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Available in 500GB and 1TB size capacities, the Crucial X8 isn't quite as stylish as Samsung's T7 Touch, but its rounded edges, plain design and anodized aluminium body still makes it feel like a premium bit of kit that won't get dented or chipped when you're out and about. Indeed, Crucial claim you can drop the X8 from a height of 2m (albeit onto a carpeted floor) without causing any damage to your files and data - although quite how well it will fare on a concrete or wooden floor isn't stated. 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. Increase storage capacity for nearly any computer, tablet, phone, or console. Works with Windows, Mac, iPad Pro, Chromebook, Android, Linux, PS4, and Xbox. Connect with a USB-C 3.2 Gen2 interface or use our included adapters for USB-C or USB-A connections. 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.
The Crucial X8 flew past the Samsung T7 Touch when I moved over to USB-C as well, completing the ISO test in an even nippier 562MB/s (1.91 seconds), the Program test in 297MB/s (4.73 seconds), and the Game test in 420MB/s (3.29 seconds). Compare that to the T7 Touch's results of 501MB/s (2.14 seconds) for the ISO, 128MB/s (10.96 seconds) for the Program and 325MB/s (4.25 seconds) for the Game test and the Crucial X8 has it beaten hands down. 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. Write speed and temperature are two important and inter-related metrics for external devices. Official write specifications are only part of the performance picture. Most SSDs implement a write cache, a fast area of (usually) pseudo-SLC programmed flash that absorbs incoming data. Sustained write speeds can suffer tremendously once the workload spills outside of the cache and into the "native" TLC or QLC flash. We use iometer to hammer the SSD with sequential writes for 15 minutes to measure both the size of the write cache and performance after the cache is saturated. We also monitor cache recovery via multiple idle rounds. 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. Looking closer, there are no activity lights to break up the unibody construction. To the drive’s design credit, the external casing – ending in grippy, rubberised sections that ought to avoid easy marking – does a great job at keeping everything cool; internal temperature rose to merely 48°C after 10 minutes of sequential writing, while the casing ran only five degrees warmer than ambient room level.
We haven’t seen an SSD of any type drop to that low of a write rate in several years, basically since the dawn of TLC. Note, too, that this was the 1TB capacity drive. The 500GB model will likely drop out of cache at the 90GB mark. Crucial's X8 hangs in there with the best during our sequential tests. It delivers very responsive performance under random workloads, too. With the X8's random 4K QD (queue depth) 1 read speeds being at least one-third faster than the competition, it's no wonder the X8 performs so well when we hit it with the easier workloads. It's a responsive SSD with strong low-queue depth random read and write performance, which is important because this workload models normal light usage. Sustained Write Performance, Cache Recovery, and Temperature Compatible Android devices must be able to work with USB Mass Storage over OTG. Operating system updates and reformatting may be required. For more information, see https://crucial.com/support/x8. Acting as a proxy in understanding speed when moving or installing games, there is little difference between the best and worst here. Compatibility may vary and may be contingent on device formatting and host capabilities. For more information, see https://crucial.com/support/x8A similar drive with a Thunderbolt 3 interface might outperform the X8, but as far as USB-connected devices go, this is about as fast a drive as you're going to see at this price point. We ran a series of benchmark tests on both Macs and PCs and were more than pleased with the results. (On the PC side, we used our standard Intel X299-based storage testbed, with a motherboard-hosted USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB-C port. On the Mac side, we used a 2016 MacBook Pro and used the provided USB-C cable with one of the laptop's Thunderbolt 3 ports.) The X8 consistently scored at or near the top of the heap when compared to other SSDs we tested. This thing is fast, definitely performing at or near its advertised speeds. 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. 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. On the NVMe-class drives front, CrystalDiskInfo provides the following information. NVMe-Class External Drives Information 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:
The Crucial X8 Portable SSD isn’t doing anything weird. Any time an SSD runs out of cache, performance will suffer until the data is moved to the normal NAND, a process that can take several minutes or more. But it’s doing it sooner than expected in the write process. Remember, however, that there are few scenarios outside of the video world where you’ll ever write such large files or amounts of data to the drive. Increasing capacities and falling prices make external USB-based SSD storage more attractive than ever. Though not the fastest drive on the market, Crucial’s X8 Portable SSD, available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, makes a strong case for a number of reasons.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 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. From the graph above, you can see that most of the tested SSDs performed similarly (except for the HyperX Savage EXO, which shows its SATA roots here), but the X8's scores were a touch higher than most of its rivals. Only the SanDisk Extreme Pro came close. PCMag Drag-and-Drop Test To test this, I used AS SSD's copy benchmark, which involves transferring three different file types from my OS drive to the X8 – an ISO folder consisting of two large files, a programs folder with lots of little files, and finally a game folder that’s made up of both big and small files.
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. 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. The X6 supports both UASP and TRIM - the two main things to look out for when dealing with SATA SSDs behind a USB bridge.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 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 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. 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
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