Review: Plugable's 2TB Thunderbolt SSD Offers Ultra Fast Transfer Speeds

[MacRumors]

Plugable offers a wide range of adapters, hubs, and storage solutions for the Mac. The Thunderbolt 3 2TB NVMe Solid State Drive is among the company's more popular performance-focused products, offering a relatively high storage capacity in a small form factor, with ultra fast transfer speeds.

The SSD is perfectly suited to recent Mac models with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 ports, offering incredibly fast transfer speeds of up to 2,400MB/s read and 1,800MB/s write, according to Plugable. On Macs, the drive works as soon as it is plugged into a Thunderbolt port and comes formated as exFAT by default.

The design of the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 SSD is quite understated, featuring a sleek black annodized aluminum casing with ridges along the sides for heat dissipation. It feels weighty, solid, and well-built, but still small and light enough to be highly portable. It comes with a soft carrying bag to protect it from scuffs during travel, but it does not offer protection against anything other than cosmetic damage. Of course, the drive should be more durable than a standard HDD since it has no moving parts.

The top of the drive has prominent white Plugable and Thunderbolt logos, and I would have much preferred a more minimalist look without these markings. A single LED on the top of the SSD confirms that it is powered up.

The SSD features an integrated Thunderbolt 3 cable that transfers data and provides bus power. While this is handy in so far as you never need to worry about finding or bringing along a cable when travelling, I found the drive somewhat more difficult to transport as a result. I am also slightly concerned that with constant flexing, the cable may wear out before the SSD, in which case it would not be easy to replace. The drive is covered by a 36 month limited warranty as well as Seattle-based email support for added peace of mind.

Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe technology allows Plugable's drive to reach extremely high transfer speeds. Real-world results vary compared to Plugable's advertised 2,400MB/s read and 1,800MB/s write speeds depending on a range of factors like other peripherals connected to your Mac, the speed of the storage you're transfering data from or to, how much data is on the drive, and your Mac's workload.

Nevertheless, the drive was extremely quick, with near-instant transfer speeds for small files. Using Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test app, I got 1,700MB/s write and 1,800MB/s read speeds with a stress of 1GB, and 1,300MB/s write and 800MB/s read speeds with stress of 5GB. The drive continued to perform very well even when almost full and provides a level of performance that should meet the requirements of demanding professional workflows.

In use, the SSD can get extremely hot to the point of being very uncomfortable to touch for more than a couple of seconds. It is normal for high-performance SSD storage to get hot in use and this does not seem to impact performance, but it is still something to be aware of.

Bottom Line

At a standard price of $629 for 2TB of storage, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 2TB NVMe SSD is pricey compared to HDDs and even many USB SSDs, but there is little on the market that can offer such fast transfer speeds at low prices. The drive is currently available for a discounted price of $449, which is quite competitive for a professional drive in this class.

Large file transfers, booting an OS or virtual machine, running games and demanding applications, and photo and video editing from an external source are all possible on Plugable's drive in a way that would simply not be feasible on slower drives. Most average users do not need the kind of transfer speeds offered by Plugable's Thunderbolt SSD, but for professionals who need the fastest possible speeds, it is definitely worth considering thanks to its simple, plug-and-play, Mac-friendly experience in a compact design.

How to Buy

Plugable's 2TB Thunderbolt 3 NVME Solid State Drive is currently available from the Plugable website or from Amazon.com for $449.

• Plugable Thunderbolt 3 2TB NVME Solid State Drive: $629.00 $449.00

Note: Plugable provided MacRumors with a Thunderbolt 3 2TB NVME Solid State Drive for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Article Link: Review: Plugable's 2TB Thunderbolt SSD Offers Ultra Fast Transfer Speeds

 

[FelixDerKater]

They could stand to hire a designer to make it look better alongside a Mac.

 

[lazyrighteye]

For that price, you'd think they could have at least consulted with a hardware designer/engineer at some point. BLOCK 🤪

 

[tomnavratil]

They should have really thought about that product design.

 

[TechRunner]

I've never heard of Plugable. Are they decent drives?

 

[Ifti]

For me, the Glyph Atom Pro is still one of the best external TB SSD's.....

 

[james2538]

Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe technology allows Plugable's drive to reach extremely high transfer speeds. Real-world results vary compared to Plugable's advertised 2,400MB/s read and 1,800MB/s write speeds depending on a range of factors like other peripherals connected to your Mac, the speed of the storage you're transfering data from or to, how much data is on the drive, and your Mac's workload.

Nevertheless, the drive was extremely quick, with near-instant transfer speeds for small files. Using Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test app, I got 1,700MB/s write and 1,800MB/s read speeds with a stress of 1GB, and 1,300MB/s write and 800MB/s read speeds with stress of 5GB. The drive continued to perform very well even when almost full and provides a level of performance that should meet the requirements of demanding professional workflows.

At $629 that's roughly the same as the 2TB upgrade for Apple SSD. Slower speeds too. Why it makes sense to always max out the storage you need when buying a new laptop.

 

[kevcube]

hahaha. I would never buy a product like a drive with the cable attached. Sounds like signing up for a hellish existence if that cable ever gets damaged. Who is this for?

My guess is they wanted to avoid people saying "My drive is slow!" because they used a USB2 cable - but instead they practically ruined their product.

 

[bradman83]

Something worth noting is that this drive advertises using all four Thunderbolt lanes and thus able to do up to 40 Gb/sec. Some similar drives in the same form factor only use two lanes and max out at 20 GB/sec.

 

[slplss]

Just recently I bough two 1TB 3 300 MB/s 2 500 MB/s write NVMe drives for €250. For external $449 sounds pretty good for what it does.

 

[JosephAW]

Wondering if that'll work with the new 10th generation iPad?

 

[Channan]

“Review: Plugable's 2TB Thunderbolt SSD Offers Ultra Fast Transfer Speeds”

Unless you’re using it with the new 10th gen iPad.

 

[neongrau]

Well specs sound great. There is design and elegant industrial design. But this looks like cheap Alibaba crap. And the fixed cable?

 

[TwistedGleam]

I'd never pay that kind of money for something that looks so cheap.

 

[BGPL]

I buy $20 NVMe enclosures on Amazon and then whatever NVMe between $50 and $220, depending on speed and space requirements. For about $175 you can have a 2TB drive that's smaller and faster.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I've never heard of Plugable. Are they decent drives?

I’ve never had their drives, but I’ve had thunderbolt docks from them that has worked reliably for me for some years.

 

[bobone]

I buy $20 NVMe enclosures on Amazon and then whatever NVMe between $50 and $220, depending on speed and space requirements. For about $175 you can have a 2TB drive that's smaller and faster.

I would have thought this story would have had comments linked to less expensive solutions. Even $450 is incredibly high for 2TB, "professional" or not.

 

[vegetassj4]

No detachable cable, no thank you.

 

[KillerTree]

Nobody should ever buy a portable SSD without detachable cable. $600 SSD made worthless because a cable breaks?

 

[compwiz1202]

hahaha. I would never buy a product like a drive with the cable attached. Sounds like signing up for a hellish existence if that cable ever gets damaged. Who is this for?

My guess is they wanted to avoid people saying "My drive is slow!" because they used a USB2 cable - but instead they practically ruined their product.

Then just include a good transfer rate cable separate from the drive.

 

[guzhogi]

hahaha. I would never buy a product like a drive with the cable attached. Sounds like signing up for a hellish existence if that cable ever gets damaged. Who is this for?

As an IT professional, I hate integrated cords, and integrated anything. Sure, I get it makes things smaller, and maybe slightly faster since you cut out the middle man of the connector. When it breaks, though, you have to replace the whole damn thing.

Something worth noting is that this drive advertises using all four Thunderbolt lanes and thus able to do up to 40 Gb/sec. Some similar drives in the same form factor only use two lanes and max out at 20 Gb/sec.

Too bad the drive doesn't get up to fully using TB 3's bandwidth.

The SSD is perfectly suited to recent Mac models with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 ports, offering incredibly fast transfer speeds of up to 2,400MB/s [or 19,200 Mb/s, so close to 2 lanes] read and 1,800MB/s write, according to Plugable.

Also, I can't wait for Thunderbolt to move to PCIe 5 (or even 6 now that it's fully released). I've seen M.2 drives on NewEgg up to 7,500 MB/s sequential reads. Obviously, top end SSDs, but its would be interesting to see how quickly SSDs could take advantage of those higher speeds.

 

[enc0re]

I recently bought a 4TB USB-C SSD (Sandisk). Much as I would like to take advantage of Thunderbolt, the price delta is just too great. Plus, this way you can velcro it to the back of your Apple display and plug it in there.

 

[guzhogi]

Nobody should ever buy a portable SSD without detachable cable. $600 SSD made worthless because a cable breaks?

Yeah, some cables fray really easily. I find braided cables can withstand a bit more.

 

[theluggage]

At $629 that's roughly the same as the 2TB upgrade for Apple SSD. Slower speeds too. Why it makes sense to always max out the storage you need when buying a new laptop.

Some people out there will need this as well as the max 8TB internal storage - but only if they’re doing something that benefits from this kind of speed.

Many others simply want the extra space without this level of extreme performance. Mechanical HD is still vastly cheaper per TB if you need backup and archive, and there are plenty of intermediate-priced SSD options before you get to these prices.

One of the problems with Apple’s internal SSD options (at least on laptops) is that once youve covered your system, apps and “work in progress” needs, many use cases simply don’t justify such fast, expensive storage for what’s left. They lack the option of some slower, cheaper additional storage for bulky stuff. My late, lamented 17” MBP ended up with a fast-ish Samsung SSD for the system drive plus the original spinning rust, moved to the optical bay, for all the junk I needed to carry around…

 

[0134168]

For that price, you'd think they could have at least consulted with a hardware designer/engineer at some point. BLOCK 🤪

I agree. A HP P800 is same fast, but a impecable design. That cable hangin there is horror.

HP Portable SSD P800 Review - High-Capacity and Speed

HP built a high-performance Thunderbolt 3 portable storage drive for creatives and power users.

www.tweaktown.com