Fantom Drives Extreme 2TB External SSD - 2800MB/s, Thunderbolt 3 and 4, USB Type-C, Aluminum, 3D NAND TLC, TB3X-2300N2TB

I bought this compact SSD for use as the Time Machine backup drive for my 2021 M1Max MacBook Pro laptop/notebook computer. I have only used it three times so far, but it seems to work great; definitely a lot faster than the external hard drive that I had been using for the same purpose previously. This SSD is roughly the same size as a deck of playing cards, but surprisingly heavy for its small size. Naturally, I wish it cost a hundred dollars less, but so far I am quite pleased with it. It is worth noting the Thunderbolt cable that comes with this SSD is quite short, so it works fine if you will only place the SSD on a desk or table right next to your computer, but otherwise you would want to get a high-quality Thunderbolt cable with more length.

Love editing in FCPX with this little guy attached to my M1 MBP. super fast and works well! I then back this up to my home server and also backblaze.

I have to be honest, I was not feeling too good about this purchase with the much slower than expected results from Blackmagic speed test. I then ran Amorphous DiskMark which gave better reads but an even uglier picture on the writes. I am using an older 2016 MBP with an i7 so maybe this is causing these results? I was under the impression, having read prior to purchase that these have WD Black drives and someone mentioned here on Amazon that their 2GB had PNY drives. I dont know exactly what drive is in this enclosure since I havent opened it up but when testing, it showed up as an Extreme6 drive, which I can find ZERO information on. The only thing I know for sure is that it is running ECFM15.1 firmware which resolves to a Phison controller. I have found that benchmarks really dont tell the whole story when it comes to performance for normal daily activities. Initially, I was thinking about returning the drive due to the disappointing benchmarks but decided since it uses TB3, benchmarks showed It is still noticeably faster than the other drives Ive been using on the USB3.1 Gen2 ports. I had the perfect (for me) normal use test for the Fantom Drive Extreme- I moved a 600GB folder of music files, approximately 40,000 files, to the Fantom Drive from another external ssd using 3.1 gen2. The results that I experienced changed my mind about returning this drive. I saturated the 3.1 Gen2 drive max rest speed for the entire 600GB transfer without any slowing down during writes on the FD Extreme. Sure, the results could have been better as a whole but all in all, I am now happy with the drive although I certainly would have been happier if I had experienced speeds closer to those stated in the description and reviews. I do understand that up to means exactly that when it comes to advertisements and more often than not, the typical results will not likely be comparable. Thats OK though- got it on a very good sale, it is fast enough and with a 5 year warranty, its hard to go wrong.

Dont know if my drive is setup right because PC setup instructions (in box) do not work in Windows 11.

Wasnt initially impressed with the benchmarks, then I read the owners manual (make sure you do) and there were a few things that needed to be done in windows 10 to unlock the full speed. After that I ran benchmarks and got soeeds better than advertised. I also did some windows tweeks to improve performance for audio latency and that seemed to imorovr speeds even more. By the time I was done optimizing Windows 10 I was able to transfer a 90GB sample library from my Sabrent Rocket 4.0 NVME internal drive to the Fantom Drives Thunderbolt 3 external in under a minute, and that contained thousands of small files whicj are usually the slowest to copy. Fast and a very solid vuild quality.

Buen pruducto. No apto para golpes como otros modelos, pero lo que si es abrumador es la velocidad de escritura y lectura. 2 a 2,7 gb/s. No olviden en formatearlo como corresponde. Lo recomiendo. Si la idea es tomarlo como para instalarle el sistema operativo y que trabaje 10 a 12 hs diarias, en ese caso es importante saber que toma temperatura. Espero haber sido útil.

Wow - this fast SSD gave me a brand new 2017 iMac. Cant believe I waited to do this.

Im no tech smart like i would like to be; only because i stop learning or advancing the knowledge after i graduate at high school. Im 30 btw so im not old lol I live in small village with hardly technology on hand, so thatll give the picture ideal of knowledge i have. The steps and information how to set it up and add onto is somewhat confusing. took a little time of thinking and understanding how to do it (like using command prompt), but actually is simple setup and works perfect. Love this device and well invest to have

For the purpose of operating on both my Mac and iPad, this drive is small and fast.

I purchased this external drive to become the new primary / boot drive for my mid-2017 27” iMac. When I purchased my iMac five years ago, it came with a Fusion drive (small SDD and slow 5400rpm traditional HDD). Fast forwarding to present day, I found the Fusion drive getting slower and I wasn’t keen on removing the screen of the iMac to replace the old Fusion drive. Since my iMac supports Thunderbolt 3, this external drive is faster than the Fusion drive. Following a tutorial I found via internet search, I mirrored the contents from the old drive to this new external one with minimal effort and then set it as the boot drive the system. My five year old iMac now boots faster and applications launch faster… likely adding a few more years of life to my iMac before I ultimately replace it. Write speeds are more than double the old drive, and read speeds are close to double when I ran benchmarks on the old and new drives.