Quick Look Review: Crucial X10 2TB Portable SSD

USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Lives On

As a society, we have technically advanced into the USB 4 era – but that doesn’t mean that everyone suddenly owns motherboards or laptops with the latest ports on them. USB 3.2 is not going anywhere, and when you have the ability to harness the power of a x2 connection from this last-gen port, you might just question the need for USB 4 at all.

Yes, we are looking at another USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 device today, though it has now been almost two years since we looked at the Samsung T9 with this interface. After our brightest minds looked into the matter, we determined that dual 10 Gbps lanes do in fact equal 20 Gbps of potential throughput. Just when you though USB 3 was passe, this happened!

Our own Jeremy Hellstrom took a look at the earlier Crucial X9 Pro and X10 Pro portables back when they launched, but his test platform did not support USB 3.2 Gen2x2 at the time so the added speed of the X10 Pro was not available to him. Not so today, as we will see just what that faster connection can offer with the new X10.

Features of the X10 Portable SSD (via Crucial):

Save WAY more – Up to 8TB of storage to save up to 500,000 4K photos, 114 games, 2.6 million MP3 music files and 133 4K videos
Quick file transfers to up your game – With read speeds up to 2,100MB/s, the X10 offers fast, convenient storage to easily expand your PC gaming library
Broad compatibility – Works with Windows, Mac, Android, iPad, PC, Linux and more via included USB-C connection
Long-lasting durability – IP65 dust and water resistant; drop resistant up to 9.8 feet (3 meters)

The Crucial X10

Rather than attempt to explain just how small this X10 portable drive is, here is a comparison of the drive and a box of penny matches:

The drive measures just over 2 1/2 inches in length, is 2 inches wide, and is just over half an inch thick. In other words, it’s small.

Performance

Using our standard AMD X870E platform with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D (as one does) we first tested the X10 using CrystalDiskMark using the “Peak Performance” preset to see what this new portable SSD can do:

We were seeing sequential speeds within a rounding error of Crucial’s claimed 2100 MB/s max, and at 2098.29 MB/s at QD8 it has proven itself in sequential reads. As to sequential writes, those ended up at 2005.45 MB/s in this test.

Now for some real-world file transfer results – using a very large file (I compressed the entire directory from an F1 24 game installation) to prevent OS cache effects from affecting the transfer speed results:

Real-world transfers ended up averaging approximately 1.4 GB/s, which is outstanding for a large transfer like this. Typically, the full rated sequential speed of any portable SSD will be limited to smaller files, and you will often exceed the rated numbers due to OS-level write caching and other things that Allyn Malventano would know better than the author of this post.

Value and Conclusion

Crucial is offering the X10 Portable SSD in five capacities ranging from 1TB up to 8TB. Here is the model/list price breakdown:

• Crucial X10 1TB Portable SSD – CT1000X10SSD9 – $105.99 USD
• Crucial X10 2TB Portable SSD – CT2000X10SSD9 – $171.99 USD
• Crucial X10 4TB Portable SSD – CT4000X10SSD9 – $259.99 USD
• Crucial X10 6TB Portable SSD – CT6000X10SSD9 – $336.99 USD
• Crucial X10 8TB Portable SSD – CT8000X10SSD9 – $462.99 USD

Our 2TB sample undercuts the earlier X10 Pro 2TB’s $209.99 launch price by $38, while offering the full capability of USB 3.2 Gen2x2 speeds. On the current market the new Crucial X10 2TB Portable SSD compares very favorably to the SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD, with Crucial offering a slight advantage in both maximum speed (2100 MB/s vs. 2000 MB/s) and retail price (the SanDisk is $179.99). Samsung’s T9 Portable SSD remains a more expensive option at $189.99 USD for 2TB, though it does have a more rugged exterior.

In conclusion, Crucial has created a product with a compelling mix of performance and price that tests the limits of the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface. Good things do come in small packages.