Having good backup harddrive is important if you care about your data. While there are plenty of traditional harddrive options, solid-state drives (SSD) have been growing in popularity thanks to their fast performance and durability. The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is a great starter and travel SSD to consider. It’s fast, tough and tiny enough to fit in your hand or pocket.

Solid State Drives (SSD) in Plain English

A traditional hard drive (HDD) has a spinning disk and moving parts to read and write data, like a CD players. A solid-state drive (SSD) is more like an MP3 player; they don’t having any moving parts. Instead, they are made with integrated circuits and flash memory that can read and write data electrically. Flash memory is also shock resistant, giving SSDs an advantage in protection and durability. Overall, an SSD is quieter, quicker, and more shock resistant than traditional HDD. In this case, they can also be smaller thanks to needing less parts.

Design

The Envoy Pro Elektron is tiny enough to fit comfortably and discreetly in your pocket. It’s barely bigger than the case for a pair of Pixel Buds, just shy of the width of a credit card and weighs less than half a pound (85g to be exact). If you’re tight on space, this SSD can help you reclaim some of it back.

It’s not only compact, but minimal. There is a power light on the front and one USB Type-C port on the back, wrapped in a metal casing to stay cool. It’s crush proof, dustproof and waterproof (IP67 rated) according to OWC – none of which I attempted to test. Aside from the logo on top, the Pro Elektron keeps things simple.

In order to work with devices without a USB-Type C port, a USB 2.0/3.0 adapter is attached to the included cord.Those with Android devices can conveniently use the cord as a charger too.

Performance

On paper, the Envoy Pro Elektron sounds fast, capable of delivering speeds of up to 1011MB/s. However, data from leading SSD testing software puts the SSD at the speeds closer to an entry level SSD and just shy of their claims. Next to my laptop’s internal Sasmung SSD, it doesn’t stand a chance.

Numbers don’t lie, but these numbers also don’t tell the full story. During my creator’s tests, the Pro Elektron felt very responsive and just as quick as my laptop’s internal SSD. I didn’t experience any hiccups or lags while transferring or editing files directly from the drive. Let’s dig into how well it performed during tasks a content creator might use it for.

Creator’s Test

Transferring Media

Transferring 1GB of 4K videos and RAW image files each was quick. Separately, the RAW image transfer took under 15 seconds. Things did take longer when transferring only video files, the timing was less than 30 seconds.

Editing Photos

Editing RAW image files in Adobe Lightroom using the drive was a breeze. From import to export, the editing process was smooth, responsive and snappy.

Editing Videos

Editing videos directly from the SSD in Adobe Premier Pro was just as smooth as the other tasks. Using a 4K video from DJI Pocket 2, the import process was quick and adding a few text and transition animations didn’t cause any lag. After an hour of editing, the Pro Elektron was still keeping up the demands of Premier Pro.

A Great Travel SSD

If you’re looking for a powerful and portable solid-state drive, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron fits the bill. Designed with durability in mind, it’s tiny enough to grab and go at a moment’s notice and nicely handles most tasks typical of content creators. It also works with Mac & PC, but requires their proprietary software to use with both platforms at the same time. Lastly, it comes with a 3-year limited warranty. Though not a dealbreaker, this SSD doesn’t come with any apps to manage backups or the drive.

At $149, the 480GB storage model is a better buy than the base 240GB model ($114.99) and cheaper than the 1TB model ($229). While there are cheaper solid-state drives on the market, the Envoy Pro Elektron is worth every penny thanks to its tough and compact design with fast performance.