The Sharge Disk Pro 2 Aims Fix Every Pain Point of the Original

Sharge is just a few days away from wrapping up its crowdfunding campaign for the follow-up to the Sharge Disk Pro with a few nice upgrades, including a way to toggle off its obnoxiously loud fan.

As a recap, the original Disk Pro was an SSD and more: in addition to flash storage, it was also a hub with five ports: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI 2.1 (for 4K at up to 144Hz or 8K at up to 30Hz), a 10Gbps USB-C 3.2 port with support for power delivery up to 100W, and a second 10Gbps built-in USB-C cable. PetaPixel reviewed the original Disk Pro and found it to be a solid performer with great value-add for the price, especially considering the high cost of memory.

The original Disk Pro raised more than $760,000 last year and the new version appears just about as popular, sitting at about $740,000 pledged at the time of writing.

Disk Pro 2 addresses multiple pain points found in the original: the integrated cable, a fixed SSD, a crammed USB-C port (which made it difficult to use with some larger cables), and a loud fan that could never be fully toggled off (and wasn’t particularly smart).

Starting with that last complaint, Sharge has updated the fan to not only be more powerful, but it can also be turned off. Called the “Ice Storm” fan, Sharge says it now has up to 12,000 RPM (up from 10,000), and it comes with the promise of more intelligence.

“Instead of reacting to heat, Disk Pro 2 prevents it from becoming a problem in the first place. The Ice-Storm Cooling fan reduces the temperature of the SSD by 30%,” Sharge says. “To ensure optimal performance even when magnetically attached or placed flat on a laptop, phone, or desk, we have significantly enlarged the air intake of Disk Pro 2. In Auto Mode, Disk Pro 2 intelligently controls the fan according to the SSD’s real-time temperature.”

When the SSD is below 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celcius), the fan runs at a lower 5,400 RPM. It’s only when that temperature goes above that point that it will ramp up to the maximum 12,000 RPM. If the temperature is below 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celcius), it turns off. Additionally, if silence is needed, the Disk Pro 2 now has an “off” option.

The Sharge Disk Pro 2 also has a swappable internal SSD, allowing users to use their own up to 8TB of storage. Upgraded from Disk Pro, Disk Pro 2 supports M.2 and B&M NVME SSDs as well. That said, Sharge isn’t offering an option that comes with storage during its crowdfunding campaign.

Share also updated the ports, changing the once-integrated cable into a removable one and adding both SD and microSD card slots, upping the number of total ports from four to six. The result of all these changes is a slightly larger overall SSD, but with adjustments to the quality of life that seem to make that more than a fair tradeoff. Sharge intends to ship the Disk Pro 2 to backers by October.