SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop Review (XNUMX)

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop Review (XNUMX)

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Computer: Two Minute Review

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop (XNUMX) Specifications

Interface: USB ten Gbps (USB thirty-one Gen two)
Connector: USB Type-C
Drive: (1) XNUMX-inch hard drive
Data transfer speed: XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB and XNUMXTB: up to XNUMXMB/s read and XNUMXMB/s write
18 TB: up to XNUMX MB/s read and XNUMX MB/s write
22 TB: up to XNUMX MB/s read and XNUMX MB/s write
Operating Temperature: 41°-95°F (35°-XNUMX°C)
Size (L x W x H): 5,24 x 27 x XNUMX inches | one hundred thirty-three × two hundred ten × forty-one mm
Weight: XNUMX lbs / XNUMX kg or less for larger capacities
4 TB, 0,35 TB: XNUMX lbs/XNUMX kg
Operating Systems: APFS pre-formatted, macOS 15+ (Time Machine compatible), Windows® 10+ (via reformat)
What's in the box: G-DRIVE desktop drive, power supply, USB-C to USB-C cable, quick start guide

The SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop Drive line is clearly a product for those who want to spend big and get something unique.

Previously, SanDisk made the G-DRIVE and G-DRIVE PRO series that shared similar styling and internal drives. But the G-DRIVE PRO offered greater Thunderbolt connectivity than the USB XNUMX capacity of the standard G-DRIVE.

This new G-DRIVE design has had a visual overhaul and now offers XNUMXTB as the highest capacity drive. That's an improvement over the previously offered XNUMXTB, and the XNUMX model has other design tweaks as well.

To manage so much storage space, the mechanisms inside the case are all XNUMX inches, and when it's inside a case that's still mostly metal, this kills any idea that it could be used as portable storage. a recommended way.

The SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop Drive was developed to live in a desktop computer and manage a localized way to back up data and expand the internal capacity of a laptop or desktop system.

The connection technology chosen by SanDisk is USB-C, and the box includes a 1m long cable developed for twenty Mbit transfers as well as the drive and power supply.

Why they give such a high-quality cable is a mystery, as the physical hard drives in this series cannot handle two Mbps downhill transfers in windy conditions.

The fact that they don't include a USB-A to USB-C cable is a disappointment at this price, but most customers will probably have this item if they need it.

Exclusive USB-C support out of the box comes with the drive pre-formatted for Apple systems.

Maybe G-DRIVE hardware is purchased primarily by Apple owners, or they don't think Apple users can figure out how to reformat and thus burden Windows users with this work. It's not clear why they didn't format it with something both systems could understand.

Therefore, when we tested a XNUMXTB edition of the G-DRIVE desktop drive, we were forced to reformat it on our test PC before it even showed up as a drive in the file system.

Other than that, installation is remarkably easy as SanDisk doesn't provide any software utilities, but rather relies on the service's clients to provide them.

Apple users can use Time Machine and Windows users can use whatever synchronization tool they have, if it's free.

The two main selling points here are the build quality and the sheer amount of capacity potentially on offer.

When you compare the cost to a basic drive and a simple USB enclosure, the G-DRIVE desktop drive is one of the most expensive ways to get spare space and is also somewhat slow compared to SSDs.

We're not at the point where SSD storage catches up with this solution in terms of cost per GB and free sizes, but occasionally it will.

Meanwhile, the SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE desktop drive is free and can manage large amounts of disk space for those willing to pay the asking price.

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop: Cost and Availability

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop (2022)

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

There are currently 5 capacity options for the new G-DRIVE desktop drive including XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB and XNUMXTB drives.

UK service customers can purchase them direct from Western Digital for €206,99, €266,99, €468,99, €632,99 and €707,99. In the USA, the US dollar equivalents are €233,39, €266,69, €422,29, €577,79 and €764,69, respectively.

This is a cost reduction over the previous G-DRIVE Desktop design and significantly more affordable than the PRO model that uses a Thunderbolt connection.

However, befitting the G-DRIVE brand, it's not exactly affordable. A retail XNUMXTB drive from Western Digital is around $XNUMX, which is the majority of the cost of the drive in the case. And, while it's the same cabinet, the cost increases with the size of the storage installed.

For the XNUMXTB option, the case costs around an additional $XNUMX, but for the XNUMXTB model, it costs $XNUMX more than internal storage, based on retail costs. And, of course, Western Digital isn't going to pay retail fees for its drives.

I'm not sure how those savings work out for you, but if you don't mind voiding the warranty, that cost makes it a bit more affordable to buy a XNUMXTB model and an XNUMXTB drive at retail and move them somewhere. purchase the eighteen TB option.

Seagate offers an equivalent USB drive, the Seagate Expansion Desktop, for significantly less. The 225TB one costs around €200, a savings of €XNUMX for exactly the same amount of space and virtually identical performance.

And, in competition with its products, Western Digital makes the brilliant My Book Duo, where the XNUMXTB drive (two x XNUMXTB) is little more than the XNUMXTB G-DRIVE desktop drive, but offers a mirroring option. robust and allows users to switch units. .

If you want capacity and don't care about brand, Western Digital sells the 360TB Elements desktop external drive for just over $XNUMX, or nearly $XNUMX in savings compared to the similarly performing G-DRIVE model.

In short, the new G-DRIVE Desktop Drive is cheaper than ever before, but it's still too expensive for what it offers.

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop: Design

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop (2022)

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

From the outside, the new G-DRIVE Desktop now has a more angular aesthetic and not the rounded cylinder appearance of the previous design and PRO model.

The case is still thick aluminum, but now without the G-DRIVE logo that dominates the front. It has been replaced by a much less conspicuous SanDisk Professional logo.

The extra-thick metal casing that does double duty of dissipating heat from inside the unit and shielding it from potential physical damage is both a blessing and a curse.

And while it does both great, it also makes the device heavy and inappropriate to put in a laptop bag with a computer. With its external power supply, sharp edges, and multiple USB cables, this drive requires its carry bag and isn't all that portable.

There is a clue on the back, a Kingston security slot, which suggests that the G-DRIVE is not developed for travel, but rather solely as a desktop storage device designed to connect to a laptop or computer system. desktop, probably using a USB docking station.

Since this design lacks the PRO's Thunderbolt daisy chain functionality, having more than one connected requires multiple USB ports or at least a hub.

And alarmingly, where SanDisk previously provided USB-A and USB-C cables, the new design comes with only a single USB-C cable.

Since these are standard cables, it's fairly easy to pick up a USB-A to USB-C cable, but after spending up to $XNUMX on one, finding out that SanDisk has saved on a fifty-cent cable is jading.

In the promotional material, the USB interface on this unit is noted to be a variety of 1 Gbps Gen XNUMX, an improvement over the previous XNUMX Gbps Gen XNUMX interface in the previous design.

As good as it sounds, the fastest drive in this line, the 1TB drive, has a top speed of XNUMXMB/s, which is far from surpassing the bandwidth of a Gen XNUMX interface. The Gen XNUMX interface is a largely inconsequential change.

The player can be tilted to the side, but the rubber feet on the bottom reveal that it was meant to sit horizontally. As with the PRO model, it is possible to stack them leaving enough space between them for cooling.

A curiosity are the noticeable bolt covers on the sides that accept an allen hexagonal key.

A reasonable assumption to make about them is that they connect the drive to the case, and removing them might make it easier to access the inside of the case.

Unfortunately, they are completely fake, being made of plastic and only providing a way to access a threaded hole that appears to be made for mounting these drives in a rack.

Access to the inside of the case is via hidden screws under the rubber feet, removal of which would certainly void the warranty.

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop (2022)

The new G-DRIVE Desktop (XNUMX) uses less metal in certain places than the drive it replaces (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Inside the chunky casing is a XNUMX-inch SATA hard drive, and depending on the model, it can be a XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB, XNUMXTB, or XNUMXTB drive.

The inclusion of the latest XNUMXTB option offers plenty of space for backup and data, and due to the number of platters, heads, and cache on this drive, it's also the fastest model.

But before you plan on securing XNUMXTB of data on one of these, it's worth considering that since it's not an SSD, it can easily take more than a full day to move that much data onto or from the player.

One nice new feature is that on the older desktop model, the "G" on the front would light up when the drive was turned on and blink to show the activity. In this new design, there is a button on the back of the reader to dim the brightness or turn off the LED, if that flickering is distracting.

The new design seems to be moving towards more plastic and less metal, but this solution is nothing unusual unless you need XNUMXTB of spare space on your desk next to your work computer.

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Desktop: Features