At IFA this week, Samsung has unveiled the Portable SSD X5, a new solid state drive designed with speed in mind. To that end, it's kitted out with a Thunderbolt 3 connection and built on the NVMe platform, marking two firsts for Samsung's portable consumer SSDs.
Some basic stats first: the X5 measures 119 x 62 x 19.7 mm (4.7 x 2.4 x 0.8 in), and weighs just 150 g (5.3 oz). Inside that small package Samsung has crammed either 500 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB of storage space.
The X5 continues Samsung's new fondness for Thunderbolt 3 – just yesterday the company unveiled curved QLED monitors that connect using that technology. This time Samsung is putting that speed to work in external storage, where its 40 Gbps bandwidth apparently allows for maximum read speeds of up to 2,800 MB/s and write speeds of 2,300 MB/s. In practical terms, the company says that a 20 GB 4K video, for example, could be transferred in just 12 seconds.
With those speeds the X5 is designed for professional use, particularly people working with large files like video, animation, photography and 3D renders. For security, the drive is protected by Samsung's version of the AES 256-bit hardware data encryption, which is made to be easy to configure and gives the option of locking data behind a password.
To protect it from more physical threats, the X5 is encased in a full-metal body and a shock-resistant internal frame, which can apparently survive drops of up to 2 m (6.6 ft). There's also a heat sink and "Dynamic Thermal Guard technology" to keep it from overheating during use.
The X5 is due to be released on September 3, around the world. Prices start at US$399.99 for the 500 GB model, $699.99 for 1 TB, and $1,399.99 for 2 TB.
Source: Samsung