is designed for "wanderlust content creators such as avid photographers and drone enthusiasts". Designed to withstand the assault of dust, water, drops and extreme heat thanks to its IP55 rating the Sandisk Portable SSD runs on USB 3.1 and performs similarly to the Seagate Fast SSD.
You'll be able put the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD into your pocket (literally) today in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB versions for $100, $170, and $300 respectively. A 2TB version is also mentioned but at the time of this writing, pricing was unavailable.
