GigaSSD reportedly working on an “extremely fast” external SSD

Shenzhen based startup GigaSSD is running an IndieGoGo fundraiser to bring to the market an extremely fast SSD capable of write speed well over 2,000 MBps.

The GigaDrive, which the company claims to be developing since April of last year, can reportedly hit sustained speeds of 2,800 MBps read and 2,500 MBps write, which would make it one of the fastest SSD in the market. The exterior case is made out of aluminium (which doubles as a heatsink) and reportedly supports both Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4. The SSD is Offred in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacity options

According to an article published on Forbes, the drive prototypes feature a WD Black SN750 paired with a DRAM cache chip and an Intel JHL8440 Thunderbolt 4 controller. It's said to be compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux, and features an IP67 rating, making it dustproof and protected against water immersion up to a meter for up to half an hour.

The same articles also note that there are virtually no public details about who is involved in GigaSSD, and while the company is registered in the U.S., it's actually based in Shenzhen, China.

On the other hand, AppleInsider and TechRadar have both allegedly received limited access to the drives and reported synthetic numbers are slimier to GigaSSD's claims. Though other tests (AS SSD and AJA) fell to between 95% and 65%. Real-world data transfers tests saw similar performance issues as well.

GigaSSD is also offering the GigaDrive at a notably low price compared to the market standards. For example, the 2TB model is being offered for $438, which is $162 less than its closest competitor, a 2TB Samsung X5. Which strikes as odd as the WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD that the GigaDrive is reportedly built upon cost $800 in and of itself.

However, the company counters this by saying they are planning to switch to the "Intel AGI M.2 2280" models production version, which should raise alarm on its own.

GigaSSD is planning to ship the GigaDrive to its backers in July 2021, with retails sales starting sometime after that.