Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe Review: It’s Everything You Need

Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe Design: Premium Metal Design

The Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe comes with a metal casing, which serves two purposes. For one, it offers impact resistance, and for the other, the metal casing helps with heat dissipation. There is also a key ring hole, hence the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe can be easily attached to a keychain.

It has a swivel-like mechanism, due to which one of the ports (USB Type-C or the lightning) will be on the outside, protected by a plastic cap. Again, the plastic cap on the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe is easy to lose, and the company should have come up with some other means of protecting the port, as it would damage the entire device if not protected.

As per the size, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe is pretty compact and similar to a regular pen drive with a USB Type-C port. With a dual output port, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe is definitely one of the most versatile USB storage devices available in the market.

Made For iPhone And iPad

Yes, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe can be used with almost any device. However, this is a device that is tailormade for iPhones and iPads. No matter which iPad or iPhone you have (considering you have upgraded in the last five years), the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe will work with all those Apple products without any issue.

Not just iPhones and iPads, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe can also be used with the MacBook using the USB Type-C port. So, no matter which Apple device you have, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe works like a charm.

Connecting iXpand Flash Drive Luxe With iPhone

For this review, I used the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe with the Apple iPhone 12 Pro. Once I connected the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe to the iPhone, I got a pop-up on the screen saying that I need to download the iXpand Drive app in order to use the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe.

Once I downloaded the app, I was able to access the drive. Using the app, I was also able to set up auto backup. With auto backup turned on, the device will automatically start backing up the photos and videos from the iPhone library. Do note that, once you install the iXpand Drive app, the files on the drive can be accessed directly from the native files app.

Not just that, there is an option to backup contacts and calendars as well. Again, if you feel the need to restore data from the drive of the iPhone, the same can also be achieved using the iXpand Drive app. Overall, the user experience on the iXpand Drive app was very initiative and I didn't face any issue.

When it comes to copying speed, the drive was able to copy around 500 photos in around 5 minutes. Again, it doesn't matter if you have the new iPad Air with USB Type-C or the iPhone 5S with the lightning port, the iXpand Flash Drive Luxe will work with all these devices without any issue.

Connecting iXpand Flash Drive Luxe Speed Test

To determine the actual read and write test of the Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe, I connected the device to the Dell XPS 13 via the USB Type-port and ran Crystal DiskMark 8. On the read and write test, we got 91 MB/s and 46 MB/s, respectively.

These numbers are not that impressive. Hence, if you are planning to get this drive solely use on a Windows laptop or an Android phone with a USB Type-C port, then, there are a lot of other options from Sandisk with higher storage capacity at much lower pricing.

Verdict

We tested the Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe with 128GB storage, which costs Rs. 5,199 on Amazon, making it a bit expensive. However, do note that Sandisk has to pay a royalty to Apple for using the lightning port, hence the premium price.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad with 32 or 64GB storage and looking for an option to store more data, then, the Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe is an excellent device for sure. And having a USB Type-C port on the other hand makes it a truly universal USB storage device.