GigaDrive External SSD Launched – Fast USB-4/Thunderbolt 4 Storage

Storage Media

by Jeff LochApril 7^th, 2021

GigaDrive, a young Chinese company, has just launched its first product: the GigaDrive external SSD. This compact and lightweight drive features a USB-4/Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, the casing is water, dust & shock-proof, and it can achieve speeds up to 2800MB/s. Let’s take a closer look at this external drive available in 1/2/4TB capacities.

Over the past few years, we have seen more and more cameras that can directly record onto external SSD drives, like the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4k/6K/6K Pro. Also, many companies started making compact, lightweight, and affordable external SSD drives, that can reach impressive reading/writing speeds.

Thanks to advancements in today’s technology – especially NVMe SSD drives – it’s not rare to see drives reaching speeds over 1000MB/s, like the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron or the G-Technology ArmorLock SSD. Most of the time, the bottleneck of these external SSDs is not the drive inside but the connectivity.

A young Chinese company called GigaDrive recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo with their first product – the GigaDrive – that can reach maximum speeds up to 2800MB/s and can survive under tough shooting conditions, which makes it perfect for filmmakers on the go.

GigaDrive features

The GigaDrive is a compact 114 x 37 x 12.5 mm / 4.5″ x 1.5″ x 0.5″ and lightweight (74g/2.6oz) external SSD made out of aluminum alloy and silicone. With an IP67 rating, the company claims it is water, dust, and shock-proof within limits: it can survive a 10 feet/3m drop and full immersion in 3 feet/1m of water for up to 30 minutes.

The GigaDrive connects to any PC/Mac/Linux via USB-4/Thunderbolt 4 port, which is backward compatible with USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 devices. Also, you can connect the drive directly to your gaming console, iPhone/Android smartphone, and your camera for external recording.

While the specifications look impressive, with transfer speeds up to 2800MB/s (read) and 2500MB/s (write), the company claims that it won’t overheat thanks to dual thermal pads, optimized surface area, and built-in heatsinks. Heat management is important with external SSDs, because transfer speeds can greatly decrease as the temperature goes up.

The GigaDrive is available in three different capacities: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. The drive inside is an Intel AGI M.2 2280 NVMe. However, the company claims that this is the “fastest external SSD in the world”, but the G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile Pro SSD that was announced back in 2018 is also capable of reaching these transfer speeds.

Price and availability

The GigaDrive is available for pre-order now on Indiegogo. The 1TB version retails for $153/€130, the 2TB version is $219/€186, and the 4TB one is $359/€306. The price per GB ratio is excellent, and the product should start shipping in July 2021.

As always, please be aware that this is a crowdfunding project and not a retail shop so do your research accordingly. CineD does its best to only share projects that look legitimate but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

What do you think about the GigaDrive? What is your go-to external SSD? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!