Having to transport important photos and videos on the go has been always an important task as a content creator, and we are very particular about the data’s safety. Can the Transcend ESD250C SSD lives up to the job?

As a photographer and film-maker, the truth is, we all have, at a certain point of time lost some important files due to rough handling of our conventional hard disk, be it portable or desktop drives and the feeling was miserable and anxiety because some of the files are really “reputation-wrecking”. This is because conventional hard disks were built on very precise and sensitive moving parts and it is not very reliable especially during harsh handling or sudden impact. Today, we have got our hands on the Transcend ESD250C for review, it is a portable SSD with a huge 960GB of storage space.
Built
Physically, this is not your conventional hard disk appearance. Put it this way, SSDs are chip-based and it comes in all form and sizes. The most common SSD related storage devices are our SD cards or thumb drives, you get the idea. The Transcend ESD250C has a very slim form factor with a very well polished aluminium surface. It looks modern and blends in well if you place it side by side with your favourite laptop or smartphones, or you can call it metal candy bar.

It is very light, at 47gram and you could carry it in your pocket easily. There is nothing fancy about the exterior, no buttons, not switches. Just one USB port and indicator light so that you know it’s working. It is a USB Type-C port with two cables included in the box for your convenience, the Type A to Type C and Type C to Type C so that you can work with most of your gadget’s ecosystems.

Performance
When buying portable storage, the capacity is the question. The Transcend ESD250C comes with monstrous portable storage at 960GB, big enough for most assignments, even my workstation is only 500GB of storage space. OK, so now we have space, what about the read-write speed? Transcend claims it could read up to 520 mb/s, so we put it to test and see it if lives up to the claim.

We are using the Black Magic Disk Speed App to run the test. We plugged the ESD250C into a MacMini USB 3 port to start running the stress test. The read speed we have got is on average of 420 mb/s which is pretty impressive and acceptable. It could be faster if we are using the USB 3.1 Type C devices. The write speed is equally impressive at an average of 400 mb/s. It is blazing fast if you are in a hurry to transfer your data.

What do these data mean? Well for one, the Transcend ESD250C could be used as your streaming device to store and edit your movie and photos externally with stability in mind. Just imagine it as an enlarged version of a metal SD card with super high speed.
Another favourite function which we like is the OTG (on-The-Go) feature. When we are lazy to flip out our notebook while we are travelling, we could just connect the ESD250C to our smartphone (we use Android) and start browsing, viewing and editing files, and share them over the internet to anywhere in the world. This is a cool and useful feature.

On Transcend’s website, you could also download and use the Transcend Elite Software
to assist you with your file management. This software will be able to manage your back-ups, restore, encrypt and cloud store your files. It could also be used to lock the device itself. This will give your SSD an extra layer of protection if your data are sensitive.

PRO & CONS
Turn Ons
Impressive read/write speed
Huge storage space
Light & portable
Good build
Turn Offs
Heats up a little during heavy traffic

To conclude, we are impressed with the portability and durability of this device, it holds a large amount of data on the go and fast enough for external streaming for photos and videos, we love the OTG feature which enable users to work on your file with smart devices without the need of laptops. Available at RM729 from Transcend official LAZADA store, or visit their website for more information.
Dimensions
Weight: 47 g
Storage: 960GB
Interface: USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB Type C to USB Type A/USB Type C to USB Type C
Flash Type: 3D NAND flash
Read Speed (Max.): 520 MB/s
Write Speed (Max.): 460 MB/s
OS: Most OSes