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 information out of your laptop or cell system and sync information between gadgets. Our in depth efficiency testing exhibits that BeeDrive isn’t quick for normal SSD storage, although, making it finest as a devoted backup hub. In the event you want a speedier general-purpose exterior SSD, you may need to try the Editors’ Selection-winning Crucial X9 Pro.
Design: On the Floor, a Typical Ultraportable Exterior SSD
Taiwan-based Synology has made its title promoting multi-bay network attached storage (NAS) gadgets, largely RAID arrays such because the Editors’ Selection-winning Synology DiskStation DS1522+. The BeeDrive and the concurrently launched Synology BeeStation are simplified outgrowths of that ethos, designed as private gadgets which are alternate options to subscription-based cloud storage. The BeeStation desktop unit accommodates a single 4TB Synology laborious drive, whereas the a lot smaller BeeDrive offers the portability that the BeeStation and NAS options lack.
The all-black BeeDrive has a trendy 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 characteristic Synology notes is that the BeeDrive is impervious to drops as much as 2 meters (6 toes, 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 course of one aspect; 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 value 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 deciding on Laptop Backup after which selecting gadgets from a default listing (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 completely different variations of every file, and information 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 own home and workplace laptop). The Cellular Switch perform reveals a QR code that allows you to pair your iOS or Android system (with the BeeDrive app put in and open) to BeeDrive for Desktop and again up photographs over Wi-Fi, with the choice for iPhones to retailer them as JPEGs as a substitute of the HEIF format that Apple makes use of, as a way to guarantee compatibility. You may again up photographs from as much as 5 cell gadgets on this method.
You too can switch chosen photographs or movies from a cell system to the BeeDrive utilizing the app’s BeeDrop perform, and even BeeDrop photographs straight from the digital camera as they’re being shot. As well as, you should utilize the BeeDrive to again up photographs out of your iCloud storage, SD playing cards, and different exterior drives.
(Credit score: Synology)
The BeeDrive presents 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 may possibly take a very long time to initially again up a big picture library such because the one on my iPhone; utilizing the Centered Backup characteristic, which retains the BeeDrive app within the foreground, appeared to hurry up the method.
(Credit score: Synology)
One quirk is that once 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, once I tried once more to arrange my very own account. Abruptly, 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 Sluggish SSD
We check 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 check utilizing a 2×2 port added through an Orico PCIe growth card.
We put the BeeDrive via our typical exterior solid-state drive benchmark suite, together with Crystal DiskMark 6.0, PCMark 10 Storage, 3DMark Storage, Blackmagic’s Disk Pace Take a look at, and our folder switch check. 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 information. The PCMark 10 Storage check 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 quite a lot of 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 check, and our folder copy check. 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.
If you’re 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 Sluggish However Consumer-Pleasant Backup Hub
A easy but efficient SSD-based backup answer 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 assessment, I’ve three house computer systems, two tablets, and a smartphone.) Other than 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 help file backups and transfers, however it’s sluggish in performing normal storage duties, and it doesn’t have native encryption. The Crucial X9 Pro, our Editors’ Selection-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 offers.
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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 cell gadgets.
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About Tony Hoffman
Senior Analyst, {Hardware}
