The moveable SSD market has been steadily increasing due to the growing digital footprint of shoppers. Content creators discover themselves capturing pictures and movies at larger and better resolutions and bit-rates, whereas players are encountering set up sizes working into 100s of GBs. And the backup necessities for the common shopper have additionally grown in tandem.
Meanwhile, technological developments reminiscent of 3D NAND with excessive layer counts and the emergence of QLC have enabled SSD capacities to extend considerably over the previous couple of years. With economies of scale kicking in, a number of distributors are lastly in a position to supply consumer-focused flash-based storage units in capacities as much as 4TB. At the 2021 CES, Western Digital launched 4TB variants of virtually all drives of their moveable SSD households, together with their flagship SanDisk Extreme PRO v2 and the WD_BLACK P50 traces. In March, Crucial up to date its inexpensive X6 lineup to incorporate a 4TB model.
WD’s flagships and Crucial’s mainstream X6 choices symbolize two ends of the pricing spectrum. At the identical capability level, they current an attention-grabbing view of the tradeoffs concerned in reaching a selected value level – efficiency, consistency, BOM options, and worth additions. This evaluation seems on the options of the SanDisk Extreme PRO v2 4TB and the Crucial X6 4TB moveable SSDs, together with an evaluation of their efficiency numbers and worth propositions.
Introduction and Product Impressions
External bus-powered storage units have grown each in storage capability in addition to speeds during the last decade. While PCIe / NVMe has been the motive force of SSD speeds, quicker host interfaces (reminiscent of Thunderbolt Three and USB 3.x) have helped on the direct-attached storage (DAS) facet. We now have 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 changing into the entry degree for thumb drives and moveable SSDs. Premium units sporting the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) interface have been making it to the market during the last 18 months or so, however have been held again by the dearth of widespread host help in desktops and different computing platforms. In distinction, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) has gained widespread deployment in each Type-C and Type-A variations.
The SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD v2 4TB we’re taking a look at on this evaluation makes use of the identical mainboard with the ASMedia ASM2364 brdige chip because the 2TB model reviewed in October 2020. The important replace is within the capability of the SN730E NVMe SSD used internally. Both capacities use the identical 3D TLC NAND, with the elevated capacities being enabled by flash packages on either side of the M.2 SSD. It made sense for SanDisk to delay the launch of the 4TB model – ready for the market demand to catch up, whereas additionally making the most of elevated yields with the mature BiCS Four fabrication course of. In phrases of bundle contents, IP score, and the feel and appear of the drive, there is no such thing as a change from the model reviewed earlier.
Crucial has a protracted historical past of reusing product mannequin names regardless of vital modifications within the internals. The Crucial X6 Portable SSD 4TB additionally falls in the identical class. We had reviewed the 2TB model final 12 months with Crucial’s QLC-based BX500 SATA SSD behind an ASMedia ASM235CM SATA-to-USB bridge chip. Crucial’s X6 4TB is without doubt one of the first high-performance exterior SSDs to hit the market with a local USB flash controller. Essentially, it adopts a platform just like those discovered on USB thumb drives. However, due to latest developments, such controllers are actually in a position to hit switch charges as much as 1.9GBps when configured with the suitable…
