Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 8TB Portable SSD Review

TweakTown Rating: 95%

Our Verdict

The Rocket XTRM-Q ups the ante with a high capacity bus-powered solution and dual mode compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2, oh and a huge 8TB of storage capacity.

I think by now, most of you reading this know Sabrent with nearly every review outlet having covered a plethora of solutions from their XTRM Portable SSDS and Rocket lineup of NVMe solutions.

With the release of the massive capacity 8TB Rocket Q earlier this year, I immediately knew this day was coming, and sure enough, here we are. The XTRM-Q, as you have likely guessed, is based on the Rocket Q lineup, but even more surprising is the new enclosure Sabrent has designed for these solutions.

Anodized black, the enclosure is very similar to the Rocket XTRM reviewed earlier this year, except for a new feature, or Thunderbolt chipset that allows this solution to offer Thunderbolt 3 compatibility along with USB 3.2, a first in the portable drive market.

Marketing is pushing a 2700 MB/s transfer speed in Thunderbolt 3 mode and a 900 MB/s transfer speed for USB 3.2, making this a legit Gen 2 compatible platform. Windows, macOS, and Linux are all supported operating systems while MSRP of the 8TB Rocket XTRM-Q hits $1999.99 with a five-year warranty as long as you register the device.

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Sabrent has one of the best packaging systems I've seen, ushering in an Apple level of attention to detail, these drives come shipped in a hard metal case protecting the drive and its cables.

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Unboxing, the drive, and cables are separated by dense foam.

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A Thunderbolt 3 and A to C cable are included.

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The form factor is identical to the original Rocket XTRM, now with an anodized black finish, so we don't get the two lineups confused. We still have Sabrent branding along the bottom edge and the Thunderbolt logo at the top.

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The bottom of the drive offers capacity and model information.

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I tested the XTRM-Q in both USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 scenarios, the image above being the former. In USB 3.2 mode, I was able to grab 1078 MB/s read and 1087 MB/s write from the 8TB XTRM-Q.

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Moving over to Thunderbolt 3, performance does get a boost in our testing up to 2189 MB/s read and 1845 MB/s write.

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New to our testing is a 200GB data transfer that aims to weed out drives that lose performance during backup scenarios. Rather surprisingly, the 8TB XTRM-Q beat out the 2TB variant along with the original 4TB XTRM we reviewed a few months back. Moving 200GB of data in just 3.5 minutes.

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Pushing the XTRM-Q through PCMark10 Data Drive, it's top 3, next to the 2TB variant and OG 4TB XTRM. The 8TB scored 2906 at a rate of 435 MB/s.

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The 8TB solution's cost doesn't help Price/Performance with the XTRM-Q running along the bottom of this chart at 92.9%.

Closing this review, the XTRM-Q has all the build quality we have come to expect from Sabrent. This starts with the packaging, building up the user experience with a hard metal case and dense foam to protect the drive. We then move into the enclosure, a smooth aluminum finish, black anodizing for a professional appeal.

Performance of the XTRM-Q backs up all the hard work Sabrent put into the fit and finish, with solid numbers reaching nearly 2200 MB/s read and 1800 MB/s write in CDM and when looking at our 200GB file transfer testing, the top spot beating out its 4TB XTRM.

PCMark10 was yet another metric that showed the prowess of the XTRM-Q, even being a QLC based solution. The pseudo-SLC is so large at quarter capacity; this drive doesn't slow down in any typical user scenario.

There is only one place where you can knock the 8TB XTRM-Q, and that is the price. At $1999.99, this drive is likely the most expensive portable SSD ever made and a niche item for creative professionals that need both capacity and performance, which can finally get in a single drive bus-powered form factor!

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)