Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Both 10Gbps and Thunderbolt 3/4 connectivity
- Fast, particularly over Thunderbolt
- IP68 climate and dirt resistant
Our Verdict
For the person who desires the choice of speedy 40Gbps efficiency, the Pro-G40 is one of the best dual-bus drive that we’ve examined. But that flexibility will price you. As a USB 3.2 10Gbps, the Pro-G40 is nice, however not noticeably higher than the best-performing drives in that class.
Price When Reviewed
1TB/$160 I 2TB/$240 I 4TB/$400
Best Prices Today: SanDisk Pro-G40 SSD
$416.76
It’s good to have decisions, and the Pro-G40 exterior SSD gives a really helpful one: Thunderbolt 3/4 or 10Gbps USB. Yup, you may join this drive to both bus relying on want: optimum pace, or minimal energy consumption.
Further studying: See our roundup of one of the best exterior drives to find out about competing merchandise.
SanDisk Pro-G40 design, options, and value
Though the spotlight of the Pro-G40 is its dual-bus (10Gbps USB/40Gbps Thunderbolt 3) compatibility, it’s additionally extraordinarily rugged and weather-toughened. The Pro-G40’s IP68 ranking (no mud intrusion, and no water intrusion as much as 1 meter) is nothing to scoff at. Given the uncovered (no plug or cowl) Type-C connector, it’s no imply trick both.
The different factor concerning the Pro-G40 is that, it’s, err… costly. The 1TB mannequin retails for $160, the 2TB for $200, and the 4TB for $400. By manner of comparability, the 2TB Samsung T7 Shield is a mere $140.
The excessive value means it is best to solely think about the Pro-G40 if you would like Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt storage is all the time costly, so don’t take this as a knock on the Pro-G40—there are costlier Thunderbolt drives.
As for the know-how inside, to attain the throughput Thunderbolt can ship NVMe is required. Indeed, AS SSD enumerated the inner drive as a Western Digital (the guardian firm) SN750E—an NVMe drive. What bridge or combo chip is in use internally, SanDisk didn’t say.
A be aware on Thunderbolt 3 versus Thunderbolt 4—each are the identical pace (40Gbps) and primary know-how, with barely completely different specs when it comes to what they need to assist earlier than they’ll use the emblem. Version 4 was mainly applied to power distributors to implement everything of the spec, which incorporates tunneling USB/DisplayPort/HDMI, and many others., to be licensed. Many early implementations have been lower than full.
If you’re shopping for a Windows PC and need to ensure you have all of Thunderbolt’s options, search for the Thunderbolt 4 brand. Macs have all the time featured an entire implementation. For drives, together with the SanDisk Pro-G40 or OWC’s Envoy collection, Thunderbolt 3 is all you want as they perform solely as storage.
How does the SanDisk Pro-G40 carry out?
Though the Pro-G40 is an honest performer over the 10Gbps USB bus, it’s clearly going to be an excellent higher one utilizing 40Gbps Thunderbolt. The gold bars beneath supply a lot proof of that.
However, earlier than the plain pace benefit seduces you, I ought to inform you that I’ve backed off pure Thunderbolt drives for on a regular basis use, opting as an alternative for USB 10Gbps and 20Gbps. Why’s that, you ask? It’s typically quick sufficient, makes use of much less energy, and produces much less warmth.
It’s not likely Thunderbolt’s fault—it’s merely that the sooner transfers use extra juice, which in flip makes issues hotter. Of course, when I’ve a very massive switch operation, I change to Thunderbolt—I’m not loopy!
The Pro-G40 is an excellent performer—it provides you prime pace whenever you want it and daintier energy consumption and fewer warmth when USB will do.
As you may see above, the Pro-G40 actually goes to city on Thunderbolt, and is kind of good as a 10Gbps USB drive as properly. Note that the WD Black P50 is a Superspeed 20Gbps drive, not 10Gbps just like the Pro-G40 and Samsung T7 Shield. It’s merely there to point out the variations between 10Gbps, 20Gbps, and 40Gbps.
In order to maintain the charts readable, I disregarded the opposite combo USB/T3 drive I’ve examined for Macworld—the OWC Envoy Pro FX. The Envoy Pro FX is a worthy product, however performs a hair slower than the Pro-G40 over Thunderbolt, and for some motive, was a gradual reader over 10Gbps USB.
The 48GB transfers proven above have been very shut between the Pro-G40 and the T7 Shield, with the Pro-G40 taking a slight victory by advantage of a really quick folder learn time.
SanDisk Pro-G40 was quick over Thunderbolt, however quite gradual by way of USB when writing our single massive 450GB file. Shorter bars are higher.
Jon L. Jacobi
While the Pro-G40 over Thunderbolt was quick on the 450GB write, the drive was significantly slower than the T7 Shield by way of 10Gbps USB. Not by a ton, however noticeably so.
Note that whereas the Pro-G40 ships formatted to APFS, we reformatted to NTFS for testing. ExFAT would help you change between macOS and Windows/Linux machines with impunity.
Overall, the Pro-G40 is an excellent performer, and as famous, provides you prime pace whenever you want it and daintier energy consumption and fewer warmth when USB will do.
Should you purchase the SanDisk Pro-G40?
Thunderbolt drives are by no means low-cost, however they’re completely price it if efficiency is paramount. In truth, it’s onerous to inform them other than inside storage when in use. USB, alternatively is quick sufficient for most people and makes use of considerably much less energy.
That’s a quite roundabout manner of claiming: If you want the pace, go for it—the Pro-G40 is nearly as good as we’ve seen for a dual-bus drive. But given the value, if 10Gbps will suffice, go for a cheaper drive such because the Samsung T7.
How we check
External drive assessments presently make the most of Windows 11 64-bit operating 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 on the board and Intel built-in graphics are employed. The 48GB switch assessments make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking on 58GB of the 64GB of complete reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB which additionally runs the OS.
Each check is carried out on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that in regular use, as a drive fills up, efficiency will lower as a consequence of much less NAND for secondary caching, in addition to different elements.
Caveat: The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we have 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 sometimes swap parts. If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report, by all means, tell us.