Guide

The ultimate SSD round-up

28/1/2024

Need a new external SSD? My round-up’s got you covered. Read on to find out which is best in which scenario.

Over the last few years, I’ve tested countless external SSDs. But this time, I’m changing my method. To ensure the results of my previous reviews stay comparable, I’ve put the SSDs I’ve already tested through their paces again. You’ll find the results in this article. As an added bonus, I’ll reveal which SSDs come up trumps in the categories of data storage, office use and gaming, before going on to choose an overall winner.

Speed isn’t just determined by the SSD installed in the housing of an external data carrier – it’s also a question of USB standard. Manufacturers are currently focusing their production efforts on USB 3.2 Gen2 as well as the newer USB 3.2 Gen2x2, enabling transfer rates of up to 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps respectively. Models with the former standard include the Samsung T7 Touch, Samsung T5 Evo, Crucial X9 Pro, Crucial X6, SanDisk Extreme V2 and Kingston XS 1000. Devices with the latter include the Samsung T9, Crucial X10 Pro, Kingston XS 2000 and SanDisk Extreme Pro V2.

Storage: when all you want to do is back up your data

If you mostly use your SSD for storing files, it’s got to have a high write speed. To test this, I copy three folders containing different contents to the SSDs.

To test the SSDs’ performance in real-world scenarios, I copy various files from my system drive to the external SSDs. I start off with a 101 GB folder containing a total of 60 files, including MP4s, RAW photos and a Premiere Pro project. For my second test, I copy a folder of almost 10 GB in size, containing MTS, MP4, MP3, MOV and JPEG files and another Premiere project. The contents tot up to 100 files. Lastly, I go for an almost 4 GB folder containing more than 160 RAW photos. These three tests give you an idea of how fast the SSDs are at random- and sequential writes. I also state each device’s average transfer rate.

The SSDs are empty when they achieve the speeds recorded in these charts. When testing an individual SSD, I assess its performance at various levels of fullness. Among the external SSDs with the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 standard, the Crucial X10 Pro in particular stands out. Even when it’s almost full, it still boasts fast transfer rates.

There’s not much between the SSDs with the USB 3.2 Gen2 standard. The exceptions being the Samsung T5 Evo models and, to a lesser extent, the Crucial X6, which still use the old SATA standard. However, these SSDs offer high storage capacities up to eight terabytes. Comparing nearly full SSDs, the X9 Pro recorded the fastest transfer rates.

Recommendations:

For lots of storage space: Samsung T5 Evo
For high speeds: Crucial X10 Pro or X9 Pro

Office: when you need extra storage for work

If you’ll be using your external SSD at the office, both copy performance and read- and write performance are important. To measure the theoretical read performance, I use CrystalDiskMark. The program also provides additional information on write performance.

CrystalDiskMark measures the read and write speeds of data carriers. It does this by writing a series of tests containing several data blocks to the drive, then reading them out again. However, it isn’t a real-life test. It’s only suitable for determining theoretical peak values. The important thing for you to note is that the first two figures represent sequential read and write, while the latter two indicate random read and write. If you work with large files, the first two will be relevant to you. If you work with small files, you’re best off focusing on the latter two.

In these tests, the SSDs with the same USB standard aren’t far apart. I unfortunately haven’t had the opportunity to test these read speeds in practice yet.

Still, at least I can get a sense of the bandwidth and latency of the SSDs thanks to PCMark’s Quick System Drive Benchmark.

Regardless of USB standard, the SSDs do similarly well in this benchmark.

To test copy performance (writing and reading) in a more realistic scenario, I duplicate the 101 GB folder from the write test on the SSD. The results reveal there can be significant differences between theory and practice.

There’s no obvious overall winner when it comes to performance. It really depends on what the SSD’s being used for. If you often travel with your SSD, the Crucial X10 Pro, X9 Pro, SanDisk Extreme or Extreme Pro are ideal. They all have a certain level of protection from physical shock and water. That being said, I’m cautious about recommending SanDisk, as some of the SSDs have been reported defective.

Recommendations:

If you travel a lot: Crucial X9 Pro or X10 Pro
Local use: Samsung T9, Kingston XS2000 or XS1000

Gaming: for oversized game collections

With the speeds offered by data carriers nowadays, boosting your game collection via an external SSD is now a valid option. I test this using the 3DMark Storage Benchmark.

Again, the differences between SSDs with the same USB standard are minor. For gaming, however, I recommend the highest possible speed. If your computer supports USB 3.2 Gen2x2, you should definitely choose an SSD with that standard. Nothing’s more annoying than waiting ages for your save state to load. That said, SSDs with the USB 3.2 Gen2 standard aren’t to be sniffed at either. There isn’t much difference between them and their larger counterparts, and they’re cheaper to boot. The only ones I’d advise against are the Crucial X6 and the Samsung T5 Evo. Although they boast much more memory, having the SATA interface makes them significantly slower than the others, which have NVMe.

Recommendations:

Follow your preferences: any besides the Samsung T5 Evo and Crucial X6

The all-rounder: good in any scenario

In my opinion, the Crucial X9 Pro currently offers the best package. It may not support the latest, fastest USB standard, but that’s far from widespread anyway. Not only does it perform very well in my tests, it also offers IP55-certified protection against dust and jets of water.

Header image: Kevin Hofer

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