Tiny External SSD Drive Comparison - Stop Using Thumb Drives Now!

[@asan1050]

*Craig* checks stuff out so you don't have to! Much appreciated!

[@craigneidel]

@@asan1050 thanks. I like testing all the tech.

[@asan1050]

@@craigneidel And you do a dang good job at it, Craig!

[@craigneidel]

@asan1050 funny... Thanks

[@robertmyers6488]

Thanks for the info on the Qwiizlab enclosure.

[@craigneidel]

You bet!

[@briancollier5145]

Thanks! I had not looked at these options before - I have several 1 or 2 tb drives by Samsung and sandisk. Some of these options look like good replacements for the old thumb drives!

[@craigneidel]

Yes they are perfect for moving files around. Last two you can also edit off of as they are normal SSDs.

[@bryans8656]

I've got the 512GB version of that SSK drive and it's my favorite of my thumb drive collection.

[@craigneidel]

Yes it's tiny and mine works great. Thanks for feedback on that.

[@Cville2347]

I have a handful of cheap USB drives that I only use for listening to music in my car. They are great for that but more demanding tasks are better suited to better and faster drives. Thanks for the informative video.

[@craigneidel]

For sure and thanks for watching.

[@NurmYokai]

The enclosure is great for those left-over 256GB and 512GB 'sticks.' Eventually one ends up with a small collection of those drives, when you clone the contents, and upgrade to a 1TB or larger storage.

[@craigneidel]

@@NurmYokai it all depends on what people need.

[@robertmyers6488]

The small thumb drives are useful for diagnostics and when there are bios size limitations for flashing the bios and other things.

[@craigneidel]

Yes I just love testing all the tech out there. They have their place for sure.

[@Mohamedelbehwashyy]

Rly i liked the video idea

[@craigneidel]

Thank you

[@kreekree820]

Hi Craig - Thanks for the video. Do you know if these can work as a bootable device?

[@craigneidel]

The last one can but really this was about inexpensive storage to replace flash or thumb drives. There could be better option like thunderbolt 4 for bootable drives.

[@latinreuben]

Sidenote... Please advise. With price only being $150 difference, Would u get the MBP 14 M3pro 18/1tb, 12-cpu/18-gpu or the base MBP 14 16/512 10-cpu/10-gpu?

[@craigneidel]

I would not be able to answer that as I'm not sure what you do. If you are not doing high end 4K editing or things that require it then the M4 chip is good enough in my opinioin.

[@latinreuben]

@craigneidel I'm not doing anything complicated. Just looking to future proof...last year's pro chip, better specs, & 500gb more RAM for only $150 more...In general, it's best to prioritize more RAM than latest chip?

[@craigneidel]

Yes, I would go for Ram for sure over a chip. Just my opinion though. But when you are talking a Pro vs a standard chip that is a bit different. If you are talking M3 vs M4 standard chip always go for ram.

[@latinreuben]

​@@craigneidelHard decision. I pulled trigger on MBP 14 M3pro 18/1tb, 12-cpu/18-gpu over the base M4 MBP 14 16/512 10-cpu/10-gpu...$150 more than base M4.

[@craigneidel]

It should be very fast and I'm sure you will be happy with it.

[@robertvsnow]

I already have a couple of 1TB Thunderbolt NVMe drives that I made myself and they're great. Watched this and bought the $20 SSK 256GB drive. Thumb drives are just slow, even USB 3.2 gen1 with C connector. Never had a thumb drive on my keychain, just in my laptop bag, so goodbye thumb drives.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the info and for watching the channel.

[@brianknight4595]

Hi CRAIG VERY INTERESTING ! Which one do you Suggest FOR ME I HAVE 2 DOZEN 64 USB PEN DRIVE AND HAVE TWO BAD ONES & were not being able to recover data i keep o/s system on them for O/S & WINDOWS and would like to keep New CLEAN COPIES KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND HAPPY YEAR CHEERS BRIAN UK

[@craigneidel]

Thanks. I like the SSK SSD or or the built your own one but that is just me. They all work great depending on needs here.

[@panamouse6178]

Hi Craig….turns out, I did not plug in the HDMI cable….not connected…..thanks Craig

[@craigneidel]

Ok, thank you.

[@bobb.9917]

I just bought: SSK 2TB External SSD USB C Drive- Up to 2000MB/s External Solid State Drives USB 3.2 Gen 2X2, Portable SSD Stick $135 it’s tiny, elegant and ruggedly built. I loaded 1.1TB on it in 23min. It got HOT!! 🥵 If it gets too hot it self ejects…but you can help it cool off and it will resume reloading where it left off!. 😀

[@craigneidel]

I like them. I normally am not moving 1 tb of data though and more like 30 GB at most for my workload. Thanks for the post and for watching.

[@bobb.9917]

@@craigneidel…nor am I moving that much data…I just wanted to stress-test the device. All-in-all…for the cost, its tiny size and the build quality…it’s a winner…👍🏼

[@craigneidel]

Thanks.

[@PolluxChung]

Thumb drives have the advantage of not using external cable. I carry one as keychain in case if I have to move some small files.

[@craigneidel]

I guess that is one advantage but a few of my examples don't have a cord either.

[@mattdixon6947]

Why buy that USB-A only SSK drive stick? I have SSK SD301 Pro, it have USB-A & USB-C on both end, around the same price & speed (1000MB/s) with that rectangle tiny SSK drive you show in the video.

[@craigneidel]

@@mattdixon6947 yes but these are the ones I'm using now and have in house.

[@etow8034]

USB-A connectors are much stronger and durable plus they will go on special as USB-C variants become more popular.

[@boondockmutiny9955]

You should try the Crucial X9 Pro, they are a lot smaller than they look in pictures and very fast

[@craigneidel]

Yes I just had these so figured I would showcase these first.

[@boondockmutiny9955]

@ appreciate the video, I have a use for that SSK flash drive

[@craigneidel]

@boondockmutiny9955 thanks for watching the channel.

[@kevinlopota3626]

Got the saberent thunderbolt 3 for $45 on Amazon 2 days ago and now I just need to get a ssd for it and I will be happy and so will my base m4 mini

[@craigneidel]

That is a good deal for sure.

[@FlexDRG]

Sounds nice on single file transfer. But 10GB of MP3 's and ebooks will be a whole other ballgame. Many of these ssd style drives warm up quick and that will reduce the transfer speed tremendously. And may well hurt the drive too.

[@craigneidel]

The all can handle a ton of 10 MB files too. These are 50 times better than old thumb drives and just showing what's out there. The last two are basically normal drives you can edit off of.

[@FlexDRG]

​@@craigneidelI know they can handle it. But in a mass transfer these drives tend to warm up and decrease speed dramatically

[@craigneidel]

@@FlexDRG have you tested all these

[@FlexDRG]

​@@craigneidelI have 2 ssd based USB drives. An SSK 256GB USB A&C A and an. Netac 256GB also USB A&C. Both get hot and slow during the transfer of several GB's of smaller files (audiobook, mp3, ebooks). So that's my experience.

[@craigneidel]

From my normal workload I don't see an issue on slowness. They can all get warm depending on what you do though.

[@jimcabezola3051]

Yes! External SSDs all the way. I've lost lots of time with USB sticks. Even my Raspberry Pi machines are booted from external SSDs.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, these cheap ones are just so much better.

[@williameverets2736]

I really like the SP 1TB ssd I am really interested in the 4tb at $194.00 UD90 Saving my Money

[@craigneidel]

@@williameverets2736 it's a pretty nice drive.

[@etow8034]

The Kingston DataTraveler Max is still the fastest and least expensive 10Gbps/1000Mbps USB Drive.

[@craigneidel]

It's an option

[@gwine9087]

What are you using? Most people only have USB-C 2.0 which taps out at 480 Mbps.

[@craigneidel]

I think most people have at least 10 Gbps usb 3.2 now. That is what you need here.

[@Wog68]

Newer flash drivers are faster. Kingston, tanscend, Adata and Hynix have 10GB usb c or usb 3.2 or usb c/usb A combo interface and M.2 chips. There is an article on Tom’s hardware.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, they can be but I was talking about the $5 to $10 ones people still buy. There are many options and these are just a few I have in house.

[@Wog68]

@ ok. They are not good for huge file transfers of 10 GB, that is true, it take long to do that. I use it to keep extra copies or photos of importance because they don’t fail like HDD and you don’t have dig your important file from huge pile of data. The most affordable thunderbolt hubs are with seagate. Did you connect your drive with thunderbolt cable? It does make a difference in speed in data transmission and let the drive work with its full potential.

[@craigneidel]

I have been testing SSD and Thunderbolt for years. I have like 50 videos on them. This was just a side video.

[@Wog68]

@@craigneidel That is good to know that you made videos to cover that. Camolo and Khronos (Tilta) has some interesting gadgets and kits. At CES laxor has something interesting to watch.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks. Yes, I have been testing them and that is kind of how the channel grew.

[@JR-rr7mx]

Think Cheapest T7 is a better bet once your pushing 55$ ??

[@craigneidel]

Yeah but these are really tiny for when space and weight matter but t7 is good option for sure.

[@etow8034]

What is missing in the North American market are good USB 3.2 Gen2 hubs ...almost non existant !

[@craigneidel]

I have used a bunch of good hubs

[@etow8034]

@@craigneidel Can you suggest some good USB 3.3 Gen2 hubs ?

[@craigneidel]

I have not tested any lately but do a search of hubs on my channel and I have about 20 reviews on there of ones I think are pretty good.

[@6StringPassion.]

Those things are compatible with most 🐢 though.

[@craigneidel]

@@6StringPassion. Comparable?

[@6StringPassion.]

@@craigneidel I debated that but compatible sounds funnier to me. But yes, also comparable.

[@craigneidel]

Ok, thanks.

[@luisdiassilva]

I have been buying severall external similar drives in Aliexpress and all of them turned out to be a huge error. Unreliable beiond belief.

[@craigneidel]

@@luisdiassilva I have used these all long term besides orico as it just shipped but had no issues with these. I'm only one person but have been using them for over a year. Also the video is about the drives being inexpensive and much better than flash drives.