Transcend StoreJet 600 240GB Portable SSD Review

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Transcend is a vendor that specializes in several markets. More recently, they have been focusing on storage upgrades for Apple products with the launch of their JetDrive 825 and 855 and even further portable options like the StoreJet 600 in-house today.

The StoreJet 600 is a portable storage solution catering to the macOS family of products. This solution comes factory formatted in the HFS+ file system with only one capacity option, 240GB. Transcend has taken advantage of USB-C to allow for wide compatibility, while including an A to C cable for legacy systems. Marketing gives us performance numbers of 470 MB/s read and 460 MB/s write and compatibility with macOS 10.10+ and Windows 7 and later if you reformat the device.

MSRP is coming in at $129.99 with a three-year warranty.

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Diving right into product packaging, we have Apple-inspired design notes with the grey and white color scheme. The model scrolls along the bottom, with capacity at top left.

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The back offers specifications on the left side and warranty info below. This product is compatible with both Elite and RecoverX software from Transcend.

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Included in the box we find a USB-C cable and the conversion A to C cable.

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The StoreJet 600 is quite small, just a touch bigger than an m.2 SSD. The enclosure is all metal with a gunmetal finish.

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The edge of the drive houses the USB-C port and small LED light for activity.

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Since this solution is built for macOS, I was able to use my 2017 iMac for testing. Within HLT, we ran the basic set of tests to get a baseline performance number from which we can build chart on in later reviews. As seen above, the SJ600 did a 3GB read at 492 MB/s, and a 3GB write at 418 MB/s.

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Moving to AJA with the UHD ProRes profile and 4GB file size, we see 89 FPS read and 72 FPS write.

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DST is pretty much a staple of all macOS storage testing. That said, we were able to gather 528 MB/s read and 459 MB/s write from the SJ600.

With many vendors introducing small form factor portable storage solutions over the last year, I admire the fact that Transcend has decided to step back look at the market gaps and design the StoreJet 600 to fill the entry-level performance segment for Mac users. The SJ600 offers strong build quality with its metal enclosure along with solid aesthetics any Apple user would enjoy. USB-C gives the device-wide compatibility with the current Mac lineup and the inclusion of an A to C cable allows legacy port access.

The performance was stellar for the 600; we were able to blow past the 470 MB/s read mark set by marketing in several cases including 528 MB/s in DST. Write performance was right on at 459 MB/s in DST and 72FPS in AJA. I am confused at the lack of capacity options for the SJ600. Having a single 240GB capacity only limits the reach of this device, and I do hope Transcend begins to offer higher capacity flash storage options in the future.