I wonder why no manufacturer recognizes that there indeed is a market for tiny yet fast SSDs.
Imagine how small the device could have been, if Hynix would have opted for a custom PCB instead of just putting a standard off-the-shelf SSD into an off-the-self USB/NVMe enclosure. And no, thermals are not the reason, this thing even has a plastic enclusure.
SD Express has been a complete failure, and there are many complaints about USB flash drives overheating, throttling, failing, and slowing down from peak transfer rates. Maybe it's physically impossible to get the speeds some people are looking for in "thumb drive" and SD/microSD form factors. Give me a cheap USB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 enclosure that doesn't overheat and doesn't try to be a bulky stick that blocks ports, and I'll be happy.
I feel your pain. At the same time though I must point out that it is because of the problems you mentioned above that we have reviews of flash drives on AT. Or, to put it another way, just because it's blue, doesn't mean its USB 3.0+ much less that it can maintain those speeds.
Until you snap off the connector. Which is what you do when you have a relatively large device connected with a thin enough connector not to block ports.
Crucial X9 Pro and Kingston XS2000 use the Silicon Motion SM2320 native USB 20Gbps controller, but said drives use 2x 1TB density, which takes up room.
IDK if SM2320 works with a single BiCS5 chip, but it is available in 2TB density. BiCS5 is used on WD Blue SN570/580 and run cool.
Pair those two, and the drive should end up quite compact.
It's too bad they never sent you a Beetle to test. Would have been interesting to see the differences in power consumption, heat, etc. If the Tube isn't noticeably better from the different bridge, I don't know why someone would want that stick instead of the small box with a pigtail cable Beetle. That just seems safer to have dangling off any connected device.
Since the internal SSD can be easily removed, it would be entirely possible for there to be a SSD lottery where the functional components are concerned and for units sent to reviewers to perform better than the possibly corners-cut-and-pennies-pinched variants that will be sold to the masses. One always has to wonder when it comes to storage since that's been a thing for a while thanks to the simplicity of NAND swaps even at the PCB.
Sir, it's using a JMS583 bridge chip. It is the worst NVMe-to-USB bridge chip. There is literally nothing else that performs worse. It's also capped at 10Gbps (1000MB/s) peak and the SLC cache runs out at 400GB written.
I don't think it's possible to lose at silicon lottery any worse than this.
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ceisserer - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
I wonder why no manufacturer recognizes that there indeed is a market for tiny yet fast SSDs.Imagine how small the device could have been, if Hynix would have opted for a custom PCB instead of just putting a standard off-the-shelf SSD into an off-the-self USB/NVMe enclosure. And no, thermals are not the reason, this thing even has a plastic enclusure.
ballsystemlord - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
You mean like MicroSD?Or USB flash drives?
Or CFcards?
nandnandnand - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
SD Express has been a complete failure, and there are many complaints about USB flash drives overheating, throttling, failing, and slowing down from peak transfer rates. Maybe it's physically impossible to get the speeds some people are looking for in "thumb drive" and SD/microSD form factors. Give me a cheap USB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 enclosure that doesn't overheat and doesn't try to be a bulky stick that blocks ports, and I'll be happy.ballsystemlord - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
I feel your pain.At the same time though I must point out that it is because of the problems you mentioned above that we have reviews of flash drives on AT. Or, to put it another way, just because it's blue, doesn't mean its USB 3.0+ much less that it can maintain those speeds.
DougMcC - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
Until you snap off the connector. Which is what you do when you have a relatively large device connected with a thin enough connector not to block ports.TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, April 18, 2024 - link
Well, if manufacturers would stop jamming the USB ports together and stop making machines paper thin, this wouldnt be an issue.Back when I had my Mushkin 256G USB/SSD stick, computers were phat enough that it didnt block any ports.
meacupla - Monday, April 15, 2024 - link
Such things kind of exist?Crucial X9 Pro and Kingston XS2000 use the Silicon Motion SM2320 native USB 20Gbps controller, but said drives use 2x 1TB density, which takes up room.
IDK if SM2320 works with a single BiCS5 chip, but it is available in 2TB density. BiCS5 is used on WD Blue SN570/580 and run cool.
Pair those two, and the drive should end up quite compact.
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, April 18, 2024 - link
So you're encouraging the use of proprietary components? Gross.Also, why waste the R+D money on such a niche product? It is highly unlikely the extra money spent would ever be recouped VS this product.
artifex - Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - link
It's too bad they never sent you a Beetle to test. Would have been interesting to see the differences in power consumption, heat, etc. If the Tube isn't noticeably better from the different bridge, I don't know why someone would want that stick instead of the small box with a pigtail cable Beetle. That just seems safer to have dangling off any connected device.PeachNCream - Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - link
Since the internal SSD can be easily removed, it would be entirely possible for there to be a SSD lottery where the functional components are concerned and for units sent to reviewers to perform better than the possibly corners-cut-and-pennies-pinched variants that will be sold to the masses. One always has to wonder when it comes to storage since that's been a thing for a while thanks to the simplicity of NAND swaps even at the PCB.meacupla - Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - link
Sir, it's using a JMS583 bridge chip.It is the worst NVMe-to-USB bridge chip.
There is literally nothing else that performs worse.
It's also capped at 10Gbps (1000MB/s) peak and the SLC cache runs out at 400GB written.
I don't think it's possible to lose at silicon lottery any worse than this.
PeachNCream - Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - link
Be patient - the industry never ceases to find a way to do worse.TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, April 18, 2024 - link
I can think of a way. This drive is TLC.So, we COULD swap in some QLC for good measure....
ballsystemlord - Friday, April 19, 2024 - link
You sir, have an evil sense of humor and I like it. ;)PeachNCream - Saturday, April 20, 2024 - link
That would be a revoltingly OEM thing to do - and well within the realm of possibility.Please don't give them any ideas