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The latest addition to SanDisk's Professional range of external SSDs is the PRO-G40. What makes the PRO-G40 stand out is that it uses a combination port, a combination of Thunderbolt 3 and USB3.2 Gen2 to be exact, to offer two ways of accessing the WD NVMe SSD that the drive uses. The drive comes in just two capacities (at the time of writing) 1TB and 2TB, it's the latter we are looking at here.
Official performance ratings for the drive are up to 2,700MB/s for reads and up to 1,900MB/s for writes in Thunderbolt 3 mode and up to 1,050MB/s and 1,000MB/s for reads and writes respectively when connected to a USB3.2 Gen 2 port.
In Thunderbolt 3 mode using both the ATTO and AS SSD benchmarks we couldn't quite hit that official maximum read figure with test results of 2,590MB/s and 2,459MB/s respectively. However, using the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could confirm the official read figure with a best test result of 2,779MB/s (default-test).
When it came to the write results, the official figure seems to be on the conservative side as we beat the 1,900MB/s on numerous occasions. The best test result was 2,536MB/s using the default CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark but results from the ATTO (2,380MB/s), and AS SSD (2,216MB/s) benchmarks also bettered the official rating.
Testing the drive in USB 3.2 Gen 2 mode we came up a wee bit short of the maximum official read figure of 1,050MB/s with all our benchmarks. The closest we came was when using the Peak Performance profile with a test result of 1,010MB/s. The same test gave us the closest test result, 962MB/s, to the official write rating figure of 1,050MB/s.
SanDisk has given the pocket-sized drive (it measures just 111 x 58 x 12mm) an impressive amount of protection for life on the road or even living on a desk. It can survive being dropped from a height of up to 3m, handle a crushing impact of up to 1,814Kg (4000lb) and has IP68 rating. The IP (International Protection Rating) 68 is a rating for protection against dust and water. The first 6 digit means that the device is dust-tight while the 8 means that it is protected from long-term immersion over 1 metre up to a specified pressure.
We found the 2TB SanDisk Professional PRO-G40 on WD's site for £ 654.99 (inc VAT) HERE
Pros
- Dual interface.
- Overall performance, especially using Thunderbolt 3.
- Durability.
Cons
- Cable is a bit on the short side for PC use.
- Lack of hardware encryption.
- Very, very expensive.
KitGuru says: The SanDisk Professional PRO-G40 is the first drive we have seen that uses a combined Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. It combines speed and durability in a compact package but it does carry an eye-watering price tag.
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