Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- An excellent-thin and super-light transportable SSD
- Revolutionary NFC unlocking eliminates passcodes and biometrics
- Not the quickest SSD, however quick sufficient to deal with 4K ProRes 60 fps video
Observe ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
I believe the times of carrying data around in an unencrypted state have just about come to an finish. It is simply too dangerous, particularly if that knowledge is in any approach necessary or topic to regulatory oversight.
However encrypting and decrypting drives may also be a ache, and should be as fast and easy as potential. I do not assume that course of can get any simpler than tapping an SSD together with your smartphone — and that is precisely how the Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD works.
Additionally: I tested a solid-state portable battery for a week – now lithium-ion feels outdated
Out of the field, the TouchLock Transportable SSD feels small and light-weight. Product of light-weight aluminum, measuring a petite 3.37 x 2.09 x 0.28 inches, and weighing in at just one.4 ounces, this drive feels space-age. There’s an NFC touchpad on the again, a MagSafe magnet ring on the entrance for attaching to a smartphone, and a single USB-C port on the underside.
That MagSafe ring provides you an enormous clue as to the everyday use case for this storage drive — a drive that attaches to your iPhone.
The outer shell has been designed to outlive a 6.5-foot drop, which is nice for the rough-and-tumble of day-to-day life.
Additionally: This flexible phone accessory effectively makes rugged cases unnecessary for me
On the within is a 128-bit AES hardware-encrypted SSD that protects every thing written to it, so your knowledge is rarely left in an unencrypted state. The drive has been constructed with reliability in thoughts fairly than pace, and to realize this, Lexar developed a customized low-power controller that generated much less warmth however improved reliability.
Unlocking the drive utilizing NFC is fast and straightforward.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
Regardless of not being constructed for pace, this drive can nonetheless attain write speeds of as much as 450Mbps and skim speeds of 420Mbps. This pace is quick sufficient for the gadget to deal with 4K ProRes 60 frames-per-second video recorded instantly by an iPhone (in order for you a quicker drive for the iPhone, however with out the encryption, you are taking a look at one thing just like the Lexar ES3, however that does not have built-in encryption).
Additionally: 10 quirky cables and connectors everyone should be using (and they’re mostly cheap)
That is the primary drive in a very long time that I needed to learn the guide to determine the right way to use it. I first plugged the drive into my iPhone. Nothing occurred. Then my Mac — and, as soon as once more, nothing occurred. Then I learn the guide and discovered that I wanted to obtain the suitable Lexar app (iOS and Android), and use the NFC function on my smartphone to unlock and arrange the smartphone because the handset that unlocks the drive.
The drive is tremendous skinny and light-weight, and is dwarfed by the iPhone.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
As soon as that was achieved, the drive was straightforward to make use of. You join it to a tool — smartphone, pill, laptop computer, or pc — faucet the smartphone onto the NFC pad, and it is unlocked in a number of seconds. From that time onwards, the drive acts like every other.
Additionally: The best power banks of 2026: Expert tested and reviewed
Together with the drive, you get a brief USB-C-to-USB-C cable, a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter, and a self-adhesive magnetic ring to connect the drive to issues apart from iPhones.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD comes in a 500GB and 1TB model, for $94 and $143, respectively. I just like the unlock mechanism as a result of it is fast and straightforward, however there may be an preliminary passcode that it’s important to keep in mind simply in case you lose your telephone or wipe the app or one thing like that. I additionally like how small and light-weight the drive is — it is barely noticeable when hooked up to an iPhone.
Efficiency was additionally greater than acceptable, and Lexar has achieved an exquisite job of conserving warmth to a minimal. I’ve examined a whole lot of SSDs that connect to your iPhone and get tremendous sizzling, including to the already ample quantity of warmth generated by the handset itself.
