Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The Atom Pro SSD blew through our test in short social club and is a serious - looking composition of kit . But it ’ll also set you back a serious glob of change .
Leontyne Price When Reviewed
This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined
The Glyph Atom Pro SSD’s Type-C port. Note that this is closer to the actual color of the unit than the main photo.
Best Pricing Today
Best Prices Today: Glyph Atom Pro Portable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD V2
In a public moving to USB4 and Thunderbolt 5 , a Thunderbolt 3 SSD like Glyph ’s Atom Pro Portable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD V2 might seem a bit quaint . It ai n’t . So far , we ’ve point out lilliputian substantial world public presentation gain from the newer technology , so this drive is still more than competitive . We also like its stern - in - a - good - way aspect .
The Atom Pro SSD is a smallish ignominious atomic number 13 monolith approximately 4.3 - inches long , 2.35 - inch all-inclusive , and an column inch thick . It count in at 5.7 ounces unembellished , and 6.4 snow leopard with its silicone jacket . Out of the loge , the crown is in position and adds a few mm in every dimension .
The Atom Pro SSD is Thunderbolt 3 with NVMe internals . It sports a single Type - C interface and a modest power light-emitting diode that glint through a small hole in the jacket . Overall , it ’s posh with partial tone of presentiment – it looks like a serious piece of outfit . It also feel solid , and the jacket crown hand you a ripe grip . A short Type - C to Type - C cable is provide .
The Glyph Atom Pro SSD’s Type-C port. Note that this is closer to the actual color of the unit than the main photo.
Glyph warranties the unit for three years , with two yr of level - one data recovery .
Price
While a caliber product , I was expecting down in the mouth Atom Pro SSD prices , considering that Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 are pull ahead grip . Then again , the Atom Pro SSD is not a brand Modern product . Forgetting market place analysis , it was ship in 1TB/$270 , 2TB/$350 , 4TB/$560 , and 8TB/$1400 flavorson Amazonas I put this review article to bed .
I like the Atom Pro SSD , but I ’d be omit my journalistic tariff if I did n’t at least refer this far cheaperroll - your - own USB4 choice . Additionally , the newerThunderbolt 5 OWC Envoy Ultrawas only ten buck more at the time of this penning .
Performance
Being Thunderbolt 3 , you get it on the Atom Pro is going to be truehearted . Glyph populated my test unit of measurement with a 4TBWD SN850Xinside . It ’s not as tight as the top - rated8 TB version , but still a very fast NVMe SSD .
With the SN850X on board , the Atom Pro SSD shew the third fastest Thunderbolt 3 SSD Macworld or PCWorld have tested , and one of the drives it sits behind is theOWC Thunderblade RAID SSDrunning in RAID 0 – a certain performance encouragement .
The other crusade to beat the Atom Pro SSD was theSandisk Pro - G40it was a close-fitting contest . Among all outside SSDs , including Thunderbolt 4/5 and USB4 models , Glyph ’s first appearance placed 11th .
Blackmagicdesign’s Disk Speed Test showed very balanced read/write performance from the Atom Pro SSD — around 2.7GBps. Higher numbers are better.
Blackmagicdesign ’s Disk Speed Test exhibit very balanced read / write performance from the Atom Pro SSD , around 2.7GBps .
AmorphousDiskMark ( CrystalDiskMark for the Mac ) rat the Atom Pro SSD as a faster reader , but anywhere skinny 3GBps is fine with us .
ATTO Disk Benchmark state pretty much the same story as Disk fastness Test and AmorphousDiskMark – just over 3GBps reading and just under when writing .
AmorphousDiskMark (CrystalDiskMark for the Mac) rated the Atom Pro SSD as a faster reader, but anywhere near 3GBps is fine with us. Higher numbers are better.
I also ran the Atom Pro SSD through PCWorld ’s trial MO ( for purposes of comparing and ranking ) and as note , it did very well indeed . Again , just over 3GBps reading and just under when writing .
Random write performance hit a snag under CrystalDiskMark 8 . 21MBps is a very low number , especially as the SN850X inside has drachm for primary stash .
In our real world 48 GB transfers , the Atom Pro show to be an first-class reader , thoughonlya very good writer .
ATTO Disk Banechmark told pretty much the same story as Disk Speed Test and AmorphousDiskMark — just over 3GBps reading and just under when writing. Taller bars are better.
The somewhat dull authorship did hurt the Atom Pro SSD a bit in the 450 GB write , though it still average well over 1GBps .
Note that in subsequent 900 GB writes , speed dropped to some 600MBps , which is the aboriginal write rate for the TLC BiCS 6 NAND on the SN850X. I do n’t view that a tragical slowdown , and how many times will you write over 1 TB of data at once ? We do during testing , but never other than that .
You might be enquire how the Atom Pro SSD compares to the newerThunderbolt 5 OWC 5 Envoy Ultra . you’re able to read more about the latter ’s turn in the review , but long story inadequate : in semisynthetic benchmarks , the Envoy Ultra was supreme . In real humankind transfers , however , there simply was n’t that much dispute .
Just over 3GBps reading and just under when writing seems to be the order of the day with the ATom Pro SSD. Longer bars are better..
Kind of a distressing res publica really . I did not include the Envoy Ultra ’s issue in the PCWorld charts as they were not gathered using the official trial bottom .
Should you buy the Glyph Atom Pro SSD?
If you ’re face for a fast external computer storage solvent for your Mac , the Atom Pro SSD surely deserves a look . But I ’d also commend that you attempt to see it on sales agreement , and weigh all your options cautiously .
How PCWorld tests storage
The PCWorld drive examination described above presently utilize Windows 11 , 64 - snatch running on an X790 ( PCIe 4.0/5.0 ) motherboard / i5 - 12400 C.P.U. jazz band with two Kingston Fury 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz modules ( 64 GB of retention amount ) . Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are integrated to the back jury and Intel CPU / GPU graphics are used . The 48 GB transfer tests use an ImDisk RAM disc taking up 58 GB of the 64 GB of total memory . The 450 GB file cabinet is transferred from a2 TB Samsung 990 Prowhich also runs the type O .
Each trial is performed on a newly NTFS - formatted and TRIM’d motor so the result are optimum . Note that in normal use , as a drive fill up , public presentation may decrease due to less NAND for subaltern caching , as well as other factors . This can be less of a factor with the current craw of SSDs with far quicker recent - generation NAND .
Caveat : The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped and to the capacity prove . SSD execution can and will depart by mental ability due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads / writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching . marketer also occasionally swap components . If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which wereport , by all means , let us know .
Random write performance hit a snag under CrystalDiskMark 8. 21MBps is a very low number, especially as the SN850X inside has DRAM for primary cache. Longer bars are better.
In our real world 48GB transfers, the Atom Pro proved to be an excellent reader, thoughjusta very good writer. Shorter bars are better.
This was the Atom Pro SSD’s weakest test, and we’re not sure why as the SN850X did better in our testing. Shorter bars are better.
