Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe 1TB SSD review: Blazing fast, portable storage

Speedy, compact, and with plenty of storage capacity, this portable SSD is the real deal.

The SSD.
(Image: © Windows Central)

Portable hard drives are one of the most useful accessories a laptop user can get, as they allow them to take significant amounts of data on the go. There are tons of options for this portable storage on the market. Still, Plugable's new Thunderbolt 3 NVMe 1TB SSD soars above the competition thanks to its stellar transfer speed, large data capacity, and travel-friendly size. It may be pricey, but you get what you pay for.

What you'll love about this SSD

The SSD in my hand.

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

The transfer speed on this SSD is crazy fast, meaning you'll be moving large files to and from your system in no time at all.

Above all else, I think the best thing about this SSD is the data transfer speed it brings to the table by taking advantage of the power of Thunderbolt 3. The manufacturer advertises 2400+ MB/sec reading and 1800+ MB/sec writing for the hard drive, and after testing the SSD out for a while, my results were consistent with those numbers. Video files, even very large ones like full-length 4K movies, can be moved to and from the drive-in under a minute or less. This makes life for the user incredibly convenient and saves them a significant amount of time.

Secondly, the drive comes with a large capacity of 1TB, which should be more than enough for nearly all users. If you find that you want or need more space (for instance, if you want to have more than a handful of 4K films and videos on hand at once), there's a 2TB version of the SSD available, but most folks won't need more than 1TB.

Lastly, as you can see in the above image, the SSD is pretty compact and can fit into the palm of your hand. This makes it perfect for use while traveling around, as it won't burden you by taking up a lot of space.

What you'll love less about this SSD

Honestly, I have no serious qualms with this SSD at all. The size of the Thunderbolt 3 cord could be a little longer, but that's a very minor issue. On top of that, the price of the drive is pretty high, but it's not overpriced; you get what you pay for. Overall, while these two things may bug some, they're by no means big problems.

Should you buy this SSD?

The SSD lying flat.

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

If you need a portable Thunderbolt 3 SSD with tons of speed, a lot of storage space, and a small physical size, it doesn't get any better than this one from Plugable.

Designed to be the ideal choice for anyone who wants to have a reliable tool for transferring large files while on the go, you should absolutely get this SSD if you have a Thunderbolt 3 device, and you're one of those people.

Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.