MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps External SSD Review

The MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps is a high-performance, portable magnetic SSD designed for tech enthusiasts who demand speed and reliability. With transfer rates up to 4000 MB/s via USB4 40Gbps, a lightweight aluminium chassis for efficient heat dissipation, and full support for ProRes recording on compatible iPhones, it’s built for fast, seamless workflows on the go.

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Specification

The DATAMAG 40Gbps is available in three storage capacities: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. It also offers a sequential read speed of up to 4000MB/s, and the 2TB and 4TB versions can reach up to 3600MB/s in sequential writes. The 1TB capacity can reach a write speed of up to 3500MB/s. The MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps is a small, lightweight external SSD, measuring 66mm by 66mm by 13mm and weighing 85g.

Each capacity has an endurance rating ranging from 750 TBW to 3000 TBW; these figures are a durability metric indicating the total amount of data that can be written and rewritten to the drive over its lifespan before it becomes unreliable. The higher the number, the better; this number also tends to scale with storage capacity.

The SSD uses a USB Type-C port to connect to a device. It’s best to use a USB4 40Gbps cable and port to fully leverage the DATAMAG 40Gbps. That said, this drive is compatible with a wide range of hardware, such as PCs, Laptops, Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and Gaming Consoles, as long as it has a native USB Type-C port.

Specifically, DATAMAG supports Apple ProRes recording, letting you capture stunning 4K video at up to 120 fps directly to the drive on compatible iPhones. It provides stable, high-performance offline storage built for creators working with demanding, high-resolution footage. MSI advises that the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models in the iPhone 15, 16, and 17 series can reach speeds of up to 1000 MB/s.

With the purchase of this MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps, you’ll receive additional accessories to help you use the SSD. This includes both long and short USB-C Cables, a USB-C to A Adapter, and two metal rings to attach to the drive so it can be magnetised and magnetically attached to other devices, like the MagSafe ring on iPhones. This allows you to enjoy smooth connectivity and a quick, hassle-free setup for immediate functionality.

MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps Design

Externally, the MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps presents itself as a magnetic octagonal square, offering an ideal fusion of form and function. Its sleek aluminium-alloy body delivers both premium aesthetics and superior durability, with soft, rounded corners – including the slightly more right‑angled top‑right corner. This top‑right corner extends to create a hole, providing flexible ways to carry the drive, such as attaching it to a carabiner.

Along the sides, the venting‑like design efficiently dissipates heat, keeping the device cool under pressure and maintaining peak performance even during intense workloads. Every feature of the DATAMAG is engineered for reliability, making it a dependable companion for long hours of focused, high‑intensity work.

It is lightweight and pocket‑sized at just 85g; this portable SSD delivers immense storage on the go with unbeatable convenience. Thanks to advanced 3D NAND flash technology, it packs up to 4TB of capacity into its compact frame, ensuring your valuable highlights, work, and files remain accessible anytime, anywhere. 3D NAND physically stacks memory cells vertically – like a tower block of flats – allowing for better space utilisation in comparison to laying the memory cells as one single flat layer and increasing performance and efficiency. The DATAMAG 40Gbps also integrates a PHISON PS2251-21, which is a NAND flash controller designed to power external SSDs using the more demanding USB4 interface. It’s a future-proof choice ensuring long-term relevance and compatibility.

For iOS and Android devices, MSI provides a companion application called DATAMAG, designed with one core purpose: helping you clearly understand your SSD’s storage. The app offers a fast and intuitive way to view accurate remaining capacity, back up and restore photos and videos, and protect your important memories. To deliver precise capacity information, the app reads storage data directly from your external SSD. It is available on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

As mentioned before, this drive is magnetic, meaning it can securely attach to any surface or accessory that supports magnetic alignment. This includes modern mobile phones that feature magnetic systems. For example, recent iPhones use Apple’s MagSafe technology, which allows compatible accessories to snap into place with precision.

Many newer Android devices are also adopting the Qi2 standard, which uses a similar magnetic ring system to improve alignment and charging efficiency. This makes the DATAMAG even more convenient to carry and use across a wide range of devices and setups, while also providing reassurance that the drive shouldn’t come loose easily. The same goes for other devices like laptops with metal bodies.

You might be worried about the magnet affecting or damaging your device, but the magnetic strength used in accessories like the DATAMAG is well within safe limits for modern electronics. Today’s smartphones, tablets, and laptops are designed with shielding and solid‑state components that are not affected by small consumer‑grade magnets. As a result, attaching the DATAMAG to a compatible surface won’t interfere with your device’s performance, data, or internal components.

Performance

When testing the performance of storage devices, we use an application called CrystalDiskMark. This application is designed to measure the read and write performance of storage drives such as SSDs, HDDs, and USB flash drives, allowing us to check whether real‑world statistics match the advertised metrics. This helps us judge the propositional value of a storage device, giving us confidence that it works as intended (or not) and whether it is worth investing in. We will be testing the MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps in a 2TB capacity.

When companies test their devices to obtain performance results, the testing is often conducted in a controlled lab environment using a setup designed to yield the best possible numbers. As a result, the same level of performance is typically not maintained in everyday scenarios, such as keeping your gaming PC in your bedroom.

MacOS Device

As CrystalDiskMark isn’t compatible with macOS, we searched for an alternative designed to be a direct clone of CrystalDiskMark: AmorphousDiskMark. The developer of AmorphousDiskMark requested permission to use a similar user interface. In this test, we tell the application to run five tests, and it then averages the results, so the test actually runs about ten times in total.

During testing, we connected the external SSD to a Thunderbolt 4 port and used the provided 40Gbps cable to ensure the drive wouldn’t experience bandwidth bottlenecks. The highest average sequential read speed recorded was 3361MB/s and the highest average sequential read speed recorded was 3092MB/s. The advertised speeds for the 2TB capacity are up to 4000MB/s for reads and up to 3600MB/s for writes. This means that the speeds didn’t quite live up to the speeds that MSI advertise, but these are only maximums.

Windows 11 Device

With our Windows 11 device, we first had to ensure we were connecting it to a USB4 Type-C port that supports up to 40 Gbps, allowing us to fully leverage the drive’s capabilities. In this test, CrystalDiskMark will run the test 5 times and report an average. We will run this test twice. The highest average sequential read speed recorded was 4057MB/s and the highest average sequential read speed recorded was 3714MB/s. MSI note that speed very much depends on the motherboard platform that you are using, hardware specifications, operating system, drivers, and environmental conditions. which explains the disparity between the macOS and Windows 11 tests. It’s great to see that the MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps exceeded the advertised maximum speed, meaning you are stretching your investment a bit further.

This DATAMAG drive is the first USB4 drive we have tested, so I’ve arranged it in a graph with other USB SSD drives and internal Gen3 and Gen4 M.2 SSDs, to make it easier to see how it compares to other storage types. The DATAMAG drive understandably beats out the other USB SSD drives, but it also performs better than three Gen3 M.2s, surprisingly! The Gen4s are safely ahead by at least 1GB (1000MB).

Conclusion

MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps External SSD

Product Name: DATAMAG 40Gbps

Brand: MSI

• Features
• Design
• Performance
• Value For Money

4.9

Summary

The MSI DATAMAG 40Gbps is more than just a speed bump in the portable storage market; it’s a masterclass in how form and function can evolve together. By merging the blistering throughput of USB4 with a thoughtful, magnetic industrial design, MSI has created a tool that feels essential rather than optional for the modern creator. While raw synthetic benchmarks vary slightly across platforms, shining brightest on Windows 11, they are still impressive on macOS, and the real-world utility remains unmatched. Whether you are snapping it onto an iPhone for a high-stakes ProRes shoot or offloading 4K footage to a workstation, the DATAMAG handles the heat both literally and figuratively, thanks to its sleek aluminium chassis.

For fast, secure transfers and a sleek magnetic design, the DATAMAG is an ideal on-the-go companion for capturing professional content. It just goes to show how far portable storage drives have come; we are no longer tethered by sluggish speeds or dangling hardware.

Pros

✅ Stylish and compact

✅ Lightweight and magnetic

✅ Blazing fast speeds

Cons

❌ Product availability

❌ Not always detected on legacy ports

❌ Maximum performance requires specific hardware