DAS

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 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...

18 by Ganesh T S on 11/10/2023

Crucial Unveils X9 Portable SSD: QLC for the Cost-Conscious Consumer

Crucial entered the portable SSD market relatively late, with their X6 and X8 PSSDs being the mainstay for many years. Based on QLC NAND, they were marketed for read-intensive...

1 by Ganesh T S on 9/27/2023

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

Western Digital Launches 22 TB HDD for Consumers in Updated My Book Portfolio

Western Digital's 22 TB hard disk drives hit retail in July 2022, with a trio of products catering to the prosumer and business / enterprise markets. Today, the company...

13 by Ganesh T S on 2/15/2023

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

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

Kingston DataTraveler Max UFD Series Review: New Type-A Thumb Drive Retains NVMe Performance

Kingston's new products in the portable flash-based external storage space have met with good market reception over the last year or so. Two products in particular - the Kingston...

17 by Ganesh T S on 7/11/2022

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

Kingston XS2000 Portable SSDs Review: USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Goes Mainstream

Flash-based portable drives have become popular fast storage options for both content creators and backups-seeking consumers. The advent of high-speed interfaces such as USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps...

19 by Ganesh T S on 11/10/2021

OWC Envoy Pro Elektron Rugged IP67 Portable SSD Review

The market for portable SSDs has expanded significantly over the past few years. With USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) becoming the de-facto standard for USB ports even in...

2 by Ganesh T S on 10/29/2021

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE SSD and ArmorLock SSD Review

Western Digital introduced the SanDisk Professional branding in May 2021 for its G-Technology products targeting the content-capture market. The company has taken the opportunity to update some of the...

6 by Ganesh T S on 10/12/2021

Kingston DataTraveler Max UFD Review: NVMe Performance in a USB Thumb Drive

Rapid advancements in flash technology and continued improvements in high-speed interfaces have driven the growth of small, bus-powered portable SSDs. Kingston introduced the DataTraveler Max in August 2021 as...

12 by Ganesh T S on 9/30/2021

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