External SSD: Buy SanDisk Extreme Or Extreme Pro Portable SSD?

2023 Author: Sheila Hailey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-30 19:51

On paper, the Extreme Pro offers up to 1050 MB / s reading and writing speed, while the manufacturer specifies a reading speed of "only" 550 MB / s for the cheaper memory.

The specified values are often not achieved during use. We performed measurements with Blackmagic on both memories, formatted with APFS. The difference between the two SSDs was very clear on the iMac: the SanDisk Extreme achieved a write speed of 350 to 370 MB / s and a read speed of 440 MB / s to 470 MB / s, the Extreme Pro in both disciplines 850 to 890 MB / s.

In practice, however, things looked different again: When accessing the macOS Photos app, we didn't notice any particular speed differences, regardless of whether the media library was saved on the Extreme or Extreme Pro.

View SanDisk Extreme (Pro) Portable SSD on Amazon

Darragh O'Toole, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Western Digital, summarized the decision for the Pro version in an interview for GIGA as follows: “Anyone who is a demanding user with large files or a video producer who is constantly transferring and editing files to whom the response time and twice the speed of the NVMe-based SanDisk Extreme Pro fit his requirements much more."

For most other users, the cheaper model should be enough.