The SanDisk Extreme portable SSD is the piece of equipment that has affected my workflow more than anything else since the switch from film to digital all those years ago.
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My photography fear
My single most hated aspect of photography is my rational fear (I’m not alone right?) of backing up my work. There is always that fear of the initial card failure (this hardly ever happens granted). But beyond cards, I still have the fear of keeping the drives my photos are stored on safe. Until I can get back to the studio and back everything up, I have that fear.
As a travel and location photographer, this becomes a pretty serious issue. Whilst on location, there are times when you have to have all the cards and drives with you at the same time. Or leave them somewhere all alone and vulnerable. I can’t risk doing a whole shoot and losing all that hard work. The early mornings, the late nights and those unique moments between are priceless.
This is where the SanDisk extreme portable SSD comes to its own. The build, size and durability mean that I don’t have to worry. Once the data is on the drive at least you can pretty much do anything to it. Drop, get it wet, throw it around, it should withstand all that. I wouldn’t suggest you do any of these but it’s good to know you’re photos are safe.
My workflow
I back up every image I shoot to two separate 1TB Sandisk extreme portable SSD. So that for a period I’m away I have three copies. I leave the cards and one drive in the hotel room (separate locations). The second drive stays with me at all times. This is in case something goes missing from my room. It has never happened to me but I know photographers who it has happened to. I don’t want to take the chance of being one of them.
Before using the SanDisk extreme portable SSD I used normal portable SATA drives. They were large and fragile so I would run the risk of breaking them when out and about. With the SanDisk Extreme portable SSD, I clip it to my belt or throw it in my day pack and I don’t need to worry about it all. The drives are so small that you won’t even notice it is with you. I can rest assured knowing all my precious work is as safe as possible.
Superfast backing up
The SanDisk Extreme portable SSD is fast so my time spent backing up each day is only minutes. This is especially valuable when it has been a long day and you only have a few hours to rest before you are back up for sunrise. I can get a 32gb card backed up in roughly 3 minutes which is not bad at all.
The only aspect of this drive that lets it down is the very short cable. Great for laptop use but not so much for desktops. Being so short and small I could see it getting misplaced but that’s more my issue.
This SanDisk drive is one of the best external SSDs on the market. I would recommend it to other photographers or anyone who wants to keep their photos safe whilst travelling. At the time of writing this article, in the UK Amazon are currently offering the best prices. For more technical info on the drive, check out the SanDisks site
All this does come at an expense compared to older SATA drives. But then so do all SSDs and at what cost does piece of mind come at?
I hope you found this review of the Sandisk Extreme SSD helpful and if you have any questions or queries just let me know in the comments.
The author’s review is completely honest and unbiased and based on first-hand impression and experience of the product. He has not been paid, received a discount or provided with SanDisk drives for the sake of this review.
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