SK Hynix, the Korean flash-memory big {that a} yr in the past launched the Editors’ Selection-winning SK Hynix Platinum P41 inner solid-state drive, has launched its first exterior SSD. The distinctive Beetle X31 (begins at $71.06 for 512GB; $92.69 for 1TB as examined) is so tiny that it does in reality resemble a critter with a carapace. Clad in a pale-gold coloration scheme, it’s a watch catcher, and it carried out solidly in our benchmark checks. Its capability maxes out at 1TB, and its present pricing is barely larger than many of the competitors, however nonetheless, it is easy to catch this bug.
A Good-looking Transportable SSD With USB 3.2 Gen 2 Velocity
The Beetle X31’s Champagne Gold coloration, which tints the drive’s prime and sides, most resembles brass to my eye. (The X31’s field depicts a richly golden scarab-like beetle; whereas not a practical depiction of the drive, it conveys the mystique the corporate seeks to evoke.)
The drive’s type is easy but elegant, with a curved prime, a silver-colored base, and rounded corners. The Beetle measures 0.6 by 1.8 by 2.9 inches (HWD) and weighs lower than two ounces. Though it’s light-weight and tiny, the X31 is just not unusually so for an exterior SSD. The Kingston XS2000 Transportable SSD is a bit lighter, and marginally smaller in every dimension, and another latest exterior drives are equally petite.
The Beetle’s USB-C port is in the course of one facet, adjoining to a standing gentle. Two cords for connecting to a pc are included with the drive, one USB-C-to-USB-C, the opposite USB-C-to-USB-A. The interface is USB 3.2 Gen 2, which provides near-universal connectivity with latest computer systems whereas offering quick throughput—as much as 1,050 megabit-per-second (MBps) sequential learn and 1,000MBps sequential write speeds.
In accordance with SK Hynix, the Beetle X31, which has an aluminum exoskeleton, can survive drops of as much as 6.5 toes. It additionally features a protecting rubberized strip that may be popped in place to encircle the Beetle’s midsection and be simply eliminated. Hynix doesn’t give an ingress safety (IP) score, which quantifies a product’s diploma of safety from water or mud, for the X31.
Working alongside the lengthy axis of the drive’s silver-colored base are two rubberized protecting strips. Drive info plus certifications are additionally printed on the backside.
At a time when many exterior SSD producers are providing 2TB and even 4TB variations of their wares, the X31’s capability maxes out at 1TB. The Beetle is new to the market, and the one pricing we at present have for it’s its Amazon pricing. Based mostly on that, the 1TB mannequin—which is far more cost-effective than the 512GB model—sells for about $10 greater than the 1TB variations of some standard exterior SSDs such because the WD My Passport SSD (2020) and the SanDisk Excessive Transportable SSD.
SK Hynix backs the X31 with a three-year guarantee. This matches the three years supplied by the ADATA SE800, the OWC Envoy Professional Elektron, and the Samsung Transportable SSD T7, nevertheless it falls in need of the 5 years of protection you get with the SanDisk Excessive Transportable SSD V2, the SanDisk Skilled Professional-G40 SSD, the 2020 iteration of the WD My Passport SSD, and lots of different drives.
Testing the Beetle X31: Sturdy Velocity Outcomes
We check exterior SSDs with Macs and Home windows PCs. Our Home windows storage testbed is a desktop constructed on an Asus Prime X299 Deluxe motherboard with an Intel Core i9-10980XE Excessive Version CPU. The system has 16GB of DDR4 Corsair Dominator RAM clocked to three,600MHz and an Nvidia GeForce graphics card. We use its native 10GBps USB 3.2 Gen 2 port for testing appropriate drives; for Gen 2×2 drives we use a Gen 2×2 port added by way of an Orico PCI Categorical enlargement card.
We put the SK Hynix Beetle X31 via our typical suite of exterior solid-state drive benchmarks, together with Crystal DiskMark 6.0, PCMark 10 Storage, BlackMagic’s Disk Velocity Take a look at, and our personal folder switch check. The primary two are run on the PC with the drive formatted in NTFS, and the latter two on an Apple MacBook Professional utilizing exFAT. Crystal DiskMark’s sequential pace checks present a conventional measure of drive throughput, simulating best-case, straight-line transfers of huge recordsdata. The PCMark 10 Storage check measures an SSD’s readiness for all kinds of on a regular basis duties.
The X31’s pace in Crystal DiskMark landed inside the similar slender vary because the overwhelming majority of USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives, with solely the SanDisk Excessive Transportable SSD V2 barely exceeding its sequential learn and write pace scores and the WD My Passport SSD simply clearing its read-speed mark. Aside from these two drives, the Beetle’s learn pace was on the prime of the group, whereas its write pace was close to the underside. The Beetle had the very best learn and write scores on our BlackMagic pace testing with the Mac, although its learn pace beat the Essential X8 by a hair, and its write pace wasn’t considerably larger than the quickest of the comparability drives. Its PCMark 10 Storage Total rating was in the course of the pack. Final, the Beetle was comparatively sluggish in finishing the switch of a 1.2GB folder of small recordsdata from our Mac testbed.
Verdict: One Fab, Trendy SSD
Tiny and likeable, the SK Hynix Beetle X31 cuts a placing determine with its curved, pale-gold aluminum body. A clear rubberized bumper shields it from tumbles. Its pace check outcomes as a USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSD had been stable, particularly on the BlackMagic Mac pace benchmark, although it was sluggish at copying our massive check folder filled with recordsdata. Its worth is on the excessive facet for its capability, which maxes out at 1TB. Be forewarned, although, that in a world of plain, unadorned exterior SSDs, with the X31 it is easy to succumb to “beetlemania,” and you’ll’t go too mistaken with this charming sub-$100 exterior SSD. (Dare we are saying it is “fab for” backing up your knowledge on the fly?)
