Portable SSDs
Lexar has a long history of serving the flash-based consumer storage market in the form of SSDs, memory cards, and USB flash drives. After having started out as a Micron brand, the company was acquired by Longsys which has diversified its product lineup with regular introduction of new products. Recently, the company announced a number of portable SSDs targeting different market segments. The Lexar SL500 Portable SSD is one of the moderately priced 20 Gbps PSSDs in that set. The SL500 is able to achieve its price point thanks to the use of a native USB flash controller - the Silicon Motion SM2320. The unique aspect is the use of YMTC 3D TLC NAND (compared to the usual Micron or BiCS NAND that we have...
SK hynix Tube T31 Stick SSD Review: Bridging Solution Springs A Surprise
SK hynix is one of the few vertically integrated manufacturers in the flash-based storage market. The company is well-established in the OEM market. A few years back, they also...
15 by Ganesh T S on 4/15/2024
Best Portable SSDs: March 2024
Once the domain of external, bus-powered hard drives, these days the market for external storage has been almost completely consumed by portable SSDs. Rapid technological advancements in NAND flash...
1 by Ganesh T S on 3/8/2024
SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE Portable SSD Ecosystem Review
Western Digital had unveiled the SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE modular SSD ecosystem in mid-2022 to serve the needs of the professional market. Compact and sturdy NVMe drives (PRO-BLADE SSD Mag...
13 by Ganesh T S on 3/7/2024
Silicon Power PX10 Portable SSD Review: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Silicon Power announced the MS70 and PX10 Portable SSDs in late 2023. The company is well known for offering entry- and mid-range products at compelling price points, but the...
5 by Ganesh T S on 3/4/2024
Micron at CES 2024: USB4 SSD Technology Demonstrations
Micron's consumer brand, Crucial Memory, has been putting extra focus on the SSD market over the last few quarters. The brand was marketing entry-level QLC drives in the 2018...
13 by Ganesh T S on 1/11/2024
Phison Details U21 USB4 PSSD and E31T Mainstream Gen 5 SSD Controllers
Phison's lineup of SSD and portable SSD controllers is keeping pace with the general industry trends, as evidenced by their products on display at the 2024 CES. Portable SSDs in...
3 by Ganesh T S & Gavin Bonshor on 1/9/2024
LaCie Rugged Mini SSD Review: Power-Efficient Flash Storage at 20 Gbps
LaCie's portable storage drives have enjoyed a fan following, particularly among creative professionals valuing both performance and product design / appearance. After Seagate's acquisition, the brand has continued to...
8 by Ganesh T S on 1/3/2024
Silicon Power MS70 SSD-in-a-Stick Review: Thumb Drive Meets Massive Capacity
NAND flash technology has seen rapid advancement in recent years. This has resulted in the capacity limits of SSDs and thumb drives getting pushed up regularly. Companies like Kingston...
28 by Ganesh T S on 12/21/2023
Samsung T5 EVO Portable SSD Review: QLC Sets Sane Expectations, Insane Pricing
The market for portable SSDs (PSSDs) has seen rapid growth over the past decade. Samsung is one of the active tier-one flash vendors in the space, with their popular...
13 by Ganesh T S on 11/14/2023
Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD Review: 20 Gbps Performance in a Budget Offering
The portable SSD market has seen rapid growth over the last decade. Almost all of the tier-one NAND flash manufacturers have jumped in with multiple offerings, presenting consumers with...
19 by Ganesh T S on 11/10/2023
Samsung T9 Portable SSD Review: A 20 Gbps PSSD for Prosumer Workloads
Samsung's portable SSD lineup has enjoyed significant market success since the launch of the T1 back in 2015. Despite the release of the Thunderbolt-capable X5 PSSD in 2018, the...
15 by Ganesh T S on 10/3/2023
Crucial X9 Pro Portable SSD Review: Micron 176L 3D NAND Delivers Record UFD Consistency
Crucial introduced their X9 Pro and X10 Pro high-performance portable SSDs last month. Based on Silicon Motion's SM2320 native USB flash controller, coupled with Micron's 176L 3D TLC NAND...
18 by Ganesh T S on 8/18/2023
Crucial X9 Pro and X10 Pro High-Performance Portable SSDs Announced
Crucial's X6 and X8 Portable SSDs have been attractive budget options for the mainstream consumers looking to purchase high-capacity direct-attached storage drives. The company has been delivering some industry-firsts...
8 by Ganesh T S on 7/25/2023
PNY Pro Elite V2 and Elite-X PRO Portable SSDs Review: Performance on a Budget
PNY Technologies is well known in the computing industry for its NVIDIA-based graphics cards, but the company also participates in the DRAM and flash-based storage products markets. In the...
5 by Ganesh T S on 6/30/2023
Transcend ESD310C Dual-Interface UFD Review: Silicon Motion Powers Portable SSD in a Thumb Drive
Transcend recently introduced the ESD310C portable SSD in a thumb drive form-factor. A compact device with both Type-A and Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) interfaces, the ESD310C...
28 by Ganesh T S on 6/22/2023
OWC Envoy Pro Mini Review: SSD in a Thumb Drive Exceeds Expectations
OWC has been a key player in the storage industry over the last few decades, particularly for Apple users. Their lineup of portable flash-based direct-attached storage devices has a...
19 by Ganesh T S on 3/2/2023
Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield 4TB Review: IP65 PSSD Gets a Capacity Upgrade
Samsung has been enjoying market success with their lineup of portable SSDs, starting with the T1 back in 2015. The company has been regularly updating their PSSD lineup with...
13 by Ganesh T S on 1/31/2023
Akasa AK-ENU3M2-07 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD Enclosure Review: 20Gbps with Excellent Thermals
Storage bridges have become an ubiquitous part of today's computing ecosystems. The bridges may be external or internal, with the former ones enabling a range of direct-attached storage (DAS...
15 by Ganesh T S on 8/1/2022
Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield Review: Flagship PSSD Gets IP65 Avatar
Samsung's lineup of portable SSDs has enjoyed tremendous success, starting with the T1 back in 2015. The company has been regularly updating their PSSD lineup with the evolution of...
11 by Ganesh T S on 7/20/2022
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