Crucial launches what could be the fastest and smallest portable SSDs ever
Crucial has added two entirely new product lines to its range of portable SSDs. The newly-announced Crucial X10 Pro and X9 Pro will be competing squarely with the likes of the SanDisk Extreme Pro V2 portable SSD and Samsung Portable SSD T7 in the portable SSD market.
The new SSDs will be the flagship and high-end offerings in Crucial's portable SSD range, supplementing the existing budget-orientated X6 SSD, and what was until now the company's fastest portable offering, the X8 SSD, which will now be positioned as a more mid-range choice.
Crucial X10 Pro SSD
Crucial's new flagship portable SSD, the X10 Pro, boasts impressively fast read/write speeds of up to 2100/2000MB/s, making it marginally faster than the SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2. Like the SanDisk drive, the X10 Pro is only able to operate this quickly thanks to its use of the 20Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface.
It's worth remembering, however, that very few laptop or desktop computers support this USB revision - you're more likely to find a computer with the latest USB4 connection, which is backward-compatible with Gen 2x2. But in order to get a USB4 port that'll allow the X10 Pro to perform at its fastest, you'll need a new or very recent computer.
This extreme speed comes in a device that's exceptionally compact. The drive measures only 65x50mm and weighs a featherweight 38g. Compare that to the rival SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD - itself hardly a bloated device - which measures 110x57mm and is twice the weight of the X10 Pro. Both the X10 Pro and X9 Pro utilize Micron (Crucial's parent company) TLC NAND flash memory, in conjunction with "a revolutionary single-ASIC portable storage architecture to enable a breakthrough, ultra-compact, lightweight form factor". This, according to Crucial, means the X10 Pro and X9 Pro have the most storage capacity per square millimetre of any SSD in the industry.
Capacities range between 1TB and 4TB, and the drive's metal enclosure is IP55-rated against water, dust and sand ingress. Like all current Crucial portable SSDs, the X10 Pro is also built to survive a drop from up to 2 meters.
Expect to pay $129.99/£119.99 for the 1TB X10 Pro, $209.99/£194.39 for the 2TB capacity, while the range-topping 4TB version is priced at $339.99/£314.39. All are available to buy now.
Crucial X9 Pro SSD
The X9 Pro is the same size as the X10 Pro, and is marginally lighter at 38 grams. It's also slower, with its 1,050MB/s max read/write speed matching the existing X8 Pro. That said, unless you have a computer with a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 or USB4 connection to get the most out of the X10 Pro, the X9 Pro is already fast enough to max out the more commonplace USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection, and is therefore a smarter choice for most users. As with the X10 Pro, the X9 Pro is available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities, and features the same rugged credentials.
The Crucial X9 Pro is available now, with prices ranging from $89.99/£82.79 to $289.99/£267.59.
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