Sharge, the company that makes delightful retro Mac-shaped chargers and see-inside batteries, is finally impressing me with a portable SSD. I couldn’t recommend the Sharge Disk, Disk Plus, or even the Disk Pro, but I’d be happy to own the new Disk Pro 2 Ultra.
This isn’t just a drive. It’s a 4K HDMI dock and a USB-C hub too — a veritable USB-C Swiss Army Knife for all your main gadgets: laptop, tablet, phone, Steam Deck, even the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
This USB multitool also has built-in MagSafe pattern magnets to stick it to your iPhone, Pixel, or anything where you’re willing to attach a magnetic ring. One stick-on ring is included.
In total, this playing-card-sized gadget adds one 4K 144Hz HDMI 2.1 video output, a 5Gbps USB-A port, SD and microSD card readers, plus USB-C passthrough charging — and a slot for up to 8TB of solid-state storage via a full-sized M.2 2280 (or smaller M.2 2242 and 2230) SSD.
By plugging in a single cord, I gave my MacBook Pro a second external monitor, four simultaneous sources of storage (SSD, USB flash drive, SD, microSD), and 80W of USB-C PD power.
When I plugged in my Android phone and a USB-C iPhone, both of them saw the SSD and appeared on my HDMI screen. It also unlocked 4K60 ProRes video recording on the iPhone — more on that in a moment.
Some of these features exist together in other gadgets, and this 10Gbps external SSD enclosure certainly isn’t the fastest available now that 40Gbps and 80Gbps enclosures exist. With large 100GB and 195GB transfers, write speeds with a budget 1TB Lexar NM710 in the Disk Pro 2 averaged around 700MB/s.
But that’s still nothing to sneeze at. How many enclosures double as USB-C HDMI docks, let alone ones that speak Nintendo’s language and magnetically attach to your phone? How many have a built-in fan to keep them cool? And how many draw little enough power that you can drive the HDMI and USB ports from your phone or laptop, with no power cord required?
Where Things Get Tricky
Things get a little complicated with the low wattage.
First, Sharge is selling two models of the Disk Pro 2: the “Ultra,” which requires at least 1.5W of USB-C bus power, and the “Lite,” which needs 5W for its more power-hungry chips and only does 4K60 over HDMI 2.0 instead of 4K144 over HDMI 2.1.
Second, to achieve such low power draw on the Ultra, it can only route 3W of power from your laptop or phone to a connected SSD, Sharge marketing manager Leo H. tells me. Reviews show my borrowed Lexar NM710 draws more than that during writes — and sure enough, the Disk Pro 2 shut down right after I started ProRes video recording on an iPhone 15 Pro or initiated a large transfer on my Galaxy S25.
There is a simple solution: just plug an external USB-C battery or charger into the Disk Pro 2. When I did that, I recorded over five minutes of 4K60 ProRes video without issue. Alternatively, you could try a lower-power SSD.
Third, while the HDMI dock works with both the Switch 2 and the original Switch, Nintendo’s handhelds explicitly check for a relatively specific external power source before docking. Sharge is still tweaking the firmware, but currently you need an 85W or higher USB-C PD charger plugged in for the Switch 2 in particular.
There is also a noticeable pause before the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 appear on a connected TV — similar to some other third-party docks — and you won’t get variable refresh rate (VRR) with a Steam Deck or other PC handhelds. The device does support 4K144 and 4K120 with HDR, but the Steam Deck reported that my VRR TV was not VRR-capable when the Disk Pro 2 was in the chain.
And while I successfully used a mouse, keyboard, headset, monitor, webcam, and more plugged into the Disk Pro 2 for several days — by daisy-chaining an extra USB hub — I did occasionally see the monitor go dark for about a minute, roughly once a day.
There’s still work for Sharge to do. But the Disk Pro 2 is the first drive from the company that I’d happily add to my go bag.
