It does make you wonder if there’s any place for a more traditional portable SSD.
Through testing, it was dropped, thrown, and caught in light seasonal spring drizzle.
It handled everything well, needing only a quick wipe when damp.
If your laptop has closely spaced connectors, the drive will block adjacent ports.
Design aside, the performance was exceptional.
I did remove the rubber sleeve during intense tasks to keep it cool.
The design is nice, though the cap could be easier to keep track of.
Along with that speed comes a huge capacity.
One odd thing about the design is the rubber cap.
Then there’s the fact that oddly the rubber cap only fits onto the connector one way.
I only realised this after a bit of use.
I have to say, the rubber sleeve also makes it much more tactile and easy to handle.
Thanks to the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, you could transfer large files up to 1000MB/s.
While there are some subscription costs for some features, it is still a great addition.
Part of the tool kit is a six-month Dropbox Backup plan and Mylio Photos subscription.
On this front, the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD impressed.
Testing durabilityI had to see if it would survive being dropped?
And if it could withstand a bit of precipitation?
On both counts, there were absolutely no worries.
In real-world useattached to a keyring or inside a jacket or bagthe drive performed perfectly well with no issues.
Transfer speed and reliability were completely unaffected.
The final test was to check how fast the drive’s full capacity could be accessed.
There’s also cloud backup via Dropbox, with a six-month free trial.
The only thing missing is built-in encryption.
The drive itself is exceptionally good.
However, for most people, this design strikes a good balance.
So, while it does perform well, it doesn’t stand out massively in that respect.
In both cases, it handled the files with no issues.
I edited a 15-minute 4K video in Premiere Prowhile the drive did get warm, it remained perfectly usable.
It’s also a strong option if you need a large-capacity drive while out on site.
Where it does stand out is the bundled software.
The only thing I feel is missing is built-in encryption.
Should I buy the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD?
4/5
Design
Overall, I like the design.
I have a slight quibble with the rubber cap, but otherwise, it all seems solid enough.
5/5
Overall
If you need plenty of capacity and fast transfers, then this is a perfect solution.
Buy it if…
You need a large capacity on the move.
You need ultimate portability.
With capacity and speed that matches most portable SSDs, you might as well go for a flash drive.
Don’t buy it if…
You never transport large files.
While the speed and capacity are nice to have, it might be slightly excessive.
Two terabytes is a huge amount of storage, and 1000MB per second transfer rates are extremely quick.
There are plenty of drives with a similar design for far less.
You need a working drive for video.
For more storage solutions we reviewed thebest external HDDsaround.
