The Bottom Line
It's been awhile since we have taken a look at a real performance minded solution from G-Technology, thinking back it may have been the GDrive SSD Slim. Today, we go above and well beyond the performance of that solution with a top tier offering, the GDrive Pro SSD.
For most, a typical portable SSD is perfect for transferring data between systems or for personal backup storage. For the creative market, we ratchet things up a notch needing increased durability and capacity for 4K and higher workflows. The SSD Pro from G-Tech does just that offering 7000TBW or one drive write per day for the 7.68TB model. Adding to this we have a sustained transfer rate of 2800 MB/s, daisy chain capability for up to 5 devices and a stackable aluminum enclosure.
Compatibility includes Windows 10 along with macOS 10.13. MSRP touches $1299 for the 960GB, $1999 for the 1.92TB, $3999 for the 3.84TB model and $7499 for the 7.68TB solution. All models have a five-year warranty.
Packaging is modern and simple for the Pro SSD. We have an image of the enclosure with capacity and performance listed at the top.
The back offers a diagram of the enclosure along with use cases and support information.
Removing the outer shell, we have a secondary box that offers both specifications and box contents on the side.
In the box, we have the drive, power adapter, and Thunderbolt 3 cable.
The Pro SSD is a great looking drive, mesh front panel to allow air to pass through. We have a G-Technology logo that lights up white with activity.
The top of the enclosure has a powder coated feel to it with a large logo.
The backside includes a power switch, power input, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The top right here does offer a Kensington lock slot.
Starting testing with DST, we see 2124 MB/s read, and 1003 MB/s write.
Moving over to AJA, we use a 10Bit YUV UHD workload. Here, we see 2324 MB/s read and 1061 Mb/s write.
Formatting the drive and switching to Windows 10, we see 2800 MB/s read from QD16 through QD256. Write performance touched 940 MB/s at QD16 and holds through QD128.
Still, in Windows 10, we run through random workloads. Here we see near 100K RR IOPs at QD256 while random write touched 85K IOPS at QD8 and holds through QD256.
As we close out 2018, there is no better way than testing seriously quick storage solutions. In the beginning of the year we were able to see our first 4TB Desktop SSD with the OWC Thunderblade, a solution that used four 1TB modules and custom RAID PCB to reach ~2600 MB/s read.
With the GDrive Pro SSD, we no longer need to worry about RAID controllers or multiple drives increasing points of failure, instead, we have a single enterprise Ultrastar SN200 3.84TB SSD offering nearly 2 DWPD and increased performance up to 2842 MB/s in my testing.
Build quality of the enclosure is amazing with a thick aluminum shell and steel chassis honeycomb entry for the airflow. The front-mounted logo doubles up as a dim light show with activity of the drive. In addition, the rectangular design of the GDrive offers the ability to stack enclosures without impeding heat transfer.
As stated previously, performance was quite good. That said I was unable to reach full potential of this drive in macOS with DST or AJA, but we did come quite close at 2124 MB/s in DST and 2324 MB/s in AJA UHD workloads.
Price will most often dictate whether a device will fit your needs or not. That is certainly true with the SSD Pro as the model in-house retails for an impressive $3999.99. That does include a 5-year warranty.
Tyler's Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z370 (buy from Amazon)
- CPU: Intel Core i3 8350K (buy from Amazon)
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4x8GB DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i (buy from Amazon)
- Case: Corsair Air 540 (buy from Amazon)
- OS Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (buy from Amazon)
- Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
- Wi-Fi NIC: ASUS PCE-AC88 (buy from Amazon)
- 10Gbe NIC: ASUS XG-C100C (buy from Amazon)
- Thunderbolt 3: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)
Performance | 97% |
Quality | 93% |
Features | 87% |
Value | 81% |
Overall | 90% |
The Bottom Line: Price is the only limiting factor with the Gdrive Pro SSD, as it handles both capacity and performance quite easily.
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