Rugged and Portable with Security App Included
Review by Erik Vlietinck
SanDisk Professional’s G-DRIVE SSD is a rugged and portable NVMe SSD for offloading and storing photos, video, and more. It supports transfer speeds up to 1,050 MB/s read and 1,000 MB/s write, and can be password-protected with a 256-bit AES-XTS hardware encryption. The drive connects to your computer with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C port at 10 Gbps.
In the box with my 2-TB G-DRIVE SSD test drive, which fits in the palm of your hand, I found two 50cm cables (one USB-C and one USB-C to USB-A), and a leaflet with the URL from where you can download the SanDisk Security app. I tested the drive’s performance and found it to be close to the advertised maximum speed at 911 MB/sec read and 853 MB/sec write speeds. The drive is marketed as ultra-rugged and durable because it has IP67 certification, which means it’s waterproof in up to 1m of water for 30 minutes and also completely dust-resistant. In addition, SanDisk claims the G-DRIVE SSD will withstand a crush of up to 900kg/2000lb, with a drop resistance up to 3m; however, this latter test was carried out on a carpeted concrete floor.
Also included is the SanDisk Security app that comes with its own uninstaller and is meant to make encrypting the drive easier. It’s perhaps a bit slow, taking a minute before the decrypting service finished the job on a drive that held no more than 3.9 MB of files.
The reality is that you don’t need this security, because in the macOS services, you’ll find an “Encrypt” item that’s fast and applies the same AES-XTS 256-bit encryption. The Security app is easier for anyone who isn’t comfortable working with Macs, and I believe including such an app for free for those people is a nice touch and an incentive to encrypt sensitive data. ■
