Samsung today announced the launch of its newest portable solid state drive, the SSD X5. The X5, which uses Thunderbolt 3 technology, is the company's first NVMe-based portable solid state drive for super fast transfer speeds in a form factor that's compact and durable.
Samsung says the X5 offers read speeds of up to 2800MB/s, which is 5.2 times faster than SATA interface portable SSDs and up to 25.5 times faster than external hard drives.
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It also features a maximum write speed of 2300MB/s, allowing for a 20GB 4K video to be transferred in approximately 12 seconds. It uses Samsung's Portable SSD Software, which includes AES 256-bit hardware data encryption, optional password protection, and configurable security settings.
"As a leader in high-performance and reliable storage solutions, we are thrilled to continue to advance the external SSD market with the introduction of our first Thunderbolt 3 portable SSD," said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "The X5 is yet another testament to Samsung's commitment to providing innovative portable storage solutions that enable faster transfer of large data files, saving users' valuable time."
Design wise, the X5 includes an all-metal body with a glossy finish and a non-slip mat at the bottom. It uses a shock-resistant internal frame that Samsung says can withstand drops of up to two meters. Inside, Dynamic Thermal Guard technology and a heat sink protect the X5 from overheating.
Samsung's new X5 works with all Macs and PCs that have Thunderbolt 3 ports, which for the Mac lineup, includes 2016 and later MacBook Pro models, 2017 iMac models, and the iMac Pro.
The X5 will be available for purchase starting on September 3. The 500GB model will be priced at $400, the 1TB model will be priced at $700, and a 2TB model will be available for $1,400. Additional information is available on Samsung's website.
Top Rated Comments
You can make one of these for half the cost. Amazon is selling the Samsung 970 Evo 1tb NVMe PCIe for $330. Grab a small external case and you're good to go. Sequential read/write speeds of 3,500/2,500 MB/s.
There are not that many small external NVMe cases on the market yet (TB3 or USB), most are SATA and their reviews are full of people who tried to stick am NVMe m2 stick in it only to realize that it does not fit.....When I saw MKBHD's tech backpack video I searched on Google for the Samsung X5 and couldn't find anything... so it turned out he got it prerelease.
Exactly my thoughts. Didnt he mention he’s had it for a bit now too? Jealous.Will this fall back to USB 3.0 when connected to a regular USB port?
No it requires Thunderbolt 3. It will not even work on a USB-C port that only supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps), it must also support TB3 (40Gbps).If so, this will be an amazing tool for moving lots of data quickly between different platforms. :)
For USB only Samsung offers the T3/T5, it supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 at around 500 MB/s and is also backwards compatible with USB 3.0/2.0. (USB 2.0 would greatly hinder performance, maybe 50 MB/s.)
You can make one of these for half the cost. Amazon is selling the Samsung 970 Evo 1tb NVMe PCIe for $330. Grab a small external case and you're good to go. Sequential read/write speeds of 3,500/2,500 MB/s.
The problem is finding a mobile, bus-powered Thunderbolt 3 NVMe enclosure. I’ve only ever found one and it’s not that portable and fairly expensive making most pre-packaged ones still fairly competitive in comparison.[doublepost=1535466604][/doublepost]
They absolutely are going down. You can typically grab a 1tb SSD for around $200.
However there's a different type of technology NVMe PCIe, as found in the newer macbooks with read and write speeds of over 2000MB/S which warrant a higher price. Of course they will come down one day too but it's much newer than SSD.
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Does anybody feel that the prices of these SSDs are not going down as fast as one would expect? (Compared to the days of regular hard drives)
They absolutely are going down. You can typically grab a 1tb SSD for around $200.However there's a different type of technology NVMe PCIe, as found in the newer macbooks with read and write speeds of over 2000MB/S which warrant a higher price. Of course they will come down one day too but it's much newer than SSD.