Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD review

Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD review | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Hardware Three of the biggest password managers are vulnerable to ‘a cornucopia of practical attacks’ say security researchers Handheld Gaming PCs Best handheld gaming PC in 2026: my recommendations for the best portable powerhouses Handheld Gaming PCs Best handheld gaming PC in 2026: my recommendations for the best portable powerhouses. Gaming Mice QPAD Obsidian Glass mouse pad review Gaming Laptops Acer Nitro V15 gaming laptop review Gaming Keyboards Corsair Galleon 100 SD review Storage Microsoft says its glass-based storage project now works with ‘the same material found in kitchen cookware and oven doors’ and can hold data for 10,000 years SSDs Best SSD deals for gaming today Handheld Gaming PCs Best Steam Deck accessories in 2026: These are the add-ons that I’d let keep my handheld company on its travels SSDs Best external SSDs for gaming in 2026: These are the portable drives I’d use for backups, game libraries, and travel storage SSDs Best SSD for gaming in 2026: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC SSDs Unfortunately, all of that doomsaying last year was correct and SSD prices are surging as a result of the memory crisis SSDs Best M.2 SSDs for gaming in 2026: my top picks for blazing fast storage Handheld Gaming PCs Abxylute 3D One handheld gaming PC review Microphones HyperX FlipCast gaming microphone review PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Hardware Storage SSDs When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. 81 Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD review Lock up your data. Reviews By Ian Evenden published 24 February 2026 0 Comments Join the conversation (Image: © Future) Our Verdict Lexar’s encrypted SSD is small, light, and easy to use, and that will make it attractive to a lot of people looking for data privacy who don’t want to spend a huge amount of money. For Small and light Good encryption Fast enough Against Not the fastest Not the cheapest Not the most capacitous PC Gamer’s got your back Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware. No price informationCheck Amazon No price informationCheck WalmartWe check over 250 million products every day for the best pricesBeing able to encrypt and protect your data can be important, even if it’s to stop your little brother from accessing your Steam library, and at CES this year Lexar revealed its Touchlock SSD, which melds 128-bit AES hardware encryption and a capacity of 512 GB or 1 TB (and a 2 TB version has been announced) with an NFC reader, so you can use your phone to unlock it. It also has one of those clever MagSafe rings on it, so you can stick it to the back of your phone, but it will work with almost anything with a USB port, be that a Windows or Linux PC, a Mac, or either kind of smartphone.It’s not the fastest drive out there, as Lexar has chosen to fit it with a USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface—that’s the 5 Gbps one—which is an odd decision given that phones like the Pixel 10 Pro and recent iPhones come with Gen 2 ports that are twice as fast, and our PCs bristle with USB4 and Thunderbolt sockets. But it’s still a decent speed, and if you’re using it as a way to expand the storage in your Steam Deck you’re not going to notice the difference. It probably helps keep the price down too.With a name like TouchLock, you might expect the drive to have a built-in fingerprint reader, but you’d be mistaken. The security here comes via your phone. It magnetically clamps itself to the back of your iPhone or Android model and talks to the Lexar mobile app via NFC. And if you’ve got it hooked up to your PC, you’ll need to unlock it in this way before Windows even knows it’s there.Setup is straightforward. Get the Lexar app installed on your phone, then use the included USB cable to connect them together. Snap the drive onto the back of the phone, and the app will launch, and you’ll need to go through a brief pairing ceremony in which a recovery key is generated. This looks rather like the Winter Soldier’s activation phrase, and you’ll have to repeat it back to the app once you’ve saved it somewhere safe—this involves tapping words in the right order on the phone screen rather than typing them in, and doesn’t take long. That done, you can unlock the drive at any time by pressing it against your phone, no matter what the USB port is connected to.TouchLock specs (Image credit: Future)Capacity: 512 GB / 1 TB (reviewed) / 2 TBInterface: USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-CSequential read (measured): 409.88 MB/sSequential write (measured): 428.88 MB/sSupported OS: Windows / macOS / Linux / Android / iOSProtection: two-metre dropDimensions: 85.6 mm x 53 mm x 7 mmWeight: 40 gPrice: $140/£100 (1 TB)The included cable is an odd one. It’s clearly marked 10 Gbps despite this being a 5 Gbps drive, and comes with a USB-C to A adapter that will only go on one way thanks to a small plastic clip. The drive seemed quite happy being connected to a PC via a USB4 cable, though it did nothing to improve its performance.Speaking of which, it doesn’t do badly for a Gen 1 drive. Obviously it was never going to transfer data at the same speed as a USB4 drive, or even USB 3.2 Gen 2, but it’s surprising how small the gap can be. PCG uses Final Fantasy 14’s benchmark to test external drives, and while the Crucial X9 loads the Shadowbringers test in 16.5 seconds, the Lexar TouchLock does it in 15.2s. And it’s the same in Dawntrail, with the X9’s 14.29s loading time beaten by the TouchLock’s 12.75s. Lexar TouchLock benchmarks 3DMark Storage Index Bandwidth (MB/s) Average Access Time (µs) Lexar TouchLock 558 90.88 305 Samsung T7 Shield 857 140 212 Samsung T9 1045 181.54 174 Crucial X9 875 152 208 Crucial X10 1136 181.36 147 03757501,1251,500 3DMark Storage Data ProductValue Lexar TouchLock 558 Index, 90.88 Bandwidth (MB/s), 305 Average Access Time (µs) Samsung T7 Shield 857 Index, 140 Bandwidth (MB/s), 212 Average Access Time (µs) Samsung T9 1045 Index, 181.54 Bandwidth (MB/s), 174 Average Access Tim