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PCMark 8 has a storage test that simulates how well a drive will function under everyday workloads such as videoconferencing and word processing. All five of the tested drives performed similarly; the Crucial again came out on top but by a negligible amount. We previously reviewed the Crucial X6 2TB portable SSD, which made a good impression on us, so there is a high expectation on the X8 model to perform better.
Plug the Crucial X8 Portable SSD into your PS4 or Xbox One and expand your gaming world. With up to 2TB of storage, you’ll spend less time deleting files and more time in the game.Latest firmware may be required for operation. For more information, see https://crucial.com/support/x8 Let’s start with some technical data and product features while later, we will show more interesting test results. The ASMedia ASM2362 USB 3.2 Gen 2 bridge controller handles communication between the USB interface and the PCIe NVMe SSD. It boasts a solid design that offers power management capability for low heat output and port connection stability. It links up to the NVMe SSD over a PCIe 3.0 x2 interface for low communication overhead and better performance. Inside, Crucial uses 64-layer QLC NAND allied to a four-channel Silicon Motion SM2263 controller bridging over to USB. X8 opts to include the version using DDR4 memory – there is another relying on the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) interface for buffering duties – but do appreciate sequential speed is capped at 10Gbps, even though the controller and NAND can run faster in a PCIe-attached M.2 NVMe environment.
The Crucial X8 also edged ahead of the T7 Touch in AS SSD's traditional 1GB 4K random speed test, too. It couldn't quite match the peerless speeds of the T5, admittedly - if only because, much like the T7 Touch, switching to USB-C made absolutely no difference to the overall speed of the drive in this instance - but it still came pretty damn close, managing a random write speed of 37.7MB/s and a random read speed of 23.8MB/s. The latter is pretty much equal with the T5's 23.2MB/s result, but the T5's random write speed of 40.7MB/s still remains the fastest result I've seen so far for an external SSD. From a performance viewpoint, the X6 and X8 fall under different categories that are referred to here on as SATA-class and NVMe-class. Under the SATA-class devices, the Crucial Portable SSD X6 is pitted against the following external SSDs that were reviewed earlier: Acting as a proxy in understanding speed when moving or installing games, there is little difference between the best and worst here. is a juicy number when it comes to holding lots of games, and there’s no reason why you can’t do this on last-gen consoles and for ever-growing Steam libraries. The X6 seems to have a power consumption profile similar to other drives in the set. The 1W+ idling number is a bit too high for our liking when attempting to use the drive with battery-powered devices, but the competition is not much better in any case.
The price of flash-based storage devices tend to fluctuate quite a bit over time. However, the relative difference between different models usually doesn't change. The table below summarizes the product links and pricing for the various units discussed in the review. SATA-Class External Flash Storage Devices - Pricing iPadOS 13 required for the Crucial X8 to work with iPad Pro devices with USB-C port. For more information, see https://crucial.com/support/x8 Point is, it is all too easy to be blinded by headline sequential transfer speeds. For most, a high-capacity, high-value 10Gbps external SSD will do, and that’s exactly how Crucial pitches it. Conclusion MB/s speed measured as maximum sequential performance of device as measured by Crucial on a high performance desktop computer with Crystal Disk Mark (version 6.0.2 for x64). Your performance may vary. Comparative speed claims measured as maximum sequential performance of similarly situated portable SSDs, mainstream portable HDDs and mainstream USB flash drives from vertically-integrated manufacturers selling under their own brands as of June 2019. Form meets function with the Crucial X8. Built with a unibody core of anodized aluminum, the case not only looks and feels great, but dissipates heat efficiently to maximize performance.
Both the HP P600 and the ADATA SC680 show signs of a SLC cache. On the other hand, the X6 starts off at around 200 MBps and goes down to around 35 MBps after 240GB of continuous writes. At 195 MBps, the drive already starts off with low expectations, and there is not much to write home about. The X8, on the other hand, performs admirably with the SLC cache - For around 256GB of continuous writes, the drive provides 825 MBps+ of bandwidth before slipping down to around 150 MBps for the direct-to-QLC writes. The reason for the X8's stellar performance for normal workloads lies in this SLC cache. Normal workloads rarely go beyond this huge cache, and that is enough to make the X8 lead the charts in almost all tests. The problem is when the SLC cache runs out - as is possible for creative professionals transferring huge work files. Crucial does mention read-intensive workloads as the main focus of the drive, and hence folks with those types of workloads may well prefer SSDs such as the SanDisk Extreme PRO v2. Power Consumption The Crucial X8 Portable SSD’s long copy rate was good for the first 180GB or so, thenit fell off the cliff. Its subsequent pace, barely above 80MBps, was slower than a hard drive. Shorter bars are definitely better.Evaluation of DAS units on Windows is done with a Hades Canyon NUC configured as outlined below. We use one of the rear USB Type-C ports enabled by the Alpine Ridge controller for both Thunderbolt 3 and USB devices. AnandTech DAS Testbed Configuration Crucial goes about building the X8 in a familiar way by connecting to a computer via USB-C. A supplied 25cm cable is suitable for newer systems, while for everyone else, we commend Crucial for also including a USB-C-to-A adapter. Today we will present you our second portable SSD from Crucial, which is available on the market since a few weeks ago. The portable SSD is simply called X8, and it’s one of the fastest portable SSD we can buy in stores. It also offers huge capacities up to 2TB, and support for all devices with USB connections, including PC, MacOS, PS4 and Xbox One. The performance of the drives in various real-world access traces as well as synthetic workloads was brought out in the preceding sections. We also looked at the performance consistency for these cases. Power users may also be interested in performance consistency under worst-case conditions, as well as drive power consumption. The latter is also important when used with battery powered devices such as notebooks and smartphones. Pricing is also an important aspect. We analyze each of these in detail below. Worst-Case Performance Consistency
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