PORTABLE SSDS

The more photos you take, the sooner you're going to need a long-term storage solution. We test four of the best portable SSDs around

- Angela Nicholson

The summer months are a great time to get out and about with your camera, but if all that shooting is quickly filling up your computer’s storage, then now might be the time to invest in one of the best portable SSDs; they’re also handy if you need a portable digital portfolio to carry between clients or places of work.

A conventional portable hard disk drive still offers the most bytes for your buck, but for top transfer speeds, a solid state drive (SSD) is a must. The best portable SSDs are also a fraction of the size and weight of a conventional portable hard drive, and although an SSD’s speed and portability still command a premium over a hard drive, pricing is now much more accessible for storage space up to 1TB. 

OWC Envoy Pro Elektron

www.owc.com £94-£356/$89-$220

This pocket-sized SSD feels incredibly tough and enables speedy image downloads

Other World Computing (OWC) was founded in 1988, and produces an extensive range of computer upgrade kits, memory, computer docking stations and storage drives. The Envoy Pro Elektron is the company’s smallest SSD, but it’s also tough, and its NVMe M.2 2242 technology means that it’s capable of transfer speeds of up to 1011 MB/s.

Key features

OWC produces the Envoy Pro Elektron in four capacities – 240GB, 480GB, 1TB and 2TB –majoring on the smaller sizes rather than the larger ones. This means the SSD is available at some attractive price points; however, the 2TB drive has some stiff competition from the likes of the SanDisk Professional G-Drive SSD.