Need a portable SSD to add terabytes of capacity to your Mac or iPad? Prepare yourself for sticker shock — prices have taken quite a jump. Blame it on the severe global shortage of memory.
But you don’t have to pay more than necessary for that portable SSD. We can point you toward a few deals. Save up to 34%.
Anyone thinking about adding a portable SSD to their Mac or iPad would be wise to make that purchase soon. Prices for the external storage devices are already on the rise.
Why? For the same reason that Apple needed to raise prices for its newest MacBooks.
★★★★☆
The Kingston Dual Portable SSD brings up to 2TB of storage to anyone in the process of transitioning from the old USB-A to the smaller USB-C standard. It’s small enough to easily carry around, and fast enough to quickly handle large files.
I ran tests on the drive to see how the portable SSD fares in real-world use. Read on to see how well it performed.
Adding high-speed plug-in storage capacity to your computer is so easy it’s something every Mac user should consider. Here are some of the best consumer-oriented external SSDs that are designed for portability. Even better: many of these are on sale.
We did hands-in testing for nearly all of these — look for links to our reviews.
Apple charges too damn much for additional storage for Macs and iPads. I got tired of overpaying for internal storage and went for an external SSD instead. The Kingston XS1000 is my favorite — portable, reliable and affordable.
And it’s an even better deal now that Cyber Monday is coming up: under $75 for a terabyte of storage.
★★★★☆
The Kingston XS1000 External SSD is about the size of pack of gum but holds up to 2 terabytes of data. And it can transfer files at high speed, too.
I put the petite but powerful and affordable solid state drive to the test and came away impressed.
Kingston just took the wraps off the XS1000 External SSD. It’s about the size of pack of gum but holds up to 2 terabytes of data. And it can transfer files at high speed, too.
Or there’s the already announced XS2000, which is twice as fast. Just not for everyone.
★★★★☆
The Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD includes a touchscreen and hardware encryption to protect user data. Unlock it by tapping in a password or numeric passcode onto the touchscreen.
It’s available in capacities ranging from 480GB to nearly 2TB. And it’s accessible from just about any device with a USB port — no special software needed.
I went hands-on with the secure SSD. Here’s why I like it.
★★★★☆
The best way to be sure no one is accessing your files is to lock them on an encrypted drive. The Kingston Ironkey Keypad 200 includes built-in keypad so you can easily unlock the USB drive when it’s time to access your stored information.
I put the mini-SSD to the test in my home office. Read on to see how well it stood up use with a variety of computers and other devices.
The Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD includes a touchscreen and hardware encryption to protect user data. Unlock the XTS-AES 256-bit encryption by tapping in a password or numeric passcode onto the touchscreen.
It’s available in capacities up to 1920 GB.
The Kingston DataTraveler Max is blazing fast. It supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 so the new flash drive can transfer data at up to 1,000MBps. And it uses USB-C so can be plugged into any Mac and most iPads.
I tested Kingston’s speed claims under real-world conditions. And data transfers are so quick it made me want to pitch out all my old flash drives.
Kingston Digital, the flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology, is rolling out its new DataTraveler Max. The company said the USB-C 3.2 flash drive “delivers record-breaking speeds up to 1,000MB/s read and 900MB/s write to make it one of the fastest USB drives on the market and the first of its kind.”
Apple could be about to sell back its stake in Toshiba Memory less than a year after acquiring it.
A new report claims Toshiba plans to buy back the shares it sold to Apple, Dell, Kingston, and Seagate after securing billions in loans from Japanese banks. It’s thought Toshiba later plans to become a public company.
Ever since I got a 2018 iPad Pro last year, I’ve gone through a drawerful of USB-C hubs. And finally, I’ve found one that works. Or rather, one that works without any odd, annoying or inexplicable behavior. It’s the Kingston Nucleum, it doesn’t have quite enough ports, and it’s just great.