Transcend ESD400k Portable Solid State Drive at a glance:
- Weights just 56g
- Measures 92 x 62 x 10.5mm
- Price: From £71.99 (128GB)
- Website: uk.transcend-info.com
Towards the end of last year, Transcend announced the new ESD400k Solid State Drive. This is a very small portable hard drive that is available in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB, priced £71.99, £119.99, £221.99 and £459.99 respectively. This means that you pay a hefty premium over conventional portable hard drives for the extra speed and convenience of using a flash memory-based device.
Measuring just 92 x 62mm, the drive is not much bigger than a playing card, and at 10.5mm thick, it slips easily into a pocket. Overall, it’s much smaller than other 512GB or 1TB hard drives. In addition, the ESD400k is very light, weighing just 56g thanks to its plastic shell. Being a solid state drive, the ESD400k has no moving parts, so it is less susceptible to damage and will not overheat, either. There’s a button on the top that allows the ESD400K to transfer data quickly and easily, using Transcend Elite Data Management software. This allows you to back up files from your computer to the drive, or alternatively sync new files on your drive back to your PC.
Included in the box is a travel pouch to help prevent scratches, as well as a USB 3.0 cable. Transcend claims that with the USB 3.0 connection, write speeds of up to 380MB/s and read speeds of up to 410MB/s are possible. When we tested the 256GB version using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test software in conjunction with a USB 3.0 connection and a SSD inside a MacBook Pro, we managed a respectable 209.9MB/s write speed and 391.2MB/s read speed. Overall, the Transcend ESD400k is a reliable SSD that is small enough to slip into a camera bag and go unnoticed until you need it.
