Crucial X9 Pro 2TB External SSD Review

Crucial's X9 Pro is the company's third-generation external SSD, after the original X8 and the more recent X6. It's also the smallest by a few mm. Measuring 65 x 50 x 10mm and weighing in at just 38g, the drive has an anodised aluminium chassis with a rubber base. Crucial states that it can survive a 2m drop on a carpeted floor without damaging the data stored on the SSD, though quite frankly it would be a touch alarming if it couldn't.

The X9 Pro highlights the progress made in the last couple of years regarding NAND design. Crucial's first portable SSD launched in 2020, the X8, used 64-layer QLC NAND, the X9 Pro uses 176-layer 3D TLC NAND and is half the physical size of the X8 for the same given capacity.

Looking after the NAND is a Silicon Motion SM2320 controller. The SM2320 is a step up from the Silicon Motion SM2263EN used in the X8. Although a 4-channel controller like the 2263EN, the SM2320 ups the ante as it comes with an integrated USB 3.2 Gen2 x 2 (20Gb/s) interface so there is no need for an NVMe bridge chip as used in the X8 although the interface is only running at USB 3.2 Gen2 x 1 (10Gb/s) in the X9.

Performance-wise, Crucial rates the X9 Pro at up to 1,050MB/s for both Sequential reads and writes. In our testing, we couldn't quite get to either of those figures. Using the ATTO benchmark we saw a maximum of 982MB/s for reads with writes reaching 934MB/s. With the tougher AS SSD benchmark, reads dropped to 958MB/s and writes to 873MB/s. Switching over to the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we saw read test results much closer to the official figures with four of the tests producing a figure of 1,028MB/s. The best write result we saw was 928MB/s, some way short of the official figure.

Real-life file transfers saw read performance go over the 1GB/s mark in nine out of the fourteen tests, the fastest when reading the 100GB Data file at 1,030MB/s. When it came to writes, three of the fourteen tests topped 900MB/s. Once again it was the 100GB data file transfer that was the fastest at 931MB/s.

The X9 Pro supports 256‐bit AES hardware encryption and password protection and carries an IP55 rating for water and dust resistance. But a word of caution before you start planning to throw the X9 in the bath. The IP55 rating means although the drive has limited protection from water, it's not waterproof.

Pre-loaded on the drive are links to various useful utilities: Acronis True Image For Crucial, Mylio Photos and although there is a link for Hedge Transfer software, in our case it didn't seem to be working. At the time of writing when you buy and register an X9 Pro you get a one-month complimentary Adobe® Creative Cloud All Apps plan.

We found the 2TB version of the X9 Pro for sale directly from Crucial UK for £109.99 (inc VAT) HERE.

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Pros

• Overall performance.
• Design.

Cons

• The cable is on the short side.
• Couldn't quite hit the official maximum speeds in testing.

KitGuru says: Although we could hit the advertised maximum Sequential speeds with our testing, Crucial's X9 Pro is still a quick, very compact external SSD with the added bonus of hardware encryption and password protection.

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