The Bottom Line
G-Technology is one of only a handful of vendors that is directly linked to facilities that create or have their hands in the manufacture of either HDDs or SSDs. HGST, the parent company of G-Drive, also happens to be part of the Western Digital brand which in turn now owns SanDisk. When you have a network like the G-Drive brand now does, you are opened to offer more versatile solutions, solutions like the SSD Slim USB-C.
The Slim USB-C is one of the latest solutions from G-Technology while also serving as what I believe is their first USB 3.1 Gen 2 solution. This enables 10 Gb/s connectivity to the device for full performance to the end-user. Capacity options include a 500GB solution that was sent to us for testing and a larger 1TB model. Marketing performance comes in at 540 MB/s for this solution while being compatible with both OS X and Windows platforms.
MSRP of the 500GB G-Technology G-Drive Slim SSD USB-C comes in at $229.99 with a three-year warranty.
Packaging includes an image of the G-Drive on the front with capacity listed at the top and connectivity at the bottom.
On the spine, you will find a more detailed specification list.
The scope of delivery includes the warranty and quick start guides along with a straight USB-C cable and Type-C to Type-C cable.
The drive itself has a sleek aluminum cover color like the space gray that Apple uses. Branding is held to a minimum with a simple logo and SSD on the front.
The bottom edge houses the reversible USB-C connection.
The bottom of the drive houses regulatory information and the serial number.
Internally, the G-Drive is using a SanDisk SSD as seen in the image above.
Moving over to testing, we start with Flash Bench and find this drive very capable. Read and write stayed very close around 520 MB/s from 16M through 1M falling off after.
Putting this drive next to all previously tested solutions, we find it to be the quickest next to the SanDisk Extreme 900.
Throwing price/performance into the mix, the G-Drive does quite well here too. As you can see above second once again to the Extreme 900.
G-Technology is one of the top tier vendors when it comes to external storage solutions. We have seen just a few over the years, but I have always been impressed with the level of fit and finish put on their products. It's like Noctua with CPU coolers and SilverStone with chassis; you just get the feeling there was more attention paid to each device as they were manufactured.
The G-Drive Slim SSD USB-C is a relatively good storage solution. It's one of the highest-performing drives I have had in the last five years and second only to the Extreme 900 that put a couple of Ultra 960GB SSDs in RAID 0 to reach the peak of USB 3.1 Gen 2. With that said, I could reach marketing performance at 520 MB/s, and price to the performance put this solution near the top of the charts.
In closing, the G-Drive is certainly more expensive than competing portable SSDs in the 480GB to 512GB market. With that said, you are getting a three-year warranty and a higher level of quality with the G-Drive solution.
Tyler's Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASUS Z170 Premium - Buy from Amazon
- CPU: Intel Core i5 6500 - Buy from Amazon
- Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Memory: Klevv CRAS 16GB (4x4) DDR4 3000 - Read our review
- Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- OS Storage: Intel 730 480GB SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Secondary Storage: Intel 750 400GB U.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Case: Thermaltake P5 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200 - Buy from Amazon
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon
Performance | 93% |
Quality including Design and Build | 95% |
General Features | 90% |
Bundle and Packaging | 90% |
Value for Money | 85% |
Overall | 91% |
The Bottom Line: While being more expensive than traditional portable SSD solutions, G-Technology's G-Drive SSD Slim USB-C ushers in solid capacity options with top tier performance.
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