The 8 Best Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drives (2023 reviews)

Best part: sandisk external drive costs reasonable and it is available to ship in 24 hours. This Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD completely out-performs HHD drives, and installs without a hitch. It works right out of the box and is pretty fast. It saves what data you input and the data is retrievable when connected to your computer regardless of internet connection. It is good for backing up in the field.

It is solid state, rugged, very small and worth every part of the cost. This one is really nice and the transfer speed rate is incredible. It’s nice not having to clear off the tiny thumb drive that comes with the car every month or so when it runs out of memory.

Why We Like This:

Small, rugged, and fast it's perfect
Transferring files/apps is lightning quick and simple
One of the new comers and featured product

Best For ipad: Crucial Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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Not everyone likes to purchase drive for their daily usage, but the crucial ssd thunderbolt 3 external drive would be an anomoly. Indoors or outdoors, at home or off the grid, the X8 is manufactured to be durable, rugged. It offers excellent performance and transfer speeds. It is sleek and smooth and appears pretty durable. The case is aluminum with silicone over-molded endcaps for grip and Crucial branding in a glossy black strip.

As described, the drive is lightweight, compact, and very durable. It is great for transferring large amounts of data. Its robust, the perfect size, and has a very solid construction. This connects to one of the USB 3.1 ports, and it's very fast. The drive is totally silent, of course, and utterly reliable.

Why We Like This:

Made entirely of aluminum, it provides protection and keeps the drive running cool
Super fast, tiny, lightweight, durable and fast
Delivers what they promise

Best For Xbox: Sandisk Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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The sandisk ssd thunderbolt 3 external drive is capable of outshining several other drive featured in this list in overall features for the price point. From the brand trusted by professional photographers worldwide, the sandisk extreme pro portable ssd provides powerful solid state performance featuring 2000mb/s read and 2000mb/s write speeds in a rugged storage solution that’s reliable for your toughest jobs. It transfers data faster, provided your associated devices have the capability. It will charge with an apple firmware update as the lighting port claims 40 gbps.

This SSD is a nice size and holds a good amount of data. Transferring files to it is a snap and hooking it up for use is made quick and easy with the usb-c connection. It does heat up quickly when in use but not excessively. It will heat up quickly when in use but not excessively.

Why We Like This:

Mostly for movie storage and absolutely love it
Transfer speeds are around 675 mps for direct file transfers
Highly recommended for portability, speed, and storage
Fast as lightning and a great form factor

Best For Professional content creators: Plugable Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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Compared with other drive in this category, the plugable ssd thunderbolt 3 external drive has a convenient design. This is a compact external Thunderbolt 3 SSD that features excellent performance. Compared to other Thunderbolt 3 drives, Plugable's 2TB External SSD provides access to the fast speeds of the Thunderbolt 3 bus without breaking the bank. It is a super fast drive that holds a ton of information and does not require much installation. It is completely quite, no noise, no spinning, because there are no moving parts.

The disk is formatted ExFat which allows it to be used to plug and play on almost any operating system. The interface advantage evaporates as a result, as the drive will only burst above USB 3.1 gen 2's 10Gbit/s. The pros of this device are high speeds, small size, easy use across platforms, and cool operation. It is easy to use and extremely fast back up.

Why We Like This:

Good external drive for booting linux
Great external system drive for mac
Very fast on mac mini m1 thunderbolt port
Works very well connected to a caldigit ts3 hub

Best With USB C: Fantom Drives Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate drive. The fantom drives ssd thunderbolt 3 external drive is exactly that - it's a simple drive that hits all the right notes. It is as fast or faster as your internal SSD. It allows heat from the nvme to be transferred to a thermal pad and then dissipated to each grooved edge of extreme. The aluminum case feels nice and solid. It looks sleek. The detachable cable is nice as well. It is backward compatible with the USB 3.2 gen 2 type-c port and gets 1050mb/s read and write files.

The enclosure is small, its amazing how you can get 4TB in such a small enclosure.

Why We Like This:

Small and of good quality and super solid
Very fast, physically smaller than expected
One of the new comers and featured product

Best For game: Sandisk Professional Internal Drive

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If you are looking for a reliable drive for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with the sandisk professional internal drive. This little drive is fast, fast, and fast. It offers versatile dual-mode compatibility with both thunderbolt 3 and usb 3.2 gen. It is built with a cooling aluminum core to sustain ultra-fast speeds under its heaviest workflows. It heats up even when not using. It is compatible with usb 3.1 gen. It is very straightforward to include this disk. It is built for compatibility with both thunderbolt 3 and usb-c, this versatile drive enables you to efficiently collaborate across devices.

Why We Like This:

Fast and easy for time machine
Good brand reputation

Best With Windows: Sandisk Professional Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention sandisk professional ssd thunderbolt 3 external drive for regular usage. The G-DRIVE PRO SSD device provides shock-resistant storage in a durable case with up to 3-meter drop protection(1), 1000lb crush resistance, and designed with handpicked components to sustain the rigors of travel. The case is very rugged and is easy to carry around. The thunderbolt 3 (40gbps) port provides a powerful, versatile connection that allows you to plug in to a compatible computer and instantly extend your storage without the need for external power.

This 2 TB external hard drive is very easy to setup. A protective aluminum core helps prevent overheating to maintain a high level of sustained performance, while a custom enclosure insulates the drive to help minimize heat transfer to the exterior of the device when in use. It is compatible with USB 3.1 gen.

Why We Like This:

Real fast reliable drive from sandisk
Ultra-rugged design with 3m drop protection and 1000lb crush resistance
Lb crush resistance, and designed with handpicked components to sustain the rigors of travel

Best For photographer: Glyph production Technologies Ssd Thunderbolt 3 External Drive

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Glyph Production Technologies line of drive come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. The Atom PRO is built to take on the most demanding tasks without breaking a sweat. It fits in a pocket and has a rubbery protective shell. It is designed to endure the elements with mil. The rugged aluminum shell acts as a heatsink keeping the NVMe SSD at its optimal temperature to deliver higher sustained speeds. It is built to handle multi-stream 8k, raw, and vr workflows so you can get the job done wherever you are.

Why We Like This: