SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C REVIEW
When I got my MacBook Pro with TouchBar my first thought was, “Thunderbolt ports are great.” And, they are except when you need to use older devices. I often found myself in a pickle. I used to carry around a thumb drive so I could easily dump files from my machine to someone else’s or vice-versa. I was now limited to using AirDrop to transfer files and that was only if the other person had a Mac. If they didn’t, I could let them use my drive to load files for me but I would not be able to get them on my device until I arrived home so I could plug into my dock.
I found that I could carry around a USB-hub but again it was just one more thing in my bag. SanDisk created the fix to this with the Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C. This little drive and I do mean little, is a beast. I have the 128GB version and because of it’s dual ports I can use USB-C on my Mac and then slide out the USB-A for someone using legacy ports. It’s been a lifesaver.
DETAILS
The Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C is designed for use with smartphones as well as other computer systems. With it, you can transfer files between devices at USB 3.1 speeds (up to 150 MB/s). It has two connectors — USB-A or USB-C — to choose from. This lets you be able to quickly transfer files between systems and if you are using an Android phone, you can download the SanDisk Memory Zone app from the Google Play store. This app helps you manage your device’s memory and content. The SanDisk Dual Drive comes in 5 different capacities — 256GB, 128MB, 64GB, 32GB, or 16GB.
USER EXPERIENCE
The Dual Drive comes packaged in a standard blister pack. It’s a nightmare to get into but it does display the product well — especially on retail shelves. As is the case with most flash drives, the Dual Drive’s packaging has sparse information included. The one thing I want to point out is that the drive is indicated for use with Mac, PC, and Android. Also, there is a place on the hard drive for a lanyard, but I didn’t have a lanyard included with my Dual Drive.
When I first took the flash drive out of the packaging, I was enamored with how small it really was. I’m used to the smaller form jump drives, but this thing is tiny. The switch mechanism that flips the USB-C or USB-A plugs out of the case is smooth and operation of the drive is pretty straightforward. You flip out the side you want to connect with and plug it into your computer. The drive will appear on your desktop within a few seconds.
I tested out this device with a 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro and a 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro. It worked beautifully with both machines. Since it’s a hard drive, I put the Dual Drive through the same type of testing that I normally use when testing out other hard drives — Blackmagic Speed Test, AJA Speed Test, and a file transfer speed test. The Blackmagic Speed Test showed a read/write speed of 140.0/56.6 MB/s. This is a bit slower than the 150 MB/s top speed that is quoted in the device’s specs. The AJA Speed Test allows you to enter parameters of specific file types for video editing to see how it might fare against that type of workload. The Dual Drive showed a read/write speed of 137/29 MB/s for 4K video, but the test failed when I tried to have it work with 1080P video. I did notice after running these few tests that the flash drive was very warm. I took a temperature reading using an infrared thermometer and found the surface temperature to be 98º F. Even though that is considered to be within safe temperature ranges (anything over 140º is cause for concern), it was hot to the touch. Thankfully, the drive cooled down quickly. Finally, I completed a simple file transfer speed test. I copied a movie file that was 2.36GB in size to the drive from the MacBook Pro’s hard drive. The transfer completed in 1 minute and 3 seconds. That is a transfer speed of 37.5 MB/s.
CONCLUSION
It’s insane to think about both the physical size and its capacity. I remember when getting a flash drive in megabytes was best you could do. Then when I got my first 1GB thumb drive, it was incredible. To think I am rocking something half the size of what I used to carry while holding 128GB of storage just blows my mind. I love technology and I love how SanDisk really made something super useful for anyone using a USB-C / Thunderbolt computer. I can’t tell you how much I love this little drive. It’s a major part of my daily process and I don’t know what I would do without it. Even if you don’t have a computer with USB-C or Thunderbolt yet, your next flash drive should still be the Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C from SanDisk just for the simple reason you are bound to run into a time that both parts will be needed.
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Originally published at macsources.com on October 23, 2018.
