Pros & Cons
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- Lightweight and portable
- Mostly snappy performance
- Cable-free connectivity with devices with a USB-C port
- Drop-resistant to 9.8 feet, as well as dust- and water-resistant
- Seagate Toolkit software supports backup, sync, and 256-bit AES encryption
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- Slow in Blackmagic throughput benchmark
- Expensive
Seagate Ultra Compact 1TB USB-C Portable Solid-State Drive Specs
| Bus Type | PCI Express 3.0 x2 |
| Capacity (Tested) | 2 |
| Interface (Computer Side) | USB-C |
| Internal or External | External |
| Rated Maximum Sequential Read | 1000 |
| Rated Maximum Sequential Write | 1000 |
| Warranty Length | 3 |
The Seagate Ultra Compact SSD (starts at $99.99 for 1TB; $179.99 for 2TB as tested) has a foothold in two worlds, with the speed and capacity of a USB 3.2 Gen 2 external SSD and the portability and cable-free connectivity of a USB thumb drive. It performed well in most of our benchmarks compared with more conventional SSDs. Plus, it includes backup/sync software that supports AES encryption, a rubberized sheath that boosts the drive's ruggedness cred, and three years of the company's data recovery services. The Ultra Compact SSD takes much of what's best in conventional external SSDs like the Editors' Choice-winning Crucial X9 Pro and squeezes it into a thumb-drive form factor.
Design and Build Quality: Swift SSD in Stick Form
The Seagate Ultra Compact SSD closely resembles a USB thumb drive in form, measuring 0.3 by 2.7 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and weighing just under an ounce. The silver-gray drive casing is clad in a removable black rubber sheath, with a rubber cap covering the USB connector on one end. The cap is small and unattached to the drive, which makes it easy to misplace if you're not careful.
On the bottom of the drive, next to one of the short ends, are two small holes through which a short strap—which feels like it’s made of nylon or a similar synthetic—is strung. The strap is attached through a hole in the sheath, so it can stay attached to the drive if you remove the sheath. The strap ends in a loop, so it can be attached to a hook, a keychain, or a carabiner clip.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)On the top of the drive—which is textured with three long grooves that can help in gripping it, especially when it is removed from its sheath—in dark type is the word “SSD," as if to assert its identity as such. On the drive's bottom are certifications and other drive info, including capacity.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Connectivity: Cable-Free USB-C
On one short end of the drive is a male USB-C connector, such as you might find on a high-end USB thumb drive. (Typically, the cheap drives that are handed out by businesses or at trade shows have older USB Type-A connectors.) You don't need a cable to connect it; you only have to plug it into a computer or other device's USB-C port. Its interface is USB 3.2 Gen 2, with a maximum throughput speed of about 1,000MBps—which is typical of mainstream external SSDs—and it should be compatible with any USB-C port.
According to Seagate, the Ultra Compact SSD can be used with Windows PCs, Macs, Android and iOS devices, and gaming consoles. I did have to remove my iPhone's case in order for it to fit snugly in that smartphone's USB-C port. A tiny status light on top shows you when the drive's active.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Software: Backup, Sync, Encryption, and Data Recovery All Included
The Ultra Compact SSD comes with Seagate Toolkit software, which, in addition to facilitating backups (the company includes six free months of the Dropbox backup plan) and data syncs, includes AES 256-bit encryption, the gold standard in drive security. This is a particularly nice addition, considering that such a small drive could easily get lost, or someone could walk off with it.
Seagate covers the Ultra Compact SSD with a three-year warranty and also includes a three-year subscription to the company's Rescue Data Recovery Services. Many Gen 2 external SSDs from major manufacturers, including the Editors' Choice-winning Crucial X9 Pro, have five-year warranties, but not all offer data recovery.
Durability: Built to Withstand Tumbles, Dirt, and Rain
As befits a small, lightweight, metal-framed SSD with a rubberized sheath and connector cover, the Ultra Compact SSD has a good measure of ruggedness cred.
According to Seagate, it offers drop protection of nearly 10 feet (3 meters). It has an ingress protection rating of IP54, which indicates protection against sand and dirt (though not necessarily fine dust), as well as rain and splashing water (but not immersion).
Price and Storage Capacity: Similar to Bulkier External SSDs
The Ultra Compact SSD comes in 1TB and 2TB versions; you can see the list prices for each in the chart below. At this writing, the 2TB Ultra Compact SSD was selling at Amazon for $144.99, a typical price for a USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSD; these tend to retail between $120 and $180. The smattering of Gen 2 SSDs similar in rated speed, form, capacity, and connectivity to the Seagate—such as the ADATA Elite UE800 and the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Pro Dual Drive—tend to have street prices from $110 to $180.
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Performance Testing: Solid Results for a Stick
We test external SSDs using PC Labs' Windows 10 storage testbed, a desktop PC built on an Asus Prime X299 Deluxe motherboard with an Intel Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition CPU and an Nvidia GeForce graphics card. We use the motherboard's native 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 port for testing most drives, including the Ultra Compact SSD; for 20Gbps Gen 2x2 drives, we use a Gen 2x2 port added via an Orico PCIe expansion card.
We subjected the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD to our usual suite of external solid-state drive benchmarks, comprising the Crystal DiskMark 6.0 throughput tests, the PCMark 10 data drive benchmark—which aggregates an SSD’s speed results in performing a number of workaday storage tasks—the 3DMark Storage gaming test, Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test, and our own folder transfer test. As the drive comes preformatted in exFAT, which is compatible with both Macs and Windows machines, we ran the latter two tests first on an Apple MacBook Pro. Then, we reformatted the drive in NTFS to run Crystal DiskMark, PCMark 10, and 3DMark on our Windows testbed. (Here's a closer look at our testing regimen for SSDs.)
The Ultra Compact SSD's Windows test results were typical of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives in our comparison group. Its PCMark 10 and 3DMark benchmark scores were both in the middle of the pack, and while its Crystal DiskMark sequential read score was the second-lowest among the drives we compared with, its sequential write score on the same benchmark was the second-highest. All results were within the expected range for a Gen 2 drive.
In our Blackmagic testing—which aggregates throughput speed results in writing and reading video in different formats—on our Mac testbed, the Ultra Compact SSD's scores were substantially slower than our Gen 2 comparison drives, with a 25% lower write score than the next slowest drive, and a write score fully 39% lower than the nearest straggler. It did redeem itself in our folder copy test, turning in a two-second timing that matches a number of other Gen 2 drives for the fastest score we'd expect for SSDs with that interface.
Overall, although the Ultra Compact SSD's results were on par with other USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives in my Windows testing, they were significantly slower than our comparison drives in the Blackmagic Mac video throughput benchmark. That said, this SSD should be considerably faster than even the fastest traditional USB thumb drive.
Limitations and Competition: A Narrow Niche for External SSDs
I can't find anything significantly wrong with the Ultra Compact SSD. Minor quibbles include its relatively low score on the Blackmagic speed test, and the fact that you can find other conventional SSDs and thumb drives priced lower than it. Although the Seagate's Blackmagic results were slow compared with Gen 2 SSDs, they are still considerably faster than most USB thumb drives.
The Crucial X9 Pro brings a little more to the table than the Ultra Compact SSD, at a lower price, and the ADATA UE800 also sells for less (though it lacks the Seagate's AES encryption). Some may prefer a standard external SSD, but that's more a personal choice than a limitation of the Ultra Compact SSD.
We have covered few products like the Ultra Compact SSD. We recently reviewed the SK Hynix Tube T31 Stick SSD Lies of P Edition, a thumb-drive-style Gen 2 stick with a male connector, although it's a USB-A plug. The Tube T31 sports exquisite artwork tied into the Lies of P game, although, like many such branded drives, you pay a large premium for the tie-in. Then there's the Buffalo SSD-PUT Portable SSD, which I reviewed in 2021. It also has a native USB-A connector (though it includes an A-to-C adapter). Like the Lies of Pi SSD, its capacity maxes out at 1TB.
A search on online retail sites reveals a few 2TB Gen 2 thumb-drive-like SSDs, most from little-known brands but including the aforementioned ADATA and SanDisk sticks. The 2TB ADATA Elite UE800 currently sells for about $20 less than the Ultra Compact SSD.
Of course, you could always get a conventional Gen2 external SSD such as the Crucial X9 Pro, which comes with similar ruggedness and security features as the Ultra Compact SSD but has a five-year warranty, comes in capacities up to 4TB, and whose 2TB version sells for about $25 less than the Seagate currently. The X9 Pro remains our top choice as a portable Gen 2 SSD, but the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD is also a superb pick. With it, you need never fret about forgetting to bring a USB-C cable, as you can plug it directly into your computer or mobile device.