Review: Trek iSSD, 4-In-1 Portable Data Storage Solution Made By A Singapore Company
By: Neo Wee Wu
Tags: Gadget, Singapore, Technology

These days, we interact so much online. Posting on Instagram and live streaming anytime and anywhere just mean that we need more gadgets on the move. Let run a quick checklist — a power bank (for your smartphone), laptop (obviously, that’s meant to edit stunning photos and video for posting), portable hard disk (what’s more disheartening when you forgot to back up your work?), camera (to capture professional shots for posting) and the list goes on. Well, does it make sense to carry that many devices?

Source: Instagram user @weewu

Trek 2000 (stock quote: 5AB.SI), a Singapore-based company, wants to reduce your load with their Trek iSSD. The Trek iSSD is a portable data backup solution, power bank, SD card reader and a wireless charger.

Quickly, let us go through the specs.

- The Trek iSSD is available in either 240GB, 480GB or 960GB capacities that pretty much covers the needs of users from day-to-day mainstream consumers segment to hardcore mobile workers.

- It also comes with a SD card slot that enable users to directly backup their photos/video in the card without going through an external computer.

- The Trek iSSD also double-up as a 3000mAh power bank that supports bi-directional Qi wireless charging.

- Through its wireless b/g/n connection, users could access their files via their smartphones which means you could use the device virtually anywhere.

- FTP Functions that allow large file transfer via a network connection.

Well. Enough of the sales pitch! I will just list down in order what I like about the product.

This is what you get in Trek iSSD. Instagram user @weewu

Light and Compact: The Trek iSSD weighs only 221g and measured 11.8cm by 7.0cm. To put it in prospective, the Trek iSSD weighs like a typical 20,000mAh powerbank but it is about the size of a portable hard disk. Considering that the Trek iSSD could do so much more, its noticeably light weight (as well as its compact size) is a big plus point. Kudos to Trek team!

Simple and Seamless SD Card Backup: The One Touch Backup in Trek iSSD is one of the most make sense features that a lot of portable hard disk makers overlooked. More importantly, it is amazingly easy to use. Power on, plug in the SD card, press twice on the power button to start the back up. Once the LED indicator stop blinking, Bang! You have backed up your SD card!

This is extremely useful when you are traveling (not that we can in the COVID-19 situation). I can imagine the time I am running up of capacity in my DSLR. I desperately need one more SD card, but I don’t have an extra one at my disposal. This feature will come in handy to free up the space of the card without going through computer. (I mean as much as we can, we will travel light)

Wireless Charging: It is all about decluttering. It is definitely not nice to see many wires lying around. The Trek iSSD also serves as a wireless charging bay. The best part — it supports pass-through meaning you just need one USB cable to charge both Trek iSSD and your mobile phone. In other word, you free up one more power socket.

It is all about decluttering. It is definitely not nice to see many wires lying around. The Trek iSSD also serves as a wireless charging bay. The best part — it supports pass-through meaning you just need one USB cable to charge both Trek iSSD and your mobile phone. In other word, you free up one more power socket. Mobile (Wireless) Backup: We have so many photos stored in our smartphone these days. However, there is a limit in the smartphone and occasionally, you need to clean up the phone’s memory. The Trek iSSD offers an easy way to back up the photo in your smartphones via a mobile app.

One Touch Backup. Source: Instagram user @weewu

Well, this is more like an alternative way of backing up your photo on top of what Apple iCloud and Google Drive are offering. I still stick to an old school way of storing digital photo offline at a separately physical drive. We have heard enough stories of photo leaked online which eventually may be detrimental to some of you especially those who are influencers with large following. Come and think about it. Old school may be better.

Wireless Sharing: When I first heard that the Trek iSSD is a file server and could support upto 8 devices simultaneously, I think it is a very cool feature. I tried to share with another user, it works reasonably well which it is within my expectation; well, I have kept the number of users small. Although speed will be noticeably slower when any new device connected to it, it still delivers. Well, it is not fair to benchmark this to a NAS system. Considering how small the Trek iSSD is, its performance is quite remarkable.

Source: Instagram user @weewu

My Take

It is a very versatile storage companion that serves my day-to-day needs. If you consume a lot of contents, this is a good storage solution. The Trek iSSD comes with 3 choices — 240GB (Black), 480GB(Blue) and 960GB (Red) and are priced at RRP USD $179, USD$349 and USD$499 respectively.