Pros: First off, at initial glance the SSD looks big but it quite small and portable, small enough to fit in your pocket. What I like about it immediately is that it has substantial weight to it. The anodized aluminum and plastic rubber sides gives it that quality feel. Comes with a USB-C cable in the box which is starting to become standard now considering most portable SSDs back then utilized the older micro USB 3.0 standard. The cable is 8 inches long which gives you plenty of room when connecting to a laptop or desktop Installation was simple and the computer recognized it immediately. I did a file transfer test with a 4K video to validate the write speeds and they were as expected. Overall write speed peaked at 427 MB/s fluctuating as low as a few KB/s. In real world conditions you will be lucky to get even half of the advertised speed due hardware and software constraints exhibited by both the device and the pc. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 system that this particular device uses supports up to 10 GB/s and often times is not the case of the bottleneck solely from the device. The SSD remained quite warm during the file transfer but still cool enough not to warrant any concern.

Cons: Crucial Storage Executive can be daunting for those who are not tech savvy looking to utilize a portable SSD. Just ignore the program and add files if that's the case. Real world speeds are much lower than advertised and that is to be expected. Advertising by tech companies prevents accurate real world numbers. Best to take a look at professional reviews online for a more accurate representation of performance.

Overall Review: A 3 year warranty is included with the products which isn't bad but I've personally seen top tier portable SSD's with warranties of 5 years. The price point is average for this particular unit considering prices have been dropping for years with flash based memory storage units. Crucial which is a subsidiary of Micron has been a reputable brand for years and have provided some solid memory in the past which has lasted me for years. Overall this product hits a lot of what consumers are looking for in a portable SSD. Price, performance and portability. You can't go wrong with this model.

Pros: Obviously speed is the number one advantage of this drive but a close second would be its durability. Ever drop a regular external hard drive? It's either junk now or will fail shortly after that. The USB cable is a double C cable and it comes with a USB adapter for USB A connector. The cable itself is a heavy duty thick cable but relativity short cable only 7-8 inches long. When the drive is plugged in it stays cool to the touch. When transferring files temperature will rise from 37 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius, 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a bit warm to the touch. The last thing I like it is a lot smaller then other 2.5 USB drives and fits easily in your pocket .

Cons: I'd could say price is a con but that's really relative. I'd say the biggest con most people will have with this SSD is they will never see the super high speed transfer speeds. Don't get me wrong this thing is super fast but my brand new laptop is not that fast. I managed to get 378MB/s on one transfer but also got as low as 56kb/s. My system has Intel's Optane memory and boots to Windows 10 in 10 seconds but like I said 378MB/s was the best speed I got out of my USB 3 port. You will need a USB 3.1 or 3.2 and a SSD drive to take full advantage of this drive. By the time I transferred 700GB to the drive from another standard USB hard drive it was very hot to the touch, to hot to hold, while the regular hard drive was still very cool. Minor con, no activity led on the drive.

Overall Review: In order to take advantage of this SSD you will need USB 3.1 or 3.2 and another SSD as your main drive. If your system is less then this you will never reach the speed this is capable of. On the other hand the best thing I think an external storage device needs is durability. I think this drive will last forever and not need to be babied. I can see taking this cross country full of pictures and family videos to show family and friends and not worry about loss of data.

Pros: Pretty. Darn. Fast. Nice pocket size, 1/4 the size of a portable HDD. Sleek design very sturdy. Great for gamers who want to store games on an external drive. Perfect for carrying around a steam game library, assuming the library does not exceed 1TB of space. No driver install needed, the drive opened up right away after plugging in via USB-C. USB-C connection required for advertised speeds. See OTHER section for test results. In short, the drive read speed came very close to the max 1050 MB/s transfer rate. Almost 10 times faster than a USB 3.0 portable HDD.

Cons: Price point may be a turn off. A portable HDD with more than 4 times the storage can cost less than the portable SSD. This is really the only con. My personal complete game library exceeds 3TB but I can use the portable USB to carry around part of the library.

Overall Review: Tested with a Gigabyte AERO 15 laptop - i7-9750H, RTX 2070, 16GB DDR4, Windows 10. Ran test on three drives with CrystalMark. Showing top read/write results for simplicity purpose. Crucial X8 Portable SSD (via USB-C) READ = 1036MB/s, WRITE = 975MB/s (advertised speed = up to 1050MB/s) Toshiba 4TB portable HDD (via USB 3.0) READ = 135MB/s, WRITE = 126MB/s Intel 512MB M.2 SSD READ = 3048MB/s, WRITE = 1559MB/s (local C:\ drive, M.2 connection on a Gigabyte motherboard) Results show the Portable SSD is several times faster than the Portable HHD but about a third of the speed to the local M.2 drive. The Crucial X8 Portable SSD Is an excellent drive, especially for gamers on-the-go... like me.

Pros: - Speed. Let me lead with this drive's biggest selling factor. Over USB-C this drive allows you to quickly move files between devices assuming whatever you're plugging it into can keep up. I want to point out not only is overall throughput there, but given it's SSD, it can search through or move TONS of small files with ease. - Size. This drive isn't much larger than your standard 35 pack of gum. Probably weighs about the same making carrying it around as simple as slipping it into your pants or shirt pocket. - Adaptable. Comes with USB adapter to fit a 2.0 port. Granted you lose out on the throughput but the almost non-existent seek time of the SSD is still there if you need to search through a bunch of files and folders. - Solid. This is the 5th external drive I've gotten to review and this is the 2nd one I've gotten that doesn't feel "cheap". In the sense that if you dropped this I wouldn't worry about the case cracking in half. So I'm more than comfortable carrying this around.

Cons: - I honestly can't even think of one. Even on previous drives similar to this that I've gotten to review I can usually find something to nit-pick. Price is subjective and I still think it's a good deal here.

Overall Review: So I only have 1 pc at home with USB-C. However, at work we have a fleet of several hundred new laptops. All of which come with USB-C connectors. I've found this is a great "tool" to carry around with me. With the adapter I can service not only the new laptops but any last-gens as well. And at 1TB of storage, I have pretty much every single thing I need plus space to move data off a dying PC if needed. This is one of the few products I've used here where it's an easy buy if you're in the market for an external drive with speed and capacity.

Pros: WHO Crucial is entering the portable SSD market with this X8 Portable SSD. Crucial is a consumer brand of Micron (an American producer of computer memory headquartered in Boise), WHAT This SSD has a USB-C (3.1 Gen 2 10Gb/s) connection and uses a NVMe SSD internally that is based on the Crucial P1 hardware - so it has QLC NAND flash. The USB to NVMe bridge chip is the ASMedia 2362. A USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter is included. The case is mostly aluminum with plastic ends - it feels hefty, rugged, and not plasticky. It comes in 500 GB and 1 TB sizes (I have the 1TB). NUTS AND BOLTS This portable is based on the Crucial P1 hardware which has been one of the best price/performance internal drives out there. Because it uses QLC NAND, sustained writes will depend on space in the SLC write cache - so expect the drive to slow down very dramatically for very large sustained writes as the SLC cache fills up. The SLC cache is pretty big but variable in size and doesn’t get bypassed when it gets full. Also, expect the larger drive to perform better because there is a ratio of 1GB per 1TB DRAM/NAND for the P1 - ie. the 1TB had more DRAM than the ½ TB. WHY This is a good drive for normal consumer use: reading more than writing, and not writing enormous files continuously. It is marketed that way. It is not the best drive if you regularly write very large amounts of data at high bitrate (like video). (If you do, you will need a more expensive TLC or MLC based SSD.) This is definitely way faster than any mechanical or thumb drive. Expect over 1000MB/s read/write with typical consumer use.

Cons: Take this in the context that optimizations have definitely been done on the core hardware and on the usb bridge - especially to minimize idle power use and to minimize thermal throttling. The core hardware is still based on the wonderful Crucial P1. Buying a P1 and putting it in an enclosure yourself might be cheaper than buying this device based the economics as I write this. But, you would lose the nice looks and the added optimizations done on the core and adapter. The Warranty on this portable SSD is 3 years. (There does not seem to be a write limitation.) The Warranty on a P1 is 5 years.

Overall Review: Quality, cost-efficient, portable SSD that works for most use cases with the possible exception of real time video editing of very large files approaching 20% of disk space. You could use it to: Keep an entire portable Lightroom catalog along with photos. System backups. Time machine. Gaming consoles. Data-intensive projects when using small portable laptops.

Pros: Body: Unibody, all aluminum construction makes this a more durable, physical design than competing plastic drives. Installation: Installation was simple. Removed from box and packaging, attach USB-C cable to drive and attached other end to computer. Cable is a heavy duty, but very short 8" long. Crucial includes a quick start guide that redirects you to the website to download free cloning and optimization software. The drive came pre-formatted in exFat format and looks like it would be compatible with PC and Mac computers out of the box. Once attached to a Windows computer, you will need to assign a drive letter. To do this, right click on the Start Menu -> Run -> Type in "Computer Management" and select "Disk Management." From here, look for disk 3 with a size of 931.39GB, right click and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths" to assign the drive letter. Since the drive is already formatted, it will immediately be available. Software: Drive includes a link to the website, which has software "Crucial Storage Executive." Features of Crucial Storage Executive include: -S.M.A.R.T. - gives drive's health -Firmware updates - already latest -Sanitize drive - No drives supported. (Bleachbit) -PSID revert - No drives supported. If your drive is encrypted and you need to regain access, it will wipe the drive and give you back access. -Momentum Cache - Did not allow me to enable. "May enhance overall system performance." -Flex capacity - No drives supported. -Over Provisioning - allows you to gain performance by giving free space to the SSD controller. Reduces space. -Device Selft Test - No drives supported. Speed: I compared the performance of this drive to my WD Black 256GB Performance SSD - M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe SSD and Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM005 4TB 64MB Cache 5900RPM HD SATA 6Gb/s. The results using CrystalDiskMark 7.0f (1GiB), HDTune 2.5.5 and copying internal files: Crucial X8 Portable SSD ***CrystalDiskMark*** Seq1MQ8T1: Read 726.33 MB/s / Write 784.29 MB/s Seq1MQ1T1: Read 650.45 MB/s / Write 699.80 MB/s RND4K_Q32T16: Read 295.13 MB/s / Write 265.41 MB/s RND4K_Q1T1: Read 35.95 MB/s / Write 49.50 MB/s 4K: Read 0.603 MB/s / Write 1.798 MB/s ***HDTune*** Minimum Transfer Rate = 325.2 MB/sec Maximum Transfer Rate = 345.8 MB/sec Average Transfer Rate = 332.2 MB/sec Access time = 0.1 ms Burst Rate = 204.0 MB/sec CPU Usage 2.5% ***Custom*** 1GB large file copy = 5 s 1GB small files copied (14,700 files) = 21 s Western Digital Black 256GB Performance SSD (M.2 2280 NVMe) ***CrystalDiskMark*** Seq1MQ8T1: Read 1544.40 MB/s / Write 648.96 MB/s Seq1MQ1T1: Read 1142.13 MB/s / Write 669.31 MB/s RND4K_Q32T16: Read 695.78 MB/s / Write 361.52 MB/s RND4K_Q1T1: Read 39.33 MB/s / Write 118.18 MB/s ***HDTune*** Minimum Transfer Rate = 99.0 MB/sec Maximum Transfer Rate = 729.5 MB/sec Average Transfer Rate = 401.2 MB/sec Access time = 0.1 ms Burst Rate = 76.8 MB/sec CPU Usage 1.8% ***Custom*** 1GB large file copy = 3 s 1GB small files copied (14,700 files) = 9 s Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM005 4TB 64MB Cache 5900RPM HD SATA 6Gb/s ***CrystalDiskMark*** Seq1MQ8T1: Read 224.18 MB/s / Write 114.49 MB/s Seq1MQ1T1: Read 127.28 MB/s / Write 97.72 MB/s RND4K_Q32T16: Read 1.26 MB/s / Write 0.78 MB/s RND4K_Q1T1: Read 0.34 MB/s / Write 0.70 MB/s ***HDTune*** Minimum Transfer Rate = 139.6 MB/sec Maximum Transfer Rate = 203.9 MB/sec Average Transfer Rate = 170.5 MB/sec Access time = 11.5 ms Burst Rate = 181.0 MB/sec CPU Usage 1.2% 1GB large file copy = 11s 1GB small files copied (14,700 files) = 422 s Wow! This drive cooks on sequential read rate (large file transfers). Write speed for 4K (small file transfers) is also fast, although it's a little slower than the WD Black drive, but this other drive has an ideal transfer interface - directly attached to the motherboard and the difference is in seconds. It smokes the software RAID 0 HD setup, which took over 7 minutes to perform the same action. Warranty: The warranty is three years, which is solid compared to competitors.

Cons: All USB 3.1 Gen 2 devices are now called USB 3.2 Gen 2 devices and offer up to 10Gbps (1025MB/s) maximum transfer rates. In reality, the real world transfer rate is much lower. I attached this USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive to a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. These were the results: -Transferring 194 large files (5GB) took 39 seconds over USB (140MB/s). -Transferring 38,247 small files (~5GB) for testing took about 20 minutes over USB (<1MB/s). If you have to transfer lots of small files, like documents, the USB 3.2 interface will be a bottleneck. That is nothing against this drive, just a limitation of the interface.

Overall Review: Overall, this is a fast, secure, light and attractive looking drive with a good warranty from a great company. The American company Micron (Crucial) has been in the memory business for over 41 years and produces some of the fastest and most reliable memory/SSDs available. Personally, I use some award winningly fast Crucial DDR4 for my PC. I did not reach the advertised 1050MB/s transfer rate (720MB/s), but that is typical. This drive is still, at a minimum, 40% faster than most of it's competitors... and at a lower price. I would not hesitate to recommend this drive.

Pros: Extremely fast! Thanks to it being an SSD with USB C 3.2 support, this portable storage drive can be 10-50x faster than a traditional portable HDD/USB drive. The SSD has read speeds up to 1050MB/s, or 1Gbps. Just holding the drive you'll notice how sturdy of a design it is with high quality materials. The drive is rated to be resistant to extreme temperatures, shock, and vibration resistant, and can even survive a 7.5-foot drop without issue. As a bonus, the aluminum enclosure is sleek and attractive, making it something you won't be ashamed to have sitting out. While you'll only get the 1Gbps speeds with USB C 3.2, there are adapters included for USB C and traditional A connections. This also allows the drive to work on nearly every device, from Windows to Mac, Playstation 4 or Xbox One, and Android to iPhones (the later needing an additional USB C-Lightning adapter) While the drive is from a reputable company using high quality components, should something go weary the drive comes with a 3-year warranty. The drive can also be backed up using Windows Backup, macOS Time Machine or any other 3rd party backup software.

Cons: While not worthy of losing any eggs, the drive is a little pricey compared to a portable HDD for the space you get. You could get a portable HDD with roughly 5x the space for just a little bit more money but at significantly slower speeds. So while this isn't a real con, the significance of this will vary per user and what they're looking for in a portable storage device. Currently can only buy this drive in 500Gb or 1Tb. It would be nice to eventually see a 2Tb-4Tb version.

Overall Review: Fast, sleek, and high quality drive that should definitely be on people's radar that are shopping for a new portable storage device. The only real cons with the drive is with there not being any versions that go above 1Tb, and the price point being higher than a traditional portable HDD. However, if 1TB is enough for you, (that's thousands of pictures and dozens of movies, or 3-6 of your average games) and the convenience of high speed loading of those files is more important to you than additional storage, I can highly recommend this drive over an older portable HDD.

Pros: This Portable SSD Drive is the most impressive one I've seen in a while! The Drive is very compact and sleek feels to be made out of high quality aluminum with rubber coating for added grip. USB Type C! USB A to C adapter included. My favorite use for this Drive it backing up my Cell phone USB type-C direct to my galaxy allows you to transfer photos, music any data quickly and easily without using a computer. This drive has very high data transfer rates, this is accomplished due to the internal m.2 SSD that is on the inside of this beautifully made housing. This drive works great with a PlayStation 4, desktops, laptops, TVs, USB type c devices, and many more. The most versatile Portable Drive.

Cons: The only down fall I can come up with is the short cable. The short cable cause the drive to dangle from the front of my desktop (possibly damaging ports). However I understand short cable allows for portability and quick data rates.

Overall Review: In the end I can highly recommend this portable drive to anyone needing a fast sleek portable drive for their data. Weather your a professional or a everyday computer user this external SSD just might be what your looking for.