Sonnet Technologies’ 1TB version of its Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive makes a great product even better. It’s a new model of the pocket-sized solid-state drive (SSD) storage device that packs a Thunderbolt 3 interface.
Now the drive is equipped with 1TB of NVMe flash storage and leverages the 40Gbps bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 to deliver data transfer speeds up to 2600 MB/second. The Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive was designed for pro users and doesn’t require an AC power adapter.
However, it’s also great for non-pro users who need a high capacity drive to expand the limited storage of most Mac laptops. And it’s a great solution for transferring or sharing info between multiple Macs.
Measuring a compact 2.8 inches wide by 4.1 inches deep by 1.25 inches tall, the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive connects to any compatible Mac or Windows computer, or at the end of a Thunderbolt 3 device daisy chain thanks to its 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable. Based on the latest PCIe Gen 3 flash memory technology, the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive is more than five times faster than 6Gbps SATA SSDs and USB 3 SSD drives.
And it’s easy-breezy to use. Just connect the Thunderbolt 3 cable to a valid Thunderbolt 3 port, and you’re ready to rock.
The product’s enclosure is milled with tight tolerances, which helps maximize thermal transfer from the specific installed SSD installed inside. This makes possible its fanless design and enables the Fusion Flash Drive to operate for long periods of time without thermal-throttling of the SSD’s performance.
The bottom of the Fusion conveniently features four rubber feet to help keep the drive from sliding around on a desktop.
Note that the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive is shipped unformatted, but, using the latest macOS Disk Utility, this shouldn’t be a problem. That said, earlier versions of macOS High Sierra did present problems; read about it here. If you need to boot macOS from the drive, if must be formatted as one of the Mac OS Extended formats.
Despite these potential gotchas, the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive is a fantastic external storage solution if you can afford it. With its 1TB capacity, it has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $999. Still, it’s, as far as I know, the fastest bus-powered portable external drive around. More information on the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive is
Apple World Today Rating (out of 5 stars): ★★★★
