Sharge is a Chinese language accent producer that likes to push the boundaries of design. Its Sharge 170 energy financial institution has a uniquely aggressive fashion, and it manages to show heads at any time when I journey with it. The model branched out into SSD enclosures earlier this 12 months with the Disk, which is mainly a housing designed to fit in an M.2 2230 drive.
The Disk Professional is the pure evolution of that product. The product is an exterior SSD that does not look something like its rivals; I just lately examined the Neil Poulton-designed LaCie Rugged SSD4, and whereas that drive stands out due to the colourful silicone shell, the Disk Professional is in a completely completely different league.
Considering of the Disk Professional as one other exterior SSD is reductive, because it manages to be a lot greater than that. Sure, it has 1TB of storage and a built-in USB-C cable that makes connecting to telephones and tablets extremely handy, however you additionally get energetic cooling in the best way of an built-in fan. The largest spotlight is that the SSD will get an HDMI port alongside two USB-A ports, turning it into a transportable dock. Oh, and did I point out it has magnets on the again that allows you to connect it to the again of your cellphone?
Primarily, that is an exterior SSD and a dock all become one. The Disk Professional simply debuted on Kickstarter, and it prices $189 for the 1TB mannequin that I am utilizing. There’s additionally a 2TB mannequin that prices $289, and a 4TB variant that prices $469.
Clearly, design is a key speaking level with the Disk Professional; Sharge as soon as once more managed to ship a product that stands out visually. The exterior SSD has a see-through design with brilliant accents and a yellow USB-C cable that is built-in into the chassis, and it appears cool.
There is a bodily button on the SSD to toggle the drive; that is helpful if you happen to simply need to use the Disk Professional as a dock as an alternative of needing the storage. The built-in fan solely prompts when wanted, however the devoted button enables you to allow turbo mode, permitting it to run continuously.
The Disk Professional is not that a lot larger than a daily exterior SSD, and the flexibility that you simply’re getting is unmatched. Whereas it will not be that helpful when related to a cellphone, the true potential of the Disk Professional is with handheld gaming consoles. The power to extend the storage whereas having the pliability to connect with a keyboard and mouse and plug right into a monitor or TV through HDMI — all from the identical machine — is simply nice, and the Disk Professional shines on this regard.
As an exterior SSD, it does not get anyplace as quick as its rivals; bandwidth is restricted to a most of 1000MB/s, and that is lower than a 3rd of what the Rugged SSD4 and different exterior drives handle. That mentioned, the transfers are greater than satisfactory within the context of transferring information round, and I did not see any issues with this when utilizing the Disk Professional with my Pixel 10 Professional XL and Galaxy Z Fold 7.
I received the 1TB mannequin of the Disk Professional, however you may get it with as much as 4TB of storage, providing you with the power to considerably increase the built-in storage of your cellphone or handheld console. One other differentiator is the magnets; the power to securely connect the SSD to a cellphone makes it all of the extra handy whereas touring, and this can be a massive win.
On the entire, I like what Sharge did with the Disk Professional; the product is marketed as a transportable SSD, but it surely additionally doubles as a dock if you happen to want it, and the built-in cooling ensures it does not overheat. I used it for the higher a part of two weeks, and overheating wasn’t an issue in anyway. If you would like an all-in-one machine with storage and USB ports, the Disk Professional is an effective selection to think about.
