With Switch 2, iPhone, and laptop tricks, the Sharge Disk Pro 2 is finally a worthy EDC

Things get a little tricky with the low wattage, though.

First, Sharge is selling two models of the Disk Pro 2, the “Ultra” that requires at least 1.5W of USB-C bus power, and 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 a big transfer on my Galaxy S25.

(There’s 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, no problem. You could instead try to find a lower-power SSD.)

Third, while the HDMI dock does work with both my Switch 2 and my original Switch, Nintendo’s handhelds explicitly check for a relatively specific external power source before docking. Sharge is still tweaking the firmware, but says I currently need a 85W or higher USB-C PD charger plugged in for Switch 2 in particular.

You should also know there’s a long pause before the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 appear on a connected TV, like some other third-party docks, and you won’t get variable refresh rate (VRR) with a Steam Deck or other PC handhelds. It does 4K144 and 4K120 with HDR, but the Steam Deck claims my VRR TV is not VRR-capable with the Disk Pro 2 as a go-between.

And while I successfully worked with 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 a minute, roughly once a day.

There’s still work for Sharge to do. But it’s the first drive from the company that I’d happily add to my go bag.

The original Sharge Disk was a bulky dongle with a ridiculously noisy tiny fan. The Disk Plus marketed itself as barely-there stylishly thin SSD enclosure that magnetically attaches to your phone, but the magnets were actually a stick-on accessory that made the drive much thicker. The first Sharge Disk Pro had a power port so tiny and recessed that most charging cables wouldn’t fit, and buttons that could actually cut power to the drive mid-transfer.

The Disk Pro 2 fixes all that. The included cable is now detachable, the magnets are built-in, the ports are no longer weirdly recessed, the fan isn’t noisy by default, you can turn off that fan entirely, the switch doesn’t cut power to the drive, and the drive has a larger airflow path. Plus, you can bring your own SSD — though I’d prefer toolless swaps to the current screws.

You won’t always see much higher transfer speeds turning that fan on full blast. My 195GB transfer took 4 minutes and 55 seconds with the fan on full power, and 5 minutes 5 seconds with it off — a difference of just 10 seconds, even though I let it cool between tests. The real difference is the one I felt when trying to pick up the Disk Pro 2 afterwards. Without fan, the metal sides were burning hot to the touch.

The Disk Pro 2 Ultra is $75 on Kickstarter for early bird and will be $89 full retail. While the typical caveats apply with Kickstarter projects, Sharge has a very solid track record for shipping (even if it’s hit and miss on design).

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