This New 'Play And Stay' USB-C Drive Can Give Your Laptop A Serious Storage Boost

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With cameras getting better at capturing higher-resolution media, apps requiring more space for installation, and certain games taking up entire drives in a computer, devices with upgradable storage have never been easier to recommend. For those stuck with a tablet with no expandable storage, the quick and easy solution has been to offload files of lesser importance onto an external storage drive with the help of a dongle. Same goes for laptops: Simply plug in an external hard drive and move files around to create more space on your device.

Dealing with thumb drives or external hard drives can get clunky, however, especially if they're not friendly to carry around or require adapters. This is exactly the problem that the newly announced Sandisk Extreme Fit seemingly wants to solve. Measuring under an inch in every dimension, this flash drive is designed to stay plugged into your laptop or computer. Think of it as a hot-swappable SD card, just with the added convenience of the USB-C interface and faster transfer speeds.

The Sandisk Extreme Fit features the USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface and can hit read speeds up to 400MB per second. Available in capacities of 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, pricing starts at $15.99 and goes all the way up to $117.99. The different storage tiers can address specific use cases, like a modest and cheap USB-C drive for your iPad, or a spacious backup solution for your laptop.

For the most part, modern smartphones and ultrabooks now ship with a minimum of 256GB of internal storage, with capacities soaring past 1TB. That said, unless you own one of the few smartphones with an SD card slot, you're stuck with the capacity you chose at the time of purchase. The Sandisk Extreme Fit seems to be the most elegant way to add external storage in such situations. For instance, you can record iPhone videos directly to an external drive, as long as it supports write speeds of 220MB per second — as the Sandisk Extreme Fit does. However, keep in mind that 4K 120fps recordings on the iPhone 16 and 17 Pro models require write speeds of at least 440MB per second, which seems to be out of the Sandisk Extreme Fit's design envelope.

Though many Windows laptops offer upgradable NVMe slots, newer MacBooks are notoriously known for their pricey storage upgrades. In cases like these, the Sandisk Extreme Fit can be a semi-permanent storage bump for your laptop. However, if you're looking to edit 4K videos or play games directly off an external drive, you might want to shop for a fast portable SSD instead. Since the flash drive is intended to stay connected to your device as an active storage solution, heat dissipation is a factor to look out for as well. In fact, users of other Sandisk USB flash drives have reported instances of overheating. Additionally, despite its small form factor, you'll have to be mindful to keep it safe from sudden knocks.