SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Go REVIEW

Free up space on your phone quickly.

I have a reoccurring problem with my phone. I run out of space. When I got my first iPhone and it only had 4GB of storage on it, I never thought 64GB wouldn’t be enough for me. Well, as it turns out I take a lot of photos and videos — for personal reasons and for work. So, my phone fills up quickly. While I could take advantage of cloud storage, I would rather just transfer it all over to my laptop. Fortunately, SanDisk has a great solution for this problem — the iXpand Flash Drive Go.

DETAILS

The iXpand Flash Drive Go is a versatile storage option for Lighting-compatible devices. With it, you have the option to automatically back up your photos, videos, and contacts as well as manually moving files from your mobile device to the flash drive. In addition to backing up your phone, you can also use the iXpand Flash Drive Go while you are shooting videos. It can act as your main storage device and you can record right onto the drive. The iXpand Flash Drive Go allows you to password-protect your files across multiple devices. The swivel design protects connectors and features a keyring hole so that you can carry your flash drive anywhere. The flash drive is available in three different capacities – 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. The iXpand Flash Drive Go works with the iXpand App for iOS devices, which helps you to manage your files while the drive is attached to your phone or iPad.

USER EXPERIENCE

Most of my product experiences begin with the packaging. The iXpand Flash Drive Go comes in a pretty standard flash drive retail case. There is a clear window where you can see the product that is stored inside and then cardboard as the base of the package. The front of the package displays the capacity of the flash drive, the product name, a couple of features that are highlighted by bullet points, and an illustrated guide of the uses for the drive. The back of the package provides a quick how-to on using the flash drive and then points out the main features of it. Getting into the package is fairly simple. The package designers placed a dotted line near the top of the cardboard to indicate where it is safe to cut it open.

If you are plugging the drive directly into your computer, you don’t have to do anything special to be able to access the files on the iXpand. It will appear on your desktop as a standard external storage device and you can manage it normally. When it’s connected to the iPhone (or iPad), you do have to utilize the iXpand app in order to be able to manage the files. The app is free to download and the startup steps are provided within the app.

The flash drive feels really good in the hands. That might be a weird statement, but the swivel mount is rubberized and has a nice, soft texture to it. It moves around easily, but also feels secure when it locks into place. The drive has a really nice design to it. I’ve used previous versions of the iXpand for the iPhone and they seem clunky at times. This flash drive sits as a sleek extension of the iOS device and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

As far as performance goes, I did a couple of different tests. First, I completed a Blackmagic Disk Speed Test with the flash drive connected to my MacBook Pro using the USB-A side. The test results showed a read/write time of 88.7/35.8 Mb/s. This speed was actually quite a bit slower than I anticipated. In relation to other flash drives I’ve tested, the write time was almost half of what other USB-A drives have shown. On the other end of the spectrum, I did transfer a substantial amount of files from my iPhone to the flash drive using the iXpand app. In total, I transferred 19.03GB of video files to the iXpand drive. It ended up taking approximately 23 minutes to transfer for a transfer rate of 0.82 GB/m. That translates to 13.79 MB/s.

CONCLUSION

The iXpand Flash Drive Go is a really awesome option for freeing up space on your iPhone. I always want to cling to my photos and videos so they don’t get lost in the shuffle, but there is only so much space on my phone. The iXpand drive makes it possible for me to quickly and efficiently save my files without needing to get my laptop involved. I’m a big fan of products that make life easier and the iXpand Flash Drive Go definitely fits that category.

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