Mobile device requires USB Type-C port and On-The-Go (OTG) support. See www.sandisk.com/dualdrive-c for list of compatible devices. We tested the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with multiple phones from Samsung, Poco M2 Pro, Asu ROG PHone 3, Infinix Hot 9, and more. The drive was always auto-detected save for on Vivo X50 Pro. Sandisk maintains a list of compatible phones, but it is not exhaustive. Most of the phones that we have mentioned here haven’t been updated yet.

There was a time when expandable storage meant investing in a microSD card if you were using a tablet or a phone, or a portable HDD or a flash drive if you were using a notebook. They were two different parts of the byte-ridden storage universe. Yes, you could use adaptors and connect a phone to a flash drive or connect a microSD card to a notebook, but out of the box, they were two different kinds of storage, for two different systems. There had been attempts made to bridge the two, with flash drives that could plug into both a micro USB port (a phone) and a USB port (on a notebook) and others that connected wireless to the devices, but by and large, these had limited success.

Which brings us to the title of this story. Does the (fine, we will give it its full name this time) SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type C do enough for the Rs 1,699 it charges for the 128 GB variant? Well, we think it does. In fact, we would say it is one of those gadgets that are close to a necessity for anyone who uses multiple devices like phones, tablets, and notebooks. It is not just about the storage but the convenience to switch data between devices. Of course, you can also use it to free up space on your device!

Just select what you need and ‘Copy’ or ‘Move’ it to the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe. The set-up may sound complicated, but it’s not. The data transfer works seamlessly. Having said that, we noticed several glitches and bugs in the app interface, and hopefully, these will be ironed out with future updates. Attach your drive to your keyring to keep it convenient and secure. Now you’ll always have it handy if you need to free up space when you’re out and about.Use geo-tagging and time-based searches to find files on your phone, external storage and/or the cloud.

Speaking for ourselves, we liked the fact that we could send sample images from cameras from our phones to a notebook without having to sign into a cloud service or firing up apps on both devices ( Snapdrop is rather cool, though, if both devices are on the same network although you would need the Internet for it). Need to transfer data? Over USB, A, or C? This is an A+ for you! We got the 128 GB version and suddenly, we discovered that sending files between devices was as easy as plug, copy, paste, eject, and repeat! We were sending files between a OnePlus 8 Pro and an iPad Pro, and iPad Pro and a Windows machine, a MacBook Air and a Galaxy Note 2 Ultra by just using this handy little gadget. You do not need to worry about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. This is a good old plug and copy and paste play at its best. With a read speed of 150 MB/second, this is a very fast drive – you can transfer a gig of data to and from your device in less than a minute. A slight catch – it heats up a fair bit. We suspect that metallic casing has something to do with it. The way we store and access data has radically changed over the last few years. However, even in an age where we fetch most of our media and data directly from the cloud, we still frequently keep running into situations where local storage solutions like flash drives prove more convenient and reliable. This Sandisk SDDDC4-128G-I35 OTG Pen Drive image is for illustration purpose only. Actual image may vary.Western Digital has now returned to that “One Drive To Store Them All” formula with the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type C. We will just call it the Ultra Dual henceforth, for the sake of simplicity and a more representative word count. We got the 128 GB version and well, it cuts a very impressive and very compact figure. It is solid metal with a USB Type C (3.1) attachment on one side and a conventional USB (Type A) 3.1 on the other. So you can plug it into any device with a USB Type C port or a conventional USB port. When inserted, the drive is automatically detected (on most phones). You can use the local file manager app to access the flash drive storage and then tap on Memory Zone APK to install the app (grant permission when prompted). We tested the 128GB capacity variant for this review. The drive comes pre-formatted with the exFAT file system which makes it compatible with Android, Windows, and Mac OS devices. Sandisk claims up to 150Mbps sequential read/write speeds and the Ultra Dual Drive Luxe could manage almost this speed on benchmarks.

Available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type-C Flash Drive has both a USB-A connector as well as a USB Type-C connector, depending upon which way you swivel the connector, you can use it with smartphones, tablets, and laptops that have either port. Since USB Type-C drives aren’t yet on every computer (even though it may seem that way), it’s great that the Type-A connector is included. Out of space on your USB Type-C smartphone? Simply plug in the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Flash Drive and easily move files off your device, freeing up valuable space. 2 With all that extra space you can do more travel photos, movies, music, games and whatever else you want. Shoot photos on your USB type-C smartphone and need those on your PC? We got you. The top-end SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe lets you seamlessly move files between your USB Type-C smartphone, tablets and Macs and USB Type-A computers. The Sandisk Luxe flash drive has an ‘all-metal’ build. The polished metal is quite rigid and not fingerprint prone. In a month of rugged usage, our luxe did register a few scuff marks, but we’d say that it has resisted scratches rather well. Sandisk doesn’t claim any sort of water resistance. The point being, if you are a bit careful with your handling, the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type C should remain in good shape.Shoot photos on your USB type-C smartphone and need those on your PC? We got you. The top-end SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe lets you seamlessly move files between your USB Type-C smartphone, tablets and Macs and USB Type-A computers. 2 The dual flash drive uses a swivel mechanism to switch between the two ports (Type A and Type C) and over a month of extensive swiveling the outer cover didn’t scrape the luxe dual-drive. There is also a keychain hole, but we didn’t have the heart to affix this shiny drive to our keychain (that would be tantamount to maximum torture). Once done, grant the necessary permissions and then add Sandisk dual drive to the Memory zone app by tapping on “Add Storage”. That’s it.