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addlink P50 Portable SSD: 30-second review
USB key-style portable SSDs are incredibly handy, offering a compact, easy-to-use, and lightweight option for transferring and transporting large files. The Addlink P50 Portable SSD is an extremely neat portable SSD with an aluminium casing and dual connectors at either end. At the heart of the SSD is a 1TB drive that can be accessed by plugging the drive into almost any device that’s able to recognise an external drive.
Overall compatibility is excellent, and the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface is one of the most recognised on the market. As long as your system is USB 3.2 Gen 2 or newer, then you’re going to see those transfer speeds. However, if you’re using an older interface, then that USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface is fully backward compatible, so while the transfer speeds will be slower, the drive itself will work absolutely fine.
Overall, the design, capacity and speed are all as advertised and while the design of the drive is functional, and I liked the graphic and aesthetic style, it doesn’t offer the high-end finish that I’ve seen with other drives of this type, such as the PNY DUO Link V3. The main factor here about the design is that while those connector caps are solid and well designed, they can be completely removed, and in the long run, could get lost. The body of the drive is also smooth, with no ability to attach a lanyard to securely tether it into a bag.
These issues are small, however, and what you have with the Addlink P50 is one of the best portable SSD in terms of compact style, durability – it’s fast and offers exceptional compatibility.
Addlink P50 portable SSD: Price and availability
- How much does it cost? From $67 / £67
- When is it out? Available now
- Where can you get it? Directly from Amazon and other online retailers
The Addlink P50 portable SSD starts at $67 / £67 for the 500GB model at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. It’s also available with 1TB storage space ($105 / £105) and 2TB ($189 / £189).
Addlink P50 portable SSD: Specs
Interface: USB 3.2 Gen2
Connectors: USB Type-C and Type-A
Read speed (max): 1050 MB/s
Write speed (max): 850 MB/s
Capacities: 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB
Build: aluminium alloy shell, shock/vibration-resistant
Size: 7.6 × 2.1 cm
Weight: 12 g
File system: exFAT
Addlink P50 portable SSD: Design
The design and build of the P50 is a mixed, with the finish and graphics giving it a distinctly premium look and feel, while as you get a little more into the use of the drive, you can see where the designers have balanced the form factor.
The P50 bears a striking resemblance to most USB flash drives, with a long, thin design with a logo on the surface, a solid-feeling aluminium body with two connectors, one at each end, rather than the more usual one. It’s a neat idea and one that is commonly adopted for this style of portable SSD.
When it comes to the size and dimensions, it is small and lightweight, coming in at 3.0 x 0.83 x 0.4 in / 7.6 x 2.1 x 1.0 cm and weighing just 0.42oz / 12g. Meaning that even if slipped into a pocket, you’re unlikely to feel the impact of its presence.
When the drive arrives, it comes with two protective caps fitted, one over each of the two connectors at each end, and all looks very sleek. The caps are simple push-fit rather than offering any complex all-in-one design, as I’ve seen with other similar USB portable SSDs of this type. This is a design choice, and while I like the all-in-one designs, when it comes to design with removable caps, I have in the past seen manufacturers tether the cap to the body, so that they don’t get lost. While this seems like a great idea in practice, it is usually just annoying. So while it might not seem ideal to have the caps loose when removed, as long as you’re diligent about replacing them, it shouldn’t be an issue. Also, over the all-in-one designs, these caps will offer far better protection to those connectors, and while not waterproof or dustproof rated, once those caps are in place, they are good and secure and will offer an extra level of protection.
One small feature I am a little surprised has been omitted from the design is the lack of a lanyard loop. On a device of this small size, just having something that enables you to tether the device to the inside of a bag or pocket just helps to avoid it getting lost, or, in the most simplistic function of use, makes it easy to locate in a bag when you want it.
The final point about the build is the width, which, like all USB drives of this type, means that when plugged into a laptop, it tends to block two USB-C ports rather than just the single one that it’s using. This isn’t so much of an issue if you’re using the USB-A port, but just something to be mindful of for smaller laptops.
Addlink P50 portable SSD: Features
The Addlink P50 focuses on absolute compatibility across the board, foremost of which is its design with the dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface that enables direct connection to USB-A and USB-C equipped devices. That USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface also means that it offers wide backward as well as future compatibility, essentially being usable on almost any device that enables the connection of an external drive.
Being USB 3.2 Gen 2 enables impressive transfer rates with read speeds maxing out at 1050 MB/s and 850 MB/s write speeds. What gives this drive the edge is that while those speeds will be limited by older interfaces, if used with the latest USB4 or Thunderbolt 5 interfaces, those transfer rates will stay consistent.
That interface essentially means that this drive has the best compatibility possible across port types and interfaces, making it an ideal option for transferring large files such as 4K video or even being used as a compact backup solution.
The design of the drive is small and compact, helping to make it ultra transportable, and with the aluminium body, it’s shock resistant and, through the test, survived perfectly well in a camera bag pocket with batteries and a few other items without any ill effects.
Addlink P50 portable SSD: Performance
I’ll start off with the design, as I was in two minds about a few aspects, having used dual-connector SSDs of this type in the past. The first thing to note is that while the SSD is solid and well finished, it hasn’t gone through the advanced product design process that I have seen with other similar products, such as the PNY Duo Link V3 that I mentioned earlier. Instead, you have the main aluminium body of the drive, which is capped by a USB connector at each end. You can see from the design that these are simple push-fit inserts into the metal casing. This is a design that admittedly works, but doesn’t have the high-end product design values of other drives of this type. However, it’s difficult to fault the functionality; it’s just the attention to detail.
On the body of the drive, it’s all very sleek, and the style and design of the graphics are all very nice, and for me, the flat surfaces front and back, despite being slightly concaved, make it easy to attach a label if needed. This small design feature for these SSD drives is, for me, incredibly important for identification.
The final comment of the design, when it comes to performance, is the two end caps. While I like the all-in-one design of many of these drives, the connectors are always left partially exposed to the elements. While here, with the removable caps, while the caps themselves are more likely to get lost, they fix in place so securely that it will only be human error if they do get lost. The fact that they fit so tightly and fully protect the connectors is a definite benefit. With this level of protection and the build quality, it does seem a shame they didn’t go the full way and also get this drive water and dustproof certified. As it is, the P50 should withstand a little more than most.
Moving on to the data performance, and this is where the dual-end connector starts to come into its own, with the ability to plug it into any device that enables an external storage connection. Through the test, I used the P50 with a Mac, Windows 11 PC, and my iPhone 15 Pro and in all cases, the drive was instantly recognised and usable within a few seconds.
Overall performance was good across the board, and when used for backing up files, the transfer rates seemed to be consistent. Pushing the abilities of the drive somewhat, I copied over a Premiere Pro project to the drive that I had started to edit on a PC, and reopened this on the Mac version. The video production was a mix of HD and 4K video, and the drive was able to handle the files without too many issues, with the full production coming in at just over an hour. While the drive itself did get hot, it was actually the lack of space that halted the edit rather than the performance of the drive, although some thermal throttling was apparent.
Used for smaller HD projects, between 5 and 10 minutes in length, the drive coped ok, but as there’s no active heat dissipation beyond the aluminium casing, used as a working drive on a day-to-day basis, probably isn’t the best idea. However, it proved the durability both physically and when handling data.
I then used the drive to capture 4K ProRes video footage on the iPhone 15 Pro; it took a couple of seconds for the drive to be recognised before the ProRes option appeared. Once the connection was made, the drive with its 1TB of capacity made a great option for capturing this higher-quality footage. My only issue here is that if the USB port of the phone is taken with the connection of the drive, then if you’re recording audio, you then need a set of mics, such as the DJI Mic 3s, that are able to capture onboard audio, which you will then need to edit later.
The design also means that if you’re using it with a handheld gimbal, then the length of the drive might also be an issue.
However, as a compact storage solution that offers wide compatibility, it does offer consistency and superb compatibility across multiple devices.
addlink P50: Final verdict
The all-in-one design of many portable SSDs of this type makes them easy to use, and they are often aesthetically designed. However, here, addlink has gone for pure simplicity all around, providing a drive that looks professional and is very functional rather than something that stands out for its aesthetics. This is essentially a simple portable SSD, and for that matter, is one of the most compatible options out there. The USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface offers consistent transfer rates across multiple devices, meaning that if you need to transfer files between a Mac, Windows or Linux system, then this is not only possible but the transfer rates will be consistent.
The design is also solid, and while it doesn’t have the high-end product design aesthetics of some of the competition, it is functional, in fact, more so than many of its rivals; it just isn’t as elegant. The removable caps could get lost, but in reality, they offer better protection than most other designs.
When it comes to performance, the P50’s 1TB of storage is perfect for quickly transferring data, and with those speeds topping out at 1050 MB/s, it’s good for use as a temporary working drive, although I wouldn’t recommend it as a day-to-day option; a larger SSD with better cooling is more suited to that. However, as a backup drive or for quick edits, this drive will definitely see you through.
The only other major consideration is the cost, and while this is a solid drive that puts in a decent performance in my opinion, it is at the premium end of the price range, and for this, I would have expected a little more from the design and would have liked to have seen some form of bundled software for maintenance and security. Still, as it is, it’s a solid option as an ultra-compact portable storage solution.
Should I buy the Addlink P50 portable SSD?
|
Value |
Capacity, speed and durability are all excellent, but even so, it still feels a little expensive |
3.5 |
|
Design |
Dual connectors, wide compatibility, storage and speed make this a solid option |
3.5 |
|
Features |
Excellent for daily-use backing up large files quickly |
4.5 |
|
Performance |
Unfortunately, just one too many glitches through the test affected the performance of what could have been a superb product |
4.5 |
|
Overall |
Capacity, speed and durability are all excellent, but even so, it still feels a little expensive |
4.5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
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