I checked out the USB4 version of the SanDisk Extreme Pro just a few weeks ago and was, fair to say, pretty blown away by its performance and scored it 92%. So now that I see it's had a big discount and is at its lowest ever price for $240 at Amazon (for Prime members only—free 30-day trial here), it gets an easy recommendation from me this Prime Day.
I've spent quite a lot of time over the last year testing various external SSDs, and there's plenty to be said for quite a few of them. Some are slow but incredibly cheap, some are ginormous but reliable, some are dinky and very portable, and others, like this SanDisk, are just incredibly performant.
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This drive takes it to another level, though, compared to the others I've tested. It seems to use a new controller that doesn't get too hot and actually makes 40 Gbps speeds doable. Previously, I'd not seen a USB4 drive able to sustain peak transfer speeds for very long at all, and certainly not while keeping cool.
Take the Adata SE920, for instance. That drive can hit some pretty fast transfer speeds, but to sustain them requires literally springing it open to turn on a fan for active cooling. And even then it gets incredibly hot.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro, on the other hand, stays very cool indeed, and manages to keep itself chugging along at 3,700+ MB/s in two-minute intervals. That should net you about 450 GB of data transferred. And between those intervals it drops to a still reasonable 2,000 MB/s.
It's not just transfers that the drive is great at, either. It also topped our RND4k charts by a mile, and RND4k performance is exactly what you want for gaming. So if you're thinking of using it as a drive to play your games from—perhaps as expandable storage for a handheld or laptop—then it's ideal. Which, of course, also explains why it topped our 3DMark testing by a mile, as this benchmark tests real-world gaming scenarios such as loads and saves.
The cream on top is the fact that it also looks and feels rather lovely, too. Its ridged rubber casing feels great, and its rubber base keeps it nice and stationary when planted on a desk or table. It isn't small, though, as you can see from the picture above—it's basically phone-sized. It's pretty thin, so should slip into a pocket like a phone, or into a compartment in a bag, but there are certainly more portable drives.
If it's performance you're after, and—crucially—provided you have a 40 Gbps USB4 port that can make good use of it, and if you're happy paying what is still admittedly a premium price, for such a big discount here the SanDisk Extreme Pro is an easy choice.
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1. Best overall: WD_Black SN7100
2. Best budget: Lexar NM790
3. Best PCIe 5.0: WD_Black SN8100
4. Best budget PCIe 5.0: Crucial P510
5. Best 4 TB: TeamGroup MP44
6. Best 8 TB: WD_Black SN850X
7. Best M.2 2230: Lexar Play 2230
8. Best for PS5: Silicon Power XS70
9. Best SATA: Crucial MX500
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