The SSD Review The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource | 
The world of flash drives continues to change and, for the most part, many features we might like to see still aren’t present in today’s solutions. Simple software security that allows a secure folder to store sensitive data, apart from the normal storage area where we can throw daily data, comes to mind right away. And what about lifespan? Even today we wonder just how long our flash drive will really last and what type of performance drop we might see along the way. And then there is the issue of speed….
SanDisk has tried to change all of that with their new SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive and, taking a look at many of its features, someone seems to have finally been listening to what the consumer asked for. Our review will get into much more detail about things such as a very easy to use SanDisk Secure Access Vault, along with amazing speeds and a very well-built device, but perhaps the best thing SanDisk has included for consumer confidence is a lifetime warranty on the Extreme Pro. Thats right…a flash drive that will last as long as its owner and one that is 60x faster than any USB 2.0 flash drive.
SPECIFICATIONS
The SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.0 Flash Drive is only available in the 128GB capacity and can be found at the $150 price point. It is capable of performance up to 260MB/s read and 240MB/s write, includes SanDisk Secure Access 128-bit AES encryption software, and is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. In fact, the drive comes already formatted for both.
SANDISK SECURE ACCESS
The SanDisk Extreme Pro Flash Drive has Secure Access 128-Bit AES encryption software included, this easily being one of our favorite features. Installation is very easy and, once installed an icon of a vault appears in your menu, and directory listing. Clicking the vault will then bring up the password page:
Once the vault is opened, it then opens to an area where you can drag and drop any file, each being encrypted immediately for your security. One can even create folders to better organize their files:
EXTREME PRO CONSTRUCTION
One of our favorite things about the SanDisk Extreme PRO is that it is virtually indestructible. In their design, SanDisk surrounded this flash drive with a single piece of solid aluminum ensuring that it would not be physically damaged anytime soon.
In addition, there are no lids to lose as the USB 3 connector can be hidden away with a simple sliding of the switch on top of the device.
Check out the performance on the next page…
Good one Les! Looks like a finally useful USB drive. I may get one.
Check Out the links added!
LoL “single piece of solid aluminum” it’s wrapped in foil.
Not quite, this aluminum shell cannot be damaged; we tried.
This is using the same controller as their budget line of ssds (sandisk ssd), right ?
Unfortunately, we cannot get inside the flash drive without destroying it…we have requested the answer…
Well, i was checking the older 64GB model and it seemed, they are using their SSD controller (one found in their entery level ssd) coupled with usb3 to sata bridge chip.
So unless they redesigned the controller to have usb3 aswell (which seems highly unlikely when looking at the random speeds) i think they are indeed using the same setup as their older ones.
Interesting flash drive , Does it have an LED activity light ?
Although SanDisk flash drives are interesting they have annoyingly been excluding LED activity indicator lights from them which I think is bad and makes their drives look like dull pieces of metal and plastic with a USB connector !.
I like the question at the start of the review about how long will these drives last because interestingly enough I still have my very first ever flash drive from 9 years ago, I left some data on it to see if I could access it in the future since the manufacturer promised it would retain data for 10 years …..fingers crossed for a few more months on the experiment…
Well, jedec states, that flash need to hold data for a minimum of 1 year, so … 🙂
Data is probobly still there, epecially if the drive was used afterwards 🙂
Yes, it is just above the ‘USB’ on the top…
Right now (June 8, 2014) Costco is selling this for under $100 and they have an open return policy. The picture on their site is incorrect, but it is the Extreme Pro 128gb and describes the aluminum body. The savings on this one item pays for the annual Costco membership. I took back a 32GB Sandisk to Costco that wasn’t working right and I had used it six months. Most places are still selling them for a bit under $150.
This drive does have an activity led and measures up to its specs. I am very happy to have purchased this from amazon for only $99. It definitely measures up to its specs.