A reliable, small, rugged, and fast portable SSD is a must for just about everyone these days. No matter if you’re a pro video editor or just someone who works on the move. Having a solid SSD in your arsenal is essential. The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron ticks every one of those boxes and looks good doing it.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
I disliked little to nothing about the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron, and I highly recommend this portable SSD for anyone. About the only thing I can ding it on is that it only comes up to 2TB of storage; other than that, it’s a champ. Read on for the full review.
Specifications
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron (1TB) has the following features and specifications:
- Total Capacity:
- 1.0TB
- Standard Mechanism:
- () 1.0TB OWC Aura P13 Pro NVMe M.2 2242 SSD
- OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components.
- Bootable:
- Mac only
- Chipset:
- Asmedia ASM-2362
- Drive Interface:
- NVMe M.2
- Certifications:
- BSMI
- CE
- FCC
- VCCI
- RCM
- Data Transfer Rate (Max):
- USB 3.2 Gen 2 : Up to 10 Gb/s (or 1250 MB/s)
- Plug and Play:
- Yes
- macOS Compatibility:
- macOS 10.12 Sierra
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra
- macOS 10.14 Mojave
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
- macOS 11.x Big Sur
- macOS 12.x Monterey
- PC Compatibility:
- Windows 10 64-bit Edition
- Windows Server 2016
- Linux Compatibility:
- Yes
- Mobile OS Compatibility:
- iPadOS 14
- iPadOS 13
- Other OS Compatibility:
- Chrome OS
- Chrome OS, Android 10 or later
- Host Port Requirements:
- Thunderbolt 3 or later
- USB-C (10Gb/s recommended)
- USB Type-A (10Gb/s recommended)
- No driver required
- Bus-powered
- Power/Activity LED
- Silver Color Aluminum Build
- IP67 Rated
- Dust, Water, and Crush Proof
- Dimensions and Weight:
- Height: 1.2 cm (0.5 in)
- Length: 7.6 cm (3.0 in)
- Width: 5.2 cm (2.0 in)
- 85.0 g (0.19 lbs)
What’s In The Box
- 1TB OWC Envoy Pro Elektron
- USB-C to USB-C cable with USB-A dongle attached
- Manual and Documentation
Design
The design of the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron falls right in line with OWC’s other portable SSD’s. The enclosure is silver aluminum and very sleek looking. It fits nicely in hand and is very small. It doesn’t weigh much, but it feels slightly heavy, which has to do with its size. Holding something that small, you expect it to weigh less and feel heavier than it is. If that makes sense, LOL.
There’s not much else to this SSD enclosure. There is an LED light indicator at the front end the USB-C port on the back end. The bottom has two rubber feet that help keep the drive from sliding around on a table. The top has the OWC and Elektron logo.
The included USB-C data cable also has a USB-A dongle tethered to one end if you need to plug it into a USB-A port. Overall, this is an excellent design. It’s clean and straightforward, and it’s rugged and compact. It ticks all of the boxes of great design for a portable SSD.
Setup and Performance
The setup of any OWC drive is straightforward. Like the company’s other drives, this one has setup software included, and you follow the onscreen instructions. The instructions will differ between macOS, Windows, and Linux. I set this up on my HP ZBook Fury G8 17.3″ workstation. The six setup steps are pictured in the gallery below (for Windows). Once you follow those instructions, your drive is ready to be used.
As for performance, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron claims up to 1,011 MB/s. This will depend on the hardware you are using it on as well. I tested the drive speeds using Blackmagic Design Disk Speed Test, CrystaDiskMark, and ATTO benchmarking programs.
Crystal and ATTO scored the Elektron speeds in the mid to high 900’s while Blackmagic scored it in the mid to high 800’s. While I didn’t get the full 1,100 MB/s, I found that these scores were sufficient enough to say the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron lives up to its numbers. The screenshots from all three tests are in the gallery above.
For fun, I created a six-minute 4K DaVinci Resolve video with color grading, multiple titles, effects, soundtrack., and other elements to see how long it would take to render to the Elektron. Now, other factors are at play here, such as my CPU, GPU, and RAM, so don’t think this test too seriously. I rendered this 4K video in just under 5 minutes.
Overall, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is an excellent performer, and it will serve pros and novices well.
Price/Value
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron comes in four different sizes and four different price points:
- 240GB – US$99
- 480GB – US$149
- 1.0TB – US$229
- 2.0TB – US$399
Overall, the price to value ratio is excellent here. OWC has priced the Elektron competitively, and the added value of its design makes this one of the best value portable SSD’s out there.
Wrap Up
Most pros need a great portable SSD, and this fits that bill perfectly, but it’s easy enough to set up and use for the average user too. The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is our Editor’s Choice for a rugged, small, robust portable storage solution. Our only critique is that we wish it came in larger sizes.
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Last Updated on February 22, 2022.
