The Synology BeeDrive (begins at $99.99; $169.99 for 2TB as examined) is an exterior solid-state drive on a mission. At a look, the BeeDrive resembles any variety of different extremely moveable exterior SSDs, however when mixed with Synology’s BeeDrive software program, it allows you to easily and routinely again up recordsdata out of your laptop or cellular machine and sync recordsdata between units. Our in depth efficiency testing exhibits that BeeDrive just isn’t quick for basic SSD storage, although, making it finest as a devoted backup hub. When you want a speedier general-purpose exterior SSD, you will need to take a look at the Editors’ Alternative-winning Essential X9 Professional.
Design: On the Floor, a Typical Ultraportable Exterior SSD
Taiwan-based Synology has made its identify promoting multi-bay community connected storage (NAS) units, principally RAID arrays such because the Editors’ Alternative-winning Synology DiskStation DS1522+. The BeeDrive and the concurrently launched Synology BeeStation are simplified outgrowths of that ethos, designed as private units which are alternate options to subscription-based cloud storage. The BeeStation desktop unit comprises a single 4TB Synology onerous drive, whereas the a lot smaller BeeDrive supplies the portability that the BeeStation and NAS options lack.
The all-black BeeDrive has a classy look with a sq. body, gently curving high and sides, and rounded corners. A standing mild faces upward at one nook. The BeeDrive measures 0.6 by 2.6 by 2.6 inches (HWD) and weighs simply 1.5 ounces. The Synology brand is printed on the high, and drive info and certifications are on the underside.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The one ruggedness function Synology notes is that the BeeDrive is impervious to drops as much as 2 meters (6 ft, 7 inches) onto a carpeted concrete ground. The drive lacks native encryption, although Home windows customers can encypt the BeeDrive utilizing BitLocker. A USB-C port is in the midst of one facet; the BeeDrive has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface with a most rated throughput velocity of 1,050MBps.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Synology sells the BeeDrive in three capacities, starting from 1TB to 4TB. Some SSD makers add an additional premium for his or her highest-capacity items; it’s good that with the BeeDrive, the upper its capability, the decrease its price per gigabyte.
Utilizing the BeeDrive: Backup, Sync, and Switch Choices Galore
In a pinch, the BeeDrive—which comes preformatted in exFAT for compatibility with Home windows, macOS, Linux, iPadOS, and iOS—can be utilized as a traditional exterior SSD just by plugging it into a tool’s USB port. (The BeeDrive comes with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable and a C-to-A adapter.) Nonetheless, that is not utilizing this SSD to its finest benefit. With the set up of Synology’s BeeDrive software program and organising a free Synology account, the drive turns into one thing greater than a mere SSD: your private backup hub.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
With BeeDrive for Desktop software program put in in your Home windows or Mac laptop, you possibly can again up information by choosing Laptop Backup after which selecting gadgets from a default checklist (Desktop, Paperwork, Downloads, Music, Footage, and Video) or making a customized choice of particular person folders. After its preliminary setup, the backup begins routinely every time you plug in your BeeDrive. You may retain as much as 5 totally different variations of every file, and recordsdata deleted out of your laptop are saved in BeeDrive’s Archived Information folder for straightforward restoration.
With the File Sync perform, you possibly can sync chosen folders between two machines (say, your property and workplace laptop). The Cellular Switch perform reveals a QR code that permits you to pair your iOS or Android machine (with the BeeDrive app put in and open) to BeeDrive for Desktop and again up pictures over Wi-Fi, with the choice for iPhones to retailer them as JPEGs as an alternative of the HEIF format that Apple makes use of, with a purpose to guarantee compatibility. You may again up pictures from as much as 5 cellular units on this method.
You can too switch chosen pictures or movies from a cellular machine to the BeeDrive utilizing the app’s BeeDrop perform, and even BeeDrop pictures straight from the digicam as they’re being shot. As well as, you should utilize the BeeDrive to again up pictures out of your iCloud storage, SD playing cards, and different exterior drives.
(Credit score: Synology)
The BeeDrive provides a compelling vary of backup and sync alternate options for customers who want to keep away from a cloud subscription or along with one. My one qualm in working with the BeeDrive is that it will probably take a very long time to initially again up a big picture library such because the one on my iPhone; utilizing the Centered Backup function, which retains the BeeDrive app within the foreground, appeared to hurry up the method.
(Credit score: Synology)
One quirk is that after I initially put in the BeeDrive software program and tried to arrange a Synology account, I could not; it gave the impression to be an issue with CloudFlare authentication. (I couldn’t persuade it that I wasn’t a robotic, and it will boot me out each time I checked that field.) I used my editor’s Synology account till a number of days later, after I tried once more to arrange my very own account. All of a sudden, I used to be profitable.
Synology backs the BeeDrive with a three-year guarantee. Though that could be a frequent size, many SSD producers guarantee their exterior drives for 5 years.
Testing the BeeDrive: A Comparatively Gradual SSD
We take a look at exterior SSDs utilizing PC Labs’ Home windows 10 storage testbed, a desktop constructed on an Asus Prime X299 Deluxe motherboard with an Intel Core i9-10980XE Excessive Version CPU housed in a SilverStone case. The system has 48GB of DDR4 Corsair Dominator RAM clocked to three,600MHz and an Nvidia GeForce discrete graphics card. We use the motherboard’s 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 port for testing suitable drives such because the BeeDrive; for Gen 2×2 drives, we take a look at utilizing a 2×2 port added through an Orico PCIe enlargement card.
We put the BeeDrive by way of our standard exterior solid-state drive benchmark suite, together with Crystal DiskMark 6.0, PCMark 10 Storage, 3DMark Storage, Blackmagic’s Disk Pace Check, and our folder switch take a look at. The primary three are run on the testbed PC with the drive formatted in NTFS, and the latter two on an Apple MacBook Professional with the drive in its native exFAT format. Crystal DiskMark’s sequential velocity exams present a conventional measure of drive throughput, simulating best-case, straight-line transfers of huge recordsdata. The PCMark 10 Storage take a look at measures an SSD’s readiness for all kinds of on a regular basis duties and produces an mixture rating. Equally, 3DMark Storage aggregates the outcomes of various gaming-related duties.
The BeeDrive carried out as anticipated for a USB 3.2 Gen 2 exterior SSD on Crystal DiskMark’s throughput exams, the Blackmagic Mac-based disk velocity take a look at, and our folder copy take a look at. However the BeeDrive’s rating on PCMark 10 Storage was something however buzzworthy. This was additionally the case with the gaming-centric 3DMark Storage benchmark.
In case you are simply utilizing the BeeDrive for backup and file switch, these shortfalls are moot, however they restrict the SSD’s usefulness as a general-purpose drive.
Verdict: A Gradual However Person-Pleasant Backup Hub
A easy but efficient SSD-based backup resolution is an interesting thought, a lot in order that I used to be dissatisfied when, at first, I could not create a Synology account as a result of, behind my thoughts, I used to be contemplating shopping for a BeeDrive if it lived as much as its billing. (Along with the work laptop on which I’m scripting this evaluate, I’ve three dwelling computer systems, two tablets, and a smartphone.) Aside from the account-creation snafu, nothing in my testing has dissuaded me from this concept. I’ve loads of exterior SSDs, so if I had been to purchase a BeeDrive I’d need to use it as a devoted backup hub.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Customers with heavy backup wants could need to go for the BeeStation or one of many desktop NAS rigs that Synology and different producers promote, though they lack the straightforward portability of the BeeDrive.
The BeeDrive has the throughput velocity to assist file backups and transfers, however it’s gradual in performing basic storage duties, and it doesn’t have native encryption. The Essential X9 Professional, our Editors’ Alternative-winning Gen 2 exterior SSD, did a lot better within the PCMark 10 and 3DMark Storage benchmarks and it contains AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption. It additionally prices significantly lower than the BeeDrive at its 2TB and 4TB capacities, and it has a full five-year guarantee. That mentioned, it would not have the a number of backup choices that the BeeDrive supplies.
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The Backside Line
The Synology BeeDrive is not a high performer, however this exterior SSD largely succeeds in its primary mission: to again up and sync folders in your computer systems and cellular units.
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About Tony Hoffman
Senior Analyst, {Hardware}
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