Lexar has an extended historical past of serving the flash-based shopper storage market within the type of SSDs, reminiscence playing cards, and USB flash drives. After having began out as a Micron model, the corporate was acquired in 2017 by Longsys which has diversified its product lineup with common introduction of latest merchandise. Recently, the corporate introduced plenty of moveable SSDs focusing on totally different market segments. The Lexar SL500 Portable SSD is without doubt one of the reasonably priced 20 Gbps PSSDs in that set.
The SL500 is ready to obtain its worth level because of using a local USB flash controller – the Silicon Motion SM2320. The distinctive facet is using YMTC 3D TLC NAND (in comparison with the same old Micron or BiCS NAND that we now have seen in earlier SM2320-based PSSDs). This overview takes an in depth have a look at the SL500, together with an evaluation of its internals and analysis of its efficiency consistency, energy consumption, and thermal profile.
Introduction and Product Impressions
External bus-powered storage units have been rising in storage capability in addition to entry speeds over the past decade. Advancements in flash expertise (corresponding to the appearance of 3D NAND and NVMe) and the evolution of sooner host interfaces (corresponding to Thunderbolt Three and USB 3.x / USB4). As a end result, we now have been seeing palm-sized flash-based storage units able to delivering 3GBps+ speeds. While these speeds may be achieved with Thunderbolt 4, mass-market units need to depend on USB. Within the USB ecosystem, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) is quick turning into the entry stage for thumb drives and moveable SSDs. USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) bought off to a gradual begin, however current computing platforms from each Intel and AMD have began to help it on the host aspect. The introduction of native USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 flash controllers such because the Phison U18 and Silicon Motion SM2320 has enabled PSSD distributors to deliver low-cost power-efficient 20 Gbps exterior drives to the market.
Broadly talking, there are at present 5 distinct efficiency ranges within the PSSD market:
- 2GBps+ drives with Thunderbolt Three or USB4, utilizing NVMe SSDs
- 2GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, utilizing NVMe SSDs or direct USB flash drive (UFD) controllers
- 1GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2, utilizing NVMe SSDs or direct UFD controllers
- 500MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1 (or, Gen 2, in some instances), utilizing SATA SSDs
- Sub-400MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1, utilizing UFD controllers
Within every of those ranges, there’s additional segmentation into entry-level, mid-range, and premium primarily based on the selection of inside parts. The Lexar SL500 we’re at this time falls beneath the second class. Lexar touts the ultra-thin nature of the PSSD as a key promoting level. The packaging itself is spartan – we now have a discrete Type-C to Type-C cable, together with an consumer information.
The casing is steel and exudes a smooth and premium look. However, there aren’t any claims of ruggedness or any particular IP rankings. The unit doesn’t have any screws and disassembling entails prying off the plastic tabs at both finish and pushing out the inner plastic body.
The plastic body itself is a bit outsized for the board, however that appears to have been carried out holding in thoughts the necessity to make the exterior casing palm-sized. The gallery under presents some insights into the case design and internals of the PSSD.
Interestingly, the board doesn’t have any specific thermal resolution – no thermal pads or conducting paths to the exterior casing from both the controller or flash packages. The SM2320 UFD controller is straight seen on the board.
The 1TB model consists of 4 flash packages in a double-sided configuration. The packages are from Longsys themselves with no apparent indication of the NAND inside. Fortunately, we now have a publicly obtainable NAND…
