Type-C

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 T-series PSSDs servicing a range of target markets in terms of performance and price. Today, the company is introducing a new category in PSSDs - high-capacity flash storage limited to entry-level speeds. The company is using QLC flash for this purpose. While this is not the first PSSD in the market to use QLC flash (and it will definitely not be the last), the company is not repeating the mistakes of its predecessors by promising the moon. Instead, the company's first product in this category - the T5 EVO Portable SSD - is limited to...

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

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

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Portable SSD Review: Balanced Storage

Western Digital had announced new products in the WD_BLACK lineup back in May 2022 to augment their offerings in the gaming market. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD was...

6 by Ganesh T S on 11/18/2022

SanDisk Professional PRO-G40 Thunderbolt / USB Dual-Mode Portable SSD Review

Western Digital is introducing a new flagship portable SSD today under the SanDisk Professional brand. The PRO-G40 dual-mode PSSD ticks all the right boxes for prosumers, content creators, and...

13 by Ganesh T S on 10/6/2022

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

Samsung MUF-256DA USB-C Flash Drive Review: Thumb-Sized Performance Consistency

Portable SSDs have seen great demand over the last few years. Advancements in flash technology and controllers has resulted in compact drives delivering blistering speeds. These advancements have also...

20 by Ganesh T S on 7/6/2022

SanDisk Extreme PRO and Crucial X6 4TB Portable SSDs Review: Contrasting High-Capacity Storage Options

The portable SSD market has been steadily expanding thanks to the increasing digital footprint of consumers. Technological advancements such as 3D NAND with high layer counts and the emergence...

20 by Ganesh T S on 8/18/2021

Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q USB / Thunderbolt 3 Dual Mode External SSD Review: Yin and Yang

The external storage market has shown renewed vigor in recent years, thanks in part to growth fueled by bus-powered flash-based storage solutions. The introduction of 3D NAND, coupled with...

14 by Ganesh T S on 12/14/2020

Western Digital Unveils USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD v2

The SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD released in 2019 has been one of the top performers in the external flash storage market segment. Putting a high-end WD Black SN750-class...

14 by Ganesh T S on 9/30/2020

Crucial Launches X6 Portable SSD, Updates X8 with 2TB Model: QLC Drives for the Budget-Conscious

Crucial introduced their first bus-powered direct-attached storage product last year - the X8 Portable SSD. The product put their P1 NVMe SSD behind an ASMedia bridge to offer read...

8 by Ganesh T S on 8/25/2020

Western Digital's USB 3.1 Gen 2 WD My Passport SSD Gets an NVMe Refresh

Western Digital's lineup of direct-attached storage (DAS) products targets a range of markets and form-factors. After the acquisition of HGST / G-Technology and SanDisk, the company now offers similar...

20 by Ganesh T S on 8/20/2020

USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSDs Roundup - Featuring the Samsung T7 Touch and the SanDisk Extreme Pro

External bus-powered storage devices have grown in storage capacity as well as speeds over the last decade. Palm-sized flash-based storage devices with a Thunderbolt 3 interface are capable of...

38 by Ganesh T S on 1/23/2020

LaCie d2 Professional 10TB Direct-Attached Storage Capsule Review

Seagate has a number of direct-attached storage (DAS) products for content creators under the LaCie brand. The LaCie d2 Professional, introduced last year, is an external hard drive with...

14 by Ganesh T S on 4/29/2019

SanDisk's Mainstream Extreme PRO Portable SSD Goes NVMe

At CES 2019, Western Digital demonstrated a number of direct-attached flash solutions. Out of all the showcased items with imminent retail availability, one deserves separate mention. Under the SanDisk...

8 by Ganesh T S on 1/8/2019

MyDigitalSSD M2X M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Review - A PCIe to USB Storage Bridge

Storage bridges come in many varieties within the internal and external market segments. USB has become the de-facto standard when it comes to external mass-market storage enclosures. But while...

39 by Ganesh T S on 10/31/2018

MyDigitalSSD Introduces M2X USB Enclosure For M.2 NVMe SSDs

MyDigitalSSD is now shipping one of the first USB enclosures for M.2 NVMe SSDs. The new M2X enclosure is based on the JMicron JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to...

17 by Billy Tallis on 9/18/2018

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