My new favorite keychain accessory gives me 2TB of SSD storage instantly

Despite the takeoff in cloud storage, portable storage solutions like flash drives are as popular as ever. But even the once ubiquitous flash drive is making way for faster storage solutions such as SSDs, and nowadays, SSDs are small enough to be carried on a keychain. 

Also: The best M.2 SSDs you can buy: Expert tested

I like to make my own external drives, adding the storage I want to the enclosure that suits my needs; now, thanks to Satechi’s M.2 NVMe Mini SSD enclosure–>, I can do that for portable storage. 

No bigger than my thumb (2.2 x 1.18 x 0.55 inches) and weighing just 1.23 oz, this enclosure takes M-key M.2 2230 NVMe SSDs up to 2TB. A good choice of drives is the Sabrent Rocket, with a 1TB drive costing $100<!–>, and the 2TB version costing $220–>. 

The drive, built from aluminum alloy and scratch-resistant tempered glass, uses Gen 2 USB-C to deliver speeds up to 10Gbps (1,250MB/s), which is twice as fast as traditional SATA SSD.

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To fit a drive, you pop open the cover, which is held on magnetically, insert the drive, and snap the cover back on.

Simple. No tools needed. 

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The drive features a built-in cooling fan that keeps the M.2 drive at optimal temperature. Once the internal temperature hits 122°F (50°C), the fan spins up to 10,000 RPM to prevent thermal throttling.

Also: Why I no longer buy pre-built SSDs for my PC (and what I recommend instead)

But don’t worry about noise as the fan only generates about 40 and 60 decibels (a level ranging from the hum of a refrigerator to that of a conversation).

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The drive also has a write-protection switch that makes it read-only, which prevents accidental file deletion and prevents malware from gaining a foothold.

The lanyard also has a secret – it’s a 7.9-inch USB-C to USB-C cable for when you can’t fit the drive into a port on a device. 

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The drive is compatible with most platforms, including Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, iOS, Chromebook, Android, and pretty much anything with a USB-C port. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Satechi M.2 NVMe Mini SSD enclosure<!–> is a neat idea and a compact way to carry a lot of fast storage with you. It’s easy to change M.2 SSDs to suit your storage needs, and the drive is fast enough to keep up with the demands of most users – all this for only $60. 

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Source: Robotics - zdnet.com