{"id":1238890,"date":"2026-02-27T00:51:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/QvMqxBU99Ezxt9fCaqiM66"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:51:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:51:05","slug":"seagate-ultra-compact-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/seagate-ultra-compact-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Seagate Ultra Compact review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We see the word Ultra fairly frequently on this website, often tied to graphics cards or other exciting pieces of PC hardware and used to denote improved performance. Here, it\u2019s attached to something as prosaic as a USB SSD<\/a>, and represents a reduction in something: size.<\/p>\n

The Ultra Compact is small. There are standard USB flash drives out there that are similar in dimensions, but this is a whole 1 TB (2 TB is also available) of fast storage crammed into something the size of a pack of gum, a small folding pocket knife, or three and a half (maybe four) almonds laid end to end if you prefer non-metric measurements. There’s a lanyard loop at one end if you fancy wearing it around your neck as an avant garde fashion accessory. They\u2019re all the rage in Paris.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a metal-cased drive that comes with a two-part rubber prophylactic to give it a bit of protection, though the lanyard loop and the ridged top of the chassis are always poking through the top. The latter is probably there as a bit of a heatsink, and as the Ultra Compact comes with a claimed 3 m drop resistance and IP54 ingress resistance (which means you can get it a bit wet and dusty, but if you bury it in the sand at the bottom of the ocean it\u2019s probably going to stop working).<\/p>\n

The rubber sheath isn\u2019t really there to protect it from being smashed on the tiles but rather to make it a bit sticky so that it doesn\u2019t slide off the desk too easily (it really loves dust as a result), and to stop fluff from jamming up the USB-C port. It\u2019s also to protect important things from the drive\u2014unlike the Wii Remote, which sported a similar optional boingy coating to save innocent TV screens from the Wii Sports trebuchet effect, this has some hard edges that could potentially scratch up your phone if you\u2019re unwise enough to put them in the same pocket together.<\/p>\n

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Seagate Ultra Compact specs<\/div>\n
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\"Seagate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Capacity:<\/strong> 1 TB or 2 TB
Interface:<\/strong> USB 3.2 Gen 2
Dimensions: <\/strong>70 x 20 x 12.5 mm
Weight: <\/strong>24 g
Price:<\/strong> \u00a397<\/a> \/ $95<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

And that should be USB plug, not port. Unlike many other portable SSDs, the Seagate Ultra Compact doesn\u2019t arrive with a dinky USB cable in the box that you\u2019ll immediately dump in favour of a longer one that will actually reach round the back of your PC. It instead plugs straight into a USB-C port in the same fashion as a million USB flash drives. This has two effects: it makes it more portable, and it makes it more convenient, as you don\u2019t have to worry about carrying the cable with you, and you can easily plug it straight into your PC, phone or iPad for a bit of file-transferral fun,while USB-C\u2019s rotational symmetry means you don\u2019t even have to worry about getting it the right way around. The downside is that it sticks straight out, without the extra flexibility the cable brings. So instead of hanging down behind your PC it might brush up against the wall, or emerge from the top of your Steam Deck like a silvery middle finger aimed at whoever\u2019s sitting across from you.<\/p>\n

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Seagate claims a 1,000 MB\/s transfer rate from the drive\u2019s USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, and much of the time that\u2019s what we get, at least in terms of short, sequential writes\u2014the Ultra Compact is unusual among external SSDs in that it writes faster than it reads. At writing, it beats the Crucial X9 and even the Sandisk Desk Drive in the USB 3.2 Gen 2 stakes, though naturally it can\u2019t keep up with Gen 2×2 devices. When random reads and writes were tested, the little Seagate could only beat the X6 at reading, but stormed ahead of almost everything else we\u2019ve tested when writing, so much so that repeat tests were ordered from the testing assistants to check that it wasn\u2019t a random weird result.<\/p>\n