A recent payment issue I had with one of my longtime online backup services has reminded me of the importance of having physical backups of my most critical files. In case you need a similar reminder, allow me to point you to the Netac ZX20 external SSD, which clearly takes some design inspiration from the SanDisk Extreme V2 but costs a bit less while offering even faster file transfers.

Available in 1 TB ($87) and 512 GB ($55) sizes, the ZX20 offers blazing fast read and write speeds (2000MB/s and 1700MB/s, respectively), so not only can it handle your photos/videos and other vital files quickly and efficiently, it will also do great for managing your media collection — games, movies, whatever — without breaking a sweat.

The ZX20 boasts a robust shock-resistant aluminum housing with a reinforced inner frame, so you can trust that your files are safe, wherever the drive goes. It also comes with two cables for your convenience: 1 USB-C to USB-C, and 1 USB-C to USB-A.

Shop the Netac ZX20 on Amazon.

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We may live in an age of {questionable Scottish accent} Clood Computing, but there’s still something to be said for having a hard backup of your files when things go wrong.

With that in mind, the Samsung T7 Shield PSSD is an option that offers peace of mind with its high storage capacity, lightning-fast sequential read/write speeds (up to 1,050/1,000 MB/s), IP65 water and dust resistance, and a rugged, rubberized exterior that’s both easy to grip and is durable enough to withstand a 9.8-foot drop — all in a package that’s about the size of a pack of playing cards.

Look how tiny it is!

Wirecutter recently chose this drive as the best on the market, with an aside on how those quick data speeds not only allow for editing media files directly from the drive, but also make it awesome for expanding the storage of your laptop and/or gaming console:

In these tests, the T7 Shield had random read and write speeds near the top of the range, 30 MB/s and 81 MB/s, respectively, whereas our former pick, the WD My Passport SSD, was closer to 23 MB/s read and 40 MB/s write. Having a drive with twice the write speed is significant for day-to-day use; if, for example, you back up seldomly played games off the internal SSD in your Xbox or PlayStation to free up the space for new games, and then reinstall them later on demand, it’s a lot faster and more convenient than reinstalling them over the internet.

That rubber case I mentioned earlier also has a side benefit of excellent heat dissipation, which keeps the drive cool enough to handle major projects without missing a beat.

The T7 Shield comes in 1 TB ($80), 2 TB ($120), and 4 TB ($250) storage capacities, with color options of beige, blue, or black.

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Maybe it’s old-fashioned at this point to carry around files on any form of physical media, and continuing to do so is probably one of those things my future grandkids will make fun of me for. I still think it’s more dependable (not to mention faster when it counts) than relying fully on cloud storage services.

Western Digital’s “My Passport” portable SSD is a name longtime Mac users will recognize right away. They’ve been in the hard drive game for decades now, and I still think of them as a trustworthy company to buy external drives from. And whenever you need to quickly get your stuff from one computer to another, you’ll be glad you have one on hand.

Like any SSD, there are no moving parts in the My Passport, so you don’t have to worry about some spinny thing inside (100% technical term) getting knocked out of whack as you carry it around in your bag. And thanks to its USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, the file transfer speeds are stellar, maxing out around 10 Gbps.

As of this writing on April 18th, 2022, the 1TB My Passport drive is $135 on Amazon (all the way down from $200, so it’s a steal). Mean while, the 2TB version is marked down from $380 to $230, and the 4TB one is marked down from $680 to $460.

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What you’re looking at in the picture above is not an iPhone case. It’s a portable-yet-high-capacity solid state external drive with 1050MB/s read speeds and 1000MB/s write speeds, wrapped in a rugged silicone shell with a carabiner loop so you can securite it to a backpack, lanyard, etc.

Since it’s meant to be carried into the field or anywhere else your adventures take you, they designed the drive to be as durable as possible, with two-meter drop protection and IP55 water and dust resistance. In other words, you’ll be able to capture photos and video footage in just about any environment without having to worry if your data is safe.

The drive comes in 500 GB ($85), 1TB ($160), 2TB ($320), and 4TB ($700) storage sizes. They also have a PRO version that allows for even higher sustained speeds (2000MB/s read and write).

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I recently moved to a 15-inch MacBook Pro as my only computer. While I loved my Air, I simply needed more power and screen space than the 13-machine could offer.

However, the Air ruined spinning hard drives for me, so I installed a Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch SSD. Once you use an SSD, you really cannot go back. The speed and power savings over a traditional hard drive is really worth the money.

At 6Gb/s, the m4 is crazy fast:

• 500 MB/sec sequential reads (at 6 Gb/sec)
• 260 MB/sec sequential writes (at 6 Gb/sec)

With a 3-year warranty, I’m not worried about a failure during the life of this MacBook Pro. If you’re looking to speed up your computer, this is a great way to do it.

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This is, so far as I can tell, the first portable Thunderbolt drive — and it’s an SSD to boot.

The Lacie Little Big Disk likes to pretend its portable by being small, but it still requires a power adapter to work. The Elgato portable Thunderbolt SSD drive is just a small, external enclosure with an SSD inside. It measures 5.2 x 0.8 x 3.2 inches, has an all-metal enclosure, and weighs a sturdy 14.4 ounces.

However, it’s important to note that Elgato is using a previous-generation SSD inside the enclosure. Therefore, sadly, it’s not nearly as fast as it could be.

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