Master SanDisk External Hard Drive (5TB): Metal protective case, specially made for outdoor photographers.

Recently, I received a product made by SanDisk specifically for outdoor scenes: "SanDisk Master External Hard Drive (5TB)". It is said that it can provide triple protection from the inside out, and the transmission speed is stable and fast, which is bound to make this product a necessary weapon for outdoor photographers. What is the performance of SanDisk Master Geeks' mobile hard disk? After a period of experience, I will show you one by one.

Unpacking the package, a square metal block is displayed in front of you. Compared with the previous plastic shell products, SanDisk Master's external hard disk (5TB) shell surface adopts fine sand blasting technology, which feels delicate and cold, and with deep space gray color matching, the overall design style is tough and simple.

The product size of 132mm x 88mm x 30mm looks large, and the large capacity of 5 T will inevitably bring large volume. However, the designers of SanDisk skillfully adopted trapezoidal design, which gradually became thinner from the middle plane to both sides, thus creating a frivolous illusion in vision and grip.

From the side, there is almost no gap between the metal integrated fuselage and the plastic splicing, which makes me feel that this small iron box can protect the data stably. All the parameter information of the hard disk is collected at the top, and only one C port is provided to transmit data. The socket is slightly recessed inward, probably to protect the socket from being damaged when it is hit. There is a reminder light on the left side of the socket, which will flash to show the working state of the hard disk after connecting the computer.

The situation encountered in outdoor shooting is always unpredictable, and it is inevitable that the mobile hard disk will be bumped into the rain. Because of the storage principle of mechanical hard disk, the thorn head is easy to deform when it is hit by external force, which leads to the data damage of hard disk. In order to improve the inherent defects of mechanical hard disk, SanDisk redesigned the internal structure to protect it from the inside out.

First of all, a shock absorber is added inside to reduce the vibration during impact. The second protection comes from the adoption of all-aluminum integrated shell. The metal shell is quite hard. According to the official introduction, it can bear up to 453 kilograms of gravity, even if it is crushed, it can still be safe and sound. The third protection is rubber protective sleeve, which can greatly absorb the impact force of the back four corners. I believe that with these triple protections, you can sit back and relax in case of an emergency.

In addition, the package is also marked with the rainproof and dustproof sign of IP54, which means that even if it rains lightly, there is no need to worry about hard disk damage.

Having said so many subjective factors, it's time to pull it out and run. As an excellent outdoor mobile hard disk, it is not enough to have a beautiful design and high-strength protection. Video practitioners spend a lot of time collecting materials. If the transmission speed is slow or interrupted, they will definitely feel lost. Every creator wants to back up the data to a safe place as soon as possible.

The test computer used is i7-8700, and the motherboard is MSI B360M mortar. In order to reduce the error caused by interface bottleneck, the USB 3.0 interface is directly inserted to complete the test without any adapter. (The official reading speed of the 5T version is 135MB/s) How about the test results? We will wait and see.

(Left) First, use the most common CrystalDiskMark to test the transmission speed. The test results of continuous reading and writing show that reading is 138MB/s and writing is 127MB/s, which basically conforms to the official nominal data 135MB/s, and the continuous writing speed and reading speed are basically the same.

(right) Next, I use Atto Disk Benchmark to test the IO port of this hard disk. Through this software test, I can understand the hard disk's reading and writing performance for different file sizes. The test shows that even for files of different sizes, Master SanDisk's external hard disk (5TB) can still keep the same reading and writing speed, and the performance of the hard disk is quite stable.

HD Tune: Set the file size to 10G, select random data mode, and check the speed fluctuation of hard disk when large file data is continuously transmitted.

As can be seen from the test chart, there will be an instantaneous drop of fixed frequency when reading, but the speed will soon rise to about 120 m/s, and the writing will be slightly stable with low fluctuation frequency, which can basically run stably. When the test is completed, the temperature shows 46, which is 8 higher than that before the test, but users need not worry. The temperature here refers to the internal temperature, and the shell is still cold to the touch.

It is worth noting that for high-bandwidth transmission, the data cable attached to Sandisk is only 20cm, and the width of coarse material is about twice that of ordinary data cable. In addition, users should pay attention to whether the port can support the upper limit of hard disk. It is recommended to use the interface above USB 3.0 protocol, otherwise it will easily cause transmission bottleneck.

SanDisk Master's external hard disk (5TB) supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.0 protocols. If your computer doesn't have a C port, a C-A cable will be included in the package. Hard disk factory supports Mac OS system by default, and Windows users need to reformat to choose a compatible format. Of course, you can also choose ExFAT format which is compatible with both, so that it can be used in both Mac OS and Windows systems.

It is recommended that manufacturers set up a format compatible with two platforms before leaving the factory to avoid the situation that users will not format after purchasing.

Digital mobile processing has become a trend, and the inspiration of image creators may appear anytime and anywhere. In order to collect and create, we need to use hard disk to save, transmit and archive. In the meantime, durable and stable storage equipment can ensure the safety of data, and high-performance storage technology can greatly improve work efficiency, so an excellent mobile hard disk is so important for the display.