Nowadays everything is increasingly digitalized, but that also means our important information is more vulnerable than ever. On top of time-consuming archiving, we also have to think about how to protect our information from various viruses and malicious hardware, not to mention that no one is safe from their computer crashing unexpectedly. When new files stream into our devices every day, losing all that data can be one of the most stressful things. We try to save our data manually in our computers, and then buy expensive external memory storage to hold all the important information from our laptops. Sounds exhausting! There are other, much faster and safer ways to prevent the disaster - photo sticks! These tiny devices can protect your phone or laptop memory just with a single click and take up so little space you can carry them everywhere.
Apple smartphones and tablets are known for their very fast operation and simple operation, but they also have one major imperfection - the inability to expand the memory with an additional microSD card. The most die-hard fans will of course claim that this is an advantage, not a disadvantage, but the truth is that there is never too much additional memory. Here is a tiny gadget that will solve this problem.
SanDisk iXpand - memory for your iPhone
The SanDisk company known for producing all sorts of memory has created a small USB stick with two plugs. At one end it has a Lightning connector, thanks to which we can plug it into an iPhone or iPad and automatically back up photos, videos and even contacts.
In addition, we will be able to view and manually copy files from the phone to a pen drive or vice versa. There is also an option to create a copy of photos from social networking sites: Facebook, Instagram and Picasa. All this will allow you to really unload the iPhone memory, especially if we use a smartphone with the smallest capacity of 16 GB.
The other end is a classic USB type A that fits into any standard USB port on your computer. It allows you to copy files from a smartphone to a PC. You can't complain about the speed, we are dealing here with a USB 3.0 connector.
SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive is available in four versions: 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB.
How it was made
SanDisk iXpand USB flash drive has been designed to be as easy as possible to carry. It is small (59 mm long, 12 mm wide) and very light (just 5.5 grams).
It was made in part from metal (both plugs), and partly from hard, flexible rubber, pleasant to the touch. The whole is flexible and bent so that after connecting to the smartphone through the Lightning plug, the other end rests on the back of the housing. You don't have to worry that the metal plug will scratch your back. It is separated by a plastic tab.
Functions
To fully utilize the potential of the SanDisk iXpand pendrive, you need to install the free iXpand Drive application from the App Store on your iPhone or iPad.
After connecting the memory to the smartphone, the system will ask us for permission to access the pendrive to the iXpand Drive application. If we want to use a smartphone, we should confirm. Then the process of making copies of photos and videos will start automatically.
The speed of copying photos and videos from a smartphone via a Lightning connector is fast enough. Auto backup of 100 photos took about 20 seconds. Copying data via USB 3.0 to a computer is also quick and convenient.
The maximum read speed indicated by the ATTO Disk Benchmark program is about 94 MB / s, and the record reached up to 48 MB / s. These are sufficient values in this type of flash drive. After all, it was not designed to break speed records, but to easily and efficiently archive data from a smartphone.
The connected USB stick additionally charges the battery. This is more noticeable in iPhones that have a relatively small battery, and less noticeable in iPads. However, the power consumption is not high. If, for example, you make a backup once a day, and the pen drive does not spend more than a few minutes on your smartphone, there is practically no problem.
The SanDisk Secure Access application for encrypting the pen drive is pre-loaded in the memory stick. Its operation is very simple. After the initial creation of the password, we can encrypt files by drag-and-drop. The app in April 2016 received the "Best Designed Mobile App" from the Best Mobile App Awards.
Prices in our store:
16 GB: £10.90
Summary
SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive is a pendrive for expanding the memory of iPhone smartphones and iPad tablets. In practice, it is best suited for making quick and easy backups of photos, videos, screenshots and contacts. This is especially important for low capacity models. We do not need to clog the memory, we only transfer the multimedia to a pendrive and, if necessary, copy it later to a computer using a USB 3.0 connector.