Synology BeeDrive Review: Compact SSD Backup

The Synology BeeDrive is an external SSD with an unusual pitch: rather than chasing outright speed or the lowest price, it is built around simple, automated backup and synchronisation. This review is based on that published test, not on a hands-on trial of our own.

Out of its discreet cardboard box, the BeeDrive is a model of compactness at 65 x 65 x 15 millimetres, with a pleasant little pebble shape; at 43 grams it is not the lightest of its kind, but that is no problem. It is entirely black, with a small recess underneath for stability, a logo on top, a USB-C port at the back and an LED in one corner. The supplied cable, at around 20 centimetres, is a touch short for a desk but handy for a phone, and Synology's inclusion of a USB-C to USB-A adapter, so the cable works across every platform, is a genuinely good idea; beyond the cable and adapter the box holds only a needless quick-start guide, since the BeeDrive is simple to use. There is no IPxx rating or particular shock resistance, which is a shame, and, as so often, Synology says nothing about the components inside, quoting only speeds of "up to 1,050 MB/s" without specifying sequential or random, read or write. Those omissions make sense given the drive's purpose: an easy-to-use synchronised backup device, which we return to below.

The first measurements bring a pleasant surprise. Where Synology quotes 1,050 MB/s, ATTO Disk Benchmark blows past it: not the fastest on the market, but 1.81 GB/s writing and 1.67 GB/s reading is very good indeed, excellent even. CrystalDiskMark is a little less enthusiastic yet still above the quoted figures, at 1.19 GB/s sequential read and 1.18 GB/s sequential write, though random speeds are another matter, honest enough but short of the 100 MB/s one would like. Moving to 64 GB test files pulls performance down noticeably, but sequential read stays above the official spec at 1,160 MB/s, with writing at 970 MB/s and random up to 76.8 MB/s — still more than convincing for a product where performance is not the priority. Practical cases are where the BeeDrive is less at ease: it remains perfectly usable, and poses no problem for running games from a Steam library moved onto the drive, but copying a batch of more than 200 GB of test files saw throughput start above 850 MB/s before quickly falling, first to 450 MB/s and then to 310 MB/s — honest, but a long way from the idyllic opening figures. The linear-write module in AIDA64 tells the same story, averaging 450 MB/s as the drive struggles once its controller is very heavily taxed, though copying 200 GB in one go, or writing across the whole SSD, are hardly everyday tasks. On temperatures the published test drew a blank: unable to place a probe against the chips, it fell back on CrystalDiskInfo and HWMonitor, both of which returned clearly wrong readings — 76°C and 87°C respectively — since the casing stayed far too cool over such long tests for that to be credible.

As flagged at the outset, Synology's aim is not the fastest or cheapest external SSD but an effective way to back up and synchronise the data on a PC or a phone, and that calls for good software. Synology has built two apps: BeeDrive, for Android and iOS, and BeeDrive for desktop, for macOS and Windows. Installation is dead simple and the services on offer are worthwhile, covering three main functions — automatic backup, file synchronisation and mobile transfer. Newcomers can rely on the automatic mode, while more experienced users can, for instance, keep up to five versions of their files, and the options also allow excluding certain file types or documents above a given size; on mobile, the backup aims to keep every kind of file automatically over Wi-Fi. Whether on desktop or mobile it all works very well and very simply, adding a welcome something to what an external SSD too often amounts to — a big USB stick. Two regrets remain, though: Synology offers no hardware encryption, and it obliges users to create a Synology account that then serves no purpose whatever within the app.

In seeking to diversify, Synology has arrived at a slightly surprising product — an external SSD dressed up with modest backup and synchronisation features. Surprising, yes, but far from uninteresting given the remarkable level of finish, in the hardware as much as the software, which is a constant with this maker. The BeeDrive is neither the fastest nor the cheapest external SSD, but the automated workings of its app let anyone consider genuine, regular synchronisation of their most sensitive data. In an age when the Cloud is everywhere that may seem faintly anachronistic, yet there are surely takers — and for those who want set-and-forget local backup in a neat, well-made package, the BeeDrive makes a persuasive case.