Sabrent launches the Rocket XTRM-Q 16TB External SSD

Storage specialist Sabrent has announced the latest addition to its Rocket XTRM-Q series of external SSDs, which were originally launched last December. The newest addition to the lineup is the biggest yet, in size and capacity, as it leverages twin M.2 NVMe SSD slots to provide up to 16TB in total. Previously, the Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q capacities crested at 8TB, so this new version puts a lot more storage in your pocket, at a price…

As it features two M.2 NVMe slots, the Rocket XTRM-Q enclosure is bigger than the ones announced last year, yet it is still easily portable at 114 x 65 x 17mm. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a weight quoted in the specs, perhaps because the weight will vary (slightly) depending on how the enclosure is populated by the user. A rubberised case is provided in the box, which helps the device resist any knocks and bumps, especially if you were to carry it around in a bag with other bits and pieces.

The unit is based around an aluminium enclosure, which is a good choice for both durability and for wicking heat away from the NAND and controller. Heat and SSD health monitors are integrated into the case. Sabrent says the access to the device's innards is tool-less, should you need to delve inside.

Users can configure the Rocket XTRM-Q 16TB External SSD with an easy-to-use Windows tool as a RAID 0, RAID 1, or JBOD/Sequential device. In case you need a refresher on those modes, RAID 0 interleaves the data written across the two drives for max performance, RAID 1 is optimised for redundancy as one disk mirrors another – like a live backup. Lastly, JBOD (just a bunch of disks) writes data on one drive until it is filled, and simply continues to the next - though your OS sees the JBOD array as a single volume.

Performance touted for this 16TB in your pocket rocket are; single disk speeds of up to 1400MB/s, or up to 2800MB/s when using RAID 0 mode. If you watch the feature video, you will be able to check out some read / write performance tests done by the host – using all three supported RAID/JBOD modes.

The Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 16TB External SSD gets this data into your system using its Thunderbolt 3 certified interface. This interface uses the USB Type-C connector – and a cable is provided in the box, as is a power adaptor, and quick start manual. No drivers are needed as long as your system has a Thunderbolt 3 port available.

If you are interested in the above you will find Amazon retail links in the video description for US, Canada, the UK and Germany. I checked them and only the US one is live at the time of writing – with the list price being a lofty US$2,899.99.

If you are interested in the enclosure only, perhaps you have your own / preferred NVMe SSDs, then Sabrent is selling a Thunderbolt 3 to Dual NVMe M.2 SSD Tool-Free Enclosure EC-T3DN. This enclosure appears to be much the same as that used in the above 16TB product, but is unpopulated and costs just US$149.99 at the time of writing. Again, I could only find it available via Amazon US.