SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe Type C 128GB review

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.

Most of us use our phones for serious computing (even professionally) and thus a flash drive that can effectively transfer data between our phones, TVs, laptops, and other portable devices can make life a lot simpler. SanDisk’s Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type C is one such smart tool that has been designed to seamlessly work with Android devices. Does it work as advertised? We’ll answer that and share our experience in this review that follows.

SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type C review: India Price and Specifications 

SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe 128GB review: Design and Build

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 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).

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. 

SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe 128GB review: Software and performance 

The best thing about this Sandisk flash drive has to be the Memory Zone app which makes fetching files from mobile devices very convenient. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or installed directly using the APK file that comes preloaded on the Pendrive.

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).

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.  

The Memory Zone app also serves as a file manager and can be used to automatically back up photos, videos, docs, etc. By tapping on ‘Home’ in the bottom bar you can directly access ‘Videos’, ‘Documents’, Pictures, etc. which is so much more convenient than to navigate through complicated system folders to locate specific content.

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.

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. 

Of course, Random Read and Random write that matter more for real-world usage are much slower. We could transfer a 4.5GB file from Asus ROG Phone 3 (UFS 3.1 storage, USB 3.0, Type-C) in 2 minutes and 30 seconds and that’s fast enough for our needs. Due to the metal exterior, the flash drive gets hot rather quickly, but this never got in the way.

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. 

SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe 128GB Pendrive review: Verdict

The SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe Flash drive has a premium design and works dependably. Sandisk’s Memory Zone App which makes transferring data from Android devices very convenient is the USP of the flash drive in our opinion.

My work requires me to take camera samples, screenshots, and other data from multiple mobile phones and transfer the same to our PC, monitors, and TVs for further scrutiny. It’s not always convenient to initiate cloud backups for all devices and thus the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe helped noticeably simplify my workflow.

The price of the 128GB variant that we tested sounds reasonable. If you often need to move your data to and fro from your phone, we can surely recommend this as an option.