A tiny, however quick SSD enclosure for photographers

Dockcase’s peripherals are all the time attention-grabbing in that the corporate likes to place screens on lots of them, providing you with dwell details about what is going on on in them. Prior to now, I’ve tried a few of the firm’s USB hubs and located them attention-grabbing, albeit a bit finicky. Nevertheless, the Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version is a brand new type of gadget; being a transportable SSD enclosure, you may simply slip right into a pocket whereas nonetheless having that show for dwell data.

Whereas the usefulness of that show is debatable, the Dockcase Pocket M.2 SSD enclosure does its job nicely. If you’d like a straightforward technique to transfer photographs off your telephone or just transfer content material between gadgets, this can be a excellent possibility, and it is lots quick, too.

About this evaluation: Dockcase despatched me the Pocket Pictures Version enclosure together with a 128GB SSD for testing. The corporate had no enter on the contents of this evaluation. An SSD will not be included with the ultimate product.

Pricing and availability

The Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version is at present obtainable on Kickstarter, with a brilliant early chook pricing beginning at $79. A number of tiers of reductions can be found on Kickstarter forward of the complete launch, although. The official MSRP begins at $119 for the Matte Black version, whereas the Stripe version I’ve for evaluation prices $129.

Dockcase merchandise usually launch on Amazon, so that you also needs to be capable of discover them there after the official launch.

Design

Tiny, however premium-feeling

Dockcase all the time makes {hardware} that feels fairly good, and it is no totally different right here. The Pocket Pictures Version is available in an aluminum chassis with a glass high cowl, and whereas it is tiny and light-weight, it has some reassuring heft and sturdiness to it. This seems like one thing you may take wherever, and the identical goes for the sleeved cable, which feels prefer it would not be simple to interrupt.

In comparison with the usual Dockcase Pocket, this mannequin is a bit of bigger, and that is as a result of it is meant for photographers, whether or not that is utilizing an expert digicam or a smartphone. On the perimeters of the drive are two quarter-inch screw holes, which can be utilized with a typical digicam tripod mount. It is a piece of apparatus I really haven’t got, however should you’re a photographer and do not have already got one, you will most likely need it. Among the Kickstarter rewards allow you to purchase one in all these mounts. With out it, you will have to carry the digicam and SSD in your palms, and also you may danger dropping a video recording or one thing on account of jostling the cable. That is occurred to me just a few instances.

There’s additionally a button on the opposite aspect of the SSD, which can be utilized to navigate the menu on the enclosure itself because it has a show.

The show has some helpful data

A development in Dockcase’s gadgets is all the time having a display screen, and that display screen can normally do some cool stuff. The primary display screen of the Dockcase Pocket reveals you details about the connection to the host gadget, most notably the pace. This was a cool technique to be taught that my mid-range telephone helps USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) speeds, one thing even the most recent iPhone 15 would not have. You’ll determine whether or not the host gadget helps USB 2.0 or USB 3.2 Gen 2, too. When writing or studying information, you can too see the learn and write speeds, plus you may inform how a lot information has been written in whole throughout the present session as soon as the switch stops.

In any other case, the display screen reveals you the SSD mannequin at present contained in the enclosure in addition to the well being standing of the SSD, so you may inform should you may want to switch it. You may as well see the temperature of the SSD right here, which is fairly helpful should you’re apprehensive about overheating (although there appears to be no purpose to). One other characteristic proven right here is the standing of the ability loss safety characteristic, which is supposed to forestall points with the SSD in case of sudden energy loss.

It additionally has different cool options, like a monitoring display screen the place you may see the ability consumption and temperature on a graph to judge the way it’s altering to make sure it is all secure. You even have an possibility for firmware settings (although I see no purpose to the touch this) or detailed details about the SSD.

I principally checked out this show for enjoyable reasonably than something essentially helpful, although it did turn out to be useful when stress-testing the SSD to see what temperatures it will attain. I am nonetheless not satisfied each gadget like this must have a display screen, but it surely’s a neat novelty all the identical.

Efficiency

It is fairly quick

Dockcase despatched me the Pocket Pictures Version together with a 128GB SK Hynix SSD utilizing PCIe 3.0, and it helps M.2 2230 SSDs, made standard by the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally. The ultimate unit would not embody an SSD, although, and this was in order that I may really use the product. PCIe 3.0 will not be the most recent expertise, however the most theoretical pace of three,500MB/s remains to be extremely quick. Keep in mind, that is connecting through USB 3.2 Gen 2, so the speeds would by no means exceed 10Gbps, which in idea could be 1,250MB/s.

That being mentioned, the Dockcase Pocket carried out very nicely in my testing. When linked to a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, CrystalDiskMark returned learn speeds as much as 1,059MB/s and write speeds as much as 985MB/s.

Equally, ATTO Disk Benchmark additionally reveals speeds exceeding 1,000MB/s in its check.

I additionally tried a extra real-life check of shifting a 5.44GB ISO file to and from the SSD, which took about 11.01 seconds to repeat onto the SSD and roughly 5.6 seconds to repeat again to the host PC. Plus, recording 4K 30FPS video confirmed no points with the SSD maintaining, both.

I by no means observed the SSD getting too heat. The most popular I acquired it was round 47°C after I was working an ATTO check on it utilizing a 32GB file measurement. That was an intense and albeit pointless check that does not symbolize a really lifelike use case, so I do not assume you will have any points. After a 25-minute video recording, it was at round 33°C, which isn’t an issue.

I by no means observed the SSD getting too heat.

The SSD will work with any PC, Android telephone, or iPhone mannequin with a USB-C port (at present simply the iPhone 15 household), plus some cameras that will assist exterior storage. Sadly, that is not the case for my Sony ZV-E10, so I could not check it there.

Some hiccups

I discussed above that I’ve misplaced some movies on account of jostling the cable whereas recording, however I also needs to observe that after I talked about this drawback to Dockcase, I used to be despatched a firmware improve to assist with this subject, so I am not fully certain what precipitated it. Both manner, I have not had any such points with recording movies for the previous couple of weeks, so it appears issues have improved. It is attainable that the jostling was the difficulty, although.

I might additionally like to say that, for no matter purpose, this SSD didn’t work with my Khadas Thoughts evaluation unit. The SSD turns into unresponsive each time I hook up with this PC, and even CrystalDiskMark will not run. I’ve examined many laptops and a few telephones with it, although, and that is the one PC that is given me that drawback, so I am inclined guilty the pc. Nonetheless, I really feel like I want to say it.

Do you have to purchase the Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version?

The Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version is a reasonably good SSD enclosure. Its tiny measurement makes it good for taking with you on the go, and it nonetheless presents loads of efficiency to deal with photograph and video recording with no subject. If you happen to solely need it as an SSD for a pc, the unique Dockcase Pocket might be higher because it’s cheaper and smaller with out the screw holes. However should you do wish to use it as storage for photographs and movies straight out of your telephone, it really works nice.

You can purchase the Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version if:

• You need a tremendous transportable SSD to connect with your telephone to take photographs and movies
• You may have a mounting mechanism for the SSD
• The show on the enclosure is beneficial to you

You should not purchase the Dockcase Pocket Pictures Version if:

• You solely plan to make use of it along with your PC
• You want Thunderbolt-level speeds