Sabrent Rocket Nano USB 3.2 External Aluminum SSD Review

TweakTown's Rating: 96%

The Bottom Line

Sabrent's Nano delivers one of the best turn-key SSD portable storage solutions to date with fantastic performance, quality, and looks at solid price points!

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USB 3.2 Gen 2 has finally taken off as the preferred method for vendors to deploy portable NVMe solutions. It makes sense as the performance is doubled over traditional USB 3.2 Gen 1 connections, but it is a middle ground to the eventual launch of USB 4.

Taking advantage of this, we have had many portable SSDs march through the lab in recent months, and today we finally get our hands-on the Rocket Nano from Sabrent.

The Nano from the start is designed to work with all platforms, including macOS and Windows. It features an all-aluminum design similar to the Rocket XTRM recently reviewed but swaps out the Thunderbolt 3 interface for USB 3.2 Gen 2.

Of course, the connection on the outside has stayed the same with USB-C along with many other benefits, including being bus-powered. Capacity options include 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB in both silver and black colorways. Marketing performance reaches the peaks of 10Gbps USB 3.2 at a rated 1000 MB/s.

The MSRP of the Sabrent Rocket Nano comes in at $159.99 for the 1TB solution and $289.99 for the 2TB solution. Warranty is listed at one-year.

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The Rocket nano came to us in both 1TB and 2TB capacities both in tin cases. Each solution has a sleeve that offers the capacity and performance details, along with an image of the drive.

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On the backside, we have the capacity to the right and features, including what's inside to the left.

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Unboxing, we have both USB-C and Type-A cable next to the drive itself.

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Like the XTRM, the Nano also has a sandblasted aluminum design with Sabrent branding.

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Above, the XTRM on the right next to the Nano on the left.

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Testing starts with the 1TB capacity. Here we reached 966 MB/s read and 903 Mb/s write in CDM. Even 4KQ1 was quite good at 41 MB/s read - quicker than most SATA SSDs.

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Moving to the 2TB capacity, read performance stayed at 967 MB/s while write took a slight hit to 883 MB/s. 4KQ1 was again quite good at 40.98 MB/s.

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Adding both of these solutions to our charts, we finally found a drive to dethrone the Crucial X8. The 2TB Sabrent Nano takes top honors for Price/Performance while the 1TB is right behind it at 94.5%.

The quality is there for the Sabrent Nano, just as it was for the XTRM. The aluminum enclosures Sabrent is using for the Rocket lineup are fantastic and add to the overall build and aesthetic.

As for performance, I'm not sure you're going to find anything better within the USB 3.2 gen 2 market. And while the 1TB drive is the quicker of the two solutions tested here today, dropping only 20 MB/s in write performance isn't too bad for doubling capacity. As noted, both solutions hit the peaks of USB 3.2 Gen 2 at 967 MB/s read, while also offering solid 4KQ1 performance for anyone thinking about booting from this device.

Pricing again is a shining point for Sabrent as they have gone in quite aggressive matching the Crucial X8 at $159.99 for 1TB and offering the 2TB for $289.99. Of course, market pricing will change over time, so make sure to check below for the best price available.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair VIII Formula X570 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2x8GB DDR4 3600 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H60 (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Carbide 275R (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Corsair MP600 1TB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)