Consumer Tech This 40Gbps Orico SSD Is A Blazingly Fast Drive With A Beautiful Skin Mark Sparrow Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Technology journalist specializing in audio, computing and photography Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Sep 11, 2022, 04:58am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Orico Montage range of SSDs varies in speeds and capacities but the all have the striking . . . [+] Mondrian artwork emblazoned on the case. Orico Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist who was a pioneer of abstract art with his instantly recognizable De Stijl paintings with their straight lines and colorful squares. It’s one of the designs chosen by Orico for its new range of Montage SSDs that bring superfast solid state storage performance with a colorful and fun casing courtesy of Piet Mondrian. I review a lot of external drives and most of them look incredibly dull in their silver or black casing. So it’s good to see Orico jazzing up its products with something more colorful. The Mondrian artwork printed on this drive’s zinc alloy casing is based on the artist’s 1930 work Red, Blue and Yellow. The artwork is applied to the case using a durable in-mold labeling technique that is particularly resistant to wear. The SSD inside the drive is cooled with thermal fins designed to keep the drive cool during extended data transfers. I first came across Orico when I needed to buy an external enclosure for a SATA SSD that I had taken out of my old Mac laptop. I didn’t want to junk the relatively new drive, which had a backup of my computer and data on it. So, I looked on Amazon and one brand jumped out in terms of pricing and reviews. That’s how I got to know Orico. The flagship model in the Orico Montage range is the 40Gbps 2TB model which offers the fastest data . . . [+] transfer speeds and a USB 4 interface. Orico In July, Orico announced its new series of Montage SSDs with a blisteringly fast USB 4 interface offering speeds from 5Gbps up to 40Gbps. I was sold, so I got myself an Orico MTQ-40G 2TB version to try it out and use as a backup for some of my extensive archives of digital images and audio files. The drive supports UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol), which offers much faster data transfers over USB than earlier versions of the standard. There is also support for the TRIM function for longer working life. TRIM works by marking out blocks of the SSD that no longer work or are malfunctioning; it keeps your SSD healthy and fast. MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event Grab yourself some Stijl for the desk with the Orico Montage SSD range. Orico I plugged in the MTQ-40G and used Apple’s Drive Utility to prep it as an APFS drive with a GUID partition. Then I was ready to give it a test. The MTQ-40G can achieve read speeds of up to 3,126MB/s thanks to that high-speed USB 4 interface. It’s fast, even on older USB 3 Macs and still flies through data transfers. The write speed at 2,832MB/s is slightly slower, but this drive is no slouch. With a headline speed of 40Gbps, this is a high-performing SSD for the money. The Orico Montage drive doesn’t come with a case, which is a shame, but it is supplied with a 2-in-1 data cable for both USB A and USB C connections. In terms of compatibility, the Montage can work happily with macOS, Windows, Android and Linux without needing a driver. Capacities ranging from 512GB to 2TB are available depending on your storage needs. Verdict: I love the design of the Montage SSD, but I’ve always liked Mondrian’s work. I used an image of a De Stijl painting as the icon for my Orico 2TB drive and it looks great on the desktop. Whether you’re using the Montage SSD with an older Mac or one of the new Apple M1 or M2 laptops, this drive is a fast performer and is ideal for shifting large amounts of data. In addition, it’s fast enough to edit video directly from the drive. If you’re looking for a high-speed external drive with excellent speeds, the Orico Montage series of SSDs are well worth a look. Pricing & Availability: The Orico Montage MTQ-40G 40Gbps SSD is available from Amazon. Prices start at £79. 99 for the 512GB version. More info: www. orico. cc Tech Specs: Material: Zinc alloy. Output: USB Type C. Interface: USB 3. 2 to USB 4 on Theoretical speeds: From 5GBps to 40Gbps, depending on the model. Transfer rates: From 550MB/s to 3,100MB/s. Capacities: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB. Dimensions: 110 x 60. 4 x 15mm (MTQ-40G 110 x 60. 4 x 21mm). Supported OS: Windows, macOS, Linus, Android. Follow me on LinkedIn . Mark Sparrow Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.