Creating content on your phone? This tiny, rugged SSD belongs in your kit

Price When Reviewed

1TB: $240 I 2TB: $350

Best Prices Today: Lexar Go transportable SSD/Hub

When I first opened the enticing case housing the Lexar Go with Hub my overriding thought was, “Where the heck is it?” Both the Go storage module and hub are so tiny, that tucked away within the facet pocket they nearly disappear.

Once found, I marveled at each the diminutive dimensions and the intelligent design. Up to 2TB of 10Gbps transportable storage with additional Type-C ports that marries properly to your cellphone. What’s to not like?

What are the Lexar Go’s options?

The Go SSD is tiny certainly, measuring round 1.75-inches lengthy, an inch large, and 0.35-inches thick. It’s additionally terribly mild at lower than half an oz.. Throw in an IP65 rating and you’ve got a pleasant ruggedized storage add-on that doesn’t make your cellphone an ungainly monster.

The SSD with Hub ships with small male/feminine (SSD solely) and male/male (hub and SSD) Type-C hook connectors that permits you to connect the SSD and/or hub in order that they relaxation flat in opposition to that again of the cellphone. How flat is determined by the thickness of your cellphone, however it was definitely shut sufficient on my Motorola 5 Edge.

Alas, my older iPhone 11 (don’t write me about this) sports activities a Lightning connector, however it appears as if it will match properly to Type-C fashions. You may also plug the SSD by its lonesome into the cellphone’s Type-C port if you happen to don’t thoughts the additional size.

The three port hub (the bigger unit above), which marries properly to the SSD (beneath) isn’t a lot bigger at 1.75-inches sq. and the identical 0.35-inches thick. It provides a mere 0.8 ounces to the combination, making the mixed weight 1.2 ounces.

The ultimate piece within the package is a screw-on tripod adapter (arching over every part within the picture above) with its personal Type-C connector for the cellphone and a captive Type-C cable that you would be able to run to the hub (or male/feminine adapter and SSD).

Note that I discovered the male Type-C connector on the Go SSD a tighter match than regular. Indeed, it was a little bit of a ache marrying it solo to the again of PCWorld’s take a look at rig. The benefit to the tight match is that the Go SSD received’t fall off your cellphone at an inopportune second. A greater than honest trade-off.

The entire deal (all of the parts) ships wrapped in a delicate 6-inch by 4.5-inch case (proven above), which as I discussed, is massive sufficient that you simply’ll look inside and marvel the place the heck every part is. Again, all of the parts are in facet pockets, wrapped in protecting coverings.

You is perhaps tempted to purchase the Lexar Go SSD by itself, merely for its tiny dimension. Feel free, nonetheless, the orientation of the Go SSD’s physique implies that your complete unit sits flush which can block different ports. It did on the again of PCWorld’s take a look at mattress.

How a lot is the Lexar Go?

I mentioned up prime that it is a expensive unit. Sans the hub, the 2TB Go SSD with Hub that I examined was $320 on Amazon on the time I began writing, however was again as much as its $349 retail worth in brief order. The drive itself is $300. In the grand scheme of 10Gbps USB SSDs, that’s almost twice what you pay for one thing of the identical capability hanging off a USB cable.

There’s additionally a 1TB model of the Go SSD with Hub obtainable for $240 ($190 solo). Again, about twice what a generic 10Gbps USB SSD will set you again.

So you’re ponying up a moderately hefty premium for the uber-svelte kind issue, and what I think about excellent comfort. Whether you discover these issues value the additional moola, solely you’ll know. I believe many cell content material creators will.

How quick is the Lexar Go?

The Lexar Go carried out largely on par for a 10Gbs USB 3.2 SSD if you weigh each the artificial benchmark and real-world outcomes. That mentioned, its CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential switch numbers suffered distinctly in comparison with the SK Hynix Tube T31. Note that the Tube T31 is considerably bigger than the Go.

The Lexar Go couldn’t sustain with the SK Hynix Tube T31 in CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K assessments both, although it’s nonetheless no slouch. Given the small quantity of floor space, thermals would possibly come into play — proactively or throughout lengthy writes.

On the opposite hand, the Lexar Go proved aces in our 48GB transfers, beating out the arch-rival SK Hynix Tube T31 by 40 seconds.

Despite it being a 2TB SSD, the Lexar Go slowed a bit throughout our 450GB write, although not tragically as did the Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth.

Normally, we don’t fear an excessive amount of about energy consumption, however the Go had a noticeable impact on battery life. In truth, it killed the Motorola (pictured) in a single day — a run-down that usually takes a number of days.

That’s not an enormous knock, as 2TB of NAND requires some juice and different SSDs may also drain the battery. We’re simply saying that it’s best to solely connect the Go as wanted.

Overall, the Lexar Go efficiency simply exceeds what you’ll want for high-resolution video recording — essentially the most taxing storage operation your cellphone can carry out.

Should you purchase the Lexar Go with Hub?

The Go SSD is a particularly helpful, low-profile solution to increase your cellphone’s storage. It’s on the expensive facet, however if in case you have the necessity, it can fill it. As the hub is a minor expense, seize it as nicely.

How we take a look at

Drive assessments at present make the most of Windows 11, 64-bit working on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of reminiscence complete). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are built-in to the again panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB switch assessments make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking over 58GB of the 64GB of complete reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which additionally runs the OS.

Each take a look at is carried out on a newly NTFS-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that in regular use, as a drive fills up, efficiency might lower as a consequence of much less NAND for secondary caching, in addition to different components. This will be much less of an element with the present crop of SSDs with far quicker late-generation NAND.

Caveat: The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we had been shipped and to the capability examined. SSD efficiency can and can differ by capability as a consequence of extra or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes throughout and the quantity of NAND obtainable for secondary caching. Vendors additionally often swap parts. If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report, by all means, tell us.