how much faster is this than an external HDD?

With an SSD over HDD, you're obviously paying for the increase in speed. Nobody actually answered your question of "how much faster." Even though it's been over a year now, maybe it will help someone else. A typical portable HDD speed seems to be about 120 Mbps, whereas this drive claims 1,050 MBps read and 1,000 write. So about 8 or 9 times faster. Also, it is pretty fast relative to other portable SSDs. 1 GBps seems to be about the standard right now for drives in this price range. The T7 quotes the same speed, from what I can tell. Definitely not "3-4x" faster. The X5 quotes twice the speed (at twice the price).

How to get the full 1000 mb/s? only getting about 800 mb/s write and 700 mb/s read. plugged directly into a macbook air m1 (2020). blackmagic test

The numbers quoted are for the raw data rate - how fast the drive can accept bits. You will never see this in real life. Some factors affecting real-world performance include: * File system overhead. Your file system (whether FAT, NTFS, HFS, APFS, ext or anything else) has overhead. This overhad consumes bandwidth, but you won't see it in a benchmark that only measures the data used by your files. * Your testing application may not be getting enough CPU cycles or USB bandwidth to be able to push data at the device's maximum speed. Testing labs use a computer with a specialized operating system that can ensure sufficient bandwidth, but an app running on a normal operating system can't make such a guarantee.

It's not showing up on my ntfs for mac but is in finder. also keeps asking me to authenticate in order to do anything with it?

Ntsf is a windows format. A Mac will not write to it natively. You will need to get 3rd party software like Paragon or another to fully work with a ntsf formatted hard drive on a Mac. Format it to apfs if it is only going to be used on a Mac or buy ntfs for Mac software if you need to go back and forth.

Can I use this as an additional storage *continuously* connected to my mac? any overuse or overheat issues?

Since my poor MacBook Pro 2016 has gotten slower because I refuse to update the OS (because I know what would happen), I started using my 2TB 1050mbps SSD Sandisc external drive for my heavy video editing and music production projects and it flies without any problem. I would say though that it is true that at some point it gets quite hot but nothing’s affected it’s performance. My advise is just connect it when you need it and that’s it. I love this little friend!!

Hard Drive	4 TB Solid State Drive
Brand	Sandisk
Series	SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD
Item model number	SDSSDE61-4T00-G25B
Item Weight	1.76 ounces
Product Dimensions	0.38 x 2.07 x 3.97 inches
Item Dimensions LxWxH	0.38 x 2.07 x 3.97 inches
Color	Sky Blue
Flash Memory Size	4 TB
Hard Drive Interface	USB 3.2
Manufacturer	Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
ASIN	B0C5SF333L
Date First Available	May 22, 2023

SanDisk 4TB Extreme Portable SSD - Up to 1050MB/s, USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2, IP65 Water and dust Resistance, Updated Firmware, Sky Blue - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE61-4T00-G25B

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