As NAND flash memory prices have dropped,SSDs are now not only equipped in computers,but many people's portable storage devices have also been upgraded to mobile SSDs,greatly enhancing the storage experience.However,for some professional users,ordinary mobile SSDs still cannot fully meet their needs.For instance,photographers who need to shoot and store videos and photos in the field,geologists and engineering developers who work outdoors for extended periods,communication base station engineers,and researchers of flora and fauna,among others.For them,not only is a faster transfer speed required to reduce transmission time in harsh environments,but also certain protective capabilities are necessary,such as resistance to drops,crushing,and water and dust,to prevent the solid-state drive from being damaged outdoors for various reasons,leading to data loss.Therefore,Western Digital,a storage manufacturer,has specially launched the SanDisk Professional brand with the PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive.So,what sets it apart from ordinary mobile SSDs?Let's find out through the testing of its 1TB product.

Product Specifications:

Interface: Thunderbolt 3,USB 3.2 Gen 2

Available Capacities: 1TB,2TB,4TB

Dimensions: 111mm (length) × 58mm (width) × 12mm (thickness)

Operating Temperature: 5°C to 35°C

Weight: 121.2 grams

Protection Capabilities: IP68 water and dust resistance,3-meter drop resistance with 1814 kg crush resistance

Warranty Period: 5-year limited warrantyReference price: 1999 yuan (1TB)

All-around protection design with a compression strength exceeding 1.8 tons!

Analysis of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD External Solid State Drive

The SanDisk Master brand,originating from Western Digital's consumer brand SanDisk and professional brand G-Technology,was established in 2021,targeting professional-grade storage.It aims to provide protection for content creators and professionals,and the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid state drive is no exception.It is a professional-grade mobile storage device with a three-proof level,yet its design does not give a bulky and heavy impression.Unlike the common "brick" style of three-proof products,the overall design of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD is reminiscent of a "tactical shield"—durable and robust.The front of the device features sharp edges,and four hexagonal screws highlight its tough texture.Ingeniously,a white indicator light is placed in the recessed area to signal the working status.

The SSD is wrapped in silicone on the back and four sides,offering a fall resistance of up to 3 meters and an impact resistance of 1814 kilograms.

The sides and back of the SSD are covered with soft and delicate removable silicone protection.Although silicone can easily attract some dust,considering the outdoor usage scenarios for this product,it is understandable and likely not a primary concern for users.The rounded corners around the SSD serve as a rolling buffer,preventing secondary impact from falls.It has a fall resistance of up to 3 meters and an impact and crush resistance of 1814 kilograms,meaning it can "withstand" the pressure of many compact cars,as many compact cars have a curb weight of around 1.5 tons.The three-proof design of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD,protecting it from head to toe,also gives it an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.Devices with this level of protection can completely block dust and can be submerged in water at a depth of 1 meter for an extended period without damage,making it a reliable choice for photographers who often work outdoors.

The SSD is equipped with an interface compatible with Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) and USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps.

The SSD comes with a cable compatible with Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) and USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps.

More distinctively,this SSD is compatible with both Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) and USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps interfaces.When connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD 1TB's claimed sequential read and write speeds can reach 3000MB/s and 2500MB/s,respectively,which is faster than the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface for transferring various video data.According to software detection,the internal SSD model of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid state drive is the SN850XE,which is technically closely related to the WD_BLACK SN850X.Generally,when Western Digital's internal SSDs are used in external storage products,an "E" is added to the model number,and this "E" is likely an abbreviation for "External." The WD_BLACK SN850X is actually a flagship-level product,featuring Western Digital's self-developed 8-channel PCIe 4.0 controller,supporting NVMe 1.4 protocol and PCIe 4.0 x4 interface.

Software detection reveals that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid state drive is equipped with an SSD model named SN850XE.However,on the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive,its transfer bandwidth is limited to PCIe 3.0 x4.Its flash memory utilizes SanDisk's BiCS5 112-layer stacked TLC flash memory.The IO performance of the 112-layer stacked flash memory has increased by 50%,with a flash memory interface transfer bandwidth reaching 1600MT/s,and it also features lower read latency.Additionally,the storage density of the 112-layer stacked flash memory has increased by 40% compared to the 96-layer product,with flash memory die densities of 512Gbit and 1024Gbit,which is one of the main reasons why the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive can achieve a maximum capacity of 4TB.As a high-end product,the SN850X also features an independent cache design for storing the FTL mapping table that records the location of data.SSD read and write operations require querying this record table; to achieve fast read and write speeds,this mapping table needs to be stored in high-performance DRAM memory chips.Therefore,the SN850X also specifically uses an LPDDR4 memory chip as cache.

It is worth mentioning that the entire line of SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drives comes with a 5-year warranty.Of course,the downside is the relatively high price.Currently,the 1TB,2TB,and 4TB models of this product are priced at 1999 yuan,3299 yuan,and 5299 yuan,respectively.All three capacity products support interest-free payment in three installments and offer a hard drive bag as a gift to users who purchase the product,with a 40 yuan E-card rebate for sharing a review.Next,we specifically used the ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO motherboard with two Thunderbolt 4 interfaces,paired with Intel's 14th generation high-end Core processor: Core i7-14700K,and a platform composed of 32GB DDR5 7000 memory to test the 1TB SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive.

Test Platform

Motherboard: ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO

Processor: Core i7-14700K

Memory: DDR5 7000 32GB kit

Storage: Crucial T700 2TB,SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB

Graphics Card: GeForce RTX 4060

Power Supply: AORUS AP1200PM Platinum

Operating System: Windows 11We tested the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity using the ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO motherboard,which features two Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Benchmark Performance Test

Sequential Read/Write Speeds Slightly Exceed Speculated Specifications

It can be observed that with the maximum transfer bandwidth of 40Gbps,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity,which uses a Thunderbolt 3 interface,indeed outperforms USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 products in sequential read/write speeds as measured by CrystalDiskMark.Its sequential read speed reached 3117.2MB/s,surpassing its advertised 3000MB/s sequential read specification,while its sequential write performance reached 2876.99MB/s,also slightly exceeding the advertised 2500MB/s sequential write speed.In contrast,USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 products typically struggle to exceed 2100MB/s in sequential read speeds and are even less likely to reach 2000MB/s in sequential write speeds.This implies that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity will perform excellently when reading and writing video files,ISOs,and other single large-capacity files.

It is noteworthy that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity also demonstrated impressive random read performance.In the random 4K Q1T1 read test,which is closely related to consumer applications and gaming,it achieved a score of 53.56MB/s,translating to 13076.42 IOPS,comparable to mainstream internal SSDs and significantly outperforming most external SSDs.Generally,due to the need for data transfer through bridge chips in external storage devices,increased latency can lead to performance loss,and random performance is often not very good.In our previous tests,even external SSDs using a Thunderbolt 3 interface only achieved around 35MB/s in the random 4K Q1T1 read test.We attribute the better performance of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity mainly to its use of the high-performance flagship SN850XE internal SSD,which,despite some performance loss,still maintains a relatively good level.

In the ATTO Disk Benchmark test,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity also achieved similar results,with the highest sequential read/write speeds reaching 2.91GB/s and 2.68GB/s,respectively,only slightly lower than those measured by CrystalDiskMark,while the sequential write speed exceeded the advertised specification.

In the AS SSD Benchmark and Anvil's Storage Utilities tests,its overall test scores were also higher than those of ordinary external SSDs.For example,USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 external SSDs typically score around 1100 points in the AS SSD Benchmark test and 6000 to 7000 points in the Anvil's Storage Utilities test,whereas the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity scored 2706 and 8180,respectively,showing a certain advantage.However,it should be noted that,according to the test results,the single-queue depth random 4K write performance of this SSD is relatively low,with none of the three test software results exceeding 18MB/s.

In the PerformanceTest 11.0 disk performance test,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity also achieved good results.This SSD's performance score reached 26021.It is important to know that this test includes scores from all internal and external storage products in the database for a horizontal comparison.The fact that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a 1TB capacity can outperform as many as 79% of storage products worldwide in this test,placing it in the upper-middle range,is no small feat.So,how does it perform in practical applications?

Actual Transfer Test

File Read Speeds Exceed 3100MB/sOf course,for external storage products,benchmark tests can only roughly indicate the performance of the product and cannot accurately reflect the actual performance.Therefore,we also specially paired it with an Intel T700 2TB PCIe 5.0 internal SSD,which has sequential read and write speeds of around 12000MB/s and 11500MB/s,respectively,for file transfer testing.

From the tests,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB has a certain capacity of SLC Cache,and it performs very well when reading and writing a 72.6GB video file.Its actual sequential read speed reached an average of 3102MB/s,and it can complete the task in just 25.1 seconds.The speed at which the PCIe 5.0 SSD writes video files to it also reached 1748MB/s,which is significantly better than that of mobile SSDs using traditional USB interfaces.At the same time,when reading and writing a 170GB ISO file,the SSD did not experience a drop in speed.Its sequential read speed was 3110MB/s,and the speed at which the PCIe 5.0 SSD wrote the ISO file to it was 1756MB/s,which is almost the same as the speed when reading and writing video files,with no significant difference.

The time to read a 170GB ISO file is less than one minute.

It is worth mentioning that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB also has good small file read and write speeds.When transferring a 17.26GB photo file consisting of 1577 files,its read speed reached 2225MB/s,and the write speed exceeded 1300MB/s,completing the writing of 1577 files in less than 15 seconds.Considering that users who work outdoors for extended periods may also have gaming needs,we also tested the performance of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB in transferring game folders through a CS2 game installation folder composed of 3454 files with a total capacity of 35.4GB.After all,many games nowadays do not require reinstallation; they can be directly launched on the computer by repositioning and finding the game installation files through game platform software like STEAM or UBI Connect.Therefore,if a mobile storage product has strong game file read and write speeds,users can quickly transfer the game installation folders to the external solid-state drive when the computer's internal SSD capacity is insufficient,effectively expanding the computer's capacity and thus significantly enhancing the user experience.

In less than half a minute,the internal SSD writes the CS2 game installation folder into the files of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB.

The performance of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB did not disappoint.Its speed in transferring the CS2 game installation folder was even faster than that of photo files,with a read speed of 2353MB/s,and it only took 16.1 seconds to transfer the CS2 game installation folder to the computer's internal SSD.Its write speed was 1492MB/s,and the computer's internal SSD only took 25.5 seconds,less than half a minute,to write the CS2 game installation folder into the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB.Overall,in performing various file transfer tasks that most users are likely to encounter,this product has demonstrated excellent read and write performance.So,when reading and writing larger capacity files,will the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB experience a drop in speed?

TxBENCH Performance Consistency Test

Steady sequential read speed,large enough SLC cache capacity

The average full-disk sequential read speed of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB can reach 3115.878MB/s

Next,we examined the consistency of the sequential read and write performance of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive 1TB through the full-disk read and write test of TxBENCH.First,looking at the full-disk read performance test,it still has an excellent performance in this test,and there was no drop in speed during the entire reading process.The average full-disk sequential read speed can also reach 3115.878MB/s.Despite having a usable storage capacity of only 931.51GB,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity boasts a substantial SLC cache of 271.9GB.

When the total written capacity reaches 471.9GB,the SSD experiences a second drop in speed; however,its minimum sequential write speed can still achieve 550MB/s.

The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity can achieve an average full-disk sequential write speed of 815.6338MB/s.

In the full-disk write test,it is observed that although the storage capacity of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB is not large,with the actual usable storage capacity being only 931.3GB in an empty state,the SLC Cache is set to a considerable size,approximately 271.9GB,which can fully meet the needs of ordinary users whose single write capacity is mostly less than 200GB,providing a fast writing experience.Before the sequential write capacity reaches 271.9GB,its sequential write speed can reach 2790MB/s to 2900MB/s.After exceeding this capacity,the SSD's sequential write speed will drop,but fortunately,the drop is not particularly low,with its real-time sequential write speed maintaining above 750MB/s for most of the time.When the total written capacity reaches 471.9GB,the SSD experiences a second drop in speed,at which point the SSD will directly write data to the flash memory,yet its minimum sequential write speed can still achieve 550MB/s,thus the final average full-disk sequential write speed of the SSD can reach 815.6338MB/s.

Upon completion of the TxBench full-disk write test,the operating temperature of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity is 61°C.

Observed through a FLIR thermal imaging camera,the highest temperature on the casing of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity after a full-disk write is 54.5°C.

We also examined the heat generation and operating temperature of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity during the full-disk write test,as the write power consumption of SSDs is generally higher than that of reading,leading to more heat generation and higher operating temperatures.The test results are equally satisfactory,as this SSD features a heat-dissipating aluminum core,providing excellent heat dissipation capabilities.Thus,after writing 1TB of data,the software detected the highest operating temperature of the SSD to be only 61°C,which is significantly lower than many external solid-state drives that rise above 70°C after prolonged writing.Simultaneously,through FLIR thermal imaging,the highest temperature on the casing is observed to be 54.5°C.

It can also be used as an application SSD and game disk.

The product achieved a score of 5069 in the PCMark 8 storage performance test,reaching the level of an internal PCIe 3.0 x4 solid-state drive.

Furthermore,we tested the performance of this Thunderbolt 3 external storage device for applications and gaming.The results show that if the internal storage space of a computer is insufficient,users can also consider installing programs and games on the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive.In the PCMark 8 storage performance test,which simulates real-world applications and benefits from the high transfer bandwidth provided by the Thunderbolt 3 interface,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity demonstrated excellent performance.Its total score reached 5069,on par with high-end internal PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs and mainstream PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs.The reason is that this external SSD can quickly complete read and write tasks for software like Photoshop,After Effects,and InDesign.For instance,in the Adobe Photoshop heavy load test with a large data transfer volume,totaling 6108MB of read and write operations,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with 1TB capacity took only 350.6 seconds,while the internal PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD took approximately 350 to 352 seconds,with virtually no difference between the two.The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB took only 6.961 seconds to load a total of five scenes in "Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker."

The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB took only 7.46 seconds to load a total of five scenes in "Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers."

The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB took only 7.356 seconds to load a total of five scenes in "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood."

In actual game startup tests,we used the benchmark tools from Square Enix's latest release,"Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker," as well as the earlier "Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers" and "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood." The results show that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB performed very satisfactorily,demonstrating quick game loading capabilities.The total loading time for five scenes in each game was not long,with the total loading time for scenes in each game ranging from 6.961s to 7.46s.This performance is only slightly behind the built-in high-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs with results between 5.5 and 6.2s,and is on par with mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs.

Smooth playback and editing of 8K videos

Using the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB to play 8K videos with a maximum bitrate of approximately 364191kbps resulted in no stuttering or lag.

Next,we tested the ability of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB to play and edit high-resolution,high-bitrate videos.The test involved an 8K resolution video with a maximum bitrate of around 364191kbps.The results showed that as long as the processor and GPU performance do not lag,users can smoothly play 8K videos stored on the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB.There was no stuttering during playback,and the audio and video were perfectly synchronized,with very low processor usage.

Editing 8K videos with the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB and previewing the editing effects at full resolution also resulted in no stuttering.

When we used Premiere Pro 2022 to edit the video,there were no issues.As shown in the figure,after we added color and distortion effects to the original video and previewed the edited video at full resolution,the playback remained smooth,with no stuttering.In fact,such results were entirely expected,as even at the highest bitrate of 364191kbps,the video bitrate is only about 44.5MB/s.The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive with a capacity of 1TB has a measured sequential read and write speed of over 3100MB/s and 1700MB/s,respectively,making it easy to handle such 8K video editing tasks.

Truly resistant to being run over by a car.We conducted a crushing test on the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive using a GAC Toyota Yizhi 2014 Elite Edition vehicle.

After being crushed by the vehicle,the surface of the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive showed no signs of deformation.

Software detection confirmed that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive operated normally after being crushed by the vehicle.

Lastly,we performed an interesting test.Since the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive is claimed to have a maximum crush resistance of 1814 kilograms,we used a GAC Toyota Yizhi 2014 Elite Edition vehicle,which has a curb weight of approximately 1475 kg,to crush it.With the addition of a driver weighing about 70 kg,the total weight exceeded 1.5 tons.The results indicated that such weight was not sufficient to damage the external solid-state drive.Apart from tire marks,the drive's casing showed no deformation,and it was still usable when connected to a computer.The SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive indeed possesses excellent crush resistance.

A Worthy External Solid-State Drive for Professional Users

Based on the above tests,it is evident that the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive performs excellently and comprehensively.It not only achieves sequential read speeds exceeding 3100MB/s and sequential write speeds above 1700MB/s in real tests but also transfers videos,photos,ISO,and game files at speeds faster than USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 mobile SSDs.With its decent random 4K performance,it rivals mainstream internal SSDs in application and gaming performance,enabling quick read and write of various application data and game scene loading,providing users with an experience of instant program and game launches.Moreover,users can smoothly play and edit 8K video streams stored on it.Combined with its three-proof features and the ability to withstand a crush of 1814 kilograms,the SanDisk Master PRO-G40 SSD external solid-state drive is perfect in both performance and protective design.It is a recommended storage product for professional users such as audio and video editors,video post-production specialists,geologists,base station engineers,and researchers in flora and fauna studies.